Today as I was walking down the 20 degree streets with a 1 liter bottle of Coke in my hand, I remembered how I loved the Vanilla Coke when I went back home 6 months ago. Ben Tao actually introduced me to it when I visited him in Virginia. He was all like, "Oh, oh, you don't know about this stuff do you? You gotta try it!" And that was the beginning. For the remaining 2 weeks, every chance I had, I'd drink Vanilla Coke... or Root Beer (root beer's hard to find in Japan because most Japanese people think it tastes like medicine, so it doesn't sell).
I was so hooked, that when I came back to Japan, I tried making my own Vanilla Coke... ghettofied. Before Vanilla Coke officially came out in a can, you coulda gotten the stuff if you went to a 50s diner with a soda fountain. I'm assuming that all they really did was get regular Coke... and add some of that vanilla Italian Soda syrup, and mix it... stirred not shaken (cuz if you shake Coke, well, I'm sure you can figure it out). Yeah, well, that Italian Soda syrup stuff is hard to come by around these parts (although I just found a place where I can get some!) so I just added vanilla extract to a cup of Coke. Supa ghettofied. Wasn't the same. It was kinda nasty actually... so you kiddies out there reading this... don't try it at home.