Culture shock: US customs that puzzle new arrivals

[Toby Gymshorts]

Or do, if you fancy being fancy.

[anton pulisov]

Might go nicely on the cornflakes.

[Sam]

It washes down a chivito (steak sandwich) for lunch very nicely. The chivitos in Montevideo are phenomenal.

[Incandenza]

Not a fan of smoked fish to begin with, then adding it in with boiled eggs is definitely not something that I'd be rushing to taste.

[blameless]

So it's half cream and half milk? I always assumed it was what we call semi-skimmed

It's not exactly the same, but the closest US equivalent to semi-skimmed is 2% milk. Works just fine for mrs b and I when we put it in our tea.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

half and half here will get you chips and rice. Maybe with curry sauce. don't ask, just have the requisite 13 pints before ordering.

[Bored Of Education]

Not a fan of smoked fish to begin with, then adding it in with boiled eggs is definitely not something that I'd be rushing to taste.

Ah, not for you then. Although you can make a perfectly reasonable kedgeree with non-smoked haddock, salmon, coley, pollock or cod. However, if you don't like boiled eggs, there's no point.

[Gerontophile]

For the avoidance of breakfast-related disasters if anyone here ever goes to Uruguay, over there medio y medio is half sparkling wine, half wine. Don't order it with your breakfast.

fucking killjoy

[Gerontophile]

Bored, you know that Eixample is the big gay district? So, things that big gays do are not necessarily the same things that non-big gays do.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Ah, not for you then. Although you can make a perfectly reasonable kedgeree with non-smoked haddock, salmon, coley, pollock or cod. However, if you don't like boiled eggs, there's no point.

I don't like boiled eggs, but I think it works. I suppose it's just the same idea as a cocktail. Every individual ingredient of a mojito is essentially unpalatable by itself but...

[Bored Of Education]

Tapenade is similar. It has anchovies, capers, black olives, garlic and boiled eggs and one of those someone usually takes against but all together most people like it.

Bored, you know that Eixample is the big gay district? So, things that big gays do are not necessarily the same things that non-big gays do.

No, I didn't know that but that does explain a couple of things in the "Barcelona recommendations" thread.

[Hot Pepsi]

I first thought half and half was half fat milk, so I once poured myself a glass of it to drink. I got a nasty surprise.

US cows are fed corn and sit in some industrial hangar somewhere, so the milk is pretty poor. And the butter is fucking white.

Not usually.

Butter is usually yellow or white and comes in a rectangular stick. Or in a little plastic bin thingy.

The butter that comes in a little swirly bit on pancakes in US diners is it's own substance. I've seen it a few other contexts, but not many. It doesn't really taste like anything. I might not be butter either but some other kind of "spread." However, it melts easily over pancakes. The problem with proper butter is that it has to be stored cold and then when you put it on a pancake or whatever it doesn't spread very well until its warmed up a bit. I suspect that's why diners use the other stuff, which is probably extruded from a caulking-gun-type thing.

[Gerontophile]

Sorry, man. I neglected to mention that Gayxample is sort of a vague-ish gay thing that may or may not be a 'manufactured' thing (by the pink .. my keyboard has lost the ability to do the euro sign) Euro, and it is sort of true, but it isn't really.

But, it is very middle-class, and it is quite large, and I admit to staying in that area (think gay airbnb, before airbnb was thing) and I really like it, and it's a pleasure to be, in. And just imagine if you/me/one lived there: you wouldn't want someone like me (me) to be anywhere near it. And I'm gay.

I've told my Barcelona stories on here previously. I met the very wonderful (and missed) Lodzubelievit, there. And we saw (eventually, from the correct seats) the very lovely Thierry Henry score a Va-VA- VOOOM sixth, against the might of Atletico Madrid.

Yeah, one may have to become rich to enjoy it, like any city. And how fucking lucky are we to be able to do/have done so.

[Incandenza]

Tapenade is similar. It has anchovies, capers, black olives, garlic and boiled eggs and one of those someone usually takes against but all together most people like it.

I guess what I know as tapenade is very different. Just basically olives and capers. I suppose anchovies could be in it also, but eggs?

[ursus arctos]

Same

Bored sometimes seems to exist in an alternative culinary dimension

[Hot Pepsi]

Just the other day I was listening to a podcast where somebody pointed out that there's nothing that divides cultures more sharply than its ideas of what constitutes a good dessert. I suppose that might go for breakfast too. But I can't recall who was saying it. I'll review.

[ad hoc]

I guess what I know as tapenade is very different. Just basically olives and capers. I suppose anchovies could be in it also, but eggs?

You're right. I have never heard of tapenade with eggs in.

[ad hoc]

Just the other day I was listening to a podcast where somebody pointed out that there's nothing that divides cultures more sharply than its ideas of what constitutes a good desert. I suppose that might go for breakfast too. But I can't recall who was saying it. I'll review.

The Sahara all the way for me. People who love the Atacama are just plain weird

[Hot Pepsi]

The Sahara all the way for me. People who love the Atacama are just plain weird

I fixed it.

[Sam]

No you haven't, Reed.

[Hot Pepsi]

Is it right now? Not sure why it didn't work before.

[ad hoc]

Just the other day I was listening to a podcast where somebody pointed out that there's nothing that divides cultures more sharply than its ideas of what constitutes a good dessert. I suppose that might go for breakfast too. But I can't recall who was saying it. I'll review.

Now I am freed from the compulsion to be annoyingly pedantic, I can see this actually. I think there is something in the idea that desserts get further away from ones comfort zone the further away they are from ones own culture. So, while I love Indian food (and Indian breakfast food for that matter), Indian desserts have no interest for me. The same is true of SE Asian cuisines and of Chinese too (I don't think I've ever known what Japanese desserts are, but I'm guessing I wouldn't be interested). Meanwhile, although much of what the US eats for breakfast I find unpleasant, US desserts are familiar to me and fit with my idea of what constitutes dessert. European desserts are usually fairly acceptable, though I'm not a big fan of things that are very milky and there is a tendency in some parts for that kind of thing. It's not a universal truth, as I'd rather a Turkish dessert (baklava and all the baklava-ish things that are available) than, say, a creme caramel, but in general I can see how it's a theory that i could work into a drunken conversation.

[Sam]

Argentine desserts are all far too sweet. Although here in BA at least you do get sensational ice cream, so there's that.

Yep, you've corrected it now Reed. Well done.

[anton pulisov]

I suppose the Italians in Argentina are responsible for the sensational ice cream? Is there also other great Italian food in Argentina?

[Bored Of Education]

You're right. I have never heard of tapenade with eggs in.

I am going to admit defeat on that. I was sure that I had eaten it with boiled eggs in at one point (though hardly regularly) but can't find any recipes with it in. I have found recipes for boiled eggs topped with tapenade and one for eggs tapenade where you mix tapenade with eggs so maybe I had one of those. The eggs are a distinctly different ingredient from the tapenade though.

I won't stand down on the anchovies though. I have often had tapenade with anchovies, that is the way I make it and I would miss the saltiness of the anchovies that isn't made up for with the black olives. I have had the odd jarred tapenade without anchovies but I have had enough with anchovies that it seems like a main ingredient. Again, garlic is pretty much all the ones I have had as well.