|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 27, 2016 22:23:22 GMT
That's it! Thanks, Lizzy.
|
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on May 27, 2016 22:25:13 GMT
That sounds like a typical Italian/Euro shower. To complete the ensemble requires a rickety plastic door that leaks like crazy onto the floor. Also, make sure there's no place to put shampoo, razors, soap etc. That's very important!
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 27, 2016 22:45:40 GMT
But for god's sakes include the %#@^& bidet in order to use up any tiny scrap of "extra" space. Is there a law in Italy about those damned things? The one in my weird b&b in Palermo was placed crosswise in front of the toilet so that I had to almost climb over it to use the potty and the shower. The shower was as Fumobici describes, with the added wrinkle that the enclosure had been made for a completely different shower.
|
|
|
|
Post by rikita on May 27, 2016 22:59:36 GMT
i have never owned or used a dryer, neither in combination with a washing machine, nor by themselves. i understand their purpose, but never saw any reason to have one, either. can't think of anyone in my family who owns one, either.
|
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 27, 2016 23:50:02 GMT
If you had babies before disposable diapers were available, you had to have a dryer! Two littlies in towelling or flannelette long-time- to- dry cloth diapers was hell until I got a dryer.
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 28, 2016 0:30:36 GMT
Dryers were handy for that!
Rikita, if you ever live somewhere where it rains a great deal, you'd covet a dryer. Even though I much prefer to line dry everything, living in Louisiana where things can mildew on the line before they dry taught me that dryers have their place.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 28, 2016 1:51:51 GMT
But for god's sakes include the %#@^& bidet in order to use up any tiny scrap of "extra" space. Is there a law in Italy about those damned things? The one in my weird b&b in Palermo was placed crosswise in front of the toilet so that I had to almost climb over it to use the potty and the shower. The shower was as Fumobici describes, with the added wrinkle that the enclosure had been made for a completely different shower. When my husband builds our house, I told him I absolutely insist upon a bidet. The things are bloody marvels. We could not function as modern humans in Canada without dryers. When I was a baby my mother had only a washer with a mangle on top that she filled from the kitchen sink. She washed all the diapers on that, and then took them outside in below 0 temperatures and hung them on the line, and brought them in, stiff as boards and still frozen. She fell to her knees when she finally got a washer and dryer. Iconic Canadian scene: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9b/9f/c3/9b9fc3f96f06e26a6819ae99400f0b59.jpg |
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on May 28, 2016 3:13:04 GMT
I sure as heck found the bidet I had in my room in Florence last month convenient at 3 AM when the nearest toilet was four doors down the hall.  |
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 28, 2016 3:18:47 GMT
Reminds me of when I was at Uluru (Ayers Rock) one July. Washed 3 pairs of socks and pegged them on the tent rope. Next morning they were frozen and at the bottom of each sock was a curled up native hopping mouse. I put them in a sunny place and when I returned from my walk they were gone.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 28, 2016 3:21:45 GMT
Oh, cute!
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 28, 2016 3:43:51 GMT
They put a bidet in your room instead of the multi-purpose, unisex toilet, Fumobici?! I rest my case. Lizzy, the nicest of the hotels I stayed in while in Sicily had the required(?) bidet, but it also had a metal hose arrangement right next to the toilet. Now THAT makes sense! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_showerYour iconic scene reminded me of these things. When I googled to try to find a picture, I was surprised to see they're still being sold. Questa, how precious! I assume when you say they were gone, they didn't take the socks with them, though.  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 28, 2016 3:55:47 GMT
I haven't seen a bidet in a French hotel room in at least 30 years, but when I was little they were in all of them.
|
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 28, 2016 5:20:19 GMT
Bixa and Lizzy. They don't come much cuter. Their family name is notomys I put mine in the sun but close to the tent flaps so the raptors wouldn't fly in and grab them. The socks were turned inside out to free them.  |
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 28, 2016 7:09:40 GMT
Oooooooo ~ total cuteness overload!
|
|
|
|
Post by rikita on May 28, 2016 7:09:58 GMT
well yeah i can imagine them being especially practical in bad/cold weather and with diapers, though i suppose my mom managed without them (and i used cloth diapers for a while, but in my case it was more a voluntary decision, and i could always switch to disposable if they didn't dry in time ...)
|
|
|
|
Post by chexbres on May 30, 2016 13:26:07 GMT
I have a half bath and a full bath in my current apartment - both of them are equipped with those "bum guns", which emit a spray so powerful that it would remove skin and possibly some body parts. I was pretty sure that was what they were, but asked the landlord, who said "They are for cleaning the toilet". I never touch them.
I've always found bidets useful for doing a little laundry and/or washing my feet - this was in the days when French hotels only had bathrooms down the hall.
White gravy is poor peoples' food in the Southern US. Slaves and other people who didn't have much to eat were always given their ration of pork drippings, flour, cornmeal and water. Many people made corn pone, some made biscuits if there was a cow around and they could cadge some milk.
White gravy evolved when people became more prosperous and could throw some milk, a piece of salt pork or leftover meat or sausage into the mix. Biscuits became much richer, too. In Texas, people eat "chicken fried steak" with this gravy.
What about "red gravy" - the New Orleans/Sicilian name for spaghetti sauce?
