:eek:
No you did not misspeak, I was mistaken.
Eew.
Anaamika, what’s a “kitty party”?
We sure do. To the point where McDonlads Australia developed a new burger just for us with Beetroot on it. 
As for pies: as stated Mince Pies contain dried minced friut and usually only available around xmas time (at least where I live).
Meat Pies are just that, jokes aside about the quality or origin of the meat, in fact standards are being developed to ensure quality.
Gourmet Pies are the next step, a local bakery used to make Kangaroo & Beer pies. Superb! 
burundi:
A kitty party, as I saw the handful, I went to, goes something like this.
A whole bunch of married women get together and meet at a restaurant, possibly with their daughters but no sons or husbands.
They order a lot of food, some alcohol.
And they spend the next two hours gossiping about each other’s husbands, about the neighborhood, each other. They show off all the new jewerly they’ve bought, and the new clothes. They tell about their kids’ school grades.
You can imagine my 15-year old reaction, since I was just learning how not to be a tomboy.
Kitty parties sound like Girls Night Out over here. Lots of fun.
Pumpkin pie is good. And so is pecan pie. And good mincemeat pie is good. But kippers? Ewww. Haggis? Double ewww.
We also don’t put squid on pizza. At least not in Orlando(ish).
Some of the UK broadcasting rules throw me. No commercials featuring an actor in a show featuring that actor. So you won’t see any Crestor commercials airing in Star Trek:TNG over there. No billboards either, followed by the same commercial advertiser. So, while you may see a “Brought to you by AT&T” billboard, you won’t see an AT&T commercial in the show.
Also, in Japan, one company will not advertise on multiple networks. If they’re airing commercials on Station A, that’s the only place you’ll see their ads. Station B is shut out.
Ah. Like a hen party?
Wow! This is an extremely common dish on the east coast of Canada (I thought most of New England had it on their menus, as well, but I could be mistaken. It really depends on where you get this dish for it to be good, though. I mean, some people have soggy fries (chips), some people have terrible tasting batter on the fish… but if you find one that does it just right… sprinkle some vinegar on your fries… mmmm.
I’m not picking on you, but your post just reminded me of how much I miss fish and chips. Coming here to Ballard, my husband and I went to the Lockspot Cafe where they had “famous” fish and chips, BLECH! I think they used halibut or cod or something! Nasty! That’s the kind of thing we would send back with complaints, and act insulted where I’m from! I prefer the melt-in-your mouth taste of haddock. My FIL has informed me that if you look hard enough you can find haddock here, but it’s not very common. So that’s what I find weird about the US (or at least Seattle) - I’m sure I’ll be able to think of more after I fully wake up. The US is a tough country to pin “weird customs” on, since it is so big and varied - each state seems to have it’s own unique habits.
Like sweet tea and unsweet tea. You can only get unsweet tea outside the South. For sweet tea they point to the sugar packets on the table. Hello! Sugar needs HOT water to dissolve.
I have attended one wedding here in Australia where all of the guests paid for their meals at the restaurant after the wedding. It was no big deal. The bride and groom had very little money and were quite upfront about the arrangement. They paid for the “official” reception straight after the wedding ceremony, at which the guests were served tea, coffee, champagne and cake. Then the party moved from the church hall to a nearby restaurant, where we all had a great time and simply divided up the bill among the guests at the end.
Maybe some Aussies can expand on this? I’ve read that in Australia, if an Aussie likes you, they’ll make fun of you. They’ll find, say, a physical attribute of yours (like, maybe a limp) and imitate it when they see you coming.
Unthinkable here in the US, where doing that would have the opposite meaning.
I have seen that sort of thing, but only among close friends. And the physical attribute being parodied was something that had occurred accidentally, not congenitally. So you might send up a mate by imitating his broken leg (skiing accident related), or something like that. It would be fairly tasteless to make fun of someone’s birth-related physical disability unless you were on **very ** good terms with that person.
Huh? I’m in the US, and that’s what I do.
Though, now that I think about it, doing that doesn’t seem to go over well with many people…
Have you actually tried it? I can eat pumpkin pie just holding a slice like a piece of fruit. Lovely.
In Korea, people have to wear their traditional costumes a certain way depending on their financial and marital status. For girls, they fold their skirts one way if they’re married and the other way if they’re not and there’s a ribbon on their jacket and it has to be tied so that the loop is on the right side, I think. I just find that weird. Thank goodness I only wear my hanbok (cultural costume for girls) for the traditional Korean dinner we have every New Year’s…which is coming up soon. :o
While that’s a bit extreme, it’s pretty common behaviour amongst good friends, even here in the States. If I hate someone, I ignore them, but if I like them, I insult them mercilessly and they give it right back. To listen to me and my best friends talk to each other, you’d think we were mortal enemies.
What? I’m Southern and *MUST *have sugar (and lemon) in my tea and have dissolved it in a cold pitcher or glass numerous times, including just yesterday.
Tasted just as good as any glass I’ve ever had where the sugar was added to the still steaming tea too.
You’re right. Here in New England if you order “Fish and Chips” you’ll get exactly what you expect. But otherwise ordering “chips” gets you roundish slices of potato, not lengthwise cuts. “Crisps” are the British term IIRC. You can even get malted vinegar if you stop into one of the 69^105 pseudo-Irish pubs that dot the landscape, otherwise it’ll be ketchup for you.
Have you ever had Chicken Kiev? I have, I’ve even eaten it in Kiev. What I didn’t know is that its served room temperature (but fully cooked). My hosts never imagined you would want to eat it hot. Then again, they also insisted on drinking Pepsi at room temperature so at least they’re consistant.
Pumpink pie is quite good if made well.
I’ve never seen fried haddock in Seattle–you want haddock, you go to upstate New York.
I’ve only been to the Lockspot once, and thought the fish & chips were kinda weird. I prefer the Totem, which is basically across the street from the Lockspot. It’s still cod, though, so you might not like it anyway.
To expand on the kitty party concept, as I know of it: housewives get together a couple of times a week at a designated place - a club (not to be confused with nightclub), someone’s house by rotation, etc. The play various card games (money is involved), bitch about people they know, and generally have a blast. The money gambled is collected (I’m not aware of how exactly this bit works) and put into a ‘kitty’. When the kitty becomes large enough, it is spent on a group outing, usually in an expensive restaurant.
In Holland, people greet each other with 3 kisses (maybe the same in Belgium?). It’s bigger neighbours, France and Germany, kiss twice.
In Germany, they don’t make ice cubes at home. Or at least in those homes I visited (which were plenty). In fact, once when I asked for ice, a host told me “You’re not in England anymore!”