Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

Just now, Tony_S said:

Whatever you do don’t start a hummus origin debate!
 

 

Fear not, I'll never run out of options to start fights by complementing the excellentness of Indonesian food like rendang, soto and satay, and the equal excellentness of Malaysian food like rendang, soto and satay. That gives me hours of harmless fun, Mrs JJB always takes the bait, as do Malaysian friends in the other direction. There have been diplomatic incidents between them over the one or the other claiming ownership of dishes.

[Tony_S]

Changing the subject from food to travel…

On the front page of my browser there was a link to a Telegraph article about a cruise ship that was too big to get into a Scottish harbour and had to anchor outside as if this were something strange. As this happens quite frequently on cruises I assume the reporter hasn’t ever been on a cruise and  had the joy of tendering ashore. 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

Doesn't say which bits of the turkey

This seems to be popular for makers of "cheap eats"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat

[jjb1970]

The Turkiye thing is interesting in what it reveals about attitudes. Diplomatic convention is quite clear on names yet many people I know in certain European government agencies (funnily enough, not ours) make a point of saying Turkey specifically to annoy the Turks which strikes me as either childish or needlessly rude (or both). The Turks usually take it in their stride but you know they're taking notes and it is both a symptom of and feeding the general poor state of relations.

 

They also wind up the North Koreans. There's no such country as North Korea, it's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, it's acceptable to use PPRK. Certain countries use 'North Korea' quite deliberately to annoy them, often followed by a formal complaint and an apology with a promise to not do it again as most of the room thinks 'have we got nothing better to do than waste time with idiocy like this?'

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

...people in SE and East Asia are obsessed with instant noodles and eat them by the boat load. That said, brands like Prima (Singapore), Indomie (Indonesia) and Samyang (Korea) are a world away from pot noodles (even though most of them are in fact available in pot form, convenience stores offer boiling water for take out customers).

During my stay in Japan a few times, for a quick lunch or snack, I grabbed a pot noodle or two from a Combini (コンビニエンスストア) - there were one or two which were so good that it was hard to believe that they were pot noodles...

 

Sadly, most of the ones we get in Switzerland aren't much good and the ones that are (from specialised Asian food stores) are multiples of multiples of the original price.

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

There's no such country as North Korea,

Prime Minister Modi is apparently keen on renaming India to Bharat. Aditi has a couple of male relatives whose given name is Bharat. I wonder if they will have to change it to India, which in the west seems to be a girls name. 

[Darlington_Shed]

11 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

been on a cruise and  had the joy of tendering ashore

 

I'll be doing that in the next week 👍

 

I checked last night about a Covid jab and could have had one on Friday at a local pharmacy. But tomorrow morning we fly to Barcelona for a couple of days before embarking on Friday, followed by a week meandering around the Iberian peninsula (and a brief visit to north Africa), and finishing with two nights in Lisbon. Jabbing will have to wait.

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

never run out of options to start fights by complementing the excellentness of Indonesian food l

Aditi’s family are Punjabi. MiL’s cleaner who helps  her with cooking now is Gujarati. I commented how nice the roti (chapati) that Ranjan had made were. MiL,was most put out that I could even think so. They taste the same, they are just much thinner. 

[jjb1970]

I'm curious to see whether they change the UN name. Currently (or up until the recent change) it was 'India' in UN documents and on their card. I don't know much about India (to my embarrassment) but an Indian friend over here tells me Bharat was always in the Indian constitution along with India but they used India internationally.

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Darlington_Shed said:

and a brief visit to north Africa

Where will that be? Since we started going on cruises the N African and Eastern Med stops,have disappeared from the itineraries of cruise lines we use. My phone did pop up with a “Welcome to Morocco” text on the last cruise though. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

When I went to Uni, we didn't go around looking like the yoof of today.  Mind you, we didn't look like Ken Barlow, when he first started in Corrie either!

 

When I went to uni we still had grants rather than loans if our means-tested parents were lower on the income scale. 
 

I wore what I could afford. As a geology student it had to be as practical in the field as in the lab or lecture theatre. 
 

We were almost a male-only department; one of the female students was married to one of the chaps, one was a drop-dead gorgeous Malaysian who was firmly empartnered with (and by our final year engaged to) someone from home and the only other was a studious academic following in family footsteps.   Geologists would know the name of Hutton; she was a Hutton several generations along and showed no interest in socialising of any form. 
 

I looked farther afield. The SU bar was sometimes worth the investment; £5 entry (“for the band” even when you weren’t staying that long), cheap food and cheaper-than-pubs real ales. Usually Sam Smiths and Abbott. 
 

A school friend, with whom I am still in touch, went to Kingston to do geology. Kingston was my second choice and with the wisdom of hindsight should have been my first. A far better social scene and slightly less demanding course work. They did in four years what we did in three. They had plenty of reading and lab time; we were in from 9 to 5.15 back-to-back lectures / practicals every day with a half-hour for lunch.  When you needed the library you stayed later. 
 

So I was usually in jeans and a button-up casual shirt, sometimes in a cheap synthetic jumper, never ever the height of even student fashion. 
 

But friend from Kingston did come and … errr … visit at times, and vice versa, so I must have got something right. 

[iL Dottore]

36 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

...I know another restaurant where they call something very similar 'Chicken Milan' - which I'm not sure is quite right either. It tastes fine but it does cause confusion when you look up recipes for the dish afterwards with a view to recreating it at home...

Cotolette di tacchino alla milanese is made with turkey (obviously), dredged in flour, then egg and then breadcrumbs before being shallow fried in either butter or a mix of butter and olive oil.

 

Whereas "Chicken Milan" (or Pollo alla Milanese) is is made with chicken (obviously), dredged in flour, then egg and then grated Parmesan before being shallow fried in either butter or a mix of butter and olive oil.

