From Green Tea to Calgary

I was just in the pantry, looking for some green tea, which made me think of my old work pals Ellen and Adriana. At my old job in The City, every day I would get a hankering for green tea around 1:30pm. Since Ellen and Adriana were big tea drinkers, I would walk over to one of their offices to “borrow” a tea bag.

Which person I chose to visit was dependent on the type of tea I was in the mood for. Ellen had the real deal green tea straight from China. The name on the teabag was too strange to not be authentic: “Prince of Peace.” If I wanted loose tea, however, I would go to see Adriana, who had some really fragrant Twinning jasmine tea. To this day, I’ve never had jasmine tea as good as the stuff Adriana had.

The pantry also made me think of Shawn, who is in Calgary today. Shawn is a sucker for any products that say “new” on the label, or that otherwise are outside of the normal realm of the food store. Me, I’ll take my same old box of Triscuits each week, but Shawn likes to be adventurous. I often make fun of her for trying new things, because more often than not, she doesn’t like the special product she bought, and we end up with a half gallon of some strange juice from Africa that tastes like dirt.

For example, today when I was looking for tea, I came across a big tin of powdered Ovalmaltine, which apparently is the Swiss version of Ovaltine. Shawn picked it up when she was in Switzerland, thinking Reilly might like it. Reilly took one sip, opened her mouth, and let it dribble down her chin. No surprise there.

The good thing about Shawn’s adventurous food choices is that sooner or later, she brings something home that is awesome. Right now, I am enjoying a Basler Leckerli with my cup of green tea. The little biscuits taste like licorice flavored shortbread, and are damn tasty. She also brought home bar after bar of Finnish and Swiss chocolate, which is the best I've ever had.

Yesterday when I talked to Shawn, she was in Calgary. She said that she was missing Reilly, and asked me to send her some pictures. When I asked her what she had bought, she said shoes and clothes. Hopefully, she’ll come across some interesting food item and pick it up for us to try. (If not hon, get me some of those ketchup chips chips while you're in Canada. You know how much I like those things.)

Anyway, in honor of Shawn’s request, here is a little photo strip of some of my favorite shots of her and Reilly: