Finding a little piece of Australia around the Manhattan corner.

When we moved to America I made my peace with the fact that certain aspects of my life, which I took for granted in Australia, would no longer be available. These farewelled past-times revolved mainly around food.

Flat Whites - Never mind that you can order a "decaf, soy, skim-milk, caramel, upside-down, wet latte", Americans do not know what a Flat White is, let alone how to make one. This was something I was unprepared for, but begrudgingly accepted. I tried to adapt my taste-buds to the drip-filtered variety that American's have grown up on, but alas I do not like coffee that much. We discovered if we ordered double-shots, and asked for a "wet-cappucino" we usually managed something resembling an espresso coffee we would expect in Australia. But nothing was quiet the same as my beloved "Flat White".

Vegemite and cheese sandwiches - Whilst vegemite was easy to bring with us, decent cheddar cheese was a hard staple item to find amongst the orange-rubber which Americans call Cheddar. Not to mention the bread issue - Americans eat bread which is more closely related to cake than the Sunblest, TipTop, or even Helgas varieties we grew up with Down Under. The American varieties emit a sickly sweet caramel smell when toasted, crumble when biten, and do nothing to compliment the salty-savory flavours of vegemite.

Cadbury's Chocolate - Whilst America does indeed have Cadbury's as a brand, it is made by Hershey's, and even the "glass and a half of full cream dairy milk" will not counter-balance the atrocities of using vegetable oil in chocolate.

Crunchie Bars and Flakes - Sadly Americans, for all their Reeses Peanutbutter Cups and Hershey Kisses, are deprived of the wonder of golden honeycomb covered in chocolate or flake away slivers of soft creamy milk chocolate.

Tim Tams - Even stocking up on family-sized variety packs of Tim Tams at Sydney airport was only ever going to last us for so long. Especially with the inevitable impromptu visits by our Aussie friends which followed our return from any trip Down Under.

So to all of these "Australian staples" which I had become accustomed to, and taken for granted for so many years, I had farewelled. That is, until we moved to Manhattan.

When we first arrived in Chelsea, at a quaint coffee shop, Grumpys, we found Flat Whites on the menu "For our Australian Friends". Even better, several mornings a week, I would be magically awakened by the aroma of a flat white drifting through our front door as Nathan and Noah returned from an early morning walk. Now that we are in the Lower East Side, I have again had to farewell Flat Whites, however The Roasting Plant on Ludlow Street offers a pretty close substitute, and who is complaining when your Son and Husband deliver it to your bedside 3-4 mornings a week!? Not to mention the fact that Noah is on a first name basis with the early morning barister, Crimson.

Indeed living on the cusp of China Town has proven very advantageous for us home-sick Aussies. The Golden Carriage Bakery across the road, with its enthusiastic staff who leap over the counter to tug on Noah's chubby cheeks and feet, offers a wonderful white sugar-free alternative to the American cake-type bread. Something that closely resembles the sliced varieties in Australia - no caramelisation when toasted, no crumbling of cake as you eat it, and it compliments vegemite (albeit without decent cheddar) on toast beautifully. Even Noah is enjoying morning toast and vegemite on a daily basis.

Then one night, when I had sent Nathan out in search of ice-cream at 10pm, he returned with an altogether surprising and wonderful discovery - a Crunchie bar for me and a Flake for him! Delicious golden honeycomb covered in chocolate devoid of vegetable oil. Delicious. And available from our local corner store along with some delectable Haagen Daas ice cream flavours.

We also discovered the Sweet Life on Hester and Ludlow. A store reminiscent of "Willy Wonka" with jars of sweets and chocolates, including the deliciously sinful 'Dark chocolate covered orios'. And there on a shelf in the window proudly sits jars of vegemite and packets of Tim Tams. Overpriced? Yes, but when you are almost 10 000 miles from home, a few extra dollars is worth it (and we are going through our vegemite at a rate of knots now with Noah eating it every day).

Yes, we are still in search of the Australian variety of Cadbury's chocolate, and will have to suffice with taxing our international guests with delivering several family blocks of Cadbury's Dairy Milk whenever they visit. But all in all, this Aussie Mum is feeling more at home in New York thanks to the little things around the corner.