Predict when cruising will start again post-Coronavirus

[OzKiwiJJ]

55 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

I spent my teenage years in the League of Nations suburb in Sydney, Fairfield, although now it is little Asia. Anyway, back to the vino glasses, Sunday lunch at my Italian mates place over the road was usually a large five hour event with the finest of home made vino drunk from vintage vegemite glasses. My wife wonders how I developed a taste for good wine from fine crystal glasses. 😂

When I think of some of the things that passed as wine glasses back in those days the vegemite glasses might have been an improvement.🤣

[mr walker]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

When I think of some of the things that passed as wine glasses back in those days the vegemite glasses might have been an improvement.🤣

Growing up, I never knew you could actually buy glasses. I thought everyone drank from the empty vegemite jars, or the ones the cheese spread came in, or plastic tumblers. 

I recall that some houses had a couple of beer glasses, usually marked with AHA or the name of a pub 🙂 

[Blackduck59]

We don't have any Riedel Glasses but we do have 2 full sets of stemware (we do set a lovely table when we entertain). Although both sets are beautiful neither of them is great for "properly" evaluating the wine. One has an iridescent sheen that makes a pretty rainbow pattern but you can't see the wine. The other is Mikasa Stephanie also pretty but the convoluted bowl makes it hard to see the wine.

[Russell21]

5 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

We don't have any Riedel Glasses but we do have 2 full sets of stemware (we do set a lovely table when we entertain). Although both sets are beautiful neither of them is great for "properly" evaluating the wine. One has an iridescent sheen that makes a pretty rainbow pattern but you can't see the wine. The other is Mikasa Stephanie also pretty but the convoluted bowl makes it hard to see the wine.

We us our "good stuff" every day, not just for guests. I found out why one day when I overheard my wife, a widow when we met, explaining why to a friend. She simply said that she had learned the hard way that every night with her husband was special.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Mostly we use tasting glasses, also known as ISO glasses. Years ago I bought a good supply of them which we used for parties as rental glasses are crap. We don't entertain like that these days so still have plenty "in stock". I do have some Reidel glasses but for some reason we stopped using them regularly, probably because I tucked then away as one of my housesitters used them and broke a couple. I've also got a couple of stemless red wine glasses which someone gave me. They make great dessert glasses!

[BRANDEE]

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

Isn't "finest home made vino" an oxymoron? If porch climber is okay with someone then it really doesn't matter what it is served in. Slurp it out of the bottle.

I grew up as a Italian kid drinking grandma's home made vino in Fred Flintstone jelly jars at Sunday's family pasta dinner.

[Blackduck59]

1 minute ago, BRANDEE said:

I grew up as a Italian kid drinking grandma's home made vino in Fred Flintstone jelly jars at Sunday's family pasta dinner.

 I can't recall any homemade wine but I know my dad and uncle made there own whiskey a few times. I never tried that.

There was always a gallon bottle of Calona red in the house. And the question for you Brandee is was the wine any good or just a part of happy youthful memories? I suggest that if the wine was good then it is among the .5% of home made wines that are actually drinkable.😉

[BRANDEE]

2 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

 I can't recall any homemade wine but I know my dad and uncle made there own whiskey a few times. I never tried that.

There was always a gallon bottle of Calona red in the house. And the question for you Brandee is was the wine any good or just a part of happy youthful memories? I suggest that if the wine was good then it is among the .5% of home made wines that are actually drinkable.😉

Drinkable..yes   Any good..I doubt.   Such a treat to be at grandma's..at the kiddie table (until 16 in my family) and have our own bottle of vino and classic matching glasses.  Of course, none of us ever finished the glass or had a second.  God blessed us the day grandma's grape trellis collapsed in the backyard and we had to start drinking the store stuff.  The kiddie table (cousins from 5 siblings) bar hopped as young adults. We all lived in the same town.  A great tribute to grandma!  Salute La Familia and happy youthful memories!

