Growing up in a family of 6 sets the standards for life.

I suppose being one of four children with 2 parents that were working full time, meant lots of snacks like sandwiches, quick meals like fish fingers and chips, one large dinner a week on Sunday, when everyone was expected to be at the dining table (that was the only day we all ate together) sort of sets the standards for a while.

That is until I started travelling around this planet we call earth.

The changes are subtle at first, until one day nothing you eat is like what you started out eating. One simple change for me was after moving to Spain to live in Andulucia for 6 months. As a child we always had ham that was off the bone carved (if we were lucky) or just the watery wafer thin pulped up & flattened into a cube type thing.

I can not believe I went and bought that just to photograph it for here. 😅

The ham I came to love in Spain is called Jamon Serrano, they cover a joint in cotton & salt, then dry it in the sun for a month or three.

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If you smell the ham it has quite a pungent aroma, best to just put it in one's mouth without a sniff. 😂

Poland has got me eating a lot of different types of cheese, the top one I can not say as yet, I have had many good one's so far though.

The one country that I spent 6 years in, that left me zero desire to try anything new, was Thailand.
You see when you own a bar there, like I did & the girls working for you, come in with bowls full of ants eggs, then spoon them into their mouths..
It really does tend to put you off just a tad. I watched one girl eating a bowl full of these eggs & some ants were hatching and escaping the bowl, to run around the bar worktop. She was pressing the back of them, to break there backs for fun. The ants would be limping across the bar, dragging their back legs, just for her amusement, until she felt the urge to put it out it's misery and eat it. ant eggs

Add to that the bug carts, oh boy I could smell them coming from 500 yards or more "they stink" what is a bug cart you ask? you sure you want to know? hope you have a strong stomach - they fry larva, beetles, worms, frogs, scorpions in fact if it crawls, they fry it, if it is not yet born - they fry it.

I dated a Thai lady for a few years & while spending time with her, I found out if it moves they eat it, also if it is green it is called- "salad" -which meant even leaves off trees had a use, in some sort of salad.

I was never a fish eater, though after spending time in Hong Kong, Singapore and the rest of Asia changed that, so now I eat fish.

Along with food changes, in the UK I was for 10 years a bitter drinker, then Guinness (after winning 1 years worth for free). Way to get me hook, line & sinker, is to give me free beer for a year, well they had me for a good decade after that. Travelling though leads to the inevitable use of lager. In Thailand it was Singha or beer Chang, yes the same Chang Everton FC advertise on their shirts, that incidently means elephant. So you have 11 men running around, kicking a bag of wind, advertising elephants in Merseyside.

My choice of lager in Poland is Tyskie, I also like Grolsch from just over the border in Germany.

Other superb drinks I have found here in Poland are zubrowka vodka, go for the one with the long blade of grass in it if you can find it, and mix it with apple juice. (Bison Grass Vodka) It is simply delicious.

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Places I have visited and lived in, in no particular favourite order.

England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland (both), USA, France, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain, Cambodia, Bali, Thailand, Belgium, Holland, Malta, Tenerife, Curacao, Poland (presently), Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia, south Korea, Isle of man, isle of wight, Jersey, Turkey, Indonesia and a few others I simply forget about for now.

If you made it all the way to the end thanks for hanging in there. Have a fantastic day/night/week.
Peace and love. ❤

Cheers.

emojis