The Vent and Rant Thread

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by orlok

"French Fries" to you Americans, "Chips" to us Brits. What you call "Chips", we call "Crisps." So yes, the long skinny ones is what I was talking about having mayo on.

I say tomayto, you say tomahto .

When I studied in the UK the people running the bar at the Student Union took perverse pleasure to serving chips to new Dutch students. We call crisps "chips" and it was always fun when an unsuspecting student came back from the bar confused after ordering chips and was told it would be brought out to him later. Because why would it take so long to get a bag of chips, right. Their face when they got served a basket of UK chips was always priceless.

The ladies at the university refectory were a bit more forgiving and always explained what the difference was, and then tried to talk you into not only getting a serving of chips for lunch or dinner but also a serving of baked beans. They thought we Dutch students were too skinny and needed proper English food to fatten us up .

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well, the Belgian ("Vlaamse friet") and Dutch ones ("Hollandse patat") are very thick most of the time. I dislike that; I like the thin French fries better.

You've hit on the one thing that I like about McDonald's fries. Thin and cooked perfectly. If they just did not put too too much salt on their fries.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

The ladies at the university refectory were a bit more forgiving and always explained what the difference was, and then tried to talk you into not only getting a serving of chips for lunch or dinner but also a serving of baked beans. They thought we Dutch students were too skinny and needed proper English food to fatten us up .

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

You've hit on the one thing that I like about McDonald's fries. Thin and cooked perfectly. If they just did not put too too much salt on their fries.

If you're too skinny, come to New Orleans for a few weeks.

As to fries, the fries at the Delachaise here in NOLA are fried in goose fat...

[covingtoncat73]

Of course, it is approximately 10,000 degrees today in New Orleans. I'm not sure if that is in Fahrenheit or Celsius.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

When I studied in the UK the people running the bar at the Student Union took perverse pleasure to serving chips to new Dutch students. We call crisps "chips" and it was always fun when an unsuspecting student came back from the bar confused after ordering chips and was told it would be brought out to him later. Because why would it take so long to get a bag of chips, right. Their face when they got served a basket of UK chips was always priceless.

Ah... misuse of words, and translating words the wrong way (on purpose). Always fun. While in England on a school trip, I asked for a flatground and a stickbread in a store. I'll never forget the teacher's face. It looked a bit like this: and then this:

Flatground: literal translation of Dutch 'plattegrond', which is a map.
Stickbread: literal translation of Dutch 'stokbrood', which is a baguette.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by wodin

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".

One of the things I do at literary SF conventions is co-host invitational parties devoted to fine spirits. The effort began with a focus on single malt scotch, but I've been pushing folks to broaden their palates. At an instance a couple of years ago, an attendee brought along a couple on infused vodkas. Vodka is orderless, colorless, and tasteless by default, and you get flavor from infusion. (Vodka connoisseurs will have religious arguments over whether to infuse and what's acceptable if you do.)

These were infused with anise, and my reaction to the second was "Licorice with a proof content!" I was delighted, but I understood that many might not share my enthusiasm.
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Dennis

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Ah... misuse of words, and translating words the wrong way (on purpose). Always fun. While in England on a school trip, I asked for a flatground and a stickbread in a store. I'll never forget the teacher's face.

Flatground: literal translation of Dutch 'plattegrond', which is a map.
Stickbread: literal translation of Dutch 'stokbrood', which is a baguette.

Yes, indeed. Translation can be an art, for sure. I wish I really knew more than one language. As a New Orleanian, I know smatterings of French and Spanish but not much to speak of or to speak. Heh.

There is a New Orleans slang, "making groceries." It means going to the grocery store. I think maybe it comes from the historical usages of the French verb Faire (to make). Il fait pleut (it makes rain) for raining, to use one example. Also, we call drinks like Coke and Pepsi "soft drinks." My cousins in Michigan call such drinks Pop.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blossom

You can't. It's Windows 10.

You can. See http://www.pcworld.com/article/29530...0-updates.html
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Dennis

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Hey, I'm officially a licensed bartender. All it took was about an hour to run through an online course completing a multiple choice quiz at the end (just my opinion one that a chimpanzee could get a passing score on. I happen to be reading Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal at the moment). Printed out the PDF file of certified passing score and then a trip to City Hall to get my official license. I did learn something I did not know. In Wisconsin not only can under drinking age people be allowed in a bar, but they can be served alcohol as long as they are accompanied by a legal age parent or spouse.

Not that I'm planning [yet another] career change though. A group of locals, including me, purchased and are trying to get back into operation what was a favorite pub. To keep costs down we are trying to use volunteers for everything possible. Some times I love living in a small laid back and very connected town.

Oh now you get to learn all the WABC rules. Or I am assuming that Wisconsin has an Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

...

