Dad's 70th Birthday

[lumberjim]

your dad did the talking stain commercial?



is he the same guy as in the geico ads too?

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

Your brother looks properly English, I'm not entirely sure what that means, I think it has to do with his chin...
Now that I look again, I think your dad, brother and you all have the same type of chin!

Hmmmm. Given that the English nobility are considered "chinless wonders" due to years of in-breeding, I'm not quite sure how to take that! (Please note - mock-offense only)
But I will be taking a much closer look at family chins from now on. Mum and I have our own personal collection after all.

Originally Posted by jinx

That is one bizarre caesar SG, they got a lotta nerve calling it that. Props for not bitching.

I thought I was a good girl and proper grown up for only pointing it out to my dining neighbours (and the whole internet) too. I don't mind "fusion". Or a new twist on an old theme - I love Heston Blumenthal for example. But I do choose my dinner expecting that the few ingredients I don't like will not be added willy-nilly. I still haven't got over the fennel-in-Bolognaise-Sauce debacle.

Originally Posted by jinx

I've never seen sardines served like that either, only the tiny ones in cans and the one I caught off a pier in CA.

This is pretty much the way they are served on the continent. In England they were always tinned and usually mashed onto toast. Then we learned to cross the Channel and lo and behold those pesky furriners had a much nicer way of serving them. Any time I have tapas I have sardines. Usually in garlic and/or chilli. They serve them with frites most often as a main (entree).

Originally Posted by jinx

I've never seen whitebait... they are in tempura or something? And you eat them whole? Dipped in things?.

Originally Posted by classicman

Are those smelts? That's what they look like to me.

They might well be called smelt elsewhere. I wasn't able to find a definitive answer, not knowing them as anything other than whitebait. Mum confessed to me yesterday that she had never ordered whitebait in a restaurant because she didn't know how to eat them. Ditto asparagus. I know I moan about her on here, but that just reminded me of the scared girl inside her, forever afraid of doing something to show herself up. No wonder she worries about me. I'm just glad I managed to overcome that particular aspect of my upbringing. If I don't know I ASK.

So, we had a whitebait eating tutorial. It goes like this - pick up whitebait in fingers. Dip - or not according to taste. Eat.

Yes, I suppose it could be seen as tempura. We just say they're battered. There will be seasoning added, the kind depends on where you eat it. It's a really popular dish along the Thames, where it will pretty much have a little salt and pepper and nothing else.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I didn't realize your brother had dyed his hair dark.

I will pass this slur onto him!
Ste is the only member of my immediate family who has shunned the dye bottle. Dad had improbably dark hair for years. My bro is going the salt-and-pepper route with pride.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

your dad did the talking stain commercial?
is he the same guy as in the geico ads too?

Wow - Dad has a secret life (and accent!) He used to look like Edward Woodward. But I don't make the comparison so much since EW's death...