Happy Pancake Tuesday
I now know why one of the recipes that we tried on Friday was pancakes. Apparently Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras is also know as Pancake Tuesday in England. I guess it's really called Shrove Tuesday, but who is counting.
To learn more about Pancake Tuesday, including pancake races, click here or here. I never knew people could get so excited about pancakes.
BTW - We just finished our chilli pancakes, and they were great.
HOT STUFF
Yankee Girl and I spent all day Friday learning how to cook with chillies. We attended "Turn Up The Heat ~ The Art of Chilli Cooking", at the Manor School of Fine Cuisine. We can now set your mouth on fire any time of the day with any meal. Well I guess that's not exactly true, some chillies can be quite mild.
Beginning with chilli pancakes for breakfast and concluding with chili shortbread and chocolate chilli cheesecake for dessert, we cooked and ate all day. By the time we finished I was so full I could hardly move. It is amazing what you can do with chillies. I would have never thought of putting chillies in pancakes or shortbread, but they were both quite good.
The instructor has her own website dedicated to chilli cooking, where you can find other information about chillies, including the 2 chilli farms in the UK (I never knew the UK was good for growing chillies), along with the menu for the day. I have also attached some photos of the day, for your viewing pleasure.
To the right you can see me giving Yankee Girl instructions on the finer points of frying noodle nests, which we used for our Yin Yang Prawns. Below, Yankee Girl is perfecting her chilli chopping skills while the instructor poses for the picture (she is the one in the chilli apron).
Today's Word and More
Today's word is Gob.
Gob is British (Scottish) slang for mouth. Now you know (or at least you should be able to figure out) the logic behind the naming of Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstoppers. Any one with kids might be interested in this website that I found while researching gobstoppers.
For anyone who hasn't done so, please vote for one of Yankee Girl's photos (see previous post).
If you're paying attention, you will have noticed that I added some new links. If you weren't paying attention, look to the right. I have posted liks to a couple of the UK newspapers, the Sun and the Evening Post.
The Sun claims to be the UK's biggest selling newspaper. I'm not certain, but page 3 might have something to do with it. However, before you turn directly to page 3, I must warn you that it won't be for everyone (especially if you are viewing this from your work PC)
Cheers,
Yankee
Words of the Week
Keep this in mind when talking to a Brit.
Us = me, and me =my.
For example:
Give us a call actually means give me a call. For some reason people like to refer to themselves as us.
I've lost me fags, means I have lost my cigarettes (fag=cigarette in case you didn't get that).
Happy Groundhog Day
Yes, its that time of year again.
February 2, otherwise known as Groundhog Day, is here. In case you're wondering, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, indicating six more weeks of winter. Anyone wanting to know more about Phil and this tradition click here. You can even join the groundhog club.
And for those wondering, Groundhog Day is strictly a US tradition. However, that didn't stop the BBC from running related articles about real life groundhog days or other psychic animals .
P.S - Tell Flanders I said hi.
Wednesday's British Words of the week
This week you get two words and a funny T-shirt store.
Minging (or mingin) - Rumor has it that this originated in the British Army and originally meant dirty. It has most recently come to mean ugly, disgusting or rank, and usually used when referring to people. It can be used as a noun as well (That girl hitting on me in the pub was a real minger).
Dodgy - If someone or something is a bit dodgy, it is not to be trusted. Dodgy food should not be eaten. Dodgy people are best avoided.
This baby carriage looks a little dodgy to me.
While doing some "research" for the blog I also came across this T-shirt website that I thought you might enjoy.
Anybody out there with a DVD Recorder?
Is case you didn't know, the Super Bowl is coming up this weekend. Also, in case you didn't realize it, the game comes on TV at roughly 11 PM in the UK. Since our beloved Colts are not playing, I am not planning on watching it live. Although we can get the game on TV, I can't bring myself to take a vacation day to watch the Steelers.
Therefore, if any of our loyal readers out there have a DVD recorder, YG and I would really appreciate it if you could record the game for us. I'll gladly pay for the DVD and the postage. I'll even send it back, if you happen to be recording it for yourself.
