Ahhh, to be from the Maritimes...

Ok, so this morning, while waiting for various bureaucratic decisions to be made, I amused myself by playing a mental slideshow of my memories of time spent abroad. In the process, I stumbled upon the here-to-fore forgotten episode of the Great Dessert Mix-Up. Tears of mirth sprang to my eyes at the mere memory...

In the Fall of 2000, I spent four months at the Queen's University International Study Centre in East Sussex, UK. This is an incredible spot- the school is actually based in a medieval castle and the student body is composed of people from all over the planet, but mainly from Canada and the US.

One evening, a large group of upper-years was chowing down before some lecture or another. And by large group, I mean there was a whole table of us... prolly 20-25 students.

Dessert that night was the famed creation of Brighton origin, Banoffee Pie. For those of you who don't *shock* know what this is, think graham-cracker crust, a layer of ooey-gooey toffee, a layer of sliced bananas, and topped with whipped cream... YUM! As it was still fairly early in the semester, most of us had never tried this concotion before. Somebody asked if I liked it. I did... a lot. So I said:

"Yes! This is better than Sex In A Pan!"

The ENTIRE table (save one, sister Maritimer) erupted into gales of laughter. I mean, people were choking on their pie, milk was streaming from noses... a few actually slid from their chairs onto the floor- it was a mess. I looked at my sister Maritimer, and she looked at me- we both shrugged our shoulders... what's so funny?? Then I clued in- the rest of the table had no idea that Sex In A Pan is actually a very yummy dessert, which apparently ONLY exists in the Maritimes. (You all know what it is, don't you???) So I quickly tried to explain myself. Then performed the Heimlich on a couple of my classmates (no worries- lives were indeed saved...).

In hindsight, once I stop laughing and wipe the tears from my eyes, I realize that I should have just let them laugh. It would have secured my reputation as the funny, slightly crass, and therefore daring and cool woman on campus. Ah well. I don't mind being the wacky Maritimer... In fact, I quite enjoy the wackiness.