Sunburn, crackers, random thoughts.

Well just so you don't think it's all work and no play here at Latipedea; today I went to Dar's South Beach. I spent about four hours playing, lounging, and relaxing in the sun. Tourquoise water and white sand beach with little palm thatched huts and schoolchildren walking home along the beach. Lovely. Downside: I swear I put on sunscreen but I may have foolishly gotten a sunburn on my face and chest. Or maybe it will fade to a nice tan - guess I'll know tomorrow.

[Night-time update: Ouch! Though it could be worse. Face is mostly ok, top of one foot and both thighs are definitely burnt. You should see the red/white tan line where my shorts ended! Like an American flag. And apparently my hair is long enough that i PARTED it! So i got a good scalp burn. That hasn't ever happened before. Perhaps a haircut is due.]

I had a blast tonight at a live drumming and dance performance. I saw wedding dances from three different tribal areas and a whole lot of festive drumming. The women at one point even danced with flaming gourds on their heads! The performance was outside of course. I wish Seattle had more outdoor art. Not the sculpture park but more performance and interactive art.

Ok. Bear with me a moment as i analize what i'm easting. I forgot to take my anti-malarial at lunch so i'm taking it now which means two things. First, i have to be upright for another hour (so that it doesn't accidentally creep into the esophagus and scald it. Second that i need to have some food (to prevent bad things in my belly). Doesn't it sound like a lovely pill to injest daily for 17 weeks?

So I'm doing a little snacking - also i really wanted peanut butter. And this isn't Jif. This is 100% ground up peanuts. Which is delicious - don't even get me started on how bad i think sugared pb is, but this is thick so you do need to spread it on something. So i wanted a cracker.

The store mostly had sweet biscuits but i found one salty cracker: Saltcrax. Not only "slow baked" but the tag line is "bites of creativity". They look like ritz but there ends the similarity. Remember that elven bread in the Lord of the Rings? Lembas it was called and through special elvish ways one bite is like a meal. I've found some! Instead of light and flaky saltcrax went the more dense and heavy route. The manufacturer promises "the more you eat - the more you want' but i would like to offer the following. Pringles say 'bet you can't eat just one', saltcrax should say 'dare you to try and eat five!'.

Next we move to the side of the box: a cracker is pictured with adjectives pointing to various parts. We have the aforementioned 'slow baked'. Followed by 'crisp and fresh', 'mouthwatering delicious', 'best ingredients guaranteed', and finally 'enjoyed as is or all dressed up'. Perhaps dressed as the serving suggestion on the back. This shows a saltcrax with a thin slice of lemon, topped with some cream cheese, and perch a slice of California roll sushi on that. Garnish with ginger. Mmmmm, actually looks really good.

Included in the best ingredients are invert syrup, another new raising agent acid sodium pyrophosphate, golden syrup, and flour improver sodium metabisulphite. Thankfully i have chemist friends.

Oh to top off my meal i'm havinging my third glass of guava, pineapple, papaya, mango, peach juice. I do love the tropics! At lunch i splurged on a Fanta and they only had passionfruit flavor. Yum.

Which segues into another observation. Africa really is the home of the pepsi generation. And i actually find myself secumbing to the desire. At home i have soda what 20 times a year (not including mixers)? But here the pretty glass coke and pepsi bottles are everywhere! In Egypt, you meet someone and they say "come have tea". Here it is "want to go get a coke?"

So i am going to remember this tomorrow - i don't need to be drinking that stuff. Especially not when i sweat a gallon each day - perhaps water is what i need. Or with the availability of amazing fruit - i should be having juice.

I'm also trying to remember my normal dietary choices. I choose to be fishetarian for a reason and even after my carnivorous experimentation it still makes sense and i'd like to work back to that. Obviously i won't starve myself or eat only bread and peanut butter. I also won't offend someone who has cooked for me. And i still intend to sample local fare. But in a restaurant in the city there is no reason. I actually had a really tasty veggie burger today. :)