Orville who?

One of my biggest surprises in France has been difficulty to find products that one just takes for granted in the United States. Oreos, Philadelphia Creme Cheese, sour cream, baking soda, real chocolate chips, fresh refridgerated milk, chile peppers, fresh bagels, and fresh celery and carrot sticks to name a few, but one of the biggest surprises was Microwave Popcorn!

During one of my last trips to the states, I checked out a grocery store and a CVS store to help me recall what I had been missing. Just walking down the aisle with the Microwave Popcorn, one was bombarded with the buttery flavor scent and multitude of brands and options which were astounding. Different flavors, different sizes, different brands and different quantities, to name just a few of the alternatives.

Quite different from my experience here at the local grocery store. The store we go to here is quite large and modern. Codebar scanners for checking yourself out if you have less than 10 items, store coupons, fidelity card - you know what I mean.

Well the first challenge is to find where they might put the microwave popcorn. For some period of time, it was with the "world foods" section with other American food (like pancake mix and all the El Paso products), sandwiched between China and Italy on the global food map. The microwave popcorn was sold in single bag packets with a choice of salt or sugar for flavoring. At some point, the store changed vendors and also decided to place the popcorn with packaged nuts and dried fruits. Alas, still only the two flavors. And I swear, there must be some sort of rationing going on (maybe in response the George W Freedom Fries episode - how is that for a conspiracy theory?), because I could go for weeks and find nothing but empty space where the microwave popcorn packs should be. I sometimes blame this on a bad supply chain software implementation, but maybe it really is something beyond this. The popcorn packs are very generic in look, with instructions in about a dozen different languages. As a frequent user, I know that 2 minutes and 20 seconds is just about the perfect time in the microwave.

The only flavor I will get is the salted version. Somehow sweet popcorn reeks of crackerjacks and disappointed childhood memories of a prize that was always too silly to do anything with but throw away with the empty package. I guess I still kept thinking if I ate enough of it, someday I would find a really nice prize. Unfortunately, that is another one of those lotteries that I never won.

Am having a craving, for some nice salty microwave popcorn, but my stock is running low, so I will have to curb myself today.

1500 Kilometers Goal Reached!

As we age, our fitness becomes more of a challenge and objective we need to address more seriously than before. We know the basic elements of diet and working out, but we need to bring this knowledge to action and that is not always so easy.

Never one to have had a true love for team sports and most physical activities, I was lucky to be able to participate in a variety of activities most of my life on an adhoc basis. Weekend skiing, an occasional hike, a bike ride from time to time; these sort of activities seemed enough for my first three decades. But during my mid to late thirties, I realized I needed to have some more regular fitness activities. While living in Arizona, I taught myself the joys of inline skating. Several nights a week after work, I would skate a couple of miles. On weekends, I would try to do at least one 10 to 15 mile skate. I also joined a gym and would regularly go to use the cardio equipment and weight machines. I even would do some free weight workouts with my neighbor in Scottsdale. In 1998, I moved to Glasgow, Scotland and soon realized that I would need to give up my inline skating for weather related reasons. I did join a council gym and later a more upscale health club to continue with my cardio and weight lifting efforts. When I moved to France in 2002, I sort of let everything slide, never really finding the same "body" conscious culture I had known in Arizona or the UK. At the end of 2005, Fred and I decided to invest in some cardio equipment. We bought a Kettler Elliptical Bike cardio machine. We would use the machine regularly and track our results in an excel spreadsheet. Using the iPod, the Polar Heart Rate Monitor and Cardio machine, we have logged over 260 sessions. Fred has had to cut back some, due to some back problems, but I have continued to pursue the rewards of cardio exercise. I listen to my cardio coach, Sean O'Malley and highly recommend using the Cardio Coach method if you have a home cardio machine and need some extra motivation.

Well, I am happy to say that after my workout today, the machine has reached it's 1500KM mark. Thanks to everyone who have helped us reach this goal!

Why this bloody name?

I want you to create a couple of mental images as I explain this blog name. First, imagine a "national lampoon" cartoon showing a wheel barrow outside a French restaurant next to a placard which says "fresh frog legs today!" Upon closer look at the contents of the wheel barrow you will see it contains amputee frogs with somewhat sad expressions on their faces. Now, imagine a similar style cartoon showing an American style restaurant which a sign outside it announcing "best chicken wings in town!" Scrambling around the sign are a group of wing-less chickens chatting to each other. We can overhear one of them saying, "we never did fly much anyway."

While both of these appetizers may be relatively popular in their respective countries, they may seem quite unusual in the other country. It is this sort of cultural experience I hope to share with you in this blog. The things we see and confront when we find ourselves in a foreign experience teach us as much about ourselves as the world around us. Our perspectives and prejudices filter our world view.

Food will most likely be a reoccurring element in this blog. I hope you will enjoy it and come back frequently for updates.