Hello from London

[Tristan]

The French can't figure out why it's only 20miles of water separating the best cooks in the world from the worst. My French friend told me that although they can't cook for •, they sure do have a great sense of humour, i.e. Monty Python, Black Adder, Little Britain etc.

 

[X-Forces]

I was wondering though, as you were born and raised in the U.K., do you like (I almost can't bring myself to ask it) Marmite?

Marmite is GROSS

My god man, you are one of a kind!! How long has it been since you left the U.K.?

I think you are going to have to give in your membership card

............and for us Americans WTH is Marmite?

Hey, I'm American! Just so happens that the wife is a Brit, so I get the best of both worlds, if you can call it that. My mom says that kind of stuff to me all the time to wind me up, "Well, for all us Americans over here," or "You're all European now"

Anyway

I'm sure Dazzler will explain it to you, but for all those who haven't had the pleasure to experience Marmite, well, in short it is yeast extract.

It is black, with a tar like consistency. Smells awful, looks awful, and tastes, well, I can't describe it! Regardless, for some reason the British seems to love it, and it is found in many a English kitchen

(and ours)

A friend and I ate beans on toast in the U.K. for an entire 3-week vacation. And it was so good. After coming back to the U.S., we found one brand of vegetarian beans that was ever so close to the good Heinz beans in the blue can.
-Christine

Ahh... I know I have lived over here for a while now, but since when can't you get Heinz original beans in tomato sauce in the U.S.A?

They are exactly the same as the ol' blue can over here.

 

[chrisdahut1]

Marmite only tastes good on Twiglets. Otherwise I hate it.

 

[S.T.Aviator]

My mom used to give my brother and I Marmite sandwiches when we were kids.
It all started when we lived in British Guyana and the Marmite followed us to Trinidad and Tobago
till finally we got to Canada and then it was PBJ sandwiches.

 

[mrivc211]

So the weather has been great. Food terrific. Can't complain. Every other car here is a mercedes bentley or bmw. No joke. And I thought newport beach was the mercedes benz capital of the world. I saw ski Dubai yesterday. Simply amazing. A skiers paradise in the middle of the desert. What used to be sand dunes and slat flats 10 years ago now looks like downtown manhattan. I'm not exagerating. my brother just bought a place in one of them on the 48th floor. I guess they are building the worlds tallest building here. I'm going to upload some pics when I get back.

Oh and the flight attandants on virgin atlantic from london. hehehe. You would have been proud of me iain.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

So the weather has been great. Food terrific. Can't complain. Every other car here is a mercedes bentley or bmw. No joke. And I thought newport beach was the mercedes benz capital of the world. I saw ski Dubai yesterday. Simply amazing. A skiers paradise in the middle of the desert. What used to be sand dunes and slat flats 10 years ago now looks like downtown manhattan. I'm not exagerating. my brother just bought a place in one of them on the 48th floor. I guess they are building the worlds tallest building here. I'm going to upload some pics when I get back.

Oh and the flight attandants on virgin atlantic from london. hehehe. You would have been proud of me iain.

I've heard outside of the United States driving a Mercedes,BMW,Audi etc isn't anything special. In Germany they're the taxi's and police cars. I hear you get laughed at if you roll a 3 series. The Volkswagen Jetta is an old persons car in europe and not the popular 18-30 yr. old car it is here in the states.

Status symbols in europe are big cars. The bigger the car the more status one is supposed to have. Might maybe be different in Dubai and other middle eastern countries. But thats how it is in europe...or so I have been told!

 

[X-Forces]

Marmite only tastes good on Twiglets. Otherwise I hate it.

Strange. I have had Twiglets, and I think the only reason such a product was produced was for consumption with Marmite!!!

Those things are like Marmite sticks! They taste almost the same.

My mom used to give my brother and I Marmite sandwiches when we were kids.
It all started when we lived in British Guyana and the Marmite followed us to Trinidad and Tobago
till finally we got to Canada and then it was PBJ sandwiches.

So, you really miss Marmite sandwiches?

 

[clumpinglitter]

Ahh... I know I have lived over here for a while now, but since when can't you get Heinz original beans in tomato sauce in the U.S.A?

They are exactly the same as the ol' blue can over here.

I haven't been able to find beans with tomato sauce for years now. Maybe it's a regional thing; I dunno. Occasionally, I find the blue can beans in the "imported" section of the local big box chain grocery store. But that's it.

-C.

 

[Kristie]

After a couple of weeks in Spain and France the English breakfast I had on the channel crossing had to be one of the best ones I've had. Forget bread, I want some eggs and meat to start the day! However, the best restaurant I ate at in London had to be the Texas Embassy. I like where I come from, what can I say?

channel crossing? boat or train?

 

[X-Forces]

I haven't been able to find beans with tomato sauce for years now. Maybe it's a regional thing; I dunno. Occasionally, I find the blue can beans in the "imported" section of the local big box chain grocery store. But that's it.

-C.

That's a shame, no reason a product such as this should be available on a regional basis. I remember when I was growing up we always had a stock of Heinz beans in tomato sauce and Heinz Pork & Beans to tide us over in the event we need a quick snack. Just throw in a few franks and you were good to go!

Well, hopefully they won't decide to make Heinz ketchup available on a regional basis.



If you ever need a few cans of beans, let us know!

 

[mrivc211]

aaaaaaaaaand I"m back!


Wow what a trip.

Had some problems with my ZED tickets on Virgin, but still managed to get on the flight. I sweet talked my way into premium economy on virgin on the way back. Then when I got to london, I found out the flight to LAX had left hours earlier. Oops. So I settled for the only flight left going to the states, which was IAD. I can't complain at all, I sat in seat 3E in first class on the 777. Got to IAD and quickly boarded the last leg to LAX. Got into lax 1 hour late and got home about 2 hours ago. I'm on dubai time now so its really 3:30pm for me. I wish I was back there. I'm already planning on going back in March. But this time I"m gonna skip london and go SNA-JFK-DXB. Much much easier on the body.

 

[mrivc211]

Okay this sucks. I was up until 9am and fell asleep and just woke up at 6:30pm. Basically missed the whole day. I feel like I got robbed.

 

[Swen]

It's al good though. Parties don't happen in the bright of the day.