OT draws even, world news, food

[Tabouli]

Hey, for the first time since June I'm getting equal numbers of main list and OT list digests!  I'm sure this has some sinister significance...

Speaking of sinister significance, I think I might start watching the news from under the bed hugging my pillow.  Shudder.  I'm torn between not wanting to know what's going on in the world and being afraid of not knowing (perhaps I should renew that ol' newspaper subscription instead of trying to read it online, which is pretty unsatisfactory). There was enough bad stuff going on in Australia even before all of this, what with the collapse of several big companies, the refugees crisis and public response thereto (I cringe quietly), not to mention the prospect of another three years of John Howard... (you're right storm, I think they should definitely cheer up the election issues with the offer of a new public holiday).

It was all so much that I went out and bought myself some silly slippers to comfort myself.  They're white with black patches in fluffy fake fur and cheered me greatly (nothing like that ol' retail therapy).  Now I pad about my flat like a small and very lost Yeti...

Neil:
> > > British cuisine is confusing; that's it's appeal!
Amanda:
> >Ah, *that* explains it. We knew it couldn't be the taste.
Catherine:
> OK, now I'm getting wound up.  First Catherine Keegan, now you.

I confess to having made rude jokes about British cuisine (oxymoron, anyone?) before, but I suspect that my bad experiences with food in England have to do with what I could afford to eat with my pitiful Australian dollars (nearly A$3 to the pound!).  I have to say that I found the budget end of British food pretty grim.  All the same, the home cooked meals and the very occasional lavishly expensive meals were fine (and what's wrong with chips, anyway?).

If I may wind the ratchet (what is a ratchet, anyway?) towards the Germans instead, I was rather troubled by the fame of currywurst when I discovered what it was.  My well-meaning Berlin friend steered me to this little van and told me I simply *had* to have currywurst, and I watched in growing disappointment as the man cut slits in the pre-cooked lo-budget sausage, sprinkled it with straight curry powder, and then opened the freezer and dumped a clump of frozen chips into the deep fryer, charging me 6 marks for the process.  For that much in Australia you could get a generous serve of fresh chips, a large battered fish and a couple of dim sims.  Was I fleeced?  Is there really some much more gourmet currywurst out there?  Do some German fast food places actually do fresh chips?  And then there was my quest to find fresh fruit salad in France... (which I abandoned after the third serve of fluorescent pink tinned cherries).

Then again (she says, unfurling her Australian flag), I think Australians do pretty well out of the whole culinary conundrum.  Successions of overseas visitors and Australian returnees have marvelled to me at how cheap, multicultural and generally good quality the food is here when you eat out.  Comes of having waves of immigrants from Southern Europe and Asia.  Much as I adored Japan (now *there's* a country that does good food!) and flourished in Europe, and South Africa (where eating out is half the price it is in Australia), I seriously missed having access to the wide range of Asian food I can get at home...

For all who need cheering up due to fruitless apartment hunting, having their national cuisine insulted, being out of a job due to horrible companies and so on, here is a site someone once sent me to cheer me up.  Take a look, and I guarantee that any bad food experiences you have had will pale before the ghastly spectacle of mid 20th century cookery...

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

Tabouli.


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