Lauren and Lindsay (I call them L1 and L2) work in the computer lab. I get to see one or both of them most days when my class is over in that lab . . . they come in right after our class. We were talking about differences between Maine and Texas one day and I was telling them that even little things like food are very different. They couldn't believe that ginger ale wasn't readily available in soft drink machines or convenience store refrigerators in Texas. "What do you drink when you're sick?" Well, some of us were raised on ginger ale but that's because our parents bought it on the aisle with the mixers (club soda and tonic water) not the soft drinks.
They then told me about Red Hot Dogs and Moxie. They don't have to be consumed together, but they are each a Maine tradition. The red hot dogs are really red. I think they must be leftover from red dye #2 days. They don't look natural at all. I bought one at the deli in the grocery store and asked the deli worker how to cook it. She said to boil it (and gave me a look like, "How else would you cook a hot dog?!"). It took me a few days to get up the courage to eat it, but I finally did. It tastes like a hot dog on the inside but the skin is a little thicker than today's hot dog. The skin had a little more flavor to it than "regular" hot dogs. But it wasn't bad. I won't go out of my way to eat another one, but if they're available, I'll gladly eat one again.
I asked MRM and RBF about Moxie. They laughed. They described it as an acquired taste. I kept an eye out for individual bottles (I wasn't going to buy a 6-pack, in case I didn't like it). Then Maggy asked what she could bring to the Texas Independence Day party and we said drinks. Tada! She brought several 2-liter bottles of beverages including one of Moxie! Now's my chance.
I tried it. It wasn't bad. It tasted a little like soda fountain root beer with a punch. Unfortunately, it has caffeine in it and I could taste the caffeine, so I'm not sure if the aftertaste that it had was the Moxie or the caffeine. I think it was the caffeine. I need to see if they make a decaffeinated version, though usually, when they take the caffeine out, they put in an artificial caffeine flavor and it's the flavor of caffeine that I don't like. But again, I wouldn't go out of my way to drink another one, but if someone offered me a Moxie, I'd drink it.
