Banannas Foster is the first dessert I could think of that had a person’s name in it. I guess it isn’t Australian but I know I had it once there, probably in Sydney. It was a desparate grab on my part for a lame witticism, as usual.
Birding=observing and identifying avian species by plumage, song, or behavioral clues. Birdwatching. At some point in the last 10 or 20 years most serious pursuers of this passtime in the US stopped calling it birdwatching and started calling it birding. I guess birdwatching had too many associations with white haired old ladies in tennis shoes. Australia has a hugely varied environment and a embarrasment of riches when it comes to # of bird species there. Those among you who aren’t into that kind of thing don’t know how good you have it.
Ever since taking Spanish in 7th grade (yonks ago) platano was the word we were taught to mean banana. As Binarydrone mentioned it may be down to regional dialect. All I know is what I was taught.
I didn’t even know what a plantain was until I was much older and saw funky looking bananas in the store one day, then checked them out.
Guineo is a new word for me, cheers for the education Binarydrone.
You can get sometyhing called Cadbury’s choco9late in the US, but it’s not the same as the variety you get in the UK/Ireland. Any time Pepper Mill or I go overseas, I stock up for her and dole it out.
Pavlovas (they’re named after a ballet dancer, because the light meringue resembles a tutu, kinda) used to be available at Matilda’s Pavlova Parlor in Cambridge, Mass. many years ago. I dubt if they’re still around, but I’ll bet somebody in the States still makes them. Matilda’s also used to sell Australian-style fresh fruit sundaes.
Ever since the Men at Work song, various specialty food places in the US have sold Vegemite. God knows why – I’ve never seen anyone actually eat it.
Balduran - we in DC have a card system for the Metro, calles SMARTrip. You pay $5 for the card, enter money into the faremachine and ‘load’ the amount onto your card. Al you need to do is swipe your card overa special patch on the turnstile and you’re through (It even neatly displays your amount left on your card). The cards offcourse are rechargeable.
And yes - having a showerhead with a capacity of more than 2.5gallons/minute would be awesome…
I do miss the candy from the Netherlands and ermany especially ‘dropjes’ - I can buy them at Dean&Delucca, but at really ridiculous prices
Nestle Lion Bars. Why the hell does Nestle release 10 zillion other products in the U.S., but not the best-tasting one?! Those things make Nestle Crunch taste like a pile of crap.
I never realized so many adults were so into candy! On pain of death I probably couldn’t name 5 types of candy sold in the stores in my town. I haven’t eaten the stuff regularly since I was about twelve. Totally not on my radar screen, I guess.
I hope you guys brush and floss every day, and get regular excercise.
Banana’s Foster. Bananas are cooked in a bubbling pan of dark brown sugar, butter, rum and cinnamon and served over ice cream with walnuts or pecans. Here’s a recipe;
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons rum
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise and crosswise
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 pint vanilla ice cream
Directions
1 In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar, rum, vanilla and cinnamon. When mixture begins to bubble, place bananas and walnuts in pan. Cook until bananas are hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve at once over vanilla ice cream.
Absinthe I’ve covered.
I also realized that, unless you really go looking, it’s hard to find a decent variety of hard ciders here in the States. BevMo has a couple of brands, but most stores here have Hornsby’s (the budweiser of ciders) and maybe some of the various Wyders brand.
Why can’t I get Ace, or K, or Blackthorne at my local bar? I’d like nothing more than to pick up a big bottle of Strongbow in the morning.
sigh
Can’t wait till I move and can start brewing my own.
Oh yippee – I’ve now got “Sailing By” stuck in my head.
Not true - NPR is not that far removed from Radio 4, and some of the NPR programs are actually better. It all depends on what bits your local affilate carries.
Ting
It’s a Jamaican grapefruit soda. It’s da best. I haven’t found anything that compares to it. Great with vodka, although the Jamaicans thought we were crazy when we asked for vodka and Ting. I guess they don’t drink vodka like we do.