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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2013 18:26:52 GMT
I noticed that my mother now prefers to eat ice cream with her fingers. I remain on standby with cleaning materials.
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Post by htmb on Feb 6, 2013 23:26:29 GMT
I will apologize upfront by saying this is the first time I've seen this thread, and I haven't read through the majority of the posts. Perhaps my story doesn't even fit here, but when I saw the tread title the first thing I thought about was my experience at one of the first dinner parties my former husband and I hosted as a young couple.
We had invited another couple we didnt know very well over for dinner. We had a nice meal, all prepared by me, and while our children played quietly together and ate in the other room, we adults sat around our dining room table enjoying good food and conversation.
Once we finished eating, we all pushed our chairs back a bit and continued talking while still sitting around the table. It was then the husband removed one of his shoes (sandles, I think), placed one foot on top of his other knee, and began to PICK HIS TOES AT THE DINNER TABLE and clean in between each digit!
My husband and I found this totally disgusting, but we were speechless. It's funny now, but was absolutely gross at the time. I don't remember his feet being particularly clean either.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2013 23:31:07 GMT
Oh, htmb, you will feel vindicated if you read some of the other tales on this thread.
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Post by htmb on Feb 6, 2013 23:31:55 GMT
I will get right on it, Kerouac!
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Post by htmb on Feb 7, 2013 0:14:19 GMT
So....after reading it all I can say, 1) I hate runny eggs, 2) my visitor's feet were at the opposite end of the spectrum from Don's post, and 3) I detest fresh tomato and hate eating anything touched by fresh tomato. For instance, if fresh tomato were put on a sandwich I was supposed to eat I would discretely remove what I could, but woud cringe inside as I ate the sandwich because there's just no way to remove all traces of fresh tomato.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2013 17:28:12 GMT
Most odd HTMB ...right in keeping with the OP. I had forgot about this thread, there's some funny stuff in here.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2013 17:53:39 GMT
There are also odd moments that have nothing to do with eating, as anybody can attest who is non religious and who has been invited by a household where they say grace, especially when there is a killer moment such as "let's let our guest lead us in saying grace."
This is often shown in American movies. The French equivalent in movies is a goy being invited to a Jewish event -- a Sabbath dinner or a holiday meal. Naturally the goy is always totally clueless as to what is supposed to be done, and generally at any Jewish table, there are the super devout and also the other ones who don't give a crap.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 7, 2013 18:05:11 GMT
htmb - my husband and I have just had a loud laugh at your dinner guest 'toe picking incident'!! You are too polite. Even if I did not know them well they would have had some icy remark headed their way Or I may have said " Hey Bert, can I help you with your pedicure, like maybe get you some foot rub ??"
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Post by htmb on Feb 7, 2013 18:26:21 GMT
Right, tod, but you have to understand that we were very young and this was probably one of our first dinner parties with "older" guests. I actually excused myself from the table as quickly as I good, but these days I'd give them a similar suggestion to yours.
I'm also reminded of friends of ours whose parents fed their dogs from the dinner table using the same eating utensils. We only ate at our friends' house once.....once was enough. The dogs would sit in their owners' laps and food was alternated from doggy mouth to human mouth and back again. We found this to be totally repulsive.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2013 18:55:54 GMT
My grandmother would share her ice cream cone with the dog. Both of them had extremely enthusiastic tongues.
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Post by htmb on Feb 7, 2013 23:47:18 GMT
What flavor was their favorite? ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 8, 2013 4:49:30 GMT
I think it would be hard for anyone to come up with an instance more horrible, rude, and downright animal-like than the toe-picking thing! UCK!
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Post by tod2 on Feb 8, 2013 17:51:03 GMT
Oh I understand completely htmb! Only a young couple taken unawares would keep silent As for the dinner table mutts share and share alike....I can't begin to comprehend it only to say my husband once saw a couple that allowed their great big dogs to lick the plates clean before putting them in the dishwasher. Oh gawd, please say they had the temp. on max heat....!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2013 17:58:11 GMT
I will confess that whenever my family had dogs (or cats), dinner plates were commonly placed on the floor at the end of the meal, depending on what had been eaten that night. They absolutely loved it.
