When Dick accepted a foreign assignment with Eli Lilly in Scotland, Mary Ann, Sandy and David moved to Glascow with him and started absorbing the local customs.  Scottish afternoon tea was one of the most delightful surprises: Gateaux with double cream slathered over the top was a favorite, and tea time became a family treat with shortbread cookies, tiny cakes, and tea sandwiches. Milk and cream was delivered to the door in the morning, so cream went with almost everything. (Especially double cream which was so thick it would lay on top of corn flakes.) They learned how buy just a few groceries at a time, to heat only one room at a time with gas fireplaces and to launder only one sheet at a time in the tiny washer: Very frugal, the Scots.

      After the Scotland adventure, Mary Ann and Dick proceeded to Ireland where they lived in a small village on the southern coast of the island called Kinsale. Many of the other Lilly wives were young and had never seen food in its natural form, so Mary Ann became a loving mentor to them.  She showed them how to cut up whole chickens, (which were hanging from their feet in the butcher's shop), how to clean and prepare raw fresh vegetables, and how to substitute spices for items they couldn't find, like taco mix. Most importantly, she showed them how to have a sense of humor about the challenges of living in a foreign environment. She baked Irish brown bread and discovered how to delicately prepare the fresh fish that was caught in the North Sea, visible from her home's window. So intrigued was she by the sea, she and Dick took sailing lessons out in the rough, rolling waters.

      After the Ireland years, their next European project stop was Vienna and Budapest. It was here that Mary Ann really blossomed as a baker, sampling the sumptuous pastries and sipping decadent hot chocolate in her Loden wool cape like a local. She bought jelly roll pans and made apfelstrudel. She baked Sacher Torte, completely covered in delicious chocolate. She rolled out milchrahmstrudel with milk and delicate sweet cheese. She created Hungarian goulash and palacsinta, thin light crepes filled with fruit or chocolate. She traveled extensively around Europe, sampling the cuisine and the culture in many countries, from England to the Ukraine, from Normandy, France south to Italy and Portugal. Not only did she experience these regional tastes, sights and sounds, but she generously shared her love of travel and food with her family and friends. For her 80th birthday, Mary Ann took her daughter, grand-daughters and niece on a trip to London and Paris. In the photo above,  they are sampling Gelato from a street vendor in Paris.