The Vent and Rant Thread

[badgoodDeb]

Is your licorice stronger than ordinary-over-the-counter-American stuff? Of course, if you've never tasted other kinds, you wouldn't know! Maybe somebody who has tasted both, will know?

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I suspect licorice, which is an acquired taste for non Dutch people.

...

Licorice is more appreciated than you might think, and I'm a bit put out that it's so hard to find real licorice. The stuff that most folks think of as licorice (black vines) are truly "those disgusting sweets".

[badgoodDeb]

That may answer my question .... "is yours particularly strong" !

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I suspect licorice, which is an acquired taste for non Dutch people.

Well... I'm Dutch. I eat licorice sometimes. I actually like most sorts.

However:



Engelse Drop (English Licorice?). That stuff should be forbidden. People who sell it should be put in jail, and people who actually produce it should be killed. Slowly. With a blunt saw and a pickax. This stuff is *GROSS*.

I went to Denmark about 15 years ago, to visit a friend who moved there from the Netherlands. The one thing she told me was:

"Bring as many stroopwafels as you can, or I'll send you right back again!"

This:



I understand that English speaking people actually call this a "strohp waffle" or something like it

[wodin]

When I was growing up, my Prussian (German speaking Pole) grandmother used to host holiday family banquets for her rather large extended family. All of the aunts would get together for a week or more before hand and cook-cook-cook.

One of the things they would make for Christmas was aniseseed candy. It was a bright red transparent hard candy and tasted like quite strong licorice. Amazon has something called Red Anise Squares Candy but I haven't tried it.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well... I'm Dutch. I eat licorice sometimes. I actually like most sorts.

However:



Engelse Drop (English Licorice?). That stuff should be forbidden. People who sell it should be put in jail, and people who actually produce it should be killed. Slowly. With a blunt saw and a pickax. This stuff is *GROSS*.

Looks like Basset's Liquorice Allsorts to me. Not my favourite, but I don't dislike them as much as you do, obviously!

They're actually my father in law's favourite. We often buy them for him and he'll finish a whole box in an evening.

A Danish colleague once brought some liquorice flavoured with salt in to work. That really was disgusting!

[Rumpelteazer]

Yes, Engelse drop is licorice allsorts in the UK. I'm not that fond of it, either. I myself am very partial to honey licorice. I hate licorice with mint or eucalyptus, especially the small square ones with a cross on it.

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[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

A Danish colleague once brought some liquorice flavoured with salt in to work. That really was disgusting!

Oh yeah. We have that too: "Zoute drop" (Salted licorice), or even "Dubbelzoute drop" (Salted licorice... with twice the amount of salt). That's not fun. We also have sweet and salt popcorn, and the salty one is gross to the max.

The one thing I remember from Denmark is mayonaise. I'll never forget that.

"I'd like some French fries with mayonaise."

So, I get exactly that. When I started eating, I thought I'd die right on the spot. I told my host: "I think this mayonaise is over the hill." She tasted it, and thought it was perfectly fine.

Now, take half a glass of Dutch/Belgian mayonnaise. Fill up the other half with vinegar. Stir and blend... and then you have Danish mayonnaise. And I'm not even talking about the wagon load of salt that was on the fries as well. Yech.

There was so much of the stuff (mayonnaise and salt) on the French fries that half the dish was empty when I took off the mayonnaise, so I ended up throwing everything away and ordering a new portion without anything, insisting that I put the salt on it myself, and having some ketchup in a separate dish just to make sure.

Normally I'm not a fussy eater (except for organ meat, such as liver and brain I basically eat everything), but that wasn't a fun experience over there.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Yes, Engelse drop is licorice allsorts in the UK. I'm not that fond of it, either. I myself am very partial to honey licorice. I hate licorice with mint or eucalyptus, especially the small square ones with a cross on it.

I love those; both the honey and mint ones. I also, for some reason, can eat loads of this if I get my hands on it:

Zure matten (the box says "Sour Power Belts"):



Zure beertjes (The same, in bear shape, but often even more sour):



Not surprisingly, I like Bitter Lemon and Tonic, and I eat grapefruits and lemons as snacks... I love the fact that I can watch someone's head explode when I bite into a piece of grapefruit or lemon without first adding sugar

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I love those; both the honey and mint ones. I also, for some reason, can eat loads of this if I get my hands on it:

Zure matten (the box says "Sour Power Belts"):



Zure beertjes (The same, in bear shape, but often even more sour):



Not surprisingly, I like Bitter Lemon and Tonic, and I eat grapefruits and lemons as snacks... I love the fact that I can watch someone's head explode when I bite into a piece of grapefruit or melon without first adding sugar

Why would one add sugar to grapefruit?
Now watermelon is improved by just a touch of salt.

What kind of melon?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Why would one add sugar to grapefruit?

To make it less bitter and sour, of course.

Now watermelon is improved by just a touch of salt.

What kind of melon?

I meant lemon. Half of the time, I type melon, for some reason.

[badgoodDeb]

Customs, customs! I've never heard of adding sugar to grapefruit, OR sugar or salt to watermelon. However, I do salt my canteloupe!

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

To make it less bitter and sour, of course.



I meant lemon. Half of the time, I type melon, for some reason.

That just sounded odd on the grapefruit.
Oh and lemon and melon are the same letters.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Customs, customs! I've never heard of adding sugar to grapefruit, OR sugar or salt to watermelon. However, I do salt my canteloupe!

My husband puts pepper on his cantaloupe.

I'll never forget the first time I was served French fries (pommes frites) with mayonnaise already on them. This was in Paris. I just do not care for mayonnaise on anything though. I don't really care for ketchup on fries either, but can tolerate it. The problem I have with French fries near everywhere served in the US is too much salt.

Anyway years later after the mayonnaise on fries experience I Pulp Fiction came out and I really laughed at this scene:

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Why would one add sugar to grapefruit?
Now watermelon is improved by just a touch of salt.

What kind of melon?

I like a little sugar on my grapefruit as well. Now salt on watermelon is something else. Maybe that's another Southern thing? I recall a scene in the film The Reivers (based on the Faulkner novel) where a sheriff that has threatened to jail the main characters asks to be served watermelon with salt on it.