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Old 02-05-2021, 08:34 AM   #181
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Speaking of Chinese restaurants, I was in St. Petersburg Russia, and noticed a restaurant across the street from our hotel. I can read Cyrillic, but like Greek, I can read it but do not know the meanings.
The restaurant's name was Nihau, which I remembered from a China trip that means "hello". We checked it out, and their menu complete with pictures, was in Cyrillic, Chinese and fortunately, English. The food was excellent.
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Old 02-05-2021, 09:48 AM   #182
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I have more progress. I'm picking up my wood today, I ordered Poplar. They had to cut, mill, sand and T&G it, from a local lumber yard. It comes apart in 7 pieces in case I move or if I decide I don't make use of it and want to sell it.
That is great. I am glad you found a solution. I was tempted to suggest cypress, since you are in FLA, but that would probably be outrageously expensive. Poplar should serve your needs.
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Old 02-05-2021, 10:52 AM   #183
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Decided to drop the dough on a partial (10 game) season ticket package for our local NBA team next season. They added 3 extra games and free parking as an incentive, but when I think about the cost per seat per game ($225) it makes me a little faint. All depending on Covid allowing a normal season of course...
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Old 02-05-2021, 11:07 AM   #184
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Europeans in general have a higher standard in food that we Americans do. They won't accept poor food as readily as we do. I have come to believe that while the best American foods are as good as the best European foods, the European bottom level is higher than our bottom level. Anybody care for another slice of pasteurized processed cheese food slices? Ugh.
I agree unless we are talking steak. Lived in Europe and food is far better quality, and usually less expensive. Unless we are talking steak.

When I worked at NATO, the French/Spanish/Italian guy could bring the wine, the Belgian/Czech/German guy brought the beer, but there was no question that an American would bring the filet from the US commissary.
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Old 02-05-2021, 12:30 PM   #185
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I do like the French steak. But that’s because it’s so dang rare. And the Basque beef was outstanding - also extremely rare.
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Old 02-05-2021, 12:46 PM   #186
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I agree unless we are talking steak. Lived in Europe and food is far better quality, and usually less expensive. Unless we are talking steak.

When I worked at NATO, the French/Spanish/Italian guy could bring the wine, the Belgian/Czech/German guy brought the beer, but there was no question that an American would bring the filet from the US commissary.
My French teacher in HS told that this is why the French developed all those wonderful sauces and slow braising!
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Old 02-05-2021, 12:50 PM   #187
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I signed up for a virtual knitting retreat in March - several classes and talks on ZOOM and a box of expensive yarn and goodies. Normally I knit basic stuff for prayer shawls or other simple items, but I've started on my first pair of socks and it's quite fun to do something more challenging, so I thought this would be a good splurge to learn some more techniques and support some small businesses.
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Old 02-05-2021, 01:06 PM   #188
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Europeans in general have a higher standard in food that we Americans do. They won't accept poor food as readily as we do. I have come to believe that while the best American foods are as good as the best European foods, the European bottom level is higher than our bottom level. Anybody care for another slice of pasteurized processed cheese food slices? Ugh.

You mean Velveeta? I must have been 10 before I realized there was another kind of "cheese." I was at my "rich" uncle's house (the ones who actually served Coke with lunch!). They had longhorn cheese slices and I felt reborn. My parents thought they had arrived when they could afford to buy CheezeWhiz occasionally instead of Velveeta (it was easier to make sammiches with 'cause you could spread it with a knife instead of cutting slices of "cheese" that balled up if the Velveeta block was too warm.)

But, hey, I still prefer Velveeta on my steamed broccoli (a veggie I had never heard of until it was served at JrHigh cafe.) YMMV
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Old 02-05-2021, 01:45 PM   #189
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But, hey, I still prefer Velveeta on my steamed broccoli (a veggie I had never heard of until it was served at JrHigh cafe.) YMMV
I prefer Velveeta in my warm bean dip as well. (Refried beans, diced onion, diced bell pepper, hot salsa and Velveeta in a bowl, nuked for a few minutes.)

Things like Velveeta (or process cheese) and instant ramen have survived for a long time for a reason IMO. (Not sure why Spam is still around though...)
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Old 02-05-2021, 01:56 PM   #190
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In the craft beer world, the saying is "Bud Light is to beer as Velveeta is to cheese."
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:01 PM   #191
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I prefer Velveeta in my warm bean dip as well. (Refried beans, diced onion, diced bell pepper, hot salsa and Velveeta in a bowl, nuked for a few minutes.)

Things like Velveeta (or process cheese) and instant ramen have survived for a long time for a reason IMO. (Not sure why Spam is still around though...)
Oh yeah! Bean dip w/Velveeta! Doesn't get much better than that. Where are my Taco Chips?

I agree about Spam. Here in the Islands, Spam is considered a delicacy - and I guess that's appropriate because it costs so darn much! Talk about Blow That Dough! We even have Spam sushi here.

