Happy 17th Birthday Jedidiah and Jeremiah!

[Fascinated]

Poor Jed and Jer. It was their birthday. Apparently there's not much else to say about them. They lost us on page one I think. 

[Arete]

@Alye, English pork and Aus pork taste different because even if they use the exact same breed of pig, those pigs' diets are going to be different in both places.  Animal diet plays a tremendous role in what the final product is going to taste like.  Just like Merlot grapes grown in Aus are going to create a different tasting wine than Merlot grown in the US.   The soils are different in both places that cause the difference in taste between both sets of grapes.

Once I tasted lamb from New Zealand, I never went back to US, AUS, or South American lamb.

[Arete]

Las Vegas is most definitely a huge food destination.  Some of the best chefs in the world open restaurants in Vegas to cater to the casino tourism.   They may not advertise it in their home countries, but their investment and partnering in Vegas restaurants together with American chefs brings them a nice extra income and results in the top quality dining scene.

Another incredible foodie city is New Orleans, Louisianna.   It's not just Cajun cuisine.

[bashfulpixie]

I love New Orleans food scene.  I went recently and I don't think I did much but sight see and eat the entire time I was there.  I love trying new food and cooking and stuff, and I can't wait to go back.

[Chicken bones]

While it's not super cutting edge, my hometown Dallas has a great foodie scene. I've eaten out several times this week (Turkish, fine dining Chinese, sushi, TexMex, and MexMex)  all within 2 miles of my house. And I live in the burbs.

The twins really are lost boys, as far as we know so little about them. But that's really a good thing for them in some ways.  Hopefully they aren't shipped off the Bible Boot Camp anytime soon.

[withaj]

5 hours ago, Gossamer1 said:

I am the same way about fish.

 I adore sushi but do not like cooked fish. I will eat a salmon filet every now and then because I know  it's good for me but I don't really enjoy it. 

Somone up thread mentioned only eating at places not available at home - I do the same thing! A few years a go I was in South Carolina for vacation. I made it a point to have grits and sweet tea while I was there. I'm on board with grits. I'm not a southerner and will probably never have a passion for them but I get the appeal, they were yummy! I cannot say the same thing about sweet tea though. Definitely not for me.

I'm from South Carolina and even I order my sweet tea half-and-half -- half sweet, half unsweet. Otherwise, it might just be syrup. When I was in high school I worked for a local pizza place and had to brew the sweet tea every shift. I shit you not, TWO full clear serving pitchers full of sugar went in to each big dispenser.

[iweartanktops]

@JillyO

Thank you! I hope not too! I'm in so much pain and now dealing with horrible depression after going off of pain medication. I just didn't want to take it anymore.  But I refuse to mess up my face. Braces? Fine. More physical therapy? Great! Hell no, to surgery! 

Good for you, standing up for yourself! It's sometimes easy to feel intimidated by medical professionals! 

[Arete]

I'm in suburban NJ, an hour from NYC, and yet there are Indian, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Lebanese, Italian, Greek, Japanese,  Mongolian, an Irish pub, Jewish deli, Polish, Hungarian, Jamaican, Columbian, Filipino, and Russian restaurants all within 20 minutes of where I live.  There are also Chinese and Korean supermarkets and smaller Indian, Greek and Middle Eastern markets.  Kosher butchers, Halal butchers, Hungarian butchers.  All the supermarkets and markets attract a significant amount of customers outside their primary ethnic basis.  With the trAvel the Duggars do within the US, they could have explored so much world cuisine.  It isn't just confined to large US cities.  Their lack of curiosity and insularity is just grating.

Surprisingly, my area has yet to have a Mexican Restaurant worthy of the name.  For that you really do have to head  into the city.

[Valerie3kids]

I think that may sum it up their lack of curiosity. They seem to have no thoughts or needs to even think of anything outside of their bubble. I can not imagine living that way. Are they afraid? Are they egomaniacs and feel they are that much better than every one else?

Life is to be enjoyed. Being curious is part of life and part of your personality. We may have different things we are curious about but we all like to learn or hear more about the things we enjoy. They have done such a huge disservice to their children. They have no idea what they are missing in this world or what this world even has to offer them. They do not have to give up their Christian beliefs to take part in the world in general. They just need to step outside their box. But, it also must be scary when that is all you know.

I do understand refusing unknown foods for allergy/health reasons. I just think the way the Duggars handle situations such as restaurants and other countries is infuriating. I, also worry that all Americans are judges on the example the Duggars are giving.

[Darwinesque]

6 hours ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I love british supermarkets and was amazed at the giant line up of hundreds of triangle pre-made sandwiches.  My first thought was that people must be too damn busy to make their own sandwiches at home.  In the US you can get them at convenience store/gas stations, but they are usually just ham & cheese, egg salad or tuna and the age of them is often questionable.

I think they are a bit of a British institution - there are sandwich shops everywhere, we love them! My son is 15 and takes £3.50 to school  ( around $5) and that gets him a packet sandwich, a drink and some crisps from a supermarket that he goes to at lunch. My husband does exactly the same but pays London prices. If I am in the supermarket I will pick one up for my lunch because they are soo tasty and far nicer than anything I can be bothered to make. My ultimate comfort food is a good pre-bougt sandwich, a packet of plain crisps ( salt and vinegar if I'm feeling adventurous) and a cup of tea. Usually muched on whilst snarking on here.

[Gossamer1]

1 hour ago, AreteJo said:

Surprisingly, my area has yet to have a Mexican Restaurant worthy of the name.  For that you really do have to head  into the city.

I'm in northern New Jersey too! El Tapatio in Dover (Morris Counry) is great! I always leave with a stomach ache because I eat everything on my plate.

