All things English/American

[Sparkle]

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

Percy Pigs from Marks and Spencer.

Anything from Marks & Sparks. *sigh* I miss M&S a lot.

I also like fancy tea with hats and gloves. Followed by laying about on the grass in a nearby park, all dolled up.

When I first moved there I used to carry a little notebook with me to note all the new words and phrases and slang with translations.
Grocery shopping was really challenging and cockney rhyming slang - OMG I was always slow off the mark with that.

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

Blood sausage I have tried and just can't do it.

Bacon in England (London at least) is what we would call Canadian Bacon in the US and rashers? I think is what bacon is in the US and sooooo much better than in the US, as are the free range eggs!

Bubble and squeek?

Pims and Lemonade...YUMMY

Salmon....ultra yummy!

my favorite of all?

Percy Pigs from Marks and Spencer.

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

oh and
Victoria Sponge!

It cracks me up that people in the US think Tea is fancy and must include hats and gloves.

My Pops who visits Canada regularly and has visited the US says that the bacon here is different too. My aunt in who's lived in Canada for nigh on 50yrs also concurs. They both agree that Brit bacon is better and now you agree too...it has to be true! I've never visited North America so can't give a personal opinion. I had no idea that our eggs may be better too.

You've lived here apocalipstic? Or come from here and emigrated?

Bubble and squeak is a fried up mixture of left over mash potato and cabbage (most usually but other left overs can be used too)...I like to use sprouts instead of cabbage. It's thoroughly delicious with bacon or left over roast meat.

Un-Mrs.I likes Pimms but after last summer's exploits with Pimms I will never ever drink the foul stuff again Do you get Pimms over there?

Despite shopping in Marks and Sparks regularly I don't know what Percy Pigs are.

Aye we do have some odd flavour crisps here too...did you ever see Hedgehog flavour? Seabrooks crisps are my favourite and the King of Crisp...some would disagree though. How about you Merlin? Seabrooks, Walkers, Kettle or own brand crisps?

Hah! Do Americans really think that tea is that old fashioned sort of twee-tea thing? Tea can be posh, very posh, with cake stands, doilies, china cups and saucers but probably only at the Connaught or the Savoy or similar 'posh' (read v.expensive) establishments. However a real persons less posh tea is a butty, a cake/biscuit and a mug o'tea.

Originally Posted by Sparkle

Anything from Marks & Sparks. *sigh* I miss M&S a lot.

I also like fancy tea with hats and gloves. Followed by laying about on the grass in a nearby park, all dolled up.

When I first moved there I used to carry a little notebook with me to note all the new words and phrases and slang with translations.
Grocery shopping was really challenging and cockney rhyming slang - OMG I was always slow off the mark with that.

Where did you live Sparkle. You'll find that folks like Merlin and myself will speak slightly differently to folks in London. Not only are our accents different but also regional differences and idioms come into play too.

If you check out the link I posted for brit food you'll find plenty of Marks and Sparks food there.
http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatal...d_Spencer.html

[Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Incubus

Where did you live Sparkle. You'll find that folks like Merlin and myself will speak slightly differently to folks in London. Not only are our accents different but also regional differences and idioms come into play too.

If you check out the link I posted for brit food you'll find plenty of Marks and Sparks food there.
http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatal...d_Spencer.html

I was in London proper. I think I hit all four corners in my time there. Uxbridge, Hackney Downs, Stokey, Archway & Catford.

I was pretty good with most dialects, I got the hang of the Liverpudlian quite quickly but I found the Geordie dialect almost impossible to decipher even after a decade!

That British Superstore is going to be the death of me (my budget anyway). Cheers mate.

Originally Posted by Sparkle

I was in London proper. I think I hit all four corners in my time there. Uxbridge, Hackney Downs, Stokey, Archway & Catford.

I was pretty good with most dialects, I got the hang of the Liverpudlian quite quickly but I found the Geordie dialect almost impossible to decipher even after a decade!

That British Superstore is going to be the death of me (my budget anyway). Cheers mate.

S'Alreet chuck! I'm glad you like the Brit Store.

Scouse is a tough accent to listen to and Geordie as you say, if it's broad, is almost impenetrable. I'm a northerner with a pretty generic Lancastrian accent. Un-Mrs.I and me take the mickey out of each other as she's got a southern softie Hertfordshire accent!

