to think there is something wrong with Americans?

[TheBloodManCometh]

In Colorado, here for 5 weeks.

Why the HELL is there a half inch gap on either side of the door in all public toilets?? You can see everything going on!!!
This has been the case everywhere I've been in America?
AIBU to be both baffled and embarrassed

lighthearted btw. I don't really think there's something wrong with the Americans

Hahahahaha! You're reminding me of our terrible septic-tank replacement situation last year. There were one or two Very Bad Moments in the back yard. Good luck!

I can get them! And cream crackers..

Hersheys is not really 'cooking chocolate' imo. For cooking you would use chocolate chips, cocoa powder, or packages that contain one ounce blocks of cooking choc -- unsweetened, bittersweet, semi sweet and German choc. The brands I see most in choc chips are Hersheys, Nestle, Guittard, Ghirardelli, and value brands/store brands.

You can buy electric kettles anywhere and for a wide price range. DD2 bought one in Walmart for $14.99 to take with her to university. It had an auto shut off feature so it was allowed in her dorm room. She got loads of use out of it in combination with her French press coffee pot.

I have a gas oven and range so my kettle takes no time to boil. I like to pour my two giant mugs of morning tea from my teapot so a kettle full is necessary. I used to drink coffee but went completely off it and now drink only (hot) black tea (mainly Tetley) and various green teas and herbal teas. I have had only one glass of iced tea in my life and I have never had sweet tea.

Conservatories are unusual. Summers are so nice you wouldn't need one many homes have a covered porch and most people have some sort of outdoor terrace or deck for sitting out, dining, BBQing, etc. In winter in many very populated areas (upper midwest, and NE) you would pay a fortune trying to keep a conservatory warm and another in summer trying to keep it cool. Porches in older homes were often designed as sleeping porches before the advent of AC. They would be screened with mesh to keep mosquitoes out. An upstairs porch jutting out to allow for three exposed walls and max air circulation this sort of porch would be closed off for winter, and maybe used as extra cold storage for food. This house has an upstairs sleeping porch and a front porch for sitting.

DS likes Arizona Arnold Palmer almost as much as Mountain Dew .

I was looking for ryvita and oat cakes found ryvita not oat cakes

ds is loving cookie spread and I love the peanut butter (not the organic one)

Whenever I feel like cursing the plumbing here, I remind myself I could be dealing wit a septic tank..

A sausage roll is a pig in a blanket but the sausage would be more like a breakfast sausage and the pastry would be normal shortcrust pastry, though my DCs live them in biscuit dough.

math yeah it was pretty bad. We're in the country, everyone has them here, and it's fine now, but at the time ... wow.

(Totally unrelated, but since you are here, I got that Jordanian-Israeli history book from the library -- thanks again.)

Freudian have actually never heard of cookie spread!

Glad you found it . One of the DDs did Modern Mid Eastern History in HS and it was on her reading list, so I read it.

My mum grew up in rural Ireland and has tales of septic tanks that make my hair curl.

Me too!

My FIL told us some of those stories too ...

Sausage rolls are not meant to be healthy.

DD2 bought one in Walmart for $14.99 to take with her to university. It had an auto shut off feature so it was allowed in her dorm room

You have kettles without auto shut off? And $14.99 seems a lot, I think mine was £5

Mine was like $50 but it's fancy and was a present. [pointless contribution]

Sausage rolls are yummy but they are in absolutely no way healthy.

The auto shut off thing is confusing me. Who'd make an electric kettle without auto shut off. That's just dangerous.

Kettles here used to not have auto shut off, but I'm talking about 30 years ago. It wasn't common but they did exist.

A sausage roll is a pig in a blanket but the sausage would be more like a breakfast sausage and the pastry would be normal shortcrust pastry, though my DCs live them in biscuit dough.
I think it's flakey pastry not short crust. And how are British sausages different?

And you can buy instant tea in the uk too, but I don't know anyone who does. www.poundland.co.uk/typhoo-qt-instant-tea-125g

Well, be thankful the loo is not a hole in the ground to squat over.

Does the bathroom remodel include a door with gaps?

When I worked in the USA for a short period, I always put tomato ketchup on my morning French toast (eggy bread). The Americans were all horrified. How could you put something savoury on it when it should be maple syrup. My horror was in reverse.

It was interesting trying to give a statement after a minor car crash. The police officer was getting very confused when we were saying things like "we were indicating right" and talking about the bonnet - flashing right and hood.

Yabu, no doors and squat toilets in Hanoi train station....

Oh, I have had the full septic tank experience. And discovering that the well was too close to the septic tank. Now that was fun.

It's hard to describe the difference in sausage. But there is a big difference regionally in the US with sausage, too. I grew up and live in the South and our sausage tends to be spicy, which I prefer.

The self-catering house on a lake in upstate New York where we spend a couple of weeks every summer has a sleeping porch. It has four single beds and we use it as a kids' dorm. They love it.

US sausages aren't different (I don't think?) but the sausages used for pigs in blankets are frankfuters (am I right?)

A sausage in a sausage roll doesn't have a skin, either, it's just the sausage meat. So mushed up pork mixed with herbs and seasoning and probably some breadcrumb or other filler as well. Probably less herb in your bog standard fucking lovely sausage roll. They're greasy due to the fat in the sausage and the pastry, and yes they are always made with flaky pastry, like an apple turnover or a cornish pasty.

Yes pigs in blankets here are made with not dog type things...sausages are different, spicier.

My bathroom remodel does not include a door with gaps but perhaps there's still time to work it in! :o

*hot

I love the differences between UK and US. We are oh so similar and yet worlds apart!

Cheerful, when I was a teenager, we had a water main break and there was no water in the house for several days. My step-mother and I would run outside every time it rained for a quick shower. But the neighbors were doing the same thing. Modesty seemed to be a very secondary consideration.

I thought pigs in blankets are just about the diameter of chipolatas, 1 or 2 inches long and certainly don't taste of frankfurters. (UK here).

Ok I have some questions...

What are CD's in relation to money?
What is Homecoming? How important is it to be Homecoming Queen/Prom Queen etc? Is it always the popular girl that wins? Who chooses, is it like a voting system?
If drink driving is taken so seriously, how come everyone seems to drive to bars on TV and in books?!

And is it true that your drinking culture is so different to ours? My cousin worked in the US for a few months and was invited out "for a beer" with a colleague, when he went to get the second round in he was met with incredulity...."a beer" meant 1 beer! He suspected that they thought he had a drink problem when he described his normal drinking habits which were a once a week trip to the pub for rather more than 1 beer! Although that said a couple of his colleagues ended up embracing this new concept after a while when they realised that 2 or 3 beers did not immediately transfom them into piss soaked meth drinking tramps :o

A CD is a Certificate of Deposit. It represents money you deposit with the bank, like a savings account, but has a higher rate of interest in return for a specified term for the deposit. There is a penalty for early withdrawal.