[gustava]

8 hours ago, Gossamer1 said:

Ground corn cooked in water or milk. Yes, it sounds gross but it's good with a little salt and butter.

Dinner tonight is fresh shrimp and cheese grits.  Very suthn!

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

[Elvis Presby]

Shrimp and Grits are so yummy!  I have never been much of a breakfast person, especially a Southern breakfast.  Usually, I just have coffee and wait until 10 or 10:30 and eat lunch.  When we visited Italy, I really liked the breakfast there.  It was simple, just get you out the door kind of food.  

[Bad Wolf]

I must have missed the sandwiches last time I was in England. I thought people were snarking initially. We sometimes pick up a sandwich at a gas station on a long trip. They are of dubious quality and taste.

[Jeebusismycopilot]

Toronto has lots of food opportunities as well. Because we are such a multicultural city, we can get our hands on authentic cuisine from all over. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Indian, Jamaican, Caribbean, South American, Mexican, German, French, Thai, Vietnamese... you name it.  I used to love visiting my brother when he lived downtonw because he lived across the street from the best little Portuguese bakery. OH MY WORD! 

 

I much prefer going with the authentic rather than the "north americanized" versions.  And when we travel, we never go fast food. We always try local. Heck, even if we just go to the States we avoid the fast food stops.  I think in all my years travelling down to the US ( we must cross the border at least once a month to visit friends) I have only had McDonald's 2 or 3 times. And once was simply because I needed to use the bathroom and ALL the rest areas were closed along I 79 through West Virginia. So I bought a hamburger and fries so I could use their loo. 

The one exception was Sonic. My friend and I were on a Road trip and she insisted we stop at a Sonic because she had been to them before but there weren't any near Buffalo and she really wanted to go for happy hour drinks. I will say the berry lemonade with massive strawberries and wedges of lemon was quite satisfying. 

[withaj]

26 minutes ago, Gossamer1 said:

I'm in northern New Jersey too! El Tapatio in Dover (Morris Counry) is great! I always leave with a stomach ache because I eat everything on my plate.

My grandfather was born in Dover and so I named one of my dogs Dover 'cause I'm weird like that  

[Karma]

15 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

I must have missed the sandwiches last time I was in England. I thought people were snarking initially. We sometimes pick up a sandwich at a gas station on a long trip. They are of dubious quality and taste.

Did you go to London? There must be hundreds of pret a manger shops there.  Great sandwiches!

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

15 minutes ago, Jeebusismycopilot said:

snipped

The one exception was Sonic. My friend and I were on a Road trip and she insisted we stop at a Sonic because she had been to them before but there weren't any near Buffalo and she really wanted to go for happy hour drinks. I will say the berry lemonade with massive strawberries and wedges of lemon was quite satisfying. 

Sonic is fast food, but at least it has a lot more variety than some places. The drink menu is especially fun. 

[withaj]

36 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

Sonic is fast food, but at least it has a lot more variety than some places. The drink menu is especially fun. 

Agreed on the drink menu, but I find it annoying that their "limeade" is just sprite with limes added (or diet sprite, or cherry syrup and sprite for cherry limeade, etc.)

[MatthewDuggar]

2 minutes ago, withaj said:

Agreed on the drink menu, but I find it annoying that their "lemonade" is just sprite with lemons added (or diet sprite, or cherry syrup and sprite for cherry lemonade, etc.)

You mean when I order a Cherry Limeaid, it's not made from fresh-squeezed cherry juice?  I'm shocked! 

[withaj]

Just now, MatthewDuggar said:

You mean when I order a Cherry Limeaid, it's not made from fresh-squeezed cherry juice?  I'm shocked! 

Well, you might expect them to use something like fountain Minute Maid lemonade + limes instead of sprite + limes, which is NOT vaguely lemonade/limeade. Citrus "ades" are virtually never carbonated in the US unless imported. Just seems an odd choice to me.

[Jeebusismycopilot]

Oh I know it is fast food - that's why I said it was an exception :) It was nice and I enjoyed the drink - especially since it only cost 99 cents or something crazy like that. And it did have actual fruit in it which was surprising.  But generally speaking we don't stop and had my friend not been with me, I would have happily picked up a bottle of water at the next gas station or something.  

As for the english sandwiches. Mmmm yum!  I still remember when I was coming back from a trip to visit my aunts (about 10 years ago), I asked my mum what she wanted me to pick up. Some magazines (because they have awesome freebies) and a "Train Sandwich"  We used to take GNER and they had a really good scottish ploughman's sandwich. So I bought the last 3 from the lovely woman selling them in the car and flew home with them the next day.   It's also my first stop when I get off the plane.  Immediately hit up a Pret or M&S and buy a sandwich. Then I spend my entire holiday loading up on bacon cobs, chip cobs (the most ridiculous, yet delicious thing ever invented) When I think I have had my fill of bread, I go home. 

[Bad Wolf]

We picked up a sub sandwich in the train station in York. We asked if she could cut it in half. No, she wasn't allowed to have a knife!!! Health and safety at its finest.

One of our favorite England sfories.

[church_of_dog]

On December 31, 2015 at 11:13 AM, nastyhobbitses said:

On the one hand, I'm glad there aren't any more specials as far as we know. On the other, I really wish I could see a restaurant proprietor or a museum guide just say "enough is enough" and call them out on their behavior.

I would love to see them go to Amy's Baking Company 

[Alye]

I'm not a big fan of sandwiches, mostly because I'm picky about bread. I only like it baked fresh that day if you're not toasting it. Here unless you go to a snackbar and it's made in front of you they're either stale or soggy.