Monday, July 16, 2007

flavour of the month

Africa has some strange flavors; it’ll take some getting use to. I bought aqua fresh toothpaste in an orange box. I was so excited because my orange toothpaste was confiscated as a terrorist threat on the way here. (Don’t worry I won’t go off on that again) I enthusiastically opened it, squirted on my toothbrush and started brushing.
It’s not orange.
It’s menthol.
I can’t say much about that. It’s like brushing your teeth with a cough drop. But, on the good side, it cleaned my teeth and opened my sinuses.
They also have some crazy flavored chips here, -oops! Sorry, I mean crisps. They have plain and salt and vinegar, just like the states, but they also have biltong (which is like beef jerky made from different game animals,) fruit chutney (very yummy) pepperdue, and chicken & thyme.
Going to the store today was interesting; - I tried to buy all things that I would need to stock my kitchen. I took Kayla as my guide to explain everything. Very few things have a name brand that I would recognize, but I did find Coke Light (that means diet coke), Kraft Mayonnaise, Dannon Yogurt and Heinz Ketchup.
I did find Africa’s version of Splenda, spaghetti sauce, and strawberry jelly.
But there is no pudding, or corn syrup, or maple syrup. Boo.

1 comment:

Jean Ohlerking said...

oh, there is a fake syrup. looks brown. but works like karo. sort of. (susan has a great recipe for maple syrup.) and you actually can find some pudding if you look for it on the jelly aisle, but it's not anywhere near the same as good old jello. usually you beg someone who is coming from the usa on a visit to bring those items you can't make it without. :-)

but then our food isn't why we live in swaziland, is it? we're very proud of you, christy. you're doing well!