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Afghanistan/South Asia
I think we’ve found our secret weapon - FRUITCAKES!
2004-03-04
I hope the fruit wasn’t soaked in booze like my gram used to do,(or maybe that’s the secret) via Lucianne:
Claxton fruitcakes have now contributed to world peace, or at least they’ve made Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Bramhall of Spartanburg a popular American in Afghanistan.
SNIP (HEY, HOW DO I GET THE PRETTY CORALLY COLOR?
The US commander shared his "Southern delicacy" during teatime with an Afghan general, who devoured it and demanded to know which "secret" bakery in Kabul baked the cakes, because his people had never had such a delicacy. ... Faith called Sandy Sanders, a longtime Civitan, and asked for 5kg of cakes. Then Sanders called to say he had been to the warehouse and could send at least 10kg. "Later, he called and said, `What about 25kg?’" He called again and upped it to 50kg. In the end, Sanders and the Civitans mailed 70kg of fruitcake -- or six cases -- to Bramhall in Afghanistan.
Posted by:Anonymous2U

#17  'The Afghan Fruitcake Affair' (as this event will surely come to be named), will go down in history as a pivotal event in the 21st century's clash of civilizations. It will certainly provide both the keys to peace and incontrovertible evidence that 'those people over there' really are different and we will never truly understand one another.
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-3-5 12:33:08 AM  

#16  Claxton fruit cakes are the South's gift to the US--they are abso-lutely the best in the world
Posted by: NotMike Moore   2004-3-4 11:53:35 PM  

#15  When I saw this headline, I thought it was a proposal to export America's "gay marriage problem."
Posted by: Tibor   2004-3-4 4:51:47 PM  

#14  Fruitcakes are bloody evil! I hate them with a passion...eew.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge   2004-3-4 1:10:26 PM  

#13  After yesterdays post I thought our secret weapon was condoms.... Did I miss a memo?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-3-4 12:57:03 PM  

#12  Hell John, you don't need to freeze fruitcake... properly made they have a half-life of 328 years.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-3-4 11:44:15 AM  

#11  I read all the comments and now I'm HUNGRY.

...waiting for lunch....

Fruitcakes don't freeze well...around here they usually back out of the freezer for a couple of slices so often they never get a chance.
Posted by: john   2004-3-4 11:34:30 AM  

#10  My wife is a secret fruitcake lover. She HAS to have some every Christmas. When she has time, she bakes her own. If she can't, she buys the Claxton brand. It only takes a little bit, and she's the only one here who eats it (I can't - on a zero-sugar diet). Of course, it's impossible to bake a small fruitcake, so when she does make them, we usually put two or three in the freezer for future years. They don't freeze well...
Posted by: Old Patriot   2004-3-4 10:48:39 AM  

#9  now i know what to get chainey for chrismas.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-3-4 10:22:22 AM  

#8  But these are no ordinary fruitcakes . . . they've been weaponized by exposure to Zionist death rays(tm).
Posted by: Mike   2004-3-4 10:13:15 AM  

#7  It's all a plot. and the Afghan warlords are now eating the entire world supply of fruitcake. There are no factories...no one in America has ever eaten a fruitcake. We accept them as presents..and then give them away next Christmas.

Doesn't the colonel know that at this rate fruitcake will be extinct?
Posted by: anymouse   2004-3-4 9:53:48 AM  

#6  The very best fruitcake comes from Claxton, Georgia, just a piece of US 280 east of Vidalia and the War College.

Of course, "best" is a relative term: Fruitcake literally gives me siezures. The muscles in my back start spasming, then jerking my back into a bow, as if I was a flopping fish.

And I still occasionally get the damned stuff as a gift. I will be more than happy to forward it to afghanistan as a good will gesture. Do I use the same shipping company who shipped my uneaten spinach to the starving children in India and Africa?

Funny thing about taste: Py parents-in-law, via The Ambassadors, has hosted two sisters of a friend in Russia, one during the Atlanta Olympic games. They simply would NOT EAT firm, white bananas. The bananas had to be so ripe, they'd bend in half if you held them upright on one end. They'd devour, with delight, bananas that I would have regarded as being long past the "dispose by" date.

Once you think about it, you realize, of course, why that is: It's a loooong way from the Havana Banana trees to Moscow...


Posted by: Ptah   2004-3-4 8:52:45 AM  

#5  Fruitcakeium is one of the densest materials known to man and can be used as a replacement for depleted uranium in anti-tank weapons.
Posted by: Steve   2004-3-4 8:27:52 AM  

#4  The last one I got as a Christmas gift made a wonderful doorstop
Posted by: Frank G   2004-3-4 8:08:35 AM  

#3  Fruitcake is a magnificent foodstuff. As I understand the history, the fruitcake originated as a staple among the Roman Legions capable of sustaining the warriors during long campaigns. It is the perfect backpacking food. Five pounds of fruitcake -- along with tea and a few other food items -- will sustain me for seven days. Whatever odious ingredient made the odd bite of the fruitcake of my youth taste unpleasant -- probably some sort of peel of citrus -- is no longer present.
Posted by: Garrison   2004-3-4 1:59:42 AM  

#2  Ever had Bread Pudding at Brennan's in New Orleans? Or Baked Alaska at Antoine's? Melike. The truth is they might qualify as decent warmups, but they can't hold a candle...

Yeah, I know the reputation and the jokes, but that just proves how rare is rare... pity the poor souls who've never had the good stuff. Sorry, folks! And no, there's not enough to go around as it is, so don't ask! :-)
Posted by: .com   2004-3-4 1:53:32 AM  

#1  I have eaten many of the most wonderous looking fruit cakes in my youth. And every one tasted like, like...
Posted by: Lucky   2004-3-4 12:27:53 AM  

00:00