Follow the Leader: Episode 51: Eat, Drink, and be Merry!
Martinex1: Here we are for another round of Follow the Leader! You know what to do... every Tuesday we let a commentator run the show. So take it away!
23 comments:
Anonymous
said...
What is your favorite food and drink at Christmastime ? Is there anything you eat or drink exclusively at this time of year and no other time ? Do you have any Christmas traditions you follow every year ?
Here is some food and drink I have only at this time of year and no other time:
Bailey's Irish Cream mulled wine advocaat (usually from Warninks) Turkish Delight Babycham Lebkuchen cakes Scottish shortbread Stollen cake A Terry's chocolate orange A chocolate Santa mince pies
Babycham is a tradition from childhood - my parents didn't drink alcohol except at Christmas when we had beer and Babycham. I was allowed to drink alcohol despite being underage because it was Christmas :)
My chocolate Santa is made by Lindt, a European company, so he wears a long robe and looks more like the European-style Saint Nicholas or the old English Father Christmas rather than the modern American Santa made famous by Coca-Cola.
I don't know if mince pies are eaten outside Britain - but if you don't know, a mince pie is a small tart filled with "mincemeat" which is a sort of spicy jam made with currants, mixed fruit etc. They are delicious and I eat lots of them at this time of year.
Great question! Egg nog, fruit cake, and various forms of Hungarian and French sweets like Bush de Noel. (Marti-the French Bakery in Naperville or Plainfield makes one mean Bush de Noel!)
Oh yes, my French wife will cook up some chestnuts in their deep tradition for this holiday.
Charlie, what did your wife think about the death of Johnny Halliday ? I see that it was a huge event in France - a million people on the streets of Paris for his funeral.
I loved eggnog as a kid, but I can't drink milk products anymore, I get seriously congested. Soy it's soynog every December for me. I also enjoy hot cider this time of year. Now and then I'll mix a bit of rum in the nog or the cider.
Christmas cookies. My wife makes these incredible sugar cookies; I could almost live on them through the month of December. Otherwise, some egg nog and mulled cider are always welcome...
We used to get shortbread every year, but haven't lately. And I know a lot of people hate fruitcake, but I like it ... as long as it's not too dry.
By the way, Charlie, not to be too pedantic, but it's actually spelled "bûche de Noel"; I've been trying to improve my French lately, so I've been reading a lot of French grammar books :)
Colin, you are correct in that Hallyday was the French Elvis in many ways! Long, long career as a rocker.
For you nostalgia fans, I have a nice stack ofTime magazines from the 30s and 40s. The winter time issues are full of ads for using Brand X alcohol for making egg nog! I guess you couldn't buy it in the stores yet,
Sugar cookies with the frosting on top. Not really a sugar cookie fan but this time of year it tastes like warm childhood memories.
Hot chocolate with a candy cane in it. I don't usually put anything else in with my cocoa, including marshmallows, but for the season oh so good. I like to break mine up so they melt quicker.
Saskatchewan! Check one off the map for places BitBA has reached. Thanks Mike.
Charlie you will have to let me know where that French bakery is - sounds delicious.
And as far as traditions go - Charlie encouraged another one - old radio programs. I’ve always enjoyed them but he tuned me into a station and then I got some other access through satellite. So listening to “Suspense” or The Shadow” seems like a great holiday thing to do. I’ll have to see if they play “The Cinnamon Bear”.
Charlie, you say "It will be 18 F tonight" - I've read that America uses the Farenheit temperature scale instead of the Celsius/Centigrade scale, correct ? In Europe we say water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and boils at 100 degrees Celsius. UK weather forecasts always use the Celsius scale.
In the last few days the UK has had an Arctic-like cold spell with heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Thanks to the Gulf Stream (water from the Gulf of Mexico flowing up to North-West Europe) British winters are usually mild with hardly any snow so it's always a surprise when snow arrives.
Gents - Let's keep the conversation rolling on this cooooold Chicago morning!
If my Xmas was going to be a request for something I had as a kid, I'd want one of those Johnny Lightening courses, made of hard plastic, where you launched the cars up a ramp with a lever you pulled forward! I'd also like a few cars like The Wasp, Nucleon, and Double Troube!!!
Hey Colin J - IT was -8 C last night when I was driving around looking for some gifts for Xmas. Charlie is thinking about what retirement in Florida might be like!
