Night in Tunisia

Importing Failures

This entry is to tell you all about the two things that I experienced recently that can only be described as importing failures. The first comprises the sticky, red-brown substance floating in the gold-coloured-rimmed glass in front of me on my desk. They call it tea. Red Tea. It is, in fact made from a substance that once was a black tea leaf but they call it red after it has been prepared. And oh, has it ever been prepared.

Have you ever let your tea steep for too long in your cup or in the pot? It goes really bitter, right? That's because if you over steep your tea the tanic acids (like in red wine) get released into the water and make it bitter. Usually this happens after about 6 minutes with a black tea and after three minutes with a green. (Another tip for green tea drinkers is don't use boiling water, that brings out the acid too.) Here the tea has been boiled for a very long time, over the stove with the leaves stuck to the bottom of an old tin tea kettle. Just before consumption they add an obscene amount of sugar, stir and then pour. It is sticky sweet, thick, red and has a bitter after-taste that will shrivel your tongue. I highly recommend it as an authentic Tunisian experience, but just once.

The second import gone wrong is actually from Canada. They have imported Celine Dion. She plays on all the radio stations and coffee shops. I have listened to here here at my work place and this morning Loren and I got to workout to her live collection. By the end of the hour Loren was on the verge of lunacy. It seems like everybody has her collected works, in English only, mind. And did I mention that they only seem to import her slow and sappy stuff? Nothing peppy just sad or moving. Worse, everybody seems to want us to be pleased that we're Canadian too and can't figure out why we're not singing along. Can you imagine Loren singing along? Hee, hee. I'd love to see that.

posted by tiaraletourneau @ 2:23 p.m.