Checking Out Dan's Package

The Hughes family spent the equivalent of $104 to send us this box of goodies.


At this rate, Amy will need to defer college for a few years because her savings will have been wicked up by such generous acts (books and cards, for example). However, my kids are rolling in British delights and that's all that really matters.

To say we're amazed by the Hughes family's thoughtfulness is an understatement.

When I got back from Albuquerque on Monday I discovered Deb had already opened the box. I hadn't had a chance to eat on the plane so I grabbed these :

Yeah, I liked them. I walked around the dining room blaspheming to myself, My God, these are good. Jesus, these are wonderful. I stopped at three (cookies, not blasphemes). I knew that one more would mean I'd finish all the cookies and then possibly have carnal relations with the cylindrical packaging these things came in.

Of course that was more than you wanted to know. But I'm all about capturing the moment for you so just bear with me.

Now it's Wednesday and we're finally getting to really taking a close look at the stuff that Dan gathered for us.

Here's something interesting - Worcestershire sauce:

In both images the English version is on the left. You might notice it's a little darker. You might also notice there are little chunks of stuff floating around in the sauce. The bottom line is they are different. The English version seems more robust. If you look at the ingredients you notice that the American sauce uses high fructose corn syrup and one kind of vinegar. The English sauce depends on molasses for sweetness and has malt vinegar combined with another type of vinegar.

High fructose corn syrup versus molasses. Hmm.

Okay. Let's get this out on the table (so to speak). Europeans claim that American food is cheap and plentiful, but that it's killing the people who eat it. In contrast, shopping in Europe is more expensive, but Europeans eat quality, less processed meals that keep their arteries clean, their nitrate levels reasonable and their waistlines from spilling over their belts.

Worcestershire sauce ingredients and the size of my gut are evidence there may be some validity to this claim.

Wanna see a picture of me drinking straight-up Worcestershire sauce? Here you go:


Next time: The Milky Way just ain't the same since Dan's package rolled into town.