Runing Tally of Things I Really Miss

I thought it would be mildly therapeutic if I made a running tally of things I miss now after two weeks (besides family and friends). Most of these things are currently food items, though it may change in time. Not sure why, but here goes.

Iced Coffee - Actually any coffee that isn't just a front for caffeinated tar in general is greatly missed. (I am very thankful I took a lb from home but I only have that much so I am saving it for days I really need motivation in the office) But its 78-84 degree F here and I would probably pay up words of 5 or 6 times what I'd pay at home for a cup of Java Madness or Brewed Awakenings Iced Coffee.

Baked Goods - I have no stove and the Chinese aren't big on baking. I had some bananas going brown today and got really excited to make Banana bread. I popped them in the freezer turned around and took them out again because I forgot I don't have an oven. Banana Bread could probably be its on category.

Maple Syrup - This might as well come from the moon. I can't even get "syrup" let alone grandpa's grad A homemade maple syrup. Pancakes and French Toast are both make-able, but no substitute for topping has yet been found.

Dark Beer - I have had one Sam Adams since I left. While beer is never in short supply, the color and taste range from about the equivalent of Stella to Bud Light. It does not seem to get much worse than bud light though. I have not so far found a Chinese equivalent to say, PBR or Naddy. This makes beer drinking very easy but also extremely uninteresting. The easy part does not bode well with the fact that it is considered in bad taste if a guest has an empty cup. Fortunately the beer ranges from about 3.1% to about 3.8% so its not to hard to keep to keep it together.

Pizza - This one is not as much of a nagging persistent missing like the other but more of an unsatisfiable craving that hits out of the blue. The interesting bit is that there is an Italian restaurant not TOO far away where you can get kind of a traditional Italian style pizza (and even then its not really that great) but this is not the kind of pizza that will satisfy this urge. If anyone gets to Pepe's or Sallys in the next year and has some left overs, I'd probably still eat it even if you sent it regular 5-7 business days shipping.

Interesting Discussion - There are plenty of interesting things to do, see, eat and try. Unfortunately my Chinese isn't good enough, and none can speak English well enough to have discussion beyond the point of what we like to do, what we study in school, what we like to eat, and what is different about China. This is all well and good because I can talk about all of them to just about everyone. But for someone who likes to dig a bit deeper every once and a while I may need to start finding a new outlet.

That is the major ones at the moment. There are probably a few more but they aren't to persistent if I can't think of them off the top of my head like these ones so they aren't making the list. I am sure I will add more as time goes on.