Orange you glad I told you this

I have some bizarre food likes. Not that we all don't have a few things that others probably look cross-eyed at us for eating/drinking. For example, my wonderful husband loves to drink milk and Sprite mixed together. He calls it a "Higgins Special." It has something to do with his caddying days. I don't ask too many questions - just the thought of milk and Sprite together turns my stomach. (Though it does remind me of Laverne's love for milk and Pepsi on the old Laverne and Shirley tv show)

I was thinking about my bizarre food cravings as I made myself a mug of hot Tang today. Yes, you heard me correctly . . . hot Tang. The good ole' astronaut beverage. I'm pretty sure only NASA and I purchase Tang, and even I do not do it that often. And I'm pretty certain that most people drink it cold, like real orange juice.

How, in the world, do you ask, did you ever come up with drinking hot Tang? My grade school friend Karin's mom, that's how. You see, Karin's mom is from Germany. Apparently, there is some German beverage they call "hot orange." I have no idea what the "real" hot orange beverage is made from, but apparantly when she came to the US, she found Tang. It must have been a decent replacement, in her mind.

Karin and I played soccer together. Every game, a family was assigned to bring oranges and water. But on those cold, cold mornings, when we insisted on playing soccer in our shorts, Karin's mom brought a jumbo thermos of hot Tang instead of water. It certainly did the trick, providing a small, short term boost of heat to our otherwise chilled bodies. I think most of the girls politely passed on seconds - depite the warmth it provided. But not me . . .a love affair with hot Tang began.

What can I say? Maybe I need to let NASA know about the hot stuff. It's pretty cold up there in space.