Ask a foreigner

[Mee]

OK, that's true. My apologies.

Well received with thanks.

 

[Muttly]

But where are your coffee machines?? Where are the Brazillian, Italian, whereever blends that you get with REAL coffee? And why do they always use drip coffee?

Some of that is probably because that's what we had first. We went from percolator to drip coffee. It's what everyone has or had. So it's more readily available and cheaper.

^But you only buy them once. The coffee beans are not expensive compared to pods. Lots of people here have machines and are neither connoisseurs or well off. Takes about two mins to make a coffee in a machine - faster than drip by far.

Well that depends on the volume of coffee your are drinking. If you need a bunch of coffee drip is faster. It might take a bit longer than make a single cup from a coffee machine, but if you are making a bunch, not faster. And you can have your drip going while you are doing other stuff so you can have a constant supply, with just a brief change over for new filters and grounds. At a restaurant, you may not even need to add the water. Just dump the grounds and filter and get a new one brewing. We drink a lot of coffee in that part of the United Sates.

ok, I know it's been all about food and this is a tangent although there is a connection. I worked at a clinic that was essentially an international district. More people had english as a second language than first. And pet names were fascinating depending on folks origins. I'm trying to remember who it was, maybe folks from China, who tended to name their pets after food.

So... what about pet names? What are common pet names where you are from?

 

[Mee]

Hmm. ‘Flea’ was the common term of endearment of one of my primary languages that was used most for me. Nowadays I think of it unkindly. It feels like it has some kind of Lolita - ish, or ‘Financial domination’ or control kind of implications.

 

[Freida]

Instant coffee?

away devil spawn!!!! Instant coffee is what you put in the emergency pack for when the world ends. Other than that ---eewwwwwww

I'm french press gal myself,

But where are your coffee machines??

Ya - drip coffee thru a filter is pretty much what we all use...

@berlinda have you tried spreading a bit of condensed milk on some bread or toast?

What in the everloving world of nastiness is that??!!!!! ^^^^^^^^

So... what about pet names? What are common pet names where you are from?

My niece named their bunnies soup and sandwich, we had a cow named hamburger and a friend named her cat fishstick. :laugh:
buddy, chance, mav, max are pretty common dog names around here

 

[Mee]

My niece named their bunnies soup and sandwich, we had a cow named hamburger and a friend named her cat fishstick. :laugh:
buddy, chance, mav, max are pretty common dog names around here

I totally got this wrong , I thought pet names was ‘terms of endearment’ ??

 

[Friday]

How do you identify British people on holiday??

We have a local people watching game... British or Gay?
Because both are actually well dressed. :p

Other travelers to this area, it doesn’t matter how well tailored they WERE ...the unrelenting damp turns their clothes into sodden shapeless heaps in about an hour or three. Meanwhile, we poor locals are stuck buying clothes off the rack designed for California & New York. So we’re in Gortex over hoodies over flannel over tank tops over under-armor, under jeans half soaked to the knee. Brits? Have structure sewn into their clothes, with woolen and acrylic blends that flip off the rain, and their jumpers MATCH their shirts and jackets and scarves and tights and hats and gloves and boots... whole damn ensembles of clothes that look just a smart in the drizzle as out of it, interchanging out pieces, easy as breathing.

So you have locals layered in grungy university cast offs & tech fabric smorgasbords, travelers in sodden shapeless wrecks, and Brits looking smart.

 

[Neverthesame]

What in the everloving world of nastiness is that??!!!!! ^^^^^^^^

This is the reaction I usually get from people about condensed milk sandwiches. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. You'd think I was claiming I enjoyed putting ketchup on my cornflakes. ?

Here's my question for a foreigner;
Is there some other kind of condensed milk I don't know about?
The stuff I always had came in a can in the baking goods aisle, is about the same consistency as heavy syrup and tastes similar to honey. It's really quite good if you like sweet preserves.
It's also really good if you put a spoonful at the bottom of a cup of espresso.

 

[blackemerald1]

Here's my question for a foreigner;
Is there some other kind of condensed milk I don't know about?

^Nestle and Carnation - both in a can. Very rich, about the consistency of golden syrup? Delicious but completely naughty! Oh..and no - never as a sandwich :wtf:

On the farm we called all of our lambs and calves - chops and sausages - every year. It's not good form to make pets out of farm animals. For other animals names ranged from very silly to proper names. So I didn't see any trends.

 

[Sideways]

@blackemerald1 - if I understand right, they don't have electric kettles in the States. Something about the standard power socket not having enough oomph in it. And if that's correct? Let that sink in for a moment...

That's not just washing away the instant coffee market to the oblivion of only the crappest ground dog kibble type brands being left on the grocery store shelves.

All those amazing instant hot chocolate varieties we have? Nada. Instant chamomile tea before bed? Nup.

Some of the 'instant' coffees now available here would blow their leader-of-the-free-from-Jarrah-hot-caramel-chocolate-world minds.

Don't even get me started on instant caramellattes sachets!

ETA This is almost a human rights issue. Not only do they not have TimTams, but they can't even knock up a decent instant hot chocolate to do TimTam Slams. Someone should write to the UN.

 

[Innordinate]

have electric kettles in the States.

electric kettles all over the place but outdated by self cleaning water coolers/heaters.

press a button- instant steaming hot water in which one could add.....

All those amazing instant hot chocolate varieties we have? Nada. Instant chamomile tea before bed? Nup.

all of that. all over north america.

also outdated by keurigs and tassimo etc
pods.

ETA: though i speak for western canada mostly..... we only get about 1/4 of the crap the states gets and ive never met or heard of an american that isnt aware of electric kettles...
pretty sure every walmart carries them.... unless they just recently stopped selling because they're outdated by the latest gadgets....

 

[siniang]

I use electric kettles in the US but I seem to be the only one around. Everyone else is heating up their water for their tea/hot chocolate/whatever in....the microwave :eek:

 

[siniang]

Ok, I have a question. What the fak is the deal with those arctic AC temps everywhere inside in the tropics/subtropics (and even some moderate climates). I get the AC part, really legit helpful, especially to reduce humidity. But why are they set to soooooooo cold that you need to wear long pants and sweaters, particularly in places where you don't actually tend to move around.

And not only in summer. I once went to a conference in friggin San Francisco in friggin December and instead of turning on the heating, they actually ACed the whole place to freezing.