Oh god, liver *cringes* I've tried haggis thrice in the past 3 years while living in Scotland, although I didn't wanna try it the second time after reading the description on google. Felt barbaric while eating haggis rolls, but hey, it didn't taste bad.
@Touchfuzzy
Pan fried bananas, eh? I've tried salty banana chips which are basted in butter while frying. Gives it a really smooth and soft, yet crispy, texture when you bite into it. Having that in a sandwich with mayo though....I can smell the double-chin already.
Keep in mind, a lot of rural southern foods are what they are because they are cheap calories. A lot of it comes from African American, Irish, Scottish, and Native American mishmashes with what ingredients could be obtained cheaply.
But yeah, Southern US Cuisine is awesome.
Fried chicken. Awesome
Fried Okra. Awesome
Grits. Awesome
Gravy and Biscuits. Awesome
Cornbread. Awesome
ALL CAJUN FOODS. Awesome.
I'm not too keen on shrimp and grits though. It always seemed a little weird.
I love a lot of southern food (who doesn't like fried stuff?) but grits are not awesome. They are bland and yucky. Either that or I've never had good grits, which is a possibility.
I have a sudden craving for Chicken and Waffles. I think I have some breaded chicken in my freezer. . . . *wanders off*
You'd think that being Brits, we'd be a land of only English-speakers but just like America has Spanish as a prominent language alongside English, we have Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, and a bunch of others. About 5 minutes from where I live, there's a shop (two in fact) where you can buy food items, snacks, even dairy products made in different parts of Europe.
London in particular has restaurants of all shapes, sizes, and nationalities, each representing cuisines from different parts of the world. In fact, here's two of the most unusual ones I've found:
Speaking of Bananas. One of the things I find is fairly unique to the US rural South is banana and mayo sandwiches. I can hear you cringing, but its delicious. (pan fry the bananas first for even more deliciousness). (Seriously, I didn't even realize that banana and mayo sandwiches were considered weird until I was an adult)
We have something similar. It's fried banana (maduro, technically a type of banana) with sour cream (or cheese). I'm sure that having your wife's family being latin you've at least heard of it.
I suppose Midwest cuisine is fairly basic, as everyone farmed what they are. Missouri has a large German and French heritage, which makes for an unusual combination.
Oddly enough, the major contribution to cuisine I can think of is barbecue and pizza.
PROPER barbecue means grilling the meat most of the way, then applying the sauce (tomato and molasses based), and then finish cooking. The sauce must be cooked onto the meat or it's just garnish.
Saint Louis pizza has a thin, almost cracker-like crust, a red sauce like marinara, and mozzarella and provolone. Try any of that avocado and feta crap and Mama Cusimano will blind you with a hot spoon.
Actually, according to a wide range of polls, the most popular dish in Britain, for many years, has been one or other Indian dish. Chicken tikka masala headed the field for a long time, but has been pushed out recently by Bhalti.
The number of Indian or Chinese take-aways as well as sit down restaurants is phenomenal.
Forget that roast beef and Yorkshire pudding legend, almost no one can afford roast beef any more.
I cannot agree with that more xD I've seen Scottish people love Indian cuisine quite a lot (beating Chinese cuisine by about 10 points), and I've tried some of the Indian restaurants in and around Scotland as well. The most remarkable difference is probably the amount of spice used in the curries. If you tried these same curries in India, they have a much deeper flavor (depends on the chef who makes it as well). Some of the more spice-based curries can even bring tears to your eyes and set your tongue aflame.
Although, to be fair, there's far more interesting dishes in the country itself than tikka masala.
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There's a restaurant in Singapore which makes absolutely delectable dumplings. They're almost always busy, but even so, service is quick and efficient. Because it's so popular, you're handed out the entire menu before you're seated at a table, and must place your order before you're seated as well. My favorites include the steamed truffle and pork dumplings, and century eggs with diced ginger. I'm still not entirely sure how they prepare the eggs to look semi-transparent, but it tastes like heaven in my mouth.
To be fair, if you are going to steal something to be a national dish, Chicken Tikka Masala is one of the better ones to do. It is delicious. (Also, this joke was made in an article on our blog about cultural inspiration)
@Sharm, The key to grits is two things: Quality, and what you put in them. Just plain, boring low quality grits is meh and really rather bland. On the other hand, get some good stone ground grits, and mix in scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese, and it is amazing. I think of grits kind of like how I think of Tofu, bland as hell by itself, but as part of a combined whole can be pretty tasty.