Hey Marti and Radio Fans - WDCB FM 90.9 is indeed playing Cinnamon Bear throughout its Saturday afternoon old-time radio show from 1 - 5 PM! You can listen via their app or the internet. It's been a Xmas fav since, I think, 1939? Jings - that's a long time ago!
Marti - I'll get you the address for the French bakery. Their Macaroons are the real deal as well as their Buche de Noel! (MY wife swears it's as good as any she's had in France!)
Colin J - sorry I did not answer exactly. Yep, here in the USA, we still use Fahrenheit, miles/feet/inches, pounds, and gallons/ounces.
Yes, I would prefer the metric system! Especially last night when my wife was trying to measure the distance on something in the bathroom and then trying to divide it into smaller units because 1 foot = 12 inches and then the inch is divided down into half, quarter, eights... not 10ths. Good gosh is it painful.
You UK guys, though, have a hybrid of all that don't you? Part metric and part English system?
Charlie,yes in the UK we use a mix of metric and Imperial weights & measures. Most people (including me) still uses miles, inches, pounds etc even though the metric system exists too. The exception is money - the old Imperial currency (240 pennies in a pound) was abolished in 1971 and we all use decimal currency now.
I'm like Colin; even though Metric is official here in Canada, I still think in Imperial units. I learned Metric in school, but never trained myself to think that way.
So, to answer Charlie's question, it's about 33F here right now (or around 1 Celsius, for all the non-Americans out there). It's been unseasonably mild here for the last week or so (above freezing even when it's cloudy, like today), but it's supposed to get colder next week.
Speaking of Metric/non-Metric: Charlie you said your wife was trying to measure something ... do American tape measures only have inches/feet on them? Here in Canada, most tape measures I've seen have inches and centimetres; maybe you need a Canadian tape :)
Ha. They can have both! But my wife initially always assumes either side is metric causing anguish! She doesn't have the upbringing to assume it would be anything but metric!
23 comments:
What is your favorite food and drink at Christmastime ? Is there anything you eat or drink exclusively at this time of year and no other time ? Do you have any Christmas traditions you follow every year ?
Here is some food and drink I have only at this time of year and no other time:
Bailey's Irish Cream
mulled wine
advocaat (usually from Warninks)
Turkish Delight
Babycham
Lebkuchen cakes
Scottish shortbread
Stollen cake
A Terry's chocolate orange
A chocolate Santa
mince pies
Babycham is a tradition from childhood - my parents didn't drink alcohol except at Christmas when we had beer and Babycham. I was allowed to drink alcohol despite being underage because it was Christmas :)
My chocolate Santa is made by Lindt, a European company, so he wears a long robe and looks more like the European-style Saint Nicholas or the old English Father Christmas rather than the modern American Santa made famous by Coca-Cola.
I don't know if mince pies are eaten outside Britain - but if you don't know, a mince pie is a small tart filled with "mincemeat" which is a sort of spicy jam made with currants, mixed fruit etc. They are delicious and I eat lots of them at this time of year.
Great question! Egg nog, fruit cake, and various forms of Hungarian and French sweets like Bush de Noel. (Marti-the French Bakery in Naperville or Plainfield makes one mean Bush de Noel!)
Oh yes, my French wife will cook up some chestnuts in their deep tradition for this holiday.
Oh yes, Colin, we do get mince pies here now! Tasty!
Charlie, what did your wife think about the death of Johnny Halliday ? I see that it was a huge event in France - a million people on the streets of Paris for his funeral.
I loved eggnog as a kid, but I can't drink milk products anymore, I get seriously congested. Soy it's soynog every December for me. I also enjoy hot cider this time of year. Now and then I'll mix a bit of rum in the nog or the cider.
I too love eggnog but cannot drink too much. Hot apple cider is a more recent favorite.
A little cognac seems nice after the holiday meal.
And Christmas seems complete with traditional sauerkraut, pierogis and Kolache
Christmas cookies. My wife makes these incredible sugar cookies; I could almost live on them through the month of December.
Otherwise, some egg nog and mulled cider are always welcome...
We used to get shortbread every year, but haven't lately. And I know a lot of people hate fruitcake, but I like it ... as long as it's not too dry.
By the way, Charlie, not to be too pedantic, but it's actually spelled "bûche de Noel"; I've been trying to improve my French lately, so I've been reading a lot of French grammar books :)
Colin, you are correct in that Hallyday was the French Elvis in many ways! Long, long career as a rocker.
