<p>cangel–so now we know the French secret to staying slim–Special K! And all this time we thought they were eating croissants and pain au chocolat.</p>
<p>I too have made the Italian pasta w/tuna dish–delish!</p>
<p>mommusic, that’s exactly what I thought of. Also, I thought I was the only person on earth who actually kind of liked SPecial K, it does have a lot in common with shredded cardboard.</p>
<p>My D1 just returned from a semester in the middle of nowhere, Kenya. She loved the people and the academics, but not the food. On the first morning she woke to see the Kenyan cooks had cooked fried eggs that were a grayish color, and the toast was fried in oil. (There was only limited electricity, and evidently none in the kitchen/dining area.) And then she learned this was going to be the EXACT same thing she would eat every morning for over 3 mos. Meat was a rare treat, and a goat was brought in and slaughtered, which evidently tipped them off to the dinner menu…ew. The neighboring tribe kept stealing the cow’s of the tribe that lived near their camp, so beef was non-existent. She’s having a little difficulty readjusting to our food. Even though pineapples, mangos and anything fried is off her list, I think it’s the abundance of food and the choices again that are so overwhelming to her. Quite different from what she experienced in so many ways. She actually learned enough Swahili to commnicate, although at the end during directed research and interviews w/the locals each pair of students had a guide that served as a translator. She wants to go back some day, but right now thinks Europe might serve nicely for a travel experience. We had no phone contact w/her the entire time, and that was very difficult. but she is very familiar w/SKYPE from when her friends at school have been abroad. You can buy a headset at Best Buy or Radio Shack, and you’re in business.</p>
<p>Gray eggs? Nope. Goat? Depends on how it’s prepared. A BBQ’ed goat and pickle sandwich was my mom’s favorite treat.</p>
<p>Goat is pretty good. Kind of like a cross between venison and lamb. 
I don’t remember ever eating much beef in Africa, their cattle is all skin and bones. Goats and chickens, chickens and goats, and in Somalia, at least, the occasional camel.</p>
<p>Pizza Hut in Scotland put corn on their pizza! Yuck! (I was only eating there to keep my youngest happy.)</p>
<p>I loved the food I had with my French family though I’ll never be crazy about tongue. One of the weird things we had sometimes for dessert was oatmeal pie. I think it must have been a Flemish thing. Madame L. was from that part of France.</p>
<p>They did have one memorable food experience…on a long bumpy, dusty drive from Tsavo back to Amboselli region where she was living, they stopped at a lodge full of tourists and descended upon the buffet in the upscale restaurant. 33 dirty, hungry kids returning from a camping trip on which an elephant stampeded thru camp at 5a.m. taking their water purification unit leaving them with only drinking water for 6 days. I believe “to the horror of the REAL tourists” was an understatement! LOL.</p>
<p>So the kiddos are going “real exotic” this summer, NOT!</p>
<p>Middle daughter talked middle son (kiddos #3 and #4) into double summer sessions at her school out in NM, so they could take 4 of their “killer” pre-med courses together this summer. Son can only transfer back in 2 of the 4 but he doesn’t need any for his major nor for graduation, but he does need them for med school as does she. She has WS in the nuclear engineering lab on campus so she was able to secure him some stuff to do this summer as well.</p>
<p>So she came up with the “plan” to have little bro take the lectures and the labs together (built-in lab partner)! She used the lure of food (as much fresh mex as he can eat) and a huge top-of-the-line athletic complex to train all summer in. His coach was okay with it, he has to be back for practice in early August and classes finish 7/28 so it works out great. Her coach thinks he might be a distraction. She will want to go do stuff with him (run, lift) while her coach needs her to swim and dive!</p>
<p>Baby girl is flying in this afternoon and we leave Thursday for p’ton to pick up the other rugrat. First time she gets to see his campus and she is excited. First time he gets to show her off to his friends and THEY are excited!</p>
<p>Older bro who leaves for USNA in June is feeling a little left out so we are all going to try to visit him in early August for plebe parent weekend.</p>
<p>No, overseas excursions for us, at least not yet!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>ummm curm
I hate to say it,but this past semester S took a class called 'Intro to Live Entertainment" that included learning about managing rock tours/circus tours/Disney type tours.Prof was a former top exec for Feld Entertainment (the circus people).
I guess in its way its as valid a major as any other…maybe not saving the world or thinking on a particularly deep level,but someone has to keep the masses entertained(even Engineers and other Scientists and Philosophers go to ball games,take their kids to the circus,etc)!!</p>
<p>cathymee, I represent a young man from SMU who is doing great things from his Austin and now Nashville booking offices. He loves it and seems to be quite good at it.</p>
<p>mathmom–In Israel they put potatoes on the pizza!</p>
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<p>That doesn’t sound overly weird, I think I’ve had that! I know I’ve had Ritz cracker pie, and it is amazingly good, tastes a little like apples.</p>
<p>Mommusic, I’ve had potato on pizza here, but I didn’t care for it, corn, though is a little odd.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention I’ve made oatmeal pie. It’s like coconut or pecan pie; in fact, sometimes coconut is also used with the oats. And I’ve made a taro root dessert that is probably other cultures’ solution to not having our familiar grains.</p>
<p>But Ritz Cracker pie is just weird! I remember that recipe on the back of the box and was never tempted. At least oats are good for you, as are apples.</p>
<p>Oatmeal pie was pretty good, I’d just rather have had it for breakfast. :)</p>
<p>I’ve only been to Paris once and that was 23 years ago. What surprised me was the predominance of sunny-side up eggs. They were everywhere. Pizza? Had an egg on it. Hamburger? Had an egg on it. Now before anyone ridicules the food choices being made in Paris - they weren’t being made by W or I. 
They were made by a (very nice but sheltered ) woman who went through Europe with a bottle of ketchup and a bottle of salad dressing in her purse. I often pretended to be at another table.</p>
<p>Breakfast is probably the #1 cultural shock area. We are used to having Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Italian, or whatever for dinner & lunch, but at breakfast we want what is identifiable that we grew up with. Coffee & pastry, cereal, eggs & toast, fruit. Milk or juice. To go to another country where they have fish, or grilled meats, or something you aren’t used to…it’s hard to face first thing in the morning! :eek: In the Mediterranean & the Middle East they have things like olives, tomatoes, cucumbers with sour cream, and the bread is pita, not toast with jam. Very healthy but very different.</p>
<p>Curm - the egg thing is big in Ireland, too. Hmmm. Also, they put a huge dollop of butter on everything! A blob of butter floating in the middle of my tomato soup was a bit much for me. I found the fresh fish dishes there to be amazing, however…although at that particular time in my life on that particular trip it was more of a Castle -Pub - Castle - Pub tour. LOL.</p>