These were infused with anise, and my reaction to the second was "Licorice with a proof content!" I was delighted, but I understood that many might not share my enthusiasm.
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Dennis

Ahhhh, Ouzo... Bottled psychosis, generally available in Mediterranean ports of call. The stuff used to be (before about 1970 or so) laced with some form of opiate, and would put the hardest drinkers down hard. It was declared "off limits" to American sailors, but that didn't stop us from partaking.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

If you're too skinny, come to New Orleans for a few weeks.

If you can find a copy, I recommend a book by Calvin Trillin called "Alice, Let's Eat!"

Trillin was travel writer for The Nation, and one thing he paid attention to in traveling was food. He talked about visiting New Orleans with wife Alice, who wondered why he was stopping to grab a sausage po boy when they were in the way to dinner, and he talked about having something to eat on the way.

He also tells stories about his friend Larry Goldberg, proprietor of Goldberg's Pizzeria (whose iconic sign ended up in the Smithsonian.) Goldberg described himself as a "former blimp", who dropped a lot of weight via a rigorous diet, but fell off the wagon hard on trips back to home town Kansas City, and said things like "And then on the way to dinner I stopped off at Kresge's for a chili dog!" Trillin understood the impulse.

There's an earlier book from Trillin on the same line called American Fried. Both are recommended, but I advise not reading them in public. People look at you oddly when you fall off your chair laughing...
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by wodin

Mostly in places where eye candy is good for business, it doesn't matter what cooks and dishwashers look like as they don't normally interact with the customers.

In NYC, dishwashers, busboys and the like are likely to be Hispanic. In fact, the New York Times did an article a while back about the food industry being an entry point for Mexican immigrants, who work their way up from there.

One place profiled was a Jewish deli. The Mexican prep cook spent most of his time turning out Pastrami. But at staff dinner time, he would cook dishes from his native Pueblo state in Mexico. Mexican cuisine has been described by some food critics as a great, undiscovered, sauce based cuisine.

I looked that the pictures of the dishes and the descriptions, and said "I want to go there to eat. But I'll tell them I don't want to eat Pastrami. I want to go downstairs and eat with the staff, and if they're smart they'll back the prep cook in a good Mexican restaurant, and he'll make them some money!"
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Dennis

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

If you can find a copy, I recommend a book by Calvin Trillin called "Alice, Let's Eat!"

Trilling was travel writer for The Nation, and one thing he paid attention to in traveling was food. He talked about visiting New Orleans with wife Alice, who wondered why he was stopping to grab a sausage po boy when they were in the way to dinner, and he talked about having something to eat on the way.

He also tells stories about his friend Larry Goldberg, proprietor of Goldberg's Pizzeria (whose iconic sign ended up in the Smithsonian.) Goldberg described himself as a "former blimp", who dropped a lot of weight via a rigorous diet, but fell off the wagon hard on trips back to home town Kansas City, and said things like "And then on the way to dinner I stopped off at Kresge's for a chili dog!" Trillin understood the impulse.

There's an earlier book from Trillin on the same line called American Fried. Both are recommended, but I advise not reading them in public. People look at you oddly when you fall off your chair laughing...
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Dennis

Sounds awesome. Thanks for the rec.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Hey, I'm officially a licensed bartender. All it took was about an hour to run through an online course completing a multiple choice quiz at the end (just my opinion one that a chimpanzee could get a passing score on.

An old friend is a former trade book editor and current full time writer. She moved to Seattle, and has a part time gig as a presenter for a wine outfit. (She is deeply into and highly knowledgeable about wine, and had been a sales person in an NY shop, so this was a case of turning pro in something she was involved with as an amateur.)

She's licensed too, and described the process as requiring passing a test, which was mostly about recognizing when a patron had too much and cutting them off, and understanding how screwed she would be if drunken patron did something like climb into a car and get into a serious accident after she'd served him one too many...
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Dennis

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

If you can find a copy, I recommend a book by Calvin Trillin called "Alice, Let's Eat!"

Trilling was travel writer for The Nation, and one thing he paid attention to in traveling was food. He talked about visiting New Orleans with wife Alice, who wondered why he was stopping to grab a sausage po boy when they were in the way to dinner, and he talked about having something to eat on the way.

He also tells stories about his friend Larry Goldberg, proprietor of Goldberg's Pizzeria (whose iconic sign ended up in the Smithsonian.) Goldberg described himself as a "former blimp", who dropped a lot of weight via a rigorous diet, but fell off the wagon hard on trips back to home town Kansas City, and said things like "And then on the way to dinner I stopped off at Kresge's for a chili dog!" Trillin understood the impulse.

There's an earlier book from Trillin on the same line called American Fried. Both are recommended, but I advise not reading them in public. People look at you oddly when you fall off your chair laughing...
______
Dennis

Indeed, one of the all time great books. When my DW and I moved from NYC to California, we planned our trip based on many of the places Calvin Trillin wrote about. Including a stop in Kansas City, of course, for Arthur Bryant's.

The Kindle edition of Alice Let's Eat is available on Amazon, and the ePub version is on Kobo.