The Coke Machine at Epcot, Borscht, and Vampires

I read a review at The Rundown and it made think of the one thing that I always think of when I think about (what would my english teacher "think" about the way I phrased that?) my last trip to Orlando: the coca-cola dispenser at Epcot.

I hit all the theme parks down there a few months since I hadn't been in Florida for roughly a decade. And I was surprised at how much more there was to do (or not to do, depending on your personal view of theme parks). But the thing that seemed to stick in my mind (other than the helicopter tour over Orlando...that truly felt as if you were in a flimsy bucket a thousand feet up, suspended by a thin rope, and swinging in the wind) was this one shop at Epcot where you can sample various incarnations of coca-cola from around the world.

I think I tasted coke from china, japan, brazil, and a few other asian and south american countries. So what does coke taste like in these foreign realms? Well, they've definitely got their own take on what "adds life" (from an old coke advertising campaign, if I remember correctly). For the most part, most of them tasted fruity. And I think the ones that were the most distinct (mind you, "distinct" does not necessarily equate with a thumbs-up endorsement) were the ones from China and Mexico. However, one of them, and I can't remember which, although I think it was from latin america, tasted absolutely wretched. More like a big pot of carbonated beets than coca-cola.

Speaking of beets, I had Borscht for the first time last night. I can't say I enjoyed it. Not that the taste was so bad. But it really just looked as though a few zombies had decided to cook up a late night meal. Really red. And if vampires ate food, this is what they would eat. BTW, I subscribe to the Anne Rice notion of vampires. And, if memory serves properly (and it may not), vampires in her vampire-universe, do not eat mortal food.

I may blog at some point about The Vampire Chronicles. I started reading them in grad school in wisconsin and they were, and still are, some of the best books I have ever read.