For you nostalgia fans, I have a nice stack ofTime magazines from the 30s and 40s. The winter time issues are full of ads for using Brand X alcohol for making egg nog! I guess you couldn't buy it in the stores yet,
Mike- thanks! Charlie was pressed for time to look up Buche! Hey if you live around Chicago let's set up a study group!
Exclusively at Christmas time;
Sugar cookies with the frosting on top. Not really a sugar cookie fan but this time of year it tastes like warm childhood memories.
Hot chocolate with a candy cane in it. I don't usually put anything else in with my cocoa, including marshmallows, but for the season oh so good. I like to break mine up so they melt quicker.
@Charlie: Nope, I'm in Saskatchewan, in the middle of nowhere. I guess we'll both have to stick with independent study :)
@Mike - well today is a great day! I've never met anyone from Saskatchewan! It will be 18 F tonight! How cold is it up there?
Saskatchewan! Check one off the map for places BitBA has reached. Thanks Mike.
Charlie you will have to let me know where that French bakery is - sounds delicious.
And as far as traditions go - Charlie encouraged another one - old radio programs. I’ve always enjoyed them but he tuned me into a station and then I got some other access through satellite. So listening to “Suspense” or The Shadow” seems like a great holiday thing to do. I’ll have to see if they play “The Cinnamon Bear”.
I love cider but I've never had hot cider - I must try some :)
Charlie, you say "It will be 18 F tonight" - I've read that America uses the Farenheit temperature scale instead of the Celsius/Centigrade scale, correct ? In Europe we say water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and boils at 100 degrees Celsius. UK weather forecasts always use the Celsius scale.
In the last few days the UK has had an Arctic-like cold spell with heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Thanks to the Gulf Stream (water from the Gulf of Mexico flowing up to North-West Europe) British winters are usually mild with hardly any snow so it's always a surprise when snow arrives.
Gents - Let's keep the conversation rolling on this cooooold Chicago morning!
If my Xmas was going to be a request for something I had as a kid, I'd want one of those Johnny Lightening courses, made of hard plastic, where you launched the cars up a ramp with a lever you pulled forward! I'd also like a few cars like The Wasp, Nucleon, and Double Troube!!!
Hey Colin J - IT was -8 C last night when I was driving around looking for some gifts for Xmas. Charlie is thinking about what retirement in Florida might be like!
Hey Marti and Radio Fans - WDCB FM 90.9 is indeed playing Cinnamon Bear throughout its Saturday afternoon old-time radio show from 1 - 5 PM! You can listen via their app or the internet. It's been a Xmas fav since, I think, 1939? Jings - that's a long time ago!
Marti - I'll get you the address for the French bakery. Their Macaroons are the real deal as well as their Buche de Noel! (MY wife swears it's as good as any she's had in France!)
Colin J - sorry I did not answer exactly. Yep, here in the USA, we still use Fahrenheit, miles/feet/inches, pounds, and gallons/ounces.
Yes, I would prefer the metric system! Especially last night when my wife was trying to measure the distance on something in the bathroom and then trying to divide it into smaller units because 1 foot = 12 inches and then the inch is divided down into half, quarter, eights... not 10ths. Good gosh is it painful.
You UK guys, though, have a hybrid of all that don't you? Part metric and part English system?
Charlie,yes in the UK we use a mix of metric and Imperial weights & measures. Most people (including me) still uses miles, inches, pounds etc even though the metric system exists too. The exception is money - the old Imperial currency (240 pennies in a pound) was abolished in 1971 and we all use decimal currency now.
I'm like Colin; even though Metric is official here in Canada, I still think in Imperial units. I learned Metric in school, but never trained myself to think that way.
So, to answer Charlie's question, it's about 33F here right now (or around 1 Celsius, for all the non-Americans out there). It's been unseasonably mild here for the last week or so (above freezing even when it's cloudy, like today), but it's supposed to get colder next week.
Speaking of Metric/non-Metric: Charlie you said your wife was trying to measure something ... do American tape measures only have inches/feet on them? Here in Canada, most tape measures I've seen have inches and centimetres; maybe you need a Canadian tape :)
Ha. They can have both! But my wife initially always assumes either side is metric causing anguish! She doesn't have the upbringing to assume it would be anything but metric!
Post a Comment