 

Some claim that Pollo alla Milanese - made with parmesan* - is not really an Italian dish but originated outside of Italy (Switzerland is a popular contender for the title of creator). Given that Chicken Milan is traditionally served with Spaghetti Napolitaine (spaghetti with a plain tomato sauce - Naples style) and given that Northern Italians (e.g. the Milanese) generally have a very low opinion about Southern Italian food - this pairing of North and South does suggest the dish originated outside of Italy.

 

As much as it pains the purist in me, I sometimes prepare Pollo alla Milanese mit Spaghetti Napolitaine for Mrs iD (Sigh! The things I do for love 💘). This is, needless to say, at her request.

 

* I wonder if whomever originated Pollo Milanese started to use grated Parmesan instead of the much cheaper plain old breadcrumbs so he/she could charge more for the dish???

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I'm curious to see whether they change the UN name. Currently (or up until the recent change) it was 'India' in UN documents and on their card. I don't know much about India (to my embarrassment) but an Indian friend over here tells me Bharat was always in the Indian constitution along with India but they used India internationally.

It has been complicated as Pakistan has hinted that if India changes its UN entity to Bharat then Pakistan as a part of the original pre partition state  would somehow  have the right to have the name India. I don’t understand but it could be just Pakistan trying to be annoying rather like your example of people using North Korea,to,annoy the DPRK.

[Ozexpatriate]

19 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Prime Minister Modi is apparently keen on renaming India to Bharat. Aditi has a couple of male relatives whose given name is Bharat. I wonder if they will have to change it to India, which in the west seems to be a girls name. 

I understood that India / Hindi / Hindu are all derivative of the Indus River (perhaps interchangeably back and forth). No part of the Indus River flows in the country named for it - India.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

... if India changes its UN entity to Bharat then Pakistan as a part of the original pre partition state  would somehow  have the right to have the name India

Which would of course make sense, given that the Indus River flows through Pakistan.

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I understood that India / Hindi / Hindu are all derivative of the Indus River (perhaps interchangeably back and forth). No part of the Indus River flows in the country named for it - India.

PM Modi has according to a discussion I was not really paying full attention to on Saturday has rejected Hindustan as a name. Signage at the G20 summit used Bharat (or so I was informed). 
Back in the early 1950s when Aditi and her sister were born, their Dad was keen on them being Hindi speakers and being educated in Hindi rather than English. However when they came over to Yorkshire for a visit (that became permanent ) he insisted on only speaking English at home. Though I noticed that Aditi answered in whatever language she was spoken to in but her sister always answered in English. 

[jjb1970]

Dear me, I'm worried Singapore is going soft on crime:

 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/man-cough-colleagues-covid-19-art-test-positive-jail-3779226

 

In the good old days such a heinous act would have reieved the death sentence at least, a tough judge might have imposed the maximum sentence of having to watch Eastenders on a continuous loop for life without chance of parole.

[jjb1970]

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Though I noticed that Aditi answered in whatever language she was spoken to in but her sister always answered in English. 

 

We have that. My wife uses Indonesian with the kids, the boy understands (and can speak) but invariably answers in English whereas the girl converses in Indonesian.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Which would of course make sense, given that the Indus River flows through Pakistan.

Aditi’s grandfather was a civil engineer and worked on many projects on the waterways that are now in Pakistan. Aditi’s Dad was brought up in a series of dam, canal or flood defence sites.  In many places it was a bit wild and they had compounds with armed police or soldiers. After partition her Grandfather worked for the UN on projects  in Thailand. 

[jjb1970]

My advice would be to never get into an argument with Indian foreign service people. For all their international reputation for having the bureaucracy from hell their diplomatic service is as good as it gets, they're razor sharp and extremely good at what they do. They always display impeccable manners and courtesy as they don't need to be rude or confrontational to be effective. 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Hey ho.  Off to be jabbed....

 

 

Back.

Jabbed, shopped, whacked...

 

Now for a big muggatea! (and a biscuit)

 

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

My advice would be to never get into an argument with Indian foreign service people.

It is most unlikely that I will have to do so. I can’t get a visa without telling fibs! So I am not prepared to do so. Aditi has been investigating cruises that may involve,Australia,Vietnam, Singapore or Japan next year. Another option that went through the Panama Canal she was interested in got shelved as it appears that one of the recommended vaccines is a live version not recommended for immunosuppressed people. I am not sure about what is recommended for Far East cruises yet but you have to,read them carefully. Some vaccines are only recommended for those who intend to spend time in paddy fields or farms. The live vaccine issue meant I had to have the expensive two dose version instead of the cheaper single jab for shingles last year. 

[Adam88]

I'm on a teleconf this afternoon and one of our American cousins has just introduced me to the term 'sunsetted'.  I suspect he meant 'retired from service'.

 

As they say:  "There ain't a noun that can't be verbed"

Edited September 19, 2023 by Adam88

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

I'm on a teleconf this afternoon and one of our American cousins has just introduced me to the term 'sunsetted'.  I suspect he meant 'retired from service'.

 

As they say:  "There ain't a noun that can't be verbed"

I think it is the end of a fixed term contract. 

[DaveF]

A quiet afternoon, as expected after this morning's jab I developed a mild headache and having yet again not slept well felt tired.  A mug of hot tea and an egg custard has woken me up and soon it will be time for tea, turkey and strong cheddar cheese on some French bread, then raspberries.

 

I think I will settle down with my book again for the evening. 

 

It is still dull here and it is supposed to rain again soon so it is as well I've already checked the greenhouse and garden, a few plants in the greenhouse actually needed watering even though it has been a cold day.

 

David