The taste of another land

The school year began on Monday. Thus I officially have to declare summer over, and live in the memories.
It's no secret that I love to travel, I take every moment of my vacation time and live it to it's fullest. When it is over, I miss it greatly. (Please don't interpret this to mean that I don't love my job - I love my job, I also love the fact that it affords me the opportunity to travel).
So I try and recreate the experiences I had during the summer at home. It's about fooling the senses. I do so through taste. In every country I visit, I usually discover foods that I fall in love with, flavors that will forever remind me of that country. Whenever possible, I bring home whatever I can. Now there are many rules regarding what you can and can't bring back into the United States from abroad. No fresh produce, no meats, no seeds etc.
But what you can bring in tantalizes the senses. I consider myself lucky to have an international kitchen.
I make salad dressing with pumpkin seed oil fro Austria.
I use Knorr spice, soup and meal packets from Germany to cook my veggies with.
I dip veggies into Pebre from Chile.
I enjoy wine and reggio paramesano cheese from Italy.
I spice my food with Aji from Chile and with spices from Turkey.
I make my breakfast with English Ready Brek
I also make lemon meringue with Green's from England.
I've got Linsen Oil from Germany to cook eggs.
I have other oils and vinegars from Germany as well.
I have tea from Germany, England, South Africa and possibly other places.
And of course I have candy from around the world...gummys, chocolate etc.
But my international kitchen is not just about the food in it.
I cut with knives from England.
I have metric measuring cups from Germany.
I have a 'spätzle' maker from Germany.
I have several German recipe books.
And I am sure if I dug deeper, well I'd find more.....

I am lucky to have an international kitchen to fool my senses and let me take a mini vacation whenever I wish and not just when the school year allows for it.