UKCruiseJeff Posted July 19 #21351 Share Posted July 19 (edited) 6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said: I'm in the middle of a week in Nova Scotia, and we're really enjoying the scenery and the food – especially Digby scallops at a restaurant in Digby, right at the harbor where the scallop boats unload their fresh hauls. [This has probably ruined us for scallops anywhere else, just as we won't eat lobster anywhere except in Downeast Maine.] But I want to comment on something else: the metric system! I believe that continental European countries have gone whole-hog metric. But it seems that English-speaking countries have a more complex relationship with it. In England, the road signs all show distances in miles and people still give their weight in stone [some people, people my age, ok old farts!]. And in Canada, every hotel room on this trip has had one of those new through-wall AC units and the temperature settings are all in Fahrenheit [although the units are usually made by Fujitsu, which is Japanese where they are metric]. So although the US is considered the last holdout for the Imperial system, it turns out that we have company in resisting the total hegemony of metric. Hi J, There are some good reasons for some applications to use fahrenheit rather than centigrade temperature scale and perhaps never change. For example in the kitchen you can achieve a 180% more accurate degree of temperature control when using the F scale because the basic scale runs from 32f (freezing point of water) to 212f (boiling point of water} compared to 0 to 100 for C. So for example cooking a steak to say medium rare would be 135f or 57.2222c If each scale on your temperature probe can be set to a single degree then the cook using an F scale will usually cook to a couple of degrees under to allow for continued cooking whilst “resting” but the f scale allows for much more precision as most probes can be set perhaps to the same decimal point. Being a nerd when looking at other people’s kitchens I’m always interested to see whether they have a probe and if they do if it’s set to f or c. That to me is a clue to how much of a perfectionist they are. I see no reason to ever use c in food preparation or indeed perhaps in some medical applications. Some people also prefer to use f instead of c for house /room heating because they genuinely think they can feel the difference of a single degree. Jeff Edited July 19 by UKCruiseJeff 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted July 19 #21352 Share Posted July 19 10 hours ago, mysty said: I think we all have a demon drink that we avoid based on unpleasant memories. 😅 Only one? 10 hours ago, QueSeraSera said: Love this, same thing with me and Southern Comfort Thanks for reminding me of that bad memory... 11 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said: Same with Tequila. Senior year in High School Homecoming night. I cannot even stand to smell the stuff. That was my fault LOL Tequila too! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 19 #21353 Share Posted July 19 3 hours ago, lincslady said: I have to agree - and it applies to mussels as well. I Do sometimes like the idea of mussels and the first 5 or 6 are fine but then number 7 starts becoming a chore. A Bit like chewing a lump of gristle whilst playing Russian roulette. A Waste of good chips (fries) if you ask me. 1 hour ago, MissSophia said: Have only had oysters once some fifty years ago ….never again! Mussels l do like but am very selective as to where l have them… Not keen on lobster or crab…give me an old fashioned prawn cocktail and I’m happy! 😊 I Do love lobster despite surviving an attempted assassination by one from Waitrose many years ago. I’ve never been so ill in my life. Crab is unpleasantly strong for me. I Also find myself curiously annoyed when people refer to prawns as shrimp (singular). I Know we have different names for the same thing around the world but it makes me wince when the word is not pluralised. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissSophia Posted July 19 #21354 Share Posted July 19 I associate shrimp with potted shrimp or in the old days salmon and shrimp paste in those little jars….quite acceptable on a thin sandwich with cucumber….back then we knew no different! 😉 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare gnome12 Posted July 19 #21355 Share Posted July 19 8 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said: But I want to comment on something else: the metric system! I believe that continental European countries have gone whole-hog metric. But it seems that English-speaking countries have a more complex relationship with it. In England, the road signs all show distances in miles and people still give their weight in stone [some people, people my age, ok old farts!]. And in Canada, every hotel room on this trip has had one of those new through-wall AC units and the temperature settings are all in Fahrenheit [although the units are usually made by Fujitsu, which is Japanese where they are metric]. So although the US is considered the last holdout for the Imperial system, it turns out that we have company in resisting the total hegemony of metric. I deliberately chose to set my air conditioning unit in Fahrenheit, because the gradations are smaller. I can adjust to either, but I have more control that way. However, what drives me crazy is grocery stores. Despite the fact that they actually charge in metric (per kg or per 100 grams), in both their advertising and in the tags in the produce department and in the meat department they show the price per pound in large numbers, but the metric price in small numbers below. It is hard to remember the metric price to be able to check the bill. For deli on the other hand, because the price is smaller, they show the price per 100 grams. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mysty Posted July 19 #21356 Share Posted July 19 Greetings Coolers! Today's funny..... 