Reply to: Chubby people live longest: Japan study

[Amiga500]

I guess that you really had to be there.....

[Rookie]

I once had a chat with two Parisian blokes in a pub.

- The good thing in Toulouse, is that it's small and you guys know everybody in town.
- [Me] - Sure, we draw tables on the place du capitole every weekend and all 600,000 Toulousains have lunch together
- [Them] - Hum, yeah right. yeah well the other good thing in Toulouse is that you guys are quite laid back, hey? (wink, wink) You don't work too much hey? (wink wink)
- [Me] - Sure, we saw Airbuses' seeds in Automn and harvest the planes in Spring.

Muppets

I guess that you really had to be there.....

[Le Rosbif]

Good chaps, the French - except for Parisians - but then they're not really French are they?

Exactly what I have always said.
Parisian like nobody else but themselves.
I once had a chat with two Parisian blokes in a pub.

- The good thing in Toulouse, is that it's small and you guys know everybody in town.
- [Me] - Sure, we draw tables on the place du capitole every weekend and all 600,000 Toulousains have lunch together
- [Them] - Hum, yeah right. yeah well the other good thing in Toulouse is that you guys are quite laid back, hey? (wink, wink) You don't work too much hey? (wink wink)
- [Me] - Sure, we saw Airbuses' seeds in Automn and harvest the planes in Spring.

Muppets

[Le Rosbif]

Really, English food can be outstanding at its best, but you have to be patient to find it, or to buy the best produce and cook it yourself.

I totally, that's what I tell my english mate when they start moaning about english food beeing crap.
I believe there is true history of british cuisine. (I won't even pretend that it's been inherited from the Norman Invasion who in turn inherited it from the roman/italian invasion )
Just look at Heston Blumenthal show about historical british food.

[Mich the Tester]

By golly! I think you must actually be French to come out with an observation like that.

I love Cassoulet and am prepared to endure the mighty trouser trumpets that ensue from its consumption.

Good chaps, the French - except for Parisians - but then they're not really French are they? Like Londoners are not really English.

Last time I was in London, half of them were Australian and the rest were Irish or Russian. I'm not complaining about that; I suppose someone has to live in London; I just hope for the poor sods that they might discover England some day.

[bogeyman]

Well, how about "la sausisse de toulouse"?
That's the one you get in Cassoulet (the meal which makes you fart for 24h non stop)

By golly! I think you must actually be French to come out with an observation like that.

I love Cassoulet and am prepared to endure the mighty trouser trumpets that ensue from its consumption.

Good chaps, the French - except for Parisians - but then they're not really French are they? Like Londoners are not really English.

[cojak]

I know it must be hard for british people to get out of the stereotype

What - all of them? Even the 'Frenchmen make better lovers' one?

Rightio Marcel Old Chap, will do...

[Mich the Tester]

That's an euphemism!
I've tried loads of different English sausages that I get from the borough market or from farms when I visit the country side.
I think it's actually a proper English Specialty.

The key to getting good English food is to go to the market or preferably directly to the farm and get the best ingredients money can buy. Do that and English recipes will become clear for you. Roast beef from a well hung rib joint of Hereford is unbeatable, but from a vacuum packed lump of supermarket surplus dairy meat, unpalatable. Shepherd's pie, made from the minced or better, finely cut remains of a roast lamb or hogget is one of the most delicious meals you can eat in the world; out of a tin I wouldn't feed it to a pig. Serve it with Fresh carrots from the garden, steamed until they're just crunchy; not boiled to pulp like some English housewives do. Of all cuisines, English cooking is perhaps most sensitive to the quality of the raw produce because it's not about fancy sauces or presentation, but about getting as much flavour and nutrition as possible out of every last ounce of food.

Really, English food can be outstanding at its best, but you have to be patient to find it, or to buy the best produce and cook it yourself.

[Le Rosbif]

Café partout sur le clavier!

In the Southwest the food is seductively delicious but Mon Dieu! it is fattening.

Yes, I admit that
I just would not admit it

Oddly enough, people in the SW are not that fat.

[expat]

Well depends in which region.

In Normandy, the food is very rich and buttery.
People in Britanny are well known boozers.
In the south west and south east the food is much more balanced and mediterranean.

I know it must be hard for british people to get out of the stereotype but you surely can understand that people in Nice or Marseille have a different lifestyle than people in Lille, Brest or Paris?

Café partout sur le clavier!

In the Southwest the food is seductively delicious but Mon Dieu! it is fattening.

[Le Rosbif]

Come on here, flouting your Frenchie ways, and fail to understand British humour? Why I oughta...

(Strangely, I have a sudden hankering for Tartiflette)

:-D

Putain, La tartiflette is so rich... It's a winter meal man.
Perfect after a day spent skying.

[Le Rosbif]

Of course, the English make one or two excellent sausages too;
.

That's an euphemism!
I've tried loads of different English sausages that I get from the borough market or from farms when I visit the country side.
I think it's actually a proper English Specialty.

[Moscow Mule]

(or is Moscow Donkey just ignorant?)

Come on here, flouting your Frenchie ways, and fail to understand British humour? Why I oughta...

(Strangely, I have a sudden hankering for Tartiflette)

[Mich the Tester]

I take it you call "berets basques" only "basques" in English?

(or is Moscow Donkey just ignorant?)

No, the berets are called berets, and the ladies underwear corsets are called basques.

[Mich the Tester]

Well, how about "la sausisse de toulouse"?
That's the one you get in Cassoulet (the meal which makes you fart for 24h non stop)

Very good, but I'm afraid the Basques win on the sausage making front. Of course, the English make one or two excellent sausages too; try a Lincolnshire Sausage. Not the crap from the supermarket, but from a good butcher.

Some day in the future I hope to tour Europe and compile a bumper book of the greatest European sausages with accompanying wines and beers.

Some day when I'm not dependent on making any money out of it, that is.