Things you assumed were normal

[meredithgrey1]

DH bought some weetabix to have for breakfast a few days ago and I was amazed to see him preparing it by just pouring cold milk on and then eating it like that! I can't eat weetabix now but when I was little my mum would pour the milk on, then microwave it, then mash the biscuits in to create something similar to porridge. I assumed at the time that this was the only way to eat weetabix but my husband was appalled at the very idea and after a quick google it does seem like I'm very much in the minority. So it got me thinking, what are some things that you thought were normal, but then you realised that you/your family were the only one(s) doing it like that?

I always thought that receiving your presents from Santa wrapped up and then stuffed into a pair of tights was normal.
I was (and still am really) a bit aghast at any other present delivery method.

I was about 9 when I realised other people didn't do this-and about 39 when I realised the tights were my parents' twist on Christmas stockings (I think?).

Anyway, Christmas Eve always finds me stuffing presents into a pair of tights each for the DD's... they love it as did I-the presents can be hard to extract which makes it more fun.

You could always tell when my mum and dad were a bit poorer-as those were one leg of the tights filled up years-when there was a bit more cash floating about we got both legs

Whisky IS normal for Father Christmas!

I also have Bovril on toast most mornings-my whole family does. (We all have the same vintage Bovril poster up somewhere in our houses because we love it so much).
I lived abroad for a bit and couldn't get it anywhere. People had to post it out to me.

Glad to see there is bovril on toast love here! I still like it more than marmite; although never ever as a drink!

I can't remember putting anything out for Father Christmas when I was a child, but if we had it would have been non-alcoholic for sure - maybe just a mince pie?
DH grew up putting out beer and a mince pie but I our Father Christmas doesn't drink beer so we put out port and a mince pie, because I don't keep sherry in the house.

My mum had a thing for mini frozen pizzas, usually margherita, or cheese and ham, and a penchant for overcooking them in the microwave, so we used to smother them in coleslaw to make them more edible. I still put coleslaw on my pizza now.

Jam on weetabix. Yum. And large pickled onions with roast dinners.

Grilled cheese and bacon on fish fingers.

Try it.

Keeping clothes till they’ve worn through into holes.

My running leggings are older than my relationship, to the horror of my teenage daughter. She keeps trying to throw them away for me.

Washing mushrooms is kinda important because they're grown in poop. E coli and all that. Big spoon of marmite in a spag bol or cottage pie is so tasty. Think it makes the taste much deeper and meatier than Worcester sauce does.

In my world mashed potato with salad is normal - apparently I am weird!

Washing mushrooms is kinda important because they're grown in poop. E coli and all that.

I've been to a mushroom factory. They sterilise the poop.

I've never washed a mushroom in my life! I've been vegetarian for 38 years and eat them most days.

@userxx yeah I never found it odd, I was just mentioning it because other people used it as an example!

As a veggie I’m curious - do marmite and bovril taste similar?

Also love mushrooms (and have ocd yet the fact they’re covered in shit weirdly doesn’t bother me) I don’t wash them (awaits shocked gasps) BUT I do peel them!

I even eat them raw quite happily can munch through a whole punnet as a snack, even crave them at times (I wonder what nutrient I’m craving?) so will sit with punnet of mushrooms and a sheet of kitchen paper to the side for the bottoms of the stems and the peelings.

@NoMoreUsernamesAnymore,
I am glad I am not the only one that like needs pickles on a roast dinner

Similar but not the same. Bovril definitely tastes like meat. Like a concentrated gravy or broth. Marmite tastes savoury in the same concentrated way but not in the same flavour way.

Graphista - you can have a lot more Bovril than Marmite on your toast, as I discovered to my horror (and oversalted mouth) when I tried Marmite at a friend's house once. They're sort of similar but Marmite is way saltier. Bovril on toast doesn't taste particularly "meaty" to me (does morein a drink) but just adds a bit more piquancy.

My mum always peeled mushrooms but that's because she'd let them get "old" so the peel came off easily. I always wash them just before eating them - so long as you don't sit them under water, they don't go mushy, just a quick rinse under the tap, or wipe with a damp cloth - I can't be eating bits of soil, however pasteurised it is - or, if they're older with a "papery" skin, then I peel it off too. Fresh shrooms shouldn't need peeling.

Fresh shrooms shouldn't need peeling.

What?? You mean I've been wasting my time peeling mushrooms just because my mum always did! Apparently that's another thing I thought was normal but didn't realise wasn't

You need a mushroom brush .

If I had to peel mushrooms I'd be leaving them out of the recipe!

I have trouble imagining how you would even peel a mushroom

A lot of faff I'm thinking!

Older or flat shrooms can be peeled but the closed cup type you typically get in the supermarkets don't need peeling.

A mushroom brush you say ?
That's a new one on me , I just give mine a quick wipe . I guess a cheep quarter inch paint brush would do the trick if you wanted to go down that route.

While we are talking about shrooms, ( hijacking thread for a mo) has anyone ever tried growing there own from one of them impregnated logs ? Did it work ?

Ffs I have never heard a mushroom cheep Twitter or sing . cheap

Cream crackers topped with cheese and beans pinged in the microwave! I loved it as a kid! Also I put butter and mayonnaise on my bacon butties, delicious.