Thread 3 - TalkExiles: "The Planet Goes On Being Round"

[Kucingsparkles]

Continuation of previous lifeboat threads 1 and 2.

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

Northern F&C are the best, I grudgingly admit. That hot extra-savoury flavour. Served with a steaming pot of Yorkshire tea as the only acceptable beverage.

(Last half term, we went back to London to visit old haunts and one evening we had a F&C dinner. One thing that seems quite rare up here is fried fish roe which was a regular treat when we lived in London. So we were delighted to find a chippy that did fish roe, near our hotel. DDs were unconvinced by the fish roe, mildly surprised to find that London fish is served skin-on, and deeply unimpressed that the meal hadn't been fried in dripping.)

@Tricyrtis2022 I am also a one-decoration type of person. I have still yet to hang mine, but I did haphazardly put some fairy lights around a picture.

The Dublin F&C thing I loved was smoked fish in batter - haddock usually I think.

Cyan, I'm very fond of fairy lights, but have yet to do anything about it apart from admiring them in other people's homes.

@Kucingsparkles

One of my favourite parts of going back to the UK is just knowing that there is access to all the takeaways and planning how I can fit in eating most of them in just 8 days.

I know people rave about how marvellous French food is, but on a day to day basis it is deeply repetetive and bland and although there are some Indian and Chinese restaurants they are just not the same. Stamps foot.

The actual fact that someone can even bring the food round to your house makes me feel faint (in a good way!)

Glad you enjoyed your lunch.

@Tricyrtis2022 - we also only have one decoration, but it is a tiny (3ft tall) prelit tree with a few baubles and beads on that sits on a window ledge in the living room.

The Dublin F&C thing I loved was smoked fish in batter - haddock usually I think.

That sounds divine - I love smoked haddock!

We're keen on festive winter decor ChezKuc, I find that I need it to get through the dark months. We start with a light sprinkling of Halloween stuff (just for the day, to kick things off), stay strong until mid-December when we pile on the fairy lights and greenery, and then at the start of January swap all the Christmas stuff for Chinese New Year things (keeping the fairy lights up).

We joke that our house is like this:

Northern F&C are the best

Such was the impact, I still vividly recall the first time I had chips cooked in dripping. I'd have been about five and the family were visiting our Northern relatives in Seaham. One day Grandma took me and my brothers to the sea front and we went to a cafe where she bought us each a little packet of chips. They were yellow, speckled and very hot and one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. The three of us sat in complete silence as we ate those Heavenly chips. Maybe that was the plan and Grandma knew they'd keep us quiet.

@Britinme, that sounds very pretty!

I also love smoked haddock but no bugger over here sells it, which is bizarre when fresh haddock is the most common fish apart from farmed salmon on the fish counter in the supermarket. I've found smoked haddock once in the twenty years I've been here.

Have you thought about smoking it yourself, Brit?

We were given a small hot smoker and the fish we cook in that is delicious.

@Itwasntevenblackpudding You're right about UK food, it has an unfair reputation. IME the "lack" (for want of a better word) of a single strong cuisine identity has actually allowed the flowering of many food cultures here.

Can't say I have - we don't even have a barbecue!

@Tricyrtis2022 - you've got me curious now though!

Ours is like this: hotsmoked.co.uk/product/camerons-gourmet-mini-smoker/ and it's brilliant.

I actually worked in a fish factory the summer before I got married and smoking haddock there involved dipping it in yellow dye and hanging it on hooks on big frames that went into the smoker. That was in 1971 so I'm guessing things have changed.

I bet there will loads available there, Brit.

When we got ours, we smoked loads of stuff. Started with trout, then sausages, beef and chicken, then went back to the beginning of the list and started again.

@Tri - that looks distinctly manageable and I will see if I can find one. Thank you!

Welcome @Itwasntevenblackpudding!

I've never been a fan of a chippy - I don't like fish anyway, but I always find the chips a bit soggy. Maybe it's just a Nottinghamshire thing - I'll be taking eldest back to uni in York in the new year, might be an opportunity to do a chippy comparison.

We have plenty of interior decorations (a veritable plethora of varying sized trees), but I simply couldn't be arsed to do the outside ones this year. First it was too cold, then I felt too shit, and now it's too late, so fuck it.

@Kucingsparkles

I have certainly done a lot more cooking since we have been here.

It's very frustrating to look at recipes and have to rule them out immediately because at least 3 of the (very basic in the UK) ingredients will not be available.

When we go to visit MIL, the trip to Morrisson's is like being in an aladdin's cave for me.

@Kucingsparkles I am from the South coast of Kent and battered Cod roe is very much a thing. I love it.

@Itwasntevenblackpudding I adore France but their timidity with spice is hilarious. We were warned this year that a harissa dip might be too hot. We gave the waiter a South London stare.

Timidity with spice is also somewhat of a thing here (except for chilli). I can't eat Thai food in England as it's invariably hotter than I like, but I enjoy it here. Not sure many Thai people would recognise it though.

Ha! We had a Thai place open a few years ago in our South London suburb and the feedback generally was "great, but why isn't the food very hot"

They had clearly adjusted recipes it for English (particularly white English people but not realising most Londoners, particularly South Londoners are very keen on chilli.

Apart from a very select few restaurants, IME Thai people would say that even UK Thai food is far too timid and "westernised." The same is true for other cuisines that I know well.

However. The general standard is pretty good and I get the impression that many Brits are genuinely keen on enjoying food from all over the world. And pretty authentic stuff can be found in many parts of the UK, just by word of mouth. By contrast, when DH lived in Germany, it was practically impossible to find authentic "foreign" food and our friends in Europe tell us that it is mostly still like that.

@Ginmonkeyagain, I agree that London is definitely the exception that proves the rule (of authentic cuisines being super-easily found), always has been that way hasn't it!