Most ads for vacation apartments in Paris proudly specify that there is a "washer/dryer" on the premises. It is almost always those combination units, which take forever to do a load of 6 pairs of socks and only spin-dry the clothes. I've always bought a separate washer and dryer, which stack in my closet. The only things I really dry in the machine are bed linens and towels, because otherwise they turn out like sandpaper, and I don't like tripping over those expandable plastic dryer racks you have to put all over the apartment.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 30, 2016 14:46:26 GMT
As I have written before, the fact that I had a French mother allowed me to evade most southern food specialities except at the school cafeteria where they were just a cheap copy of the real item. I think I saw grits for the very first time in my life on a school trip to Jackson when I was about 15. Until then, it was just an abstract word to me and I didn't even know what they were made of, just that it was apparently some kind of mush. This raises an interesting point, though. Some food items are so totally famous in a region or a country that they are mentioned all the time but with absolutely no mention of the actual ingredients because it is a given that everybody knows what it is. Outsiders can remain clueless for years unless it is served to them unexpectedly.
Often the names give absolutely no clue as to what they might be. Hushpuppies? Souse? Chitlins? Succotash? What's funny is that in many cases, if you see the item, you discover that it has at least a "cousin" in your own culture. This doesn't concern just southern dishes, because names like chowder, toad in the hole, spotted dick, sloppy joe can be just as frightening to outsiders.
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 30, 2016 14:59:07 GMT
What's funny is that in many cases, if you see the item, you discover that it has at least a "cousin" in your own culture. I used to live in Port Isabel, Texas, which has a very large Mexican and Mexican-American population plus a big influx of winter visitors from the US and Canada. A local friend there was relating that he'd met a visitor from my state and that the guy ate something horrible called grits for breakfast. I told him that grits was just ground-up pozole. (pozole = hominy). He was amazed, saying, "It's pozole?! Why didn't someone tell me? I love pozole!" |
|
|
|
Post by chexbres on May 30, 2016 20:14:23 GMT
I love grits, but can't stand hominy or pozole! There's something a little too gelatinous about them...
It's interesting to wonder about the reasons why people come up with names like "spotted dick" and "souse".
"Pigs in a blanket" makes sense, though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 30, 2016 20:21:03 GMT
I almost mentioned the name "hominy grits" since they are often stuck together, but I had no idea what "hominy" is.
Obviously I quite like souse because it is very similar to the French fromage de tête.
|
|
|
|
Post by rikita on May 30, 2016 22:31:54 GMT
ah, so "grits" i suppose is related to the word "grütze"?
as for strange names - a colloquial name for blood sausage with sauerkraut is "tote oma" (dead grandma).
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 31, 2016 0:38:32 GMT
Hominy is corn slaked with lime, which removes the outer coating & also releases various B vitamins and other nutrients so that the body can absorb them: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/4684/nixtamalizationOur minds were running on the same track, Kerouac, since I was thinking that I love souse because it's like Louisiana hogshead cheese. I'm pretty sure the word souse refers to the vinegar used both for preservation and flavor. Mexican hogshead cheese doesn't use vinegar, so I always give it a little bath in some so it will taste more "correct". Oh, good entomological leap, Rikita! grütze = groats* = grits Blood sausage with sauerkraut sounds good. The nickname does not! * Groats are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains such as oat, wheat, rye and barley. Groats are whole grains that include the cereal germ and fiber-rich bran portion of the grain as well as the endosperm. Wikipedia |
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on May 31, 2016 6:21:44 GMT
Stargazy pie seems obvious once you see a photo of one.
Though it does seem strange the names of some dishes and I wonder how they came about. Bedfordshire clanger etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 31, 2016 6:55:00 GMT
I like 'bubble and squeak' Does anyone else know this dish?
|
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on May 31, 2016 9:39:52 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on May 31, 2016 12:28:08 GMT
Dutch stamppot is similar to Colcannon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamppot Stoemp en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoemp is a richer version from the Brussels region. The wiki article says that Stamppot is usually served with a smoked sausage; historically, of course, that depended on whether or not you had a smoked sausage... |
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jun 2, 2016 8:20:51 GMT
The very first night I was in Amsterdam, over 30 years ago, I went to a "Dutch home cooking" restaurant, and the special was "Hutspot met Sudderklapstuk". I had to try it for the name alone (mashed potatoes and veg with a huge piece of slow-braised beef). Much more recently, that same restaurant's latest incarnation was serving something similar (only it was mashed with kale, and served also with lentils and the smoked sausage). The presentation was..... well, striking is probably the best word:  And for dessert, their English menu offered "bag cheese on a biscuit". My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam" |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 12:31:38 GMT
I had never had any exposure to grits until moving to NOLA.
I remember initially seeing them and they so resembled pablum.
I was wary.
With lots of butter, salt and pepper, I quite like them.
Many breakfast joints here offer cheese grits which are delicious.
Shrimp and grits are another regional specialty, generously seasoned with the usual and additionally garlic.
I have to say, it wasn't until a couple of years ago when I visited some friends in Northern Georgia, we went to a mill where they ground several types of grits.
After tasting them, I can never go back to store bought generic grits.
The difference in taste was astounding.
I get my friends to send me some from there periodically.
I seem to remember Don C. mentioning that he gets freshly ground grits from somewhere around this same region.
|
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2016 16:58:37 GMT
Oh. Doesn't that look *orp* appetizing, Patrick.  I've only ever had store-bought grits, which I really like. Now I really want to try the stone-milled ones. |
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jun 2, 2016 19:10:47 GMT
It is a strange presentation. Like trying to doll up some of the similar homely dishes from Britain and Ireland. Usually Stamppot is served out of the pot, with a piece of smoked sausage, or in the "fancier" presentation, just on a heap on a platter, with the smoked sausage curls up in the middle (in a U, like some types of kielbasa).
|
|