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Post by mossie on Feb 8, 2013 19:33:55 GMT
I must admit when I was young we had a cat, to keep the mice at bay. Then later a small dog was added, which the cat absolutely dominated after a few scuffles when the dog was first introduced. However both would be fed from scraps from the table and allowed to clean the plates. The cat would sometimes sit on the windowsill behind my chair and occasionally I would feel him land on my shoulder. A paw would flash past my cheek and the tasty morsel that I was about to put in my mouth, would disappear from my fork All done in a split second, but it earned the cat a slap. That cat was a great character, he could get in and out of the house through an open bathroom window. One party trick when we were at church was to climb up over the roof and sit at the front crying for help. People would get quite concerned until they learned who he was. Another that my mother detested was to bring in live mice or young birds or rats at night, and sit outside my mothers bedroom door shouting for her to come and inspect his prize before he played with it. She hated having to rescue them when they took refuge in a corner inaccessible to Smutty
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Post by htmb on Feb 9, 2013 16:07:55 GMT
I lived on a farm from the age of ten up and we scraped all meal leftovers into a pot which was then put out for the dogs. I'm sure my parents pulled out any dangerous bits such as corncobs, chicken bones and the like. We also had a cat to help keep down the mouse and rat populations. Only the cat was allowed inside, as she was also my sister's pet. The dogs were never allowed inside the house unless the weather was severely cold, and even then they were confined to the kitchen.
Kerouac, my paternal grandparents had a collie dog that they loved so much I imagine my grandmother shared her ice cream cones with him, too.
Mossie, your cat sounds absolutely brilliant!
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Post by questa on Aug 18, 2013 4:39:09 GMT
In '96-97 I had a backpacker type restaurant in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. A lot of locals would eat there too. Naturally they ate with their right hand, scooping rice and accompaniments into a tidy ball then transferring it to the mouth. Foreigners were mostly fascinated by it all, though some thought it "backward". Food actually tastes better when eating without the taste of metal implements.
The locals all used toothpicks after a meal to get the stringy bits out. Very discreetly with the left hand covering the mouth. They were aghast at the foreigners who opened their mouths wide and without covering their mouths,dug around inside, showing all their teeth "like monsters"
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Post by lagatta on Aug 18, 2013 18:43:44 GMT
Questa, yes, those are cultural differences. But I can't imagine any culture I know not being disgusted by the foot-cleaning incident.
My very fastidious mum loved our cats, and actually didn't mind if one licked a plate clean before it was washed.
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Post by htmb on Aug 18, 2013 18:49:37 GMT
I still see the toe-picking fella from time to time. Guess the first thing that pops into my mind.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 21, 2013 17:19:17 GMT
I agree with the Indonesians in Questa's post!
Really, I think teeth should always be picked privately -- privately meaning not just covering the mouth, but going off where no one can see.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 22, 2013 8:11:40 GMT
The 'Bush Telegraph' has just reached darkest Africa so we are now being entertained by Come Dine With Me on the telly. Some of it is funny, some down right ludicrous, but some of the episodes have been very revealing about certain guests and their table manners/odd habits. Of course the TV people filming it try to get the host to ply their guests with as much alcohol as possible....this always succeeds in bring out the worst in dinner guests. From almost rubbing their noses in the plate of food set down before them while they inhale the vapors, to spitting out a glob of food, pulling a face so the host cant but help notice, to openly slating the food before they have even taken three bites.
Yes, it all makes for entertaining television and we can only hope never to find a person like that eating at our table!
Commenting on the post by Questa - I have noticed this teeth-picking habit in Chinese restaurants and even with their one hand covering the mouth I find it distasteful but realize it's a culture thing. Some African people here permanently walk around with a tootpick or some type of plastic or metal object stuck in the side of their mouths. Their motto must be 'ready and waiting, serve up the grub!'
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