American confections

One of my friends at Brown invites me to Russian Tea every Friday afternoon. It's a laid-back, small social gathering in one of the dorm kitchens, where she serves tea with Russian chocolates and biscuits (one type of biscuit is so hard and dry that we call them "teething rings for Russian babies"). Us non-Russians always pore over the variety bag of Russian chocolates, asking, "Which one should I try?" The event is a great study break, and I almost always meet someone new.

Which got me thinking, it would be nice to hold these informal tea gatherings when I go to Cambridge next fall. Socializing over tea is such an ingrained part of British culture that it wouldn't be too strange, but I want to add a touch of "America" to my tea gatherings by offering confections that are unique to the United States.

However, I had a hard time coming up with a list of American candies that haven't already been mass-marketed all over the globe. Things like Kit-Kat Bars and Snickers are already international brands, so it wouldn't be very exciting to bring them. Less popular brands of candy, such as Mars Bars or Whoppers, might be harder to find in the United Kingdom, but (in my opinion) they don't taste all that great, and I wouldn't even want to serve them.

I was talking about this at Russian Tea this afternoon, and they suggested that I should bring peanut butter candies. I didn't realize it before, but peanut butter is, in fact, a distinctly American foodstuff. One girl told me that when she was traveling France, she was craving peanut butter, but she had a hard time tracking down a jar of peanut butter in their grocery stores. She eventually found it in the international foods section. Crazy, eh? Maybe I should make peanut butter cookies and fluffernutter sandwiches to serve at tea time. Peanut butter cookies and fluffernutter sandwiches are fucking delicious.

I was also thinking of bringing confections that are distinctly from the American South/Southwest, since (I am from Texas). Pecans pretty much don't exist in Europe, so I can introduce some Brits to southern-style pecan pralines. Maybe I'll just pack a bag of pecans into my suitcase and bake pecan pie and and pecan sandies. Maybe I'll bring a Paula Deen cookbook.

My tea gatherings are going to be amazing.

Why are they tempting me

The more I think about it, the more I want to join Cambridge's taekwondo club.

I used to have a knee-jerk reaction of "AW, HELL NO" every time someone suggested that I join Brown taekwondo (TKD). It was simply too time consuming, and the idea of getting a new injury every week wasn't very enticing. But after seeing all the friendship and close camaraderie at the end-of-the-year Brown TKD banquet... I actually really wanted to join. And I already know a full third of the Brown TKD members anyways.

I think, during Freshers Week, I'll try out both the fencing club and the taekwondo club at Cambridge. I'll see which one I click with most and join that one. My motivation for joining an athletic club is mostly for the camaraderie, to be honest, and not so much the competition. The only advantage of picking taekwondo is that it'll be something that I can continue doing when I get back to Brown. This is because Brown only offers varsity-level fencing, and nothing less intense than that. Boo.

(God, I can imagine the ridiculous amount of "likes" I would get on Facebook if I joined the Cambridge University Taekwondo group.)