[NSWP]

I had an Italian neighbour one time, who produced Grappa.  For those who have not tried it, it tasted awful and was as potent as rocket fuel.

[BRANDEE]

25 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I had an Italian neighbour one time, who produced Grappa.  For those who have not tried it, it tasted awful and was as potent as rocket fuel.

Grappa is not for the faint of heart...it could scar you for life!!!  Espresso with sambucca much better after dinner for digestion.  Some Italians would say a teaspoon of grappa if you had a belly ache...nope...I heard someone said it felt like a gunshot to the stomach.  Homemade is probably even more potent than the usual 60/70% found in the store.

[OzKiwiJJ]

When I lived in NZ I used to regularly go to an Italian restaurant where the owner made his own grappa. If he decided you were good customers you were given a glass of it at the end of the meal. If you were considered really good customers he'd leave the bottle on the table.

 

One night we were there with friends, all reasonably accustomed to the grappa. Next to our table was a really obnoxious guy who kept butting in to our conversations to give his opinion or argue with us. When the grappa arrived he demanded some. So we put on a show, we all sculled our glasses of grappa. He did the same, turned purple, and left very suddenly. 🤣🤣🤣

 

I still enjoy drinking a good grappa occasionally.

Edited August 8, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[Docker123]

Where I grew up we had neighbours from a host of Southern European countries.  So, a variety of red liquids that was unpleasant to me. However, the Sicilian family would put it in a pasta sauce with pigeons they also raised. Divine.

 

Best fun was one family where we would go and tread the grapes to help with production.

 

[NSWP]

19 minutes ago, Docker123 said:

Where I grew up we had neighbours from a host of Southern European countries.  So, a variety of red liquids that was unpleasant to me. However, the Sicilian family would put it in a pasta sauce with pigeons they also raised. Divine.

 

Best fun was one family where we would go and tread the grapes to help with production.

 

Are you recovering Mr Docker, may I call you Adrian? Stay off the grappa old son, have a Jamisons.

[Docker123]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Are you recovering Mr Docker, may I call you Adrian? Stay off the grappa old son, have a Jamisons.

Thank you for asking Uncle Les.  And of course you may call me Adrian.

 

Out of hospital yesterday, staying with family to lose pain and regain strength.  Nasty piece of surgery.  Probably have more controlled substances than the Drug Squad’s evidence room.

 

off the liquid anaesthesia until I’m off the opioids. Actually took myself off 10 days before the surgery because I Knew was going to be under for 3+ hours.

 

Lots of surgery related pain and weakness. Big decline in original pain and restrictions.

 

 

 

[Russell21]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

I had an Italian neighbour one time, who produced Grappa.  For those who have not tried it, it tasted awful and was as potent as rocket fuel.

Saw Big John go down on half a tumbler of Phillipine Lumbalu, which is a spirit distilled from palm wine and then buried for 3 weeks before drinking. Makes Grappa look like lemonade by comparison.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Russell21 said:

Saw Big John go down on half a tumbler of Phillipine Lumbalu, which is a spirit distilled from palm wine and then buried for 3 weeks before drinking. Makes Grappa look like lemonade by comparison.

There certainly are some lethal brews around. We had a Marc ( French equivalant of grappa)  in Cannes once that nearly blew our socks off. The restauranteur was quite impressed with us though.🤣

[Blackduck59]

I don't know if it's still available but years ago there was a product from Alaska called "Everclear" basically uncut vodka stait from the still white lightning if you will; but available for purchase. Holy crap, I was at a party and someone had smuggled a bottle in to Canada (it was definitely illegal to bring it in). One try was enough of that.

I think anything we eat or drink should be pleasant to your personal palette, be it spice, sweet, salty, sour, bitter or umami, everything balanced. Too much spice while "manly"really ruins a dish for me. I find Thai food wonderful but suspect that if I traveled to Thailand it would be too spicy for me, the same for India. The great North American obsession with hot wings has gotten ridiculous with Ghost peppers and such. The whole "look at me, he man tough" eating these ridiculous concoctions.

