For culture, I'm thinking the commonalities--food, events, TV shows, things talked about. Texans may have eaten different things for breakfast than Pennsylvanians did, but I bet they were familiar with Walter Cronkite, Milton Berle, McDonald's, etc. Yes, it's a car existence/TV commonality, but that's been the tie-in for a long time.

I imagine every umbrella culture/ethnicity contains regional variants. The French in Lyon would have their own variants from the people in Calais.

FWIW, my CV is only 10 pages.

Not FORTY!

Ah, my dear french canadians (and german) ended up still being there and clearly, the time was soon forgotten as the four of us were the last to leave of our party. Had to wait until Madrid lost and we finished another bottle of wine after the other half of the party left. Which was my two bosses and a higher up, but not in my direct line.

....I might just not wake at quarter to five. I lost count of the bottles of wine consumed (and the bulk of it by the 4 of us) and they are the biggest damned (very securely safe) flirts and I was totally on that ballgame and goddamn, it's so much fun when nothing is at stake. Except, you know, bosses got to see me like that?

Work trips are weird.

I get MAJOR bonus points for suggesting the place. I also lost count of the plates. They just kept ordering. I'm pretty sure at some point, they must've just given some of them gratis, because the bill for 8 was a mere 176 EU, and that just doesn't make sense with all that wine and tapas. The other night, two of us had one DRINK each and 6 tapas and that was 15 EU a head. Pretty sure it was more than that. I'd told the bartender I was bringing friends later, but I didn't know it would be quite this epic. He was thanking me as was the chef. La Garnacha, Calle Ferraz 27. Mmmm.

OTOH, my boss assured me I am getting a per diem without receipts.

....there's NO WAY I spent my perdiem. It's possible I might possibly spend those 5 days perdiem over the course of those 5 days plus the next 5. Maybe. Goodness.

OK, chance I will wake up in 4h45. Better try to sleep.

I love Spain. I love my european and canadian partners. I love rioja.

I love sarameg, drunk and in Spain.

Timelies all!

My parents are of the "no spicy food, please" persuasion. Which means when they visit we can do Italian, "American"(steakhouse or seafood) or Chinese(Thai is ok, as long as spicy food is marked on the menu).

I'll try most types of food.

I was just reading something about Caribbean food, and all the pictures looked really good, so now I'm flipping through the Caribbean Vegan cookbook, trying to decide what to make. I think I'm going to have to wait until I'm visiting my parents to get some of these ingredients, so I guess I'll be making some Caribbean food for them.

What kind of dishes are Caribbean, Hil? (I'm waiting for dinner to cook, and I'm really hungry, so talking about food is the next best thing.)

I love rioja

NOM, rioja. I loved just sitting down and asking for "una rioja" and drinking whatever they gave me, it was all good.

What kind of dishes are Caribbean, Hil? (I'm waiting for dinner to cook, and I'm really hungry, so talking about food is the next best thing.)

It looks like lots of different sorts of breads with fillings, lots of beans and rice, a bunch of things made with squash, and most of the sauces are heavy on the onions, garlic, peppers, and parsley or cilantro. A few okra recipes, lots of things that use plantains, some curried things, and a kind of bread called Buss-Up-Shut Roti. (Note: pretty much everything I know about Caribbean food comes from this cookbook, which was written by a woman from Barbados, and which I haven't read too closely yet. This is just the general impression I'm getting from flipping through it.)

Is parsley part of the Cajun Holy Trinity of spices with onion and garlic, or is that celery?