A Steaming Cup of Hot Milk From a Bag

One of the first pieces of information that I received about moving to Asia was that the milk would take some getting used to. I filed this piece of underground intelligence in the recesses of my mind and when the subject of milk arose once here, I approached with caution.

In a supply of goodies that awaited me upon my arrival there was a stockpile of milk. I was hesitant to give it a try. There was and still is a lot of eating in town and I really do not eat in my dorm much at all, so I sort of forgot that it was there until the craving for a glass of milk hit me one night as I munched on some sugar wafer type snacks. I remembered the bags of milk in my refrigerator and decided to give it a whirl.

My underground intelligence was correct. The first sip was small, but let me know immediately that I would have to rethink my need for cold mild from a bag. Let me pause for a moment to describe the bag. It is very similar in size and material to fruit drinks such as Caprisun without the straw. I decided to try to dilute the milk with some water and see what happened. This experiment at least produced a reasonable facsimile of what could pass for some good ole 2% homogenized pasteurized dairy product, but alas, three sips later and I had all I could stand for my first oriental milk orientation.

A few days passed and I was out of the city staying at a friend’s residence. Awaiting me at the breakfast table was a steaming cup of hot milk from a bag. I wondered how I would manage this as I could not even finish a cold glass. Panic struck as I did not want to offend my friend who barely speaks English. He asked if I drink milk for breakfast so I told him I usually just have water so he pointed me to the glasses and said to help myself.

He then offered me a package of coffee to add to my water which he assumed was hot as that is the custom here (another blog for another day). I enjoy coffee even less than milk from a bag, so it was either think fast or have 2 foul beverages that I would have to choke down. I chose to think fast. I dumped the coffee into the hot milk and stirred. The concoction created in this experiment was not delicious, but it was not bad either. It was reminiscent of a really cheap brand of hot chocolate mix that one would finish about half of and leave the rest in the cabinet for the duration of time. The foul taste of the coffee canceled the foul taste of the milk. Apparently, this was not an original invention and I have since been informed that all flavors of Tang also go well in hot milk.

I will have to give it a try as I have many bags to experiment with.