May I ask how come you ended up here and why did you leave again? A girl/chap/other*?






*delete as applicable

[Bit]

Originally Posted by Incubus

A girl/chap/other*?






*delete as applicable

LOL!!! Now you've got it.

So... I am soooo not going to spend an hour surfing through Wikipedia today, following the scent of all these strange new foods... I will just ask instead, what is Toad in the Hole? Is that a fried egg in toast?

However a real persons less posh tea is a butty, a cake/biscuit and a mug o'tea.

Okay, what's a butty? And from last night, what is "lashings" of tea?

Merlin mentioned cheese on beans and it made me laugh because "put some cheese on it" is a catch-phrase in That House; one of our friends told THE most hysterically funny story about what happened when her partner interrupted an intense argument to ask if she was making supper. She insists to this day that a butch will eat ANYTHING if you put some cheese on it.... the dog was a little confused that night though. The reason we thought it was so funny is that Gryph has always said about my kitchen disasters, "put some cheese on it, I'll eat it..."



Yeah yeah, I KNOW how lucky I am with That Butch, lol! Love him with all my heart just for that alone!

[EnderD_503]

All you blood sausage haters don't know what you're missing Never saw it as a British-only thing, though. We have it French Canada and Atlantic Canada as well, and it's common to eat it all over Europe.

I really like white pudding best, though. Tastes even better

[JustJo]

Originally Posted by Bit

[SIZE=3] one of our friends told THE most hysterically funny story about what happened when her partner interrupted an intense argument to ask if she was making supper. She insists to this day that a butch will eat ANYTHING if you put some cheese on it....

Was that Scoote?

Kidding, of course, but that woman will eat anything if there's enough cheese!

[Merlin]

Prawn cocktail walkers crisps. Loved them since being a kid.

Prefer spains selection of crisps. Better than england.

You guys like our Royal family ? Watch the wedding ? What did you think ?

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by Incubus

My Pops who visits Canada regularly and has visited the US says that the bacon here is different too. My aunt in who's lived in Canada for nigh on 50yrs also concurs. They both agree that Brit bacon is better and now you agree too...it has to be true! I've never visited North America so can't give a personal opinion. I had no idea that our eggs may be better too.

You've lived here apocalipstic? Or come from here and emigrated?

Bubble and squeak is a fried up mixture of left over mash potato and cabbage (most usually but other left overs can be used too)...I like to use sprouts instead of cabbage. It's thoroughly delicious with bacon or left over roast meat.

Un-Mrs.I likes Pimms but after last summer's exploits with Pimms I will never ever drink the foul stuff again Do you get Pimms over there?

Despite shopping in Marks and Sparks regularly I don't know what Percy Pigs are.

Aye we do have some odd flavour crisps here too...did you ever see Hedgehog flavour? Seabrooks crisps are my favourite and the King of Crisp...some would disagree though. How about you Merlin? Seabrooks, Walkers, Kettle or own brand crisps?

Hah! Do Americans really think that tea is that old fashioned sort of twee-tea thing? Tea can be posh, very posh, with cake stands, doilies, china cups and saucers but probably only at the Connaught or the Savoy or similar 'posh' (read v.expensive) establishments. However a real persons less posh tea is a butty, a cake/biscuit and a mug o'tea.

I visit usually once or more a year, but London only so far for work and one vacation. I hope to make it to the rest of the UK one day soon! NOT during the Olympics!

Had lovely tea at the National Portrait Gallery doilies and all!

I like the shortbread!!!

Percy Pigs are like wine gums but no wine and shaped like pigs....so yummy...will see if I can find photo.

Originally Posted by Incubus

Where did you live Sparkle. You'll find that folks like Merlin and myself will speak slightly differently to folks in London. Not only are our accents different but also regional differences and idioms come into play too.

If you check out the link I posted for brit food you'll find plenty of Marks and Sparks food there.
http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatal...d_Spencer.html

Ohhhhhhhhhh yeay! Thank you for posting!

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

All you blood sausage haters don't know what you're missing Never saw it as a British-only thing, though. We have it French Canada and Atlantic Canada as well, and it's common to eat it all over Europe.

