Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Caoimhe]

14 hours ago, Ancaster said:

I use Heinz Salad Cream because it's more vinegary and less rich than American mayo, which I find too heavy and oily.  It's not cheap to buy it in the States, but I've found it at Krogers and World Market.  Also, for cheese sandwich eaters, Branston Pickle is a must.

So many foods I miss and Branston Pickle is definitely on that list! There is no substitute.

[lookeyloo]

7 hours ago, nokat said:

My husband loved the bone with the marrow still in it when we had a roast. I don't see it anymore. I have two things to look for now. I do love a pickle.

When I was a kid back in the way back days, we used to push the marrow out of lamb chop bones when we got that cut. We never got the loin because they weren't sold at the kosher butcher so it was a shoulder cut I think. Some had a few rib bones at the end and some had a marrow bone.  I think lamb tasted different back then or my taste buds have changed.

Also, my mother, not a great cook, tried to get us to eat "bananas and cream" which was sliced bananas mixed with sour cream.  As kids we had to use a lot of sugar.  Too sour for us.  I like sour cream now.  I use the Daisy brand because it has no additives.

 

[Ancaster]

1 hour ago, Caoimhe said:

So many foods I miss and Branston Pickle is definitely on that list! There is no substitute.

My list is long too!  Walker's crisps, Thorntons, the everyday chocolate, biscuits, the cheese and dairy in general (you know, all the healthy stuff).  I do always have Marmite and Haywards pickled onions on hand, and Yorkshire Gold, because those I can't do without.

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, lookeyloo said:

Also, my mother, not a great cook, tried to get us to eat "bananas and cream" which was sliced bananas mixed with sour cream.  

My mother must have bravely overcome her Polish heritage because we used to get bananas sliced into heavy cream sweetened with (I think) brown sugar.  Not often I will add.  This was considered a Sunday brunch, once in a while kind of treat.

15 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

I do always have Marmite and Haywards pickled onions on hand

I will warn any other anglophiles who were not born and brought up in England and are tempted to try Marmite - don't.  Or if you do bear in mind that it  doesn't taste anything like you probably think it tastes based on your reading of British novels.  You have been warned 😀.

[fastiller]

@Ancaster & @Caoimhe - you're making me food homesick.  With mention of Branston pickle, I'm now craving a ploughman's lunch.  Or a cold plate / Irish salad (thanks to the Heinz salad cream mention).  I'm so lucky I've got a good local place that sells Irish imports.  Sadly it'll be downsizing in its footprint as part of its current space will be given over to a Burger King sometime in the next few years.

[Dimity]

9 minutes ago, fastiller said:

Sadly it'll be downsizing in its footprint as part of its current space will be given over to a Burger King sometime in the next few years.

We had three locations for our All Things British store in the  area but in the past year they've downsized (I guess that's the right word?) anyway they now have only one location and it's been moved to a relatively inconvenient location at that.  Which really sucks.  I don't know if they simply weren't getting enough business to justify three locations, I suspect that must be it, but moving to an obscure spot where you have to do some sleuthing to find them isn't going to help either!

Edited 6 hours ago by Dimity

[Mindthinkr]

3 minutes ago, fastiller said:

you're making me food homesick. 

Same. I used to live in Scotland and miss so many foods. There were a few things that I never got used to tho. One was that they served salad (usually just lettuce and tomato), but they never had any salad dressing. Even the salad cream mentioned above. I’d ask for a wedge of lemon, but that was not always available either. I have to source any U.K. products from World Market as there isn’t another store around that specializes in these foods 

Oh, I miss Beef Bisto too. I can find regular Bisto, but it doesn’t have the same flavor for adding to mince or to thicken soups or gravies. I think they discontinued exporting it around the time of Mad Cow disease. Feel free to let me know if I’m wrong or missing a source. 

[ECM1231]

2 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

 

Also, my mother, not a great cook, tried to get us to eat "bananas and cream" which was sliced bananas mixed with sour cream.  As kids we had to use a lot of sugar.

 

Aw, you're taking me down memory lane. My mom was a good cook, and I thought bananas and sour cream, mixed with sugar, was her own concoction. Lol It was a now and again treat whenever there was a surplus of bananas.

[Browncoat]

I love Walker's crisps!  I transited through Heathrow last year, and made a point of getting a couple of packets.  Galaxy chocolate is delicious, too.  I miss tablet -- I've tried to make it, but it isn't easy!

[fastiller]

The story of the Irish import store I mentioned above: Burger King to return to Sunnyside, taking over Butcher Block on Queens Blvd.  The place started out small, with an entrance on the side street off a major thoroughfare; it expanded and that expansion included an entrance on the main thoroughfare.  It'll be going back to its initial space/entrance.

It's been my source for Barry's Tea & O'Donnell's crisps (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for their Ballymaloe Relish & Cheddar Cheese flavour).

[Dimity]

4 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I love Walker's crisps!

Same!  Definitely one of the things we throw in the basket when we visit our UK store.  Also various chocolate bars that we can't get anywhere else.  My son wouldn't think it was Christmas if there wasn't a Lion bar in his stocking!

