What's the strangest thing you've seen in someone's house that they thought was 'normal'?

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I'll go first.

When I was 7, I went to a friend's house, and had bright red mashed potatoes for dinner.her dad always put food colouring in food. She thought this was normal, a d everyone had coloured mash.

A wonderful friend of mine has a full size clown on a unicycle in his hall and a headless mannequin in the garden with bird feeders hanging off it. He's gloriously mad!

My mates mum used to leave the price tags on everything

It was a bit odd to turn on a lamp with the tag on it and then use the tv with a price sticker on that too

Never did get why

I know a family who are really lovely. They are Catholic, as am I. In their dining room they have a large painting of the last supper on the wall. Not my personal taste but fine. The canvas is a very deep canvas and unframed so there are a few inches of the canvas on the sides which are visible.

The painting continues round the sides. On which the members of the family are added to the scene looking on over Jesus and the disciples.

I was seeing a guy a few years ago and on the way to his, he asked if it was ok to pop in to his parents’ just to check the house as they were on holiday. When we got there I noticed a photo of a man with longish hair that looked like it was taken in the 70s or 80s and asked ‘Oh is that your Dad back in the day?’. He turned round looking quite sheepish and just said ‘Eh no, it’s Bobby Sands’. After an awkward silence we both burst out laughing. I never did meet his parents though.

[quote TrueRefuge]@IncludeWomenInThePrequel WT actual F???? Are you serious???

Where did the clowns go when the parents went to bed? And did you eat dinner with the clowns, or were they moved?

Just, so many questions!

An obvious one being, do you now have nightmares about clowns?[/quote]
They sat in the spare chairs at the 8 seater table! And I don't even want to know about the bedtime arrangements for adults who keep life size clowns

Collecting my dd from her friend's house. The hallway and lounge had large portraits of them all on the walls dressed in Victorian outfits in a sepia tone. They were not smiling in any of them giving the impression of pictures of ghosts. Quite horrible and creepy.

In the dining room was a lovely old rocking horse. My dd told me that she had sat on it prior to having tea. Her friend's dad came in and told in in a cold tone that they never ever sat on the horse before tea.

Strangely, when I returned the play date, I found their dd rooting through my underwear drawer. Very odd but I actually felt sorry for their dd.

@pheonixrebirth

Going for Sunday dinner at my friends house and her mum put a plate of sliced cucumbers in vinegar on the table along with the gravy boat. I've never seen or heard about cucumbers in vinegar before or since. Just weird???

That's Yorkshire salad. 😅 Always an accompaniment to Sunday roast where I grew up.

www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/79/Yorkshire_Salad51179.shtml

@BlueLobelia

Oh! Just had a thought- were the cucumbers in vinegar sort of pickled and from a jar or fresh? We had fresh cucumber with vinegar and sugar, but also we used to get 'bread and butter cucumbers' which were very lightly pickled and thinly sliced out of a jar. I mjust look out for them as I LOVED them.

There’s a recipe for bread and butter pickles on the bbc/good food website, I’ve been meaning to make them for so long!!

Mine isn’t that shocking. But I remember being at a friends and there was a huge fuss about tea. It was chicken Kiev, mashed potatoes and tinned tomatoes heated through. No seasoning, just heated as a vegetable.

My MIL kept the top of a photo cake for years. Displayed next to the photo. There was a drama when she had to finally throw it away as it was mouldy. She was very upset she had to get rid of it.

[quote Longdistance]@Confusedandshaken add white vinegar to the sliced cucumber, salt, sugar, paprika and slice some garlic or red onion in with it. It’s very nice.[/quote]
@Longdistance has this summed up perfectly. That is what we would have had in our household when I was a child.

On the cucumber and vinegar thing… my Nan (nearly 90) and my mum have a thing about salmon sandwiches. It’s red salmon (not pink, but red) from a tin. You tip it out into a dish and have to remove all the bones. Then the salmon is seasoned with malt vinegar and ground white pepper. And put in sandwich with thinly sliced cucumber.

Now. The sandwich itself I can manage as it tastes nice. But the salmon being from a tin and the bones… 🤢🤢

My family used to do that with tinned tuna. Ugh

@Cosmos123 I wouldn't get excited about rice pudding with a blob of jam in the middle either. Only ever had it at school and whilst it was nice it would never be a pudding to get worked up about.

