Can't defend yourself at home in UK???!

[Michael]

If anyone here is taking my comment as some kind of holier than thou statement, then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding because that's not how I meant it. What I observe happening in the UK is also what I observe happening in the USA and I don't physically travel to either place to make these observations. I'm sure you've heard of the Internet, video cameras, books, movies, reporters, journalists, as well as people who travel away from an event and carry with them information about the event to people who've never physically been where the event actually took place. As stated umpteen times before, no, I've never been to the UK, Africa, or Latin America, but I'm certain they all exist, and as soon as I learn Limey, Latin, and African, I'm going to visit them all in person.

Matthew and Allan, my exasperation at the series of events I see unfolding before my eyes that include the UK and America was not meant to be offensive to any of the good people of these two countries. As far as glass houses, I've been extremely critical of specific policies of the US for the past couple of years, but even moreso, I am critical of those who truly set the policies at a level apparently higher than our separate governments as a unified agenda is simultaneously unveiled in multiple countries around the world regarding the things I mentioned: global war on terror, swine flu pandemic level 6, and crypto-pedophile crackdown (for lack of a better term). I don't expect you to have read my posts here during the past 24 months, but those who have probably wouldn't interpret my previous comments in this thread as picking on the UK.

Next time, I'll be sure not to leave off the [rant] tags.

[GrahamB]

What I observe happening in the UK is also what I observe happening in the USA and I don't physically travel to either place to make these observations.

Yeah, but isn't that the same as learning martial arts of a DVD and then telling eveyrbody you know what you're talking about?

[Michael]

Yes, Graham, that's exactly the same. The only knowledge I can have about events comes from those that I personally witness, because that completely solves the problem of limited perception. Why, if I were at a rock concert of 100,000 people and I didn't see anyone get arrested, then obviously the arrest report in the paper the next day, written by a reporter who merely read the police blotter and didn't attend the concert as I did, is an absolute lie. History is meaningless. I only know these four walls. No longer call me Michael. Call me "him that does not know a damn thing about the UK."

[GrahamB]

Yeah, that's better. Thanks.

[mrtoes]

Thanks for the measured response Michael.

I've read quite a few of your posts over the last year (and I don't post much so you wouldn't have the same benefit) so I do have some idea where you're coming from, and with regards to fears about growing government and police powers and the rise of the surveillance state I think we are much on a level. I didn't disagree with much you were saying in principle, just thought your exposition was a bit OTT considering it related to a poor piece of internet reportage about a D list celebrity that looks like it was either partly or completely inaccurate. Principles are all well and good but it's worth paying attention to the details before jumping to conclusions.

Cheers,

Matthew.

[edededed]

I have always enjoyed my stays in the UK (unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to visit of late) - love the environs and love the food! Things are a bit too expensive, though...

Love the food? You don't hear that too often

I think it is because English folks never praise their own food (kind of similar to Americans, in a way, probably because of a lack of the kind of nationalism you often get in other countries), so noone ends up knowing WHAT it is you eat.

I have found things like beer-battered fish & chips, steak and ale pie, pasties, mushy peas, pease porridge, and so on quite delectable, actually (some interesting organ-based foods I tried (like chicken kidney) was, um, interesting, though) Was quite interesting eating things like scampi and flapjacks as well, as there are similarly-named things in the US, but they refer to completely different things. Finally, my wife and I liked Ribena as well, so I always bought about 8 bottles of that and lugged it back home, sweating and chugging all the way

My theory is that America was born when a bunch of somewhat culinarily-disabled English decided to emigrate... of course, everyone likes a good meal, so then they made do with what they did know how to cook (we did get shepherd's pie, roast beef, and chicken pot pie). Luckily, some German immigrants and Jewish immigrants and Italian immigrants and so on did know how to cook, and thus we got some good foods out of them...

[GrahamB]

I have always enjoyed my stays in the UK (unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to visit of late) - love the environs and love the food! Things are a bit too expensive, though...

Love the food? You don't hear that too often

I think it is because English folks never praise their own food (kind of similar to Americans, in a way, probably because of a lack of the kind of nationalism you often get in other countries), so noone ends up knowing WHAT it is you eat.