3 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare drron29 Posted July 19 #21357 Share Posted July 19 I guess my sashimi sea urchin tonight wouldn't have gone down well with quite a few here in the cooler. But it was fantastic. So fresh. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 19 #21358 Share Posted July 19 8 minutes ago, drron29 said: I guess my sashimi sea urchin tonight wouldn't have gone down well with quite a few here in the cooler. But it was fantastic. So fresh. I Used to be quite adventurous with seafood until the time in the old harbour in Lanzarote my dinner attempted a peristaltic escape from my plate. I Assisted it in its endeavours and threw it back into the sea. I Seem to have lost my sense of pescetarian adventure since then. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare drron29 Posted July 19 #21359 Share Posted July 19 We went into China in 1981 when it had just opened up to tourism. we were served what was described as a classical Chinese meal. The fish was carp cooked in the middle with the head and tail still moving. The meat according to our guide was rat meat. most went hungry. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqtchas Posted July 19 #21360 Share Posted July 19 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 19 #21361 Share Posted July 19 8 minutes ago, drron29 said: We went into China in 1981 when it had just opened up to tourism. we were served what was described as a classical Chinese meal. The fish was carp cooked in the middle with the head and tail still moving. The meat according to our guide was rat meat. most went hungry. One of my all time favourite restaurants, Wong Kei (Wonkies) never had any translations for the last page of the menu and wouldn't let westerners order from it. Any enquiries were met with a brusque "no for you". I've often contemplated the contents. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Lois R Posted July 19 #21362 Share Posted July 19 1 hour ago, DavyWavey70 said: One of my all time favourite restaurants, Wong Kei (Wonkies) never had any translations for the last page of the menu and wouldn't let westerners order from it. Any enquiries were met with a brusque "no for you". I've often contemplated the contents. Hi DW, one of my fondest memories as a kid.....we had a couple of different Chinese restaurants nearby.....makes me smile......the menus always had column a and column b😃 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 19 #21363 Share Posted July 19 We were taken out in Hong Kong by a local, who (wickedly) ordered 'sea cucumber' as one of the dishes. Crisp and nice to eat - he then informed us gleefully that it was sea slug. I love escargots, and will eat cuisses de grenouilles, though not with any delight. It is essentially just a bad allergic reaction which means I do not touch scallops etc. I can't remember any drink which I have reacted badly to except corked wine. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare spinnaker2 Posted July 19 #21364 Share Posted July 19 Word of the day. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mysty Posted July 19 #21365 Share Posted July 19 16 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said: Word of the day. Perhaps a name change to the Cooler is in order. The Growlery has a nice ring to it! 😁 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 19 #21366 Share Posted July 19 Excellent idea - we can get any growliness out of our systems here, but also just reading the newest posts cheers us up, well me anyway. Since there is more fun and 'niceness' than growliness. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissSophia Posted July 19 #21367 Share Posted July 19 1 hour ago, lincslady said: Excellent idea - we can get any growliness out of our systems here, but also just reading the newest posts cheers us up, well me anyway. Since there is more fun and 'niceness' than growliness. Surely if we are feeling growly, of ill humour or out of sorts the Cooler is the perfect place to ‘Cool Down’…..😉😅 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mysty Posted July 19 #21368 Share Posted July 19 Food for Thought..... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted July 19 #21369 Share Posted July 19 4 hours ago, spinnaker2 said: Word of the day. Is this why draft beer is sold in growlers? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 19 #21370 Share Posted July 19 It means something quite different over here. Please don't type "Can you see my growler?" into YouTube unless your of stout constitution and especially not if you're easily offended. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted July 19 #21371 Share Posted July 19 1 hour ago, DavyWavey70 said: It means something quite different over here. Please don't type "Can you see my growler?" into YouTube unless your of stout constitution and especially not if you're easily offended. We're familiar with that meaning over here as well... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 20 #21372 Share Posted July 20 Thank goodness JP. I was worried for a moment about that you’d be driven into early retirement. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 20 #21373 Share Posted July 20 Just looked this word up - believe it or not, I had never heard it before in that context. Just proves what a well brought up girl I was! Lola 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissSophia Posted July 20 #21374 Share Posted July 20 6 hours ago, lincslady said: Just looked this word up - believe it or not, I had never heard it before in that context. Just proves what a well brought up girl I was! Lola Must admit to being quite innocent on this too….🤦♀️😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissSophia Posted July 20 #21375 Share Posted July 20 Just trawling through the television channels to see what delights are on this weekend…. I do miss some of our old shows…clean and entertaining…now it’s all bad language, violence and intimacy I’d rather not watch… The classic Hollywood movies..Sunday night at the Palladium…I’d even suffer Blind Date these days! 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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