We had spam a lot when I was a little kid. I can eat it now, but would never pay the inflated price when I can buy actual ham for less money. YMMV
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:14 PM   #192
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Originally Posted by Souschef View Post
Speaking of Chinese restaurants, I was in St. Petersburg Russia, and noticed a restaurant across the street from our hotel. I can read Cyrillic, but like Greek, I can read it but do not know the meanings.
The restaurant's name was Nihau, which I remembered from a China trip that means "hello". We checked it out, and their menu complete with pictures, was in Cyrillic, Chinese and fortunately, English. The food was excellent.
Good it worked in your case. I was in Sweden once and longed for food I know. I ran across a Mexican restaurant, and thought this may solve my problem. While waiting for the food, they served what they thought is chips and salsa - it was potato chips and tomato ketchup. Yuck.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:20 PM   #193
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Good it worked in your case. I was in Sweden once and longed for food I know. I ran across a Mexican restaurant, and thought this may solve my problem. While waiting for the food, they served what they thought is chips and salsa - it was potato chips and tomato ketchup. Yuck.
Reminds me of ordering pizza in Italy. Maybe it was "authentic" but what I got was something like baked pizza dough (so far so good) "painted" with tomato sauce and sprinkled with what appeared to be parmesan but may have been mozzarella. What do I know? I like Velveeta "cheese."
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:25 PM   #194
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I agree unless we are talking steak. Lived in Europe and food is far better quality, and usually less expensive. Unless we are talking steak.

When I worked at NATO, the French/Spanish/Italian guy could bring the wine, the Belgian/Czech/German guy brought the beer, but there was no question that an American would bring the filet from the US commissary.

Only Americans have the tradition of fattening cow with corn in feed lots before turning them into steaks. The Japanese don't do corn with their Kobe cows, but that's a special breed I think.


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I do like the French steak. But that’s because it’s so dang rare. And the Basque beef was outstanding - also extremely rare.

Italians have the famous Florentine steaks, which are also barely singed on super hot fire before serving.

When we were in Florence a few years ago, thought about going to a famous steak house, but gave up because of we did not have a reservation. So, we went to a supermarket, bought the most expensive cut they had, and took it back to the Airbnb to make our own steak. Cooked to medium rare as I usually do, it made a great dinner. Couldn't tell the difference from a good American steak, and the price I paid was not too bad at about US$10-15/lb, if memory serves. That's a lot cheaper than at restaurants.


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My French teacher in HS told that this is why the French developed all those wonderful sauces and slow braising!
True.

Anthony Bourdain said that steak houses are simply heat-and-serve places. On the other hand, it takes real culinary skills to turn lesser cuts and even offals into tasty morsels. I agree.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:34 PM   #195
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Only Americans have the tradition of fattening cow with corn in feed lots before turning them into steaks.
Apart from the rare occasions when I was able to get genuine Wagyu, the best steaks I've ever eaten were in South America. Having lived in both Brazil and Argentina, the beef is IMHO just incredible. Of course that's why folks there eat many times as much beef per capita as Americans.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:37 PM   #196
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In the craft beer world, the saying is "Bud Light is to beer as Velveeta is to cheese."

In the mid seventies, in Alaska, the popular beer was Olympia. On the can a slogan was "its the water". I caled it water.

For a time spent in Germany, I liked dark beer, in whatever town I passed through, most had their local brew, often in flip top bottles. Which were re-used.
One, in a small town Bamberg, was called Rauchbier, the mug of brew I had in a basement beer joint, was served with a small tube containing hot water, which we used to stir the beer with to warm it up.
Try that with the usual 'merkin beer.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:38 PM   #197
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Good it worked in your case. I was in Sweden once and longed for food I know. I ran across a Mexican restaurant, and thought this may solve my problem. While waiting for the food, they served what they thought is chips and salsa - it was potato chips and tomato ketchup. Yuck.
Whenever I am in Europe for an extended time, I usually crave Mexican first. We've lived as expats, so this is not just a few week vacation. So I have no qualms about searching it out when we are there, as a change up. But never a McDonalds (but a hamburger in a bistro, OK, but not a first choice). It is often done badly in Europe, but it is improving. In the French city where we "blew the dough" (back on topic) and bought a place, there are actual taquerias owned by Mexican immigrants, with no adaptions for local tastes.

Because of the colonial ties, you can get very good Vietnamese in France. When in the UK, we greatly appreciate the ethnic cuisines on offer, even more so than much of the local traditional favorites.

I remember going on work trips with guys (for some reason, always the guys) that would only want to eat hamburgers or other basics. So instead of sushi or kaiseki dinners in Tokyo, they would search out a Big Mac. Dim sum in Hong Kong? Nope, spaghetti.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:44 PM   #198
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One, in a small town Bamberg, was called Rauchbier, the mug of brew I had in a basement beer joint, was served with a small tube containing hot water, which we used to stir the beer with to warm it up.
Try that with the usual 'merkin beer.
That's not done any more, but there are still two well known breweries in Bamberg making Rauchbier. (Rauch means smoked, because the the malt is dried over open wood fires).

Wonderful stuff, but probably an acquired taste since it has never spread much beyond the city of Bamberg.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:49 PM   #199
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I remember going on work trips with guys (for some reason, always the guys) that would only want to eat hamburgers or other basics. So instead of sushi or kaiseki dinners in Tokyo, they would search out a Big Mac.
I will never forget my first time in Munich, 1976 when I was walking down a street and saw a line of Germans out on the sidewalk waiting to get into some store. As I got closer I saw that it was a McDonalds, and they were having a big promotion of the brand new ViertelPfunder (Quarter Pounder) that week. The locals were entranced by it and couldn't wait to try this new exotic treat.

Me? I couldn't wait to get to the next block and find a decent place to eat.
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Old 02-05-2021, 02:58 PM   #200
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Apart from the rare occasions when I was able to get genuine Wagyu, the best steaks I've ever eaten were in South America. Having lived in both Brazil and Argentina, the beef is IMHO just incredible. Of course that's why folks there eat many times as much beef per capita as Americans.
That is precisely my experience too. Brazilian steak houses in Brazil are just phenomenal. And in Argentina, beef is so delicious and so cheap, the standard practice of folks I visited there is to buy 2 pounds in the morning, eat what you like during the day, and then give the rest to the dog in the evening. Repeat the next day.
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