I have found things like beer-battered fish & chips, steak and ale pie, pasties, mushy peas, pease porridge, and so on quite delectable, actually (some interesting organ-based foods I tried (like chicken kidney) was, um, interesting, though) Was quite interesting eating things like scampi and flapjacks as well, as there are similarly-named things in the US, but they refer to completely different things. Finally, my wife and I liked Ribena as well, so I always bought about 8 bottles of that and lugged it back home, sweating and chugging all the way

My theory is that America was born when a bunch of somewhat culinarily-disabled English decided to emigrate... of course, everyone likes a good meal, so then they made do with what they did know how to cook (we did get shepherd's pie, roast beef, and chicken pot pie). Luckily, some German immigrants and Jewish immigrants and Italian immigrants and so on did know how to cook, and thus we got some good foods out of them...

Mmmm... steak & kideny pie, my favourite nomnomnomnomnom.... British 'pub grub' is actually quite good these days..

Did you try a British Indian curry? We have developed that to an art form.

We made a food parcel of English food and sent it to our American colleagues in the San Francisco office. We blew their minds with Iron Brew, Jaffa cakes and Monster Munch

They sent us a food parcel too - I'm still reeling from eating a Twinkies bar. Man that was mad - I've still got the jitters

[Michael]

I didn't disagree with much you were saying in principle, just thought your exposition was a bit OTT considering it related to a poor piece of internet reportage about a D list celebrity that looks like it was either partly or completely inaccurate. Principles are all well and good but it's worth paying attention to the details before jumping to conclusions.

Cheers,

Matthew.

But my powers of extrapolation are phenomenal!

Yeah, that's better. Thanks.

Oh, that was about as interesting as three day old steak and kidney pie. Tin foil 1, nob-yobbers nil.

[GrahamB]

Mmmmmmmm 3 day old steak and kidney pie... nomnomnomnomnomnomnom....

[edededed]

I've not tried English curry yet, actually - I do love Indian curry, but I don't like Japanese curry, which I hear is derived from English curry, so I have stayed away thus far...

Have not tasted Jaffa Cakes, and Monster Munch, but I did try Irn-Bru - well, it was fizzy and red

I don't actually like California's food all that much (well, I did grow up in the east). Twinkies were at one time known for their phenomenal powers of preservation - there was a 60 year old one that was apparently still eatable, or so they say. (Now they use less preservatives, I think.)

If I were going to send you a pack of cheapie eats from the US, I would have sent Tastykakes (from New Jersey or Philadelphia) - they have nice powdered mini doughnuts, jelly krimpets (different from what you might imagine, I think), and cheap pies You might have a lot of stuff from the US already, though, so I wouldn't know really what to send (cheese popcorn? matzo crackers? bagels? root beer?)...

One thing I might add just to add salt to your Twinkie wounds is pork rinds - I tried that only once, and it was horrible! (The slight hole in the package might have contributed to this, however...) I only saw it for sale that once, though...

[AllanF]

Michael, forget about it, water under the bridge. Similar to Matthew it just sounds so absolute.
Matthew as for D-list celebrity...yes she may well be but she is still a young lovely. (Don't mess with the fantasy!!...hhhhmmmm...curry and Myleene....er...sorry)

Curry the national dish of the UK.
Irn-Bru made in Scotland from girders should alone be drunk when hungover or with vodka!

[GrahamB]

edededed,

Do you mean pork scratchings? A bar snack classic!

Goes great with 10 pints of beer.

Anyway, they used to put more preservatives in Twinkies? Yikes... the one I ate was good till at least 2020 if I remember rightly from the packaging....

[edededed]

Ah, so that's what you call it over there...

But good to hear that Twinkies still last for decades at least! (Who needs trail food when you can have twinkies!)

...actually, I have to confess that I have probably eaten only maybe 2 Twinkies in my entire life. I have never missed having them around, either...

[yusuf]

..well my mum was a pioneer of the english curry, as a chef int he 70's and early 80's.. It is amazing that curry is now our national dish...

traditional english food was always pretty good if attention was paid to detail, the problem was food was pushed to the back burner and very little attention paid to quality of ingredients and preparaton. This malaise spread into cafes and restaurants. In the 80's /early 90s food tasted awful most places you went. I think overall the exposure to other cultures, French, Italian, Aussie etc has given us a real push in the last 15 years. We now have a real foodie culture developing and hopefuly it will just get more and more widespread. Although you still ahve to be careful about where to eat.

Oh and my mum and I had traditional fish and chips last week, she still thinks it is an amazign dish if done properly. The fish gets steamed in the batter whilst the outside is frying. mmmmm nommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:)

[mrtoes]

Our national food is at best nothing special, but we're pretty good at cooking other nationalities cuisine. Particularly the aforementioned curry! There's some amazing Indian restaurants round my way.

Matthew.