Also, Chicken and Waffles is one of those things just seems really weird until you've had it and it is deliiiiicious.
Quebec is somewhat a really special "province" we are from canada but in same time not from canada this a complex story about that and a lots of people misunderstand us "quebecois" or french canadian
Landscape and Climate
We have to know because Canada is really big the climate is really varied from "tundra to temperate".
but let's speak of the Quebec itself.
because it's near of the north we have really temperate climate here.
Most of our forest are mostly Pine forest and we have mostly just mountain and big forest here.
you have to know here instead of having 3 months of winter we have 6 months where we can reach -30C in temperature!
Why they speak french and not english like the rest of the canada?
Simply we was a french colony in first before we get invade by the british however they never suceed to "assimilate" our culture.
so now why canadian french don't speak most of time english? simply we not find the use we get raise in french and we don't want to learn it.
it's simply our pride and we are obstinate
we also have a half-independent government and mostly we have our own rules and our own ways of education in Quebec.
In terms of food, I really can't of much. I live in Virginia, which really isn't either north or south of the US... so I think I'm in a bit of a lukewarm middle when it comes to American Culture. Some local diners try to advertise themselves as 'southern', but it's really nothing different to any other diner I've seen anywhere else, and I've been more north than south on family vacations. (New York, Ontario, Maine, Philadelphia, etc.)
Though that's not to say I'm not in an interesting location, the Appalachian Trail passes through my town and I'm pretty close to a lot of civil war battlegrounds, so I can't complain about a lack of history. I just can't think of anything interesting about the way we live.
Well, here is some info/fun facts on Germany! Please forgive me the long wall of text.
I checked on Wikipedia and Germany is close to the size of Montana, but has 82-times the population. Most people live in the cities which is a big problem here. Towns turn into ghost towns, because all the young people leave for job opportunities and only the old stay.
In Germany we love food. We have a lot of beer which you can buy and drink with 16. Germans tend to drink a lot of it, some even on a regular base. Drinking is also allowed in public places. Whatever you heard about Germans and beer, it's probably true.
We also have A LOT of bread. There are hundreds of different bread types across Germany, not counting sweets. And dozens sausages types - we frikkin' LOVE sausages! And sweets! We make a lot of chocolate and fruit gum, including gummy bears and Kinderueberraschung (Kinder Eggs, that were sadly forbidded in the US years ago).
There're a lot of more food fun facts, like the hamburger originates from the town Hamburg, or that there is a yummy jelly-filled bun, called berliner, which originated in Berlin. When JFK said that he was a Berliner, he did not say he was a jelly-filled bun, but one with the citizens of Berlin.
Okay enough food-talk for now.
Despite the dense population there's a lot of wilderness here. There are a many forests and a lot of marshland, lakes and beautiful rivers. Most of them are protected and offer great opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, cayaking and fishing. There aren't really any high mountains unless you look in the far South at the border to Switzerland and Austria. The Zugspitze (Draftpeak) is almost 3000 metres high and the highest mountain in Germany. There are also hundreds of castles and some roman ruins around, aging 1000-2000 years.
Schloss Neuschwanstein, the most famous castle in Germany
The Zugspitze
The main cities (the biggest and most popular) are Berlin (capital), Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. If you ever go there, you shouldn't rent a car, but take public transport instead. It's much faster, cheaper and more environment friendly. Don't be misled by the many old buildings you see on photos from Germany. Most of it was destroyed in the war and rebuild to look old. Also only the tourist area looks like this, but most buildings are pretty boring and plain.
Berlin is actually build onto a swamp - something you won't notice, because all the water is transfered to pools in huge pink pipelines that you can find all over the city. Most people don't know about this and think of it as modern art or something like that!
Huge Pic:
Hamburg, where the hamburgers come from and the Beatles became famous, lies in the North next to the river Elbe. Huge amounts of goods are moved around here and exported to countries in the entire world. But that doesn't mean it's not a nice city. There's the old "Speicherstadt" (Warehouse-City) that has lots of channels, bridges and is called Venice of the North. There also "Ballinstadt" a harbor from where over hundred years ago millions Germans left the country and travelled to the US. Through the industrial revolution many people became very poor, so they tried to start a new life somewhere else.
