Food and drink

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with orientations, trips and classes which have now officially started. The topic of today's blog is a subject very close to my heart, and that's the wonder of American food and drink. However, hilariously, America and in particular Davis has been the place where I've tried the most diverse range of foods in my lifetime. I've obviously eaten the great American hamburger and pizza's with many toppings, hotdogs and all these other American candies and whatnot, but surprisingly my culinary habits whilst eating out have taken a different turn. In the interests of trying all the places I can in Davis, I've eaten Mexican, Thai, Indian, Chinese, sushi, crepes and god knows what else. Nearly all of it's been tasty and again a lot of the things I've tried have been fairly healthy... fairly I add!
But with what shall I wash it down with? First things first, coke: yes, it does taste different to back home, and I have discovered why. Instead of using sugar, they substitute this with high fructose corn syrup, giving American coke a more syrupy flavour (and I absolutely promise you, it is noticable. You would be able to feel a difference, trust me). American beer is... well, I won't beat around the bush. It's shit. Budweiser, Corrs, Keystone, products on the lower end of the Miller label... all are not fit to kiss the bootheels of anything we'd serve up back home. Plus, they have the supremely annoying 'light' beers. Beers which, when poured, look like a bad urine, and taste how I'd expect bad urine to taste. Of course, the cheapness of these light beers means that they're perfect Beer Pong beverages, but be aware, this doesn't make them any less shit. Oh, and they don't have alcoholic cider over here. A friend was incredibly surprised that we would even serve up such a thing back home!
On the drinks front, free refills are the hugest difference you will notice in American restaurants and fast food outlets, and most places also pour water with your meal for free, which means 9 times out of 10, you don't need to bother buying a drink. California in particular, however, is very well known as being a great wine making State, and it's most famous vinyards are located in the Napa Valley, which I visited. Some of the sights of these vinyards were truly picturesque (check my facebook album for some examples, I'll leave a link at the bottom), and the wine on offer was nice. As someone who doesn't like wine that much, some of the terms in a winelist (bouncy flavours, hints of this and that, a crisp refreshing afterhue and all that bollocks) are a bit... pretentious shall we say. However, I did find that I have a weakness for super-sweet dessert wines, though I shan't knock back too many at averaging 18% a pop! One winery also had the most amazing thing I've seen for a while: a cheeses of the World section. Let me tell you, there was nothing better than sitting in the shade, soaking up some of that wine with a nice little slice of home: extra mature Farmhouse Cheddar.

Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158748&id=647201367&l=1962ac6f93 (for pictures of Napa Valley)