[nokat]

9 hours ago, Ancaster said:

Do you live in or near a foody city?  Bone marrow (at fancy butchers' shops or in trendy restaurants) has become quite the thing in the last couple of years where I am.  Asian grocery markets often have them too.  I don't know whether you can get it actually in the roast or just as the actual bone.  I remember it as a kid but my dad would always get it 🤪.

There is a butcher shop here. I haven't been to it yet. Thanks for the reminder.

I had quite the morning. I woke up with very bad lower abdominal pain, and before I fully woke up my brain went to "oh no, the baby is coming." I fully woke up, and wondered why my brain did that, and reminded myself I'm past menopause, and the only baby coming is a food baby. 

It was a stubborn thing and hard to birth. I think it may have been breech. 😅

[Is Everyone Gone]

Ok so I have a friend and I give this friend a lot of grace bc she had a very abusive upbringing. However, idk if I'm over-sensitive, but she is ALWAYS talking about how "rich and hot" she is. Like she'll post IG stories saying "This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that I'm so hot" and "Today I got more botox so I can be even hotter." Or "I'm richer and hotter than all of you."

She doesn't work, doesn't have kids, and says "my only job is to be hot." She's always telling everyone how she feels bad that they have to clean up after themselves, because "if you're rich and hot enough your husband will hire a cleaning lady for you."

What would you do for this? Again, I give her grace bc she grew up in such an abusive background, and she was a much older guy's sugar baby when she was 17, so there are definitely also SA/grooming history at play.

[Mondrianyone]

If it were me, I'd probably just ignore it, for the reason you give. But then again I might not be friends with a person exhibiting such an annoying tic unless she had lots of redeeming qualities.

Were I to say something about it, I might just say, "You could be feeling the effects of global warming more than the rest of us. I'd hate being so hot all the time." And then I'd buy her a pretty paper fan for her birthday.

 

[fastiller]

12 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

Ok so I have a friend and I give this friend a lot of grace bc she had a very abusive upbringing. However, idk if I'm over-sensitive, but she is ALWAYS talking about how "rich and hot" she is. Like she'll post IG stories saying "This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that I'm so hot" and "Today I got more botox so I can be even hotter." Or "I'm richer and hotter than all of you."

She doesn't work, doesn't have kids, and says "my only job is to be hot." She's always telling everyone how she feels bad that they have to clean up after themselves, because "if you're rich and hot enough your husband will hire a cleaning lady for you."

What would you do for this? Again, I give her grace bc she grew up in such an abusive background, and she was a much older guy's sugar baby when she was 17, so there are definitely also SA/grooming history at play.

I would (& have done in similar situations in the past) disassociate myself from said friend.  There's only so much grace in my tank.

Years ago I had to stop communicating w/ one of my brothers.  He would repeatedly bring up how terrible our Dad is/was (like, every every every time he mentioned Dad).   I'll grant that our Dad was not the best father for young children; he's much better as a father to grown children and he's great as a grandfather (and he was the BEST uncle to my cousins and my friends LOVED him). But -and this is what I would tell brother- Dad had ZERO example of how to parent at all.  When he was about 6 or 7, his own parents were executed during WWII, he was subsequently adopted by family members who didn't really want another young child, so they sent him to be educated by Jesuits who aren't known to be warm & fuzzy.  I would tell brother this each time he'd lash out about Dad so he could understand where the bad parenting had come from. I wasn't defending Dad as much as I was just explaining things.  Finally, he kvetched about it one too many times and my fuse was short on the day and I was just done.  No more.  "Brother, unless/until you stop bitching about Dad, we can't speak to one another."   This was well before brother had his own kids and was able to see things from a different perspective.  Once that happened, we were able to reestablish our relationship.

I know these are different situations, but I wanted to illustrate what I'd experienced as far as disassociating myself from someone.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

my mother, not a great cook, tried to get us to eat "bananas and cream" which was sliced bananas mixed with sour cream.

I grew up on bananas 'n' sour cream, and pineapple 'n' cottage cheese (canned pineapple tidbits, of course).
My kids did too.
Now that I have a son-in-law I am aware that those aren't universal food combinations.
And it wasn't until a few weeks ago (I'm 71) that I discovered sour cream has barely any protein. 

I can still picture Mom slicing bananas into my cereal or into the sour cream, especially when I'm doing the same. It's kind of comforting.

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, fastiller said:

I would (& have done in similar situations in the past) disassociate myself from said friend.  There's only so much grace in my tank.

Years ago I had to stop communicating w/ one of my brothers.  He would repeatedly bring up how terrible our Dad is/was (like, every every every time he mentioned Dad).   I'll grant that our Dad was not the best father for young children; he's much better as a father to grown children and he's great as a grandfather (and he was the BEST uncle to my cousins and my friends LOVED him). But -and this is what I would tell brother- Dad had ZERO example of how to parent at all.  When he was about 6 or 7, his own parents were executed during WWII, he was subsequently adopted by family members who didn't really want another young child, so they sent him to be educated by Jesuits who aren't known to be warm & fuzzy.  I would tell brother this each time he'd lash out about Dad so he could understand where the bad parenting had come from. I wasn't defending Dad as much as I was just explaining things.  Finally, he kvetched about it one too many times and my fuse was short on the day and I was just done.  No more.  "Brother, unless/until you stop bitching about Dad, we can't speak to one another."   This was well before brother had his own kids and was able to see things from a different perspective.  Once that happened, we were able to reestablish our relationship.