Fun fact: There were apparently Dutch people who immigrated to the US, but were actually from Germany. The german word for "German" is "deutsch" which is really close to "Dutch", so many people thought the Germans to be Dutch (what a confusion!).
Cologne also has a beautfil Old Town and a huge church, the "Dom". It's over a thousands years old, but not as it is now. It was often reconstructed, rebuild, extended and is in a constant need of repair. That's why it's sadly often partly covered in white sheets. Cologne is also an old roman town and famous for it's roman ruins that are hidden underground all over the city.
In recent years archeologists found an ancient synagogue there. Not knowing anything about it, they searched for clues and finally found an inscription on a stone. Excited they started translating it and where completely dumbfounded when it said: "This is the window through which the **** flies".
Studying in German is quite easy as you don't have to pay for it. There's only 100-200€ for each semester for the administration (or something like that). On the other side, you are completely on your own. No one tells you what you have to do, where you have to go next or what books you need. Most students have to adapt first because it's so different from school.
Actually, according to a wide range of polls, the most popular dish in Britain, for many years, has been one or other Indian dish. Chicken tikka masala headed the field for a long time, but has been pushed out recently by Bhalti.
The number of Indian or Chinese take-aways as well as sit down restaurants is phenomenal.
Forget that roast beef and Yorkshire pudding legend, almost no one can afford roast beef any more.
Yeah, been to carverys lots of times - but when was the last time families had roast beef most weeks? Compare the price for a decent roasting joint or steak with that of mince.
When I'm not residing in the Voice lands like my profile says I venture to the land of my youth, a wondrous place filled with awe and mystique; New York state.
There are apples a plenty in this land and delectable cuisine like pizza is sure to be found wherever you look (although you may find us having adopted other foods from other areas of the state or even the world in an attempt to be awesome at forming an identity out of other people's culture). The weather oh you will love it! The summer's are hot, the springs cool, the fall filled with leaves a plenty you can never seem to get rid of even in the cities. The winters, oh the winters... The winter's can be special all their own, just when you think it will never snow again around the holidays the winter season will then make a turn and seem to last for two seasons at a time. There will be a blanket of white everywhere but this blanket will not keep you warm, you'll will be cold oh so very cold! Our cities our big and our towns small, filled to the brim with overly stubborn people who take pride in where they are from.
Apart from that one notable aspect is that New York state is home to the site of the first women's rights convention in the U.S.
Not really sharing culture, but I'm willing to give some tips regarding teaching geography. While I, myself have not used these "techniques", I was subjected to them by my mother, when I was home-schooled by her (in addition to actually going to school, as well).
By my experience, children are not overly fond of geography, since it involves difficult names of irrelevant places far away. I have always figured it's easier to learn about a continent if I have a clear "outline" of it. Focus on teaching them the "borders", be they against another continent, or simply the oceans. It makes the mental map easier.
I can only speak of Europe for this next one (because I know about it), but I suppose it applies everywhere: Group countries together into bigger chunks. Certain nations of certain continents tend to have strongly similar lifestyles, characteristics (physical, mental), histories and folklore. For example, Europe can be broken down to the Scandinavians (Northern countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark etc), the Balkans (Eastern countries like Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece etc), the Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece that have a handy mnemonic rule: P.I.G.S.), central Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, etc) and of course the British Isles. All these regions are made of countries with an abundance of common traits.
By far the most important thing you need to teach a young child geography, is folklore and mythology. It's quite literally all they care about. I'm not talking about plain old culture, I'm talking about the weird stuff. I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I mean. My mother would draw on egg shells with her " magic coffee pot, that would reveal the drawing, as the egg boiled within it" monsters and gods from each region and then make me place the (clean) egg shells in the respective location of origin on a large map (after eating the egg, of course). Mythology and games (and eggs). What more could I want?
Sadly, schools can't afford the carrots that you said should be good. Education is made to be its own reward.
Moreover, its not carrot in a stick, but the Carrot OR the stick. To be honest I do not want my kids to be in a school where they could receive the stick. Corporeal punishment are not a way of education. Neither is