I really like white pudding best, though. Tastes even better

Should I be afraid to ask what white pudding is?

Originally Posted by Merlin

Prawn cocktail walkers crisps. Loved them since being a kid.

Prefer spains selection of crisps. Better than england.

You guys like our Royal family ? Watch the wedding ? What did you think ?

I love following the Royal Family, though I slept through this weeding. I did watch the Princess Dianna one though. What do you all think of Cammilla? (sp?)

Of and the rhyming thing in London, yes hard to follow, but always very clever!

[Apocalipstic]

LOVE these, OMG!

[Merlin]

Don't think anyone I know is a camilla fan.

Don't want charles as king.
Want William.

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by Merlin

Don't think anyone I know is a camilla fan.

Don't want charles as king.
Want William.

Definitely!

[Bit]

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

All you blood sausage haters don't know what you're missing Never saw it as a British-only thing, though. We have it French Canada and Atlantic Canada as well, and it's common to eat it all over Europe.

I really like white pudding best, though. Tastes even better

What's white pudding? By the time I finished the Wikipedia page on black pudding, with every European and Asian name ever invented for blood sausage, I was afraid to look up anything else!

Originally Posted by JustJo

Was that Scoote?

Kidding, of course, but that woman will eat anything if there's enough cheese!

LOLOL!!! Omg, maybe it really is a butch thing? Well, no, can't be, lol, Gryph made a convert out of me. There's almost nothing that can't be improved with the right cheese.

EXCEPT dog food. I draw the line at dog food.

Originally Posted by Merlin

You guys like our Royal family ? Watch the wedding ? What did you think ?

I watched The Fairytale Wedding because, yanno, I wanted to be the princess.... and then I watched it unravel year by year. Now I can't be bothered--but then, I can't be bothered with ANY celebrity no matter what they're doing, unless it's saving the environment.

That actually makes Charles the Cad fairly interesting to me, ironically enough--I applaud his efforts in that direction, and actually agreed with his statement about boring modern architecture, lol...

I think I'm probaby atypical as a US citizen because I am not impressed in the least by fame and fortune; you're less likely to sell me a magazine with someone famous on the cover, for instance, than with a landscape or garden or room interior on the cover. I turned off the television decades ago and have only watched it sporadically since. I can always tell a huge difference in the quality not just of my life but also of my thinking when I am away from the influence of that infernal brainwashing machine.

Oh btw, Storm and I skipped lunch and so we're having tea, of a sorts. Hers is iced, mine is just water, and we're sharing a "personal watermelon" which is pretty darned big even for two hungry people--but ohhhh so good on such a hot day! BUT when I was growing up, fruit in the mid-to-late-afternoon was not called "tea" but "after school snacks" and the snacks would just as often be cookies (biscuits) and milk.

[EnderD_503]

I am in awe that there are people out there who have not witnessed the amazing white pudding! It's also a kind of sausage, but is filled with mostly meal and pork/pork fat. You cook it a similar way to blood sausage by dumping it in the frying pan for a few minutes (or you can put the whole thing in the oven, but I prefer to chop it up and fry it). Like with blood sausage the best is when you cook it to the point of being a big crumbly...or at least that's how I like it, lol. Now go forth to your local delicatessen!

God this is making me drool...we need a sausage thread, I'm severely craving currywurst and white pudding here, lol.

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

I am in awe that there are people out there who have not witnessed the amazing white pudding! It's also a kind of sausage, but is filled with mostly meal and pork/pork fat. You cook it a similar way to blood sausage by dumping it in the frying pan for a few minutes (or you can put the whole thing in the oven, but I prefer to chop it up and fry it). Like with blood sausage the best is when you cook it to the point of being a big crumbly...or at least that's how I like it, lol. Now go forth to your local delicatessen!

God this is making me drool...we need a sausage thread, I'm severely craving currywurst and white pudding here, lol.

I've never seen in in this part of the US. next time I am in Canada or the UK I will try some

Originally Posted by Bit

LOL!!! Now you've got it.

So... I am soooo not going to spend an hour surfing through Wikipedia today, following the scent of all these strange new foods... I will just ask instead, what is Toad in the Hole? Is that a fried egg in toast?



Okay, what's a butty? And from last night, what is "lashings" of tea?

