Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:23 AM, Hikari said:

Wow, two people on our little forum who have been to Speedy's!  Can you actually just sail in for breakfast or is there a tourist line outside to rival the Tower of London? 

Just sail in, in my limited experience. And one time Alex and I were there (so make that *four* people on the forum) was a filming day.  We had to wait awhile to snag one of the outdoor tables, but we got served very quickly after ordering.  (You order at the counter inside and then they bring the food to your table).

On 5/3/2018 at 3:48 PM, Hikari said:

In my schooldays (the 1980s) we also had 'grody' (grow-dee) to describe a disgusting object or situation.  I have not heard grody for very long time, though 'Gross!' will never go out of style.

As I understand it, that first word is derived from "grotesque" and was presumably spelt groty.  But with the similarity between American T and D pronunciation, it seems to have morphed.

Same thing seems to be happening with "congratulate." I suspect that particular change came about due to the popularity of greeting cards congratulating new graduates by saying [sic] "ConGRADulations!"  Apparently a lot of people didn't realize that it was meant to be a pun.

 

[Pseudonym]

We use grotty to mean unclean, maybe similar?

Ahhhh, the start of the bank holiday, blazing sunshine forecast all weekend, I'm off to camp and hike. Perfect. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I've been checking online, and they seem to be related, but apparently your word is pronounced with a short O (to rhyme with "spotty") whereas ours, as Hikari said, is pronounced with a long O (rhymes with "throaty" or "toady" depending on how you spell it).

[T.o.b.y]

What is the bank holiday, Pseud? 

[Pseudonym]

May day. We always get the first Monday off May off. Not sure why, I'm too lazy to look it up.  Here's a Maypole to celebrate the occasion. 

[T.o.b.y]

Why is it called a bank holiday? What does May have to do with banks? 

We get May 1St off no matter what day of the week it falls on. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I believe that "bank holiday" is British for "official holiday" (roughly what would be called a federal holiday in the US).  It's called that because the banks are closed.

[HerlockSholmes]

34 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I believe that "bank holiday" is British for "official holiday" (roughly what would be called a federal holiday in the US).  It's called that because the banks are closed.

In the UK there was The Bank Holidays Act 1871which included 4 days a year official holidays (as you said Carol, days that the banks were closed.) They days were Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August and Boxing Day. There are currently 8 Bank Holidays in England and Wales.

[Sheerluck]

Corbyn wants to introduce four new bank holidays if Labour get elected.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/23/labour-promises-four-more-bank-holidays-if-it-wins-general-election

but some people are not convinced

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/24/abolish-bank-holidays-jeremy-corbyn-annual-leave

[Arcadia]

I could use a holiday right about now.....  

[T.o.b.y]

24 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I could use a holiday right about now.....  

Oh, you poor thing. 

May is holiday month over here, we get May 1st, Ascension Day and Pentecost Monday. 

Ascension is also Father's Day and lots of men go drinking outdoors. It's better not to have to drive that day. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

39 minutes ago, Sheerluck said:

... some people are not convinced

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/24/abolish-bank-holidays-jeremy-corbyn-annual-leave

You guys routinely get five or six weeks of paid vacation?!  I think most people over here get two weeks when they start a new job, and if they're lucky they can gradually work their way up to four or five over 20 years or so.  Unless they change employers, of course, in which case they start all over again (which is the main reason my brother doesn't leave his current job).

[Pseudonym]

Haven’t read link but we get 20 days plus bank holidays if we’re employed full time - some employers offer more but that’s the standard.

[T.o.b.y]

We get... A lot. Depends on your contract, but most places offer more vacation than the minimum required by law. 30 days a year is not unusual. 

Before you go "oh gawd those lazy Germans" though, please know that school kids get about 90 days of vacation a year and there are very few summer camps and such. So for parents, it's assumed that they will be spending their days off looking after the children - mother's 30 plus father's 30 days just about covers that and if you don't have grandparents or someone else who will help out, forget about having time off together. 

Also, if you are self-employed, this of course doesn't apply. Which is why my one and only vacation with my dad took place when I was 11. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I can sympathize. Where my father worked, they got a vacation check equivalent to two weeks' pay, regardless of whether they actually took time off or not.  Most years he just worked straight through (thus getting paid twice for those two weeks), and the years when he did take the time off, he spent it doing home repairs.  We never took a vacation trip as a family, unless you count an occasional picnic at the park.