A life size cardboard cutout of Boris Johnson in their front window. I don't know those people or been to their house. But i bet its interesting

@Queenoftheashes
Rice pudding works really well in a slow cooker : 3 rounded tbs rice, 3 tbs sugar, a pint of milk, nutmeg, a knob of butter. Leave on slow for a few hours. Add more milk if it gets too thick. Enjoy!

@MyMummyHasGotABigBottom

On the cucumber and vinegar thing… my Nan (nearly 90) and my mum have a thing about salmon sandwiches. It’s red salmon (not pink, but red) from a tin. You tip it out into a dish and have to remove all the bones. Then the salmon is seasoned with malt vinegar and ground white pepper. And put in sandwich with thinly sliced cucumber.

Now. The sandwich itself I can manage as it tastes nice. But the salmon being from a tin and the bones… 🤢🤢

Salmon sandwiches (red salmon, from the tin, mashed up with a bit of vinegar) was standard Christmas teatime fare for us too. We didn't take the bones out though - or rather, I did, as I used to eat them. They change to being crumbly from the canning process and are safe to eat.

I've also passed this habit on to both my DSs, who always ask for the bones if we have tinned red salmon. In fact, tinned red salmon sandwiches are far and away his favourite (thank goodness it's not as expensive as it used to be, although it's still far from the cheapest option!)

raisins in bolognese sauce.

eating pizza with chips

I'm from continental Europe and we regularly make sliced cucumbers seasoned with oil and apple cider vinegar (usually as part of a mixed salad with lettuce and tomatoes and often thinly sliced young white cabbage. Delicious). It is a staple side dish at most dinners people cook at home or if you order a mixed salad in a restaurant.

Fresh cucumber salad is best with yogurt, garlic and a little bit of vinegar, so refreshing on a hot day and pairs great with BBQ.

Late 80s, girl from our road invited me round to her house and it was decorated like a dodgy porn set. Sheepskin everywhere, those life size tiger statues, gold fittings. The centrepiece was a glamour shot of her mum naked, with lots of Mr T style gold jewellery to cover her bits.

It was a very bog standard terraced house and her parents seemed like any other on the street, other than owning a very cool sports car. I wonder if they had some secret life? Or they just saw an article about drug lords and thought it was interior design inspiration.

Oh it’s a rice pudding slow cooker kind of day - thanks for the idea

Thanks @Lunaduckdrop I will give it a go!

@MyMummyHasGotABigBottom

On the cucumber and vinegar thing… my Nan (nearly 90) and my mum have a thing about salmon sandwiches. It’s red salmon (not pink, but red) from a tin. You tip it out into a dish and have to remove all the bones. Then the salmon is seasoned with malt vinegar and ground white pepper. And put in sandwich with thinly sliced cucumber.

Now. The sandwich itself I can manage as it tastes nice. But the salmon being from a tin and the bones… 🤢🤢

Tinned salmon sandwiches were a standard component of celebration food when I was a child. Often served in 'bridge rolls' at get-togethers with other families.

Re the talk of cucumbers and vinegar; we never had that but I suspect it's all part of the idea of sharp-tasting/vinegary 'relishes'; see also piccalilli and pickled red cabbage. My Dad (from Liverpool) loved piccalilli (vom) and we always had red cabbage if my Mum made hot-pot.

I'm trying and failing to think of anything truly horrendous I've seen in anyone's house but I'm really enjoying this thread. Still laughing at the idea of the plateless buffet.

@MyMummyHasGotABigBottom

On the cucumber and vinegar thing… my Nan (nearly 90) and my mum have a thing about salmon sandwiches. It’s red salmon (not pink, but red) from a tin. You tip it out into a dish and have to remove all the bones. Then the salmon is seasoned with malt vinegar and ground white pepper. And put in sandwich with thinly sliced cucumber.

Now. The sandwich itself I can manage as it tastes nice. But the salmon being from a tin and the bones… 🤢🤢

If it's anything like tinned sardines the bones are the best bit.

These by any chance?

@youshallnotpass9

Giraffe 2 of them (life size statues) in a garden in Surrey

We have a live size, wooden giraffe in a garden near me. Its positioned to peer over the garden wall. It gets decorated for Halloween, Christmas etc. In the winter it always has a bobble hat and scarf on, atm it's wearing sunglasses and a sun hat.