"a quarter of a liter",

Well, a quart here in the U.S. is pretty close to a liter. So you could say "about a quarter of a quart", which sounds funny but would be pretty close.

I gave up trying to figure out the price of gas in Canada YEARS ago. It goes on my credit card, and I assume I can afford it.

(I'm leaving for Hilton Beach in exactly 10 days, so bear with me if I'm all Canada-likes-carrots until then. Hilton is, not to be too melodramatic about it, where my soul lives, and I want to be there so badly I can taste it.)

We get soda in liters but milk in gallons/quarts/pints/etc, which has always been a mystery to me.

Was the imperial gallon equal to 5 quarts, American? I vaguely recall conversation by my folks, when buying gasoline during trips to Nova Scotia and PEI (which has long had the litre of milk in a plastic bag that you put in a pitcher doohickey). First, they'd calculate the Ca-US $ exchange rate, then the size difference of Imperial vs. American gallon. It was very mathy.

Quarter of a liter ~= a cup, which is the size of boxes of milk, I think.

Well, a quart here in the U.S. is pretty close to a liter. So you could say "about a quarter of a quart", which sounds funny but would be pretty close.

Am I the only person who loves the half pint?

did you two ever meet up, when Hil was in Israel?

Sadly, no. Hil's tight schedule and a very evil bus schedule conspired together to prevent us from meeting. We did get to talk on the phone for a while (which felt closer, somehow, from only a few dozens miles away, not an acean away, eben though it could theoretically be done even with that same ocean length of phone-distance). It was so lovely to hear Hil again. I was so very sorry I didn't get to see her. I whined about it at length in her ears (though, we did manage to talk about other stuff as well, eventually). [Edit: a non-surprising x-post with Hil]

But why on earth would the mom be appalled?

Um, that's pretty much what I'm trying to find out, I guess. Food is the real cultural gap, once again.

Are they refrigerated

Yup. Which is why usually kids drink them in the morning, when they're leaving their house, and not later during the day.

I am an American Mom, and I pledge to not be appalled by milk in a bag. After all, it sort of comes out of bags, in the first place.

I had the best fish and chips of my life in Reykjavík. But I haven't been to England yet, so there may be better out there. Hard to imagine, though.

I had fish and chips from a vendor with a cart right outside the Tower of London. They weren't the best I've ever had, but they were the most perfectly appropriate London Tourist Experience Food.

Thanks Cindy and flea!

Yep, tahini. Conveniently for me, also tahini in Greek.

In Malaysia, the coffee came in baggies like that also, but as it was a little warm, there would be a plastic clamp with a loop around the top of the bag, so you could hold that. Or hang it on something nearby. Like a chain-link fence, while you waited for the bus. I only got it once, as they put butter in the coffee, which I really didn't like (the corn syrup and condensed milk were good, though).

Judith Miller already took the fall for Rove. They'll either claim he didn't know she was covert (the Reagan "I didn't know about my job" defense) or say that he saw the article before it was printed, but after Miller et al had leaked it.

The "drive it like you stole it" administration.

I gave up trying to figure out the price of gas in Canada YEARS ago. It goes on my credit card, and I assume I can afford it.

That's probably best. Gas is expensive here. I think it is roughly $3.20 per gallon in your money and your measurement, which is not as stark a difference as it used to be, before your refinery capacity problems and uh, Karl Rove.

(I'm leaving for Hilton Beach in exactly 10 days, so bear with me if I'm all Canada-likes-carrots until then. Hilton is, not to be too melodramatic about it, where my soul lives, and I want to be there so badly I can taste it.)

Not to worry, Canada is very pro-carrots. Some of us may not be all that carrotty, per se, but we're carrot-friendly, if you know what I mean.