I know these are different situations, but I wanted to illustrate what I'd experienced as far as disassociating myself from someone.

Have you ever asked your brother if anything bad happened to him when he was a child? Even if it wasn't your Dad, your brother could blame your Dad for not preventing it.

[Ancaster]

54 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

And it wasn't until a few weeks ago (I'm 71) that I discovered sour cream has barely any protein. 

 

 

If you're looking for an alternative to sour cream with high protein that still tastes great, try Fage Greek yoghurt.  Greek yoghurt is very high in protein due to the way it's processed, and the full fat Fage version is very rich.  I eat a lot of the 2%.  As a comparison, 170g Daisy sour cream has 5.5g protein.  170g Fage 2% has 34g (!!!) protein.

(I'm no scientist and got this info just now from the companies' websites.)

[Ancaster]

4 hours ago, Dimity said:

I will warn any other anglophiles who were not born and brought up in England and are tempted to try Marmite - don't.  Or if you do bear in mind that it  doesn't taste anything like you probably think it tastes based on your reading of British novels.  You have been warned 😀.

 

LOL.  Marmite is divisive within the UK.  The main thing to remember if anyone is invited to try it, try a tiny, tiny amount.  It's basically salt on salt, so if you like salt, try a slice of toast with butter and a very thin schmeer of Marmite, and you will be in heaven.  Do not dip a teaspoon in the container and transfer to your mouth - you will be incapacitated for weeks and will never get over the experience.  Some people think Vegemite, the Australian "version", is better; personally I think it's for wussies.

This is WAY too much:

This is about right:

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ancaster

[shapeshifter]

22 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

 

LOL.  Marmite is divisive within the UK.  The main thing to remember if anyone is invited to try it, try a tiny, tiny amount.  It's basically salt on salt, so if you like salt, try a slice of toast with butter and a very thin schmeer of Marmite, and you will be in heaven.  Do not dip a teaspoon in the container and transfer to your mouth - you will be incapacitated for weeks and will never get over the experience.  Some people think Vegemite, the Australian "version", is better; personally I think it's for wussies.

This is WAY too much:

This is about right:

 

 

I used to sprinkle "brewers yeast" aka "nutritional yeast" on my toast with a little butter or oil. Seems similar.

[Ancaster]

21 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I used to sprinkle "brewers yeast" aka "nutritional yeast" on my toast with a little butter or oil. Seems similar.

Definitely!  My American husband adapted surprisingly well to Marmite when introduced to it, and later I was introduced to brewers yeast and got why.  His sister didn't like using a lot of salt, but did sprinkle brewer's yeast on bagels, veggies, etc for a salty flavour.  I don't understand the science - yeast in the fermenting process of wine doesn't make it salty, eg, - but there you go.

[EtheltoTillie]

We always had bananas and cream too. Must be one of those Eastern European things judging by all who posted about it here. 

53 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I used to sprinkle "brewers yeast" aka "nutritional yeast" on my toast with a little butter or oil. Seems similar.

That was such a hippie thing back in the day. 

I love anchovies. Does Marmite taste like that?  

Edited 37 minutes ago by EtheltoTillie

[lookeyloo]

5 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

We always had bananas and cream too. Must be one of those Eastern European things judging by all who posted about it here. 

That makes a lot of sense.  We are that.

[Ancaster]

21 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

 

I love anchovies. Does Marmite taste like that?  

I also love anchovies, but one of the great things about Marmite is that it's vegan.

I think the intensity of the salt makes them kissing (or not so much) cousins, but, and I love anchovies, I wouldn't put them much closer than that 😉

[Absolom]

3 hours ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

What would you do for this? Again, I give her grace bc she grew up in such an abusive background, and she was a much older guy's sugar baby when she was 17, so there are definitely also SA/grooming history at play.

Excuses are just that.  People sometimes use them to manipulate other people and attention seek.  Frequently it's for a secondary gain.  Having had abusive experiences in the past, doesn't entitle someone to be a jerk in the here and now.  I'll quote Kenny Rogers from a bit different situation: "Know when to walk away and know when to run."  Unless she's offering some major good to the relationship, it's time to run.  

When someone constantly harps on their disability, their family history, their past abuse, their cultural background, their bad relationships or situation for excuses as to why they need special treatment, can't change, can't be fully functioning, it's a manipulative ploy or attention seeking.  We don't have to be enablers of maladaptive behavior.  Reasonable adaptation should be made, but there are people who take it all too far.  If we are enabling, we need to acknowledge it and make a conscious decision on if what we are getting out of the association is comparable to how much we're being asked to invest.  To me she sounds like a basic jerk, but you know your tolerance level.