Considering how much my father hated driving, though, that may have been just as well. And I did get to go to camp for a couple of weeks just about every summer.

[Hikari]

Emily Blunt & James McAvoy explain marmite (among other things) for the benefit of Americans watching.

Marmite looks like something that lives in a drain . . it's not exactly Nutella, is it? 

 

[Hikari]

The makers of Marmite need to hire Emily Blunt as their official spokeswoman . .she's promoting it again.

[Sheerluck]

Marmite is rather nice used in the right way. But it's also part of slang. Something can be marmite in that you either love it or hate it.

[Hikari]

16 minutes ago, Sheerluck said:

Marmite is rather nice used in the right way. But it's also part of slang. Something can be marmite in that you either love it or hate it.

Kind of like licorice jelly beans, then.  (Love them.)

I am famous for trying just about any food known to man, as long as it's not still alive.  I have to add in because I lived in Japan for 6 years and I was, in fact, offered a few things that were still swimming.  I like to think I was a game gaijin and tried everything else on offer, even if the head with its bulging eyes was still attached and sticking out of my bowl.  So I would try Marmite.  Would I become a Marmite *lover*?  Based on the appearance, perhaps not.  Looks a bit like honey . . .from the Jurassic era.  Well, I will see you marmite and raise you natto' which is fermented soybeans . .but that description does not do it justice.  After all, beer is fermented grains and that is pretty tasty.  Imagine something that smells like armpits mixed with blue cheese that has spoiled, and stringy like the Alien Queen's maw when she opens it to swallow somebody whole.  That's natto.  I heard something like 6 in 10 Japanese people can't stomach it, although it's 'very nutritious', which seems to be inversely proportionate to how appetizing a food is.  Japanese people looked at me with new respect when they saw me chowing down on natto, more so than the eels on a stick or the fish ovaries or octopus pizza and sundry other delicacies.  Natto was some serious hardcore sh*t.  I think I can handle a tablespoon full of Marmite.  Even if it kills mosquitoes.

[Sheerluck]

Marmite on buttered toast is lovely, but I think it shines when it's added to things like rarebit or stews. It just lifts things.

I've seen natto, but I've not had an urge to try it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I just don't get all the fuss about natto.  To me, it's pretty bland.  Admittedly, the mouthfeel is oddly slippery, but I deal with that by eating it on crisp toast.  And I add some peanut butter and apple butter for flavor.  Not something I'd go out of my way for, but certainly palatable.

Is Marmite similar to Vegemite?  I've eaten the latter and find it far too salty to be eaten in significant quantities, so why bother?  Australians must have far fewer salt tastebuds than I do!

[Hikari]

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I just don't get all the fuss about natto

Do you mean 'fuss' in a bad way?  Because in my experience nobody's raving about natto, not even 60% of Japanese, who invented it.

 

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

To me, it's pretty bland

Well, yes . . you'd be hard-pressed to find many Japanese foods that aren't, at least to American taste buds. The flavors are delicate.  Or salty.  The Japanese tend toward  hypertension because of all the soy sauce and other salty things like pickles, pickled fish, etc.  Anything remotely spicy is imported.  With natto it's not so much the taste that is objectionable--it's the texture coupled with the smell.  Like a mass of mushrooms cultivated in a dank basement and then marinated in toe jam and dirty socks.  Smell is indistinguishable from taste  . . so I gutted through natto basically by chewing while holding my breath.  It slides down easier that way.

 

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Admittedly, the mouthfeel is oddly slippery, but I deal with that by eating it on crisp toast.  And I add some peanut butter and apple butter for flavor.  Not something I'd go out of my way for, but certainly palatable.

Yes, that oddly slippery sensation is basically the slime of rot.  I don't think I would go so far as to call natto 'palatable', as in, something which in the experience of eating it gives great pleasure and something one would like to eat on a regular basis.  I'd go for 'edible; life-sustaining in a pinch and/or won't kill you on a dare if you eat it, and even provides some nutrients, if you can get past the sensation of having decaying beans in your mouth.'  I ate mine on a dare, and then sampled it a few more times, just to be sure it was as rank as I remembered it.  It was.  And you eat it with peanut butter and apple butter on toast?  I'll have to try that some time, if I ever run into natto again, which is not something I particularly am going to seek out on purpose.  I think the peanut butter/crisp bread thing might improve it considerably, but I confess that you lost me at 'apple butter'.  I do often eat pb and apple butter on toast and in fact that was my go-to meal in college when I couldn't face what they were serving for dinner . . but I had never considered ab as a condiment for natto.  Plain apples might be good, though.