Merlin mentioned cheese on beans and it made me laugh because "put some cheese on it" is a catch-phrase in That House; one of our friends told THE most hysterically funny story about what happened when her partner interrupted an intense argument to ask if she was making supper. She insists to this day that a butch will eat ANYTHING if you put some cheese on it.... the dog was a little confused that night though. The reason we thought it was so funny is that Gryph has always said about my kitchen disasters, "put some cheese on it, I'll eat it..."



Yeah yeah, I KNOW how lucky I am with That Butch, lol! Love him with all my heart just for that alone!

Lol I knew it! S'always a boy/girl/other!

Toad in the Hole is sausages and yorkshire pudding and it's totally yum!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_in_the_hole

Butty a colloquialism for sandwich - I think it's a northernism but I could be wrong.

Lashings of tea is referencing Enid Blyton Famous Five stories where they always had 'lashings (or lots of) of ginger beer'

Hah @ eating anything with cheese. Thankfully I won't eat just anything. If it contains tomato, sugar or fruit I will decline. If it contains crunchy vegetables I will decline. If it has pasta or rice I will generally decline.......picky moi?

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

All you blood sausage haters don't know what you're missing Never saw it as a British-only thing, though. We have it French Canada and Atlantic Canada as well, and it's common to eat it all over Europe.

I really like white pudding best, though. Tastes even better

I'm with you EnderD black pudding is unctuous and ever so tasty but definitely not a uniquely Brit thing. The Wiki link I posted about it mentioned the different versions from around the world.
I'm not a fan of boudin blanc, maybe I should try it again, it's been some years since I tried it last. What's the appeal of white puddin' for you?

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

I visit usually once or more a year, but London only so far for work and one vacation. I hope to make it to the rest of the UK one day soon! NOT during the Olympics!

Had lovely tea at the National Portrait Gallery doilies and all!

I like the shortbread!!!

Percy Pigs are like wine gums but no wine and shaped like pigs....so yummy...will see if I can find photo.



Ohhhhhhhhhh yeay! Thank you for posting!



Should I be afraid to ask what white pudding is?



I love following the Royal Family, though I slept through this weeding. I did watch the Princess Dianna one though. What do you all think of Cammilla? (sp?)

Of and the rhyming thing in London, yes hard to follow, but always very clever!

Ooooh so they're percy pigs. I have a funny feeling my nephew might be getting a job lot of those very soon!

I don't blame you not travelling here during the Olympics. What a debacle that is set up to be. The one time in the forseeable future that representatives from most of the world will be in one place. I forsee potential reprisals for the Bin Laden murder happening at the Olympics.

I love eating and drinking in London's museums and galleries. You absolutely must try Tate Modern's eateries, they're really good. I'm a huge fan of the V&A's cafe too.

Originally Posted by Merlin

Don't think anyone I know is a camilla fan.

Don't want charles as king.
Want William.

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

Definitely!

I quite like Camilla actually. It's an underdog thing. Although I'm not a Royalist so don't want any of them to be King or Queen for that matter.

[Merlin]

Whats a pot roast ?

Here ya go mate...good ole St.Delia will tell you about pot roast.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/t...dish/pot-roast

[Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Incubus

S'Alreet chuck! I'm glad you like the Brit Store.

Scouse is a tough accent to listen to and Geordie as you say, if it's broad, is almost impenetrable. I'm a northerner with a pretty generic Lancastrian accent. Un-Mrs.I and me take the mickey out of each other as she's got a southern softie Hertfordshire accent!

May I ask how come you ended up here and why did you leave again? A girl/chap/other*?
*delete as applicable

My former partner is British. She had a work visa in the US when we met. When her visa expired our only (mostly legal) option for remaining together was to move to the UK, that was 1997. We were one of the first couples to successfully apply through the (then) Unmarried Partners Concession that Blair's government put in place. It took over two years to resolve, during which time I couldn't (legally) work or leave the country as my passport was in the longest queue in Britain (in Croydon at the INS).

Unfortunately our relationship crumbled under the strain and power imbalance, though we lasted through and beyond the process.

I returned to the US when my step-father passed away suddenly, leaving my family amidst huge grief and disorder.

I miss blighty & all my people there - MUCH.