[ilikeanswers]

I recently got a bottle of chocolate vodka. It is macerated chocolate that that has been fermented then distilled into a vodka like drink. When I first tried it, it was a surprise to drink because it is clear like vodka but it tastes like unsweetened chocolate, you just dont expect it😋.

[NSWP]

7 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I don't know if it's still available but years ago there was a product from Alaska called "Everclear" basically uncut vodka stait from the still white lightning if you will; but available for purchase. Holy crap, I was at a party and someone had smuggled a bottle in to Canada (it was definitely illegal to bring it in). One try was enough of that.

I think anything we eat or drink should be pleasant to your personal palette, be it spice, sweet, salty, sour, bitter or umami, everything balanced. Too much spice while "manly"really ruins a dish for me. I find Thai food wonderful but suspect that if I traveled to Thailand it would be too spicy for me, the same for India. The great North American obsession with hot wings has gotten ridiculous with Ghost peppers and such. The whole "look at me, he man tough" eating these ridiculous concoctions.

Like the Chinese food in HK is not like the Chinese food you get in Sydney, I found that out.

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Like the Chinese food in HK is not like the Chinese food you get in Sydney, I found that out.

That depends on what part of Sydney you go to. There is some truly bad Chinese food in Australia but also some that is very, very good. Years ago we discovered a restaurant in Chinatown that had two menus - the tourist menu which was the usual boring stuff, and the real menu. I forget what type of Chinese cuisine it was now but I do remember there was a delicious rabbit dish on the real menu. That restaurant is no longer there unfortunately.

[lyndarra]

8 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I don't know if it's still available but years ago there was a product from Alaska called "Everclear" basically uncut vodka stait from the still white lightning if you will; but available for purchase. Holy crap, I was at a party and someone had smuggled a bottle in to Canada (it was definitely illegal to bring it in). One try was enough of that.

I think anything we eat or drink should be pleasant to your personal palette, be it spice, sweet, salty, sour, bitter or umami, everything balanced. Too much spice while "manly"really ruins a dish for me. I find Thai food wonderful but suspect that if I traveled to Thailand it would be too spicy for me, the same for India. The great North American obsession with hot wings has gotten ridiculous with Ghost peppers and such. The whole "look at me, he man tough" eating these ridiculous concoctions.

I haven't been to Thailand but I have been to India. Indian food is not all beef vindaloo, far from it. Such a wide variety of tasty eats which vary depending on region, a bit like China. I find that the beef vindaloo from my local Indian takeaway, while described as "very hot" really isn't. I guess it's dumbed down, a bit like the gumbo on cruises.

[Blackduck59]

Years ago I worked for an East Indian fellow, he was one of my most pleasant bosses. One day I was at his house (I don't recall why) and it was lunch time. I was invited to stay...what a treat. Curried veal on basmati rice with home made roti. It was also the first time I had a mango milkshake. That was almost 40 years ago and I can still remember it like yesterday.

[MicCanberra]

Goulash here is almost a stew, while in Hungary it is a soup.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Blackduck59 said:

Years ago I worked for an East Indian fellow, he was one of my most pleasant bosses. One day I was at his house (I don't recall why) and it was lunch time. I was invited to stay...what a treat. Curried veal on basmati rice with home made roti. It was also the first time I had a mango milkshake. That was almost 40 years ago and I can still remember it like yesterday.

Love Mango Lassi's. uses yoghurt not milk.

[Blackduck59]

10 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Love Mango Lassi's. uses yoghurt not milk.

 

Thanks Mic, the reason I used the term milkshake is because that is what my boss at the time called it. Perhaps he thought it better to not mention the yogurt. In any case it was delish, isn't it interesting how some meals or food related events can be so memorable?