Monday, October 13, 2008

Random notes...

1) A splendiferous day. My friend came by and we rode the Monon, went to Taste for brunch, came back to Roseholme Cottage and watched the Jeff Cooper vidjo, and then he cooked a delicious dinner. The only thing that would have made it cooler is if a midget on a tricycle had ridden around the block a few times. On fire.

2) How come we get the low-grade Coca Cola here in America? Didn't we invent the stuff?

3) Got the other Mac playing tunes... "No More Tears" and Van Hagar's "Pound Cake"... That takes a girl back.

19 comments:

Somerled said...

"a midget on a tricycle had ridden around the block a few times. On fire."

Maybe that will be in the cards tomorrow. One can only hope.

I'm glad you had a "splendiferous day." Good company, good food, and Jeff Cooper: you deserve good days like that, Tam.

Bob said...

I don't think US cane sugar production is high enough to compete with cheap high-fructose corn syrup from the Midwest, and Coke bet that the American people wouldn't care much about the difference in taste, and they have been proven right over the long term. Face it, a connoisseur of Coca-Cola is rather a laughable concept when it comes down to it.

Still, something is lost when a product is cheapened in such a manner.

Jayson said...

I've asked a coca-cola rep, and he readily admits mexican coca cola in glass bottles are the way to go. Real sugar (not corn syrup!)

Anonymous said...

There's also "Yellowcap" Coke for Passover - when Cornsyrup is not kosher. It too is made with with sugar, and you see it any major city with a sizeable Jewish population, usually in Mid April.

Brian J. said...

1. Coke has corn syrup because the US sugar cane growers in Florida have powerful friends in Washington who keep out the cheap Caribbean sugar, making fructose the only affordable solution.

2. Takes a girl back? Does that mean you haven't been listening to the classics steadily?

Carteach said...

Sounds like a good day with a friend.... :-)

Hope there are many more.

Weer'd Beard said...

"2) How come we get the low-grade Coca Cola here in America? Didn't we invent the stuff?"

I think the same thing when looking at what awesome cars ford makes...in Australia.

I wants me a Falcon!!!

Anonymous said...

We can get Mexican Coca-Cola in the Global Food grocery stores here. GF is the "United Nations" of grocery stores. There are more nationalities represented in on GF than in any number of yuppies gourmet grocery stores. I don't usually drink sodas, but every few months I get a "real coke" or two from GF.

Chris

Anonymous said...

The Mexican Coke and Pepsi is transshipped primarily to serve the immigrant market. They prefer the taste of the stuff made in their home country.

I started to type "illegally transshipped", but I don't know if there are any laws concerning it. I do know that it's considered a no-no by the Coke and Pepsi companies to sell product in a given franchise territory that was produced elsewhere.

perlhaqr said...

#2, as ever: Government interference in the market. Specifically, corn subsidies and cane sugar tariffs. (Is there anything I can't try to blame on the government? Probably not! :D )

red said...

Keep an eye out for Coke 2liters with a white cap in early April. It's Passover Coke and has real sugar!

mmmm.....

Matt G said...

Corn subsidies have made a lot of things sweeter when they don't need to be. High Fructose Corn Syrup is seemingly in EVERYTHING. It's also less sweet, so more goes in. Great.

Anonymous said...

matt g said:
"High Fructose Corn Syrup is seemingly in EVERYTHING."

...and is a high-probability suspect in the upsurge in diabetes in this country.

Anonymous said...

I work with some twenty-somethings. I'm not THAT much older than they are, dammit!

We were listing off the music we had in our cars. I rattled off some of my favorites, from Iron Maiden to The Cranberries, to Queensryche. Only one of my selections was recognized by the group, however. Said one of them, "Iron Maiden, I've heard of them, they have street cred."

Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Bryan, it's funny, but reading your post I just had an image of Cessnas and mini-subs loaded down with sixteen-ounce bottles trying to sneak into the country.

If only the only Coke they brought in was the sugary kind...

Zendo Deb said...

It isn't the size of the cane-sugar crop, it is the artificial price floor. Sugar is (or was) about 5 cents a pound more expensive in the US than anywhere else. Not because of supply-and-demand, but because of government intervention.

Doesn't sound like much to you and me maybe, but is a major pain for manufactures who buy the stuff by the boxcar-full.

Once upon a time I worked for Brach's Candy. (Or the European multi-national that owned the brand.) The largest candy factory in the world was in Chicago. It has since closed.

They moved to Mexico where sugar is cheaper.

I just love what happens when the government takes control of the economy.

phlegmfatale said...

[gawd, what a rabbit-chase this will be, and I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but I'm just dim enough to bald-facedly remove all doubt]

matt g wrote High Fructose Corn Syrup is seemingly in EVERYTHING.

I looked up astroglide in wikipedia to see if it had corn product, and apparently it doesn't, but I learned it was discovered when an inventor was working on the cooling system of a space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in 1977. I don't even know what to think of that.

it would have been better if astroglide had a corn connection. meh.

Anonymous said...

Tam...
While in Montreal a few years ago for a Barbershop Quartet International convention, I had the Canadian Coke at most meals....It was WONDERFUL!! I'm guessing it had real sugar too.

John B said...

If Barry O wins. I'm taking over a radio station (ala Airheads) and force them to play Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." until the National Guard comes back from Iraq.