Is natto something you run into in your Indiana hometown?  I'm impressed if so . . just surprised.  You speak like a natto regular. To be honest, though I lived in Japan for six years, where natto is readily available, I'm sure I can count the number of times I ate it on one hand, and I spent a lot of overnight stays at ryokan where natto is part and parcel of the traditional breakfast.  I did try it on occasion, to prove that this American was not one to shy away from a cultural expansion, regardless of our international reputation.  It did not escape my notice that the bulk of people eating it seemed to be over 60. 

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Is Marmite similar to Vegemite?  I've eaten the latter and find it far too salty to be eaten in significant quantities, so why bother?  Australians must have far fewer salt tastebuds than I do!

I tried vegemite once, too.  Not impressed.  Maybe it'd be better as a dip with crudités?  Marmite looks more liquidy, with the consistency of h honey, but Emily Blunt informed us that it's made from yeast.  Hmm.  If I feel like liquid bread, I'll stick with my Guinness, I think.

[HerlockSholmes]

14 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I just don't get all the fuss about natto.  To me, it's pretty bland.  Admittedly, the mouthfeel is oddly slippery, but I deal with that by eating it on crisp toast.  And I add some peanut butter and apple butter for flavor.  Not something I'd go out of my way for, but certainly palatable.

Is Marmite similar to Vegemite?  I've eaten the latter and find it far too salty to be eaten in significant quantities, so why bother?  Australians must have far fewer salt tastebuds than I do!

I love Marmite but tried Vegemite once. Too mild for my taste.

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

I love Marmite but tried Vegemite once. Too mild for my taste.

Is Marmite even saltier than Vegemite?  (How is that even possible?)  Or does it actually have some additional flavor?  Or are you pulling my leg again?

3 hours ago, Hikari said:

Do you mean 'fuss' in a bad way?  Because in my experience nobody's raving about natto....

Well, not bad exactly, more like an acquired taste.  I've heard that Japanese enjoy watching gaijin when they encounter natto for the first time.

You mention the smell, but I don't recall much of that either, and I tried at least two different brands.  Mind you, I've eaten durian, and that is definitely one food where you want to hold your breath till it's safely in contact with your taste buds -- a good durian is utterly delicious, like an intricately-flavored custard, but it smells exactly like an open sewer.

We live out in the country, but there used to be a little Japanese shop in the town where Alex works. I had read that natto is Good For You, so I made a point of eating some every day for a while. (I thought it was fine with toast and peanut butter, but needed a little something; thus the apple butter.  I just threw away the flavoring packets that came with the natto.)  Then I got tired of the same breakfast every morning.

A while later the shop went out of business. I think the remaining Asian shops in town are run by Indians and/or Chinese, but they may also carry some Japanese items.

[HerlockSholmes]

42 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Is Marmite even saltier than Vegemite?  (How is that even possible?)  Or does it actually have some additional flavor?  Or are you pulling my leg again?

Well, not bad exactly, more like an acquired taste.  I've heard that Japanese enjoy watching gaijin when they encounter natto for the first time.

You mention the smell, but I don't recall much of that either, and I tried at least two different brands.  Mind you, I've eaten durian, and that is definitely one food where you want to hold your breath till it's safely in contact with your taste buds -- a good durian is utterly delicious, like an intricately-flavored custard, but it smells exactly like an open sewer.

We live out in the country, but there used to be a little Japanese shop in the town where Alex works. I had read that natto is Good For You, so I made a point of eating some every day for a while. (I thought it was fine with toast and peanut butter, but needed a little something; thus the apple butter.  I just threw away the flavoring packets that came with the natto.)  Then I got tired of the same breakfast every morning.

A while later the shop went out of business. I think the remaining Asian shops in town are run by Indians and/or Chinese, but they may also carry some Japanese items.

It’s been a few years Carol but my taste/memory tells me that Vegemite was a considerably milder taste. But as you know products can change ingrediants and therefore taste over time. A kind of Marmite-lite. I had a friend (sadly no longer with us) who was even less pc than me and I can remember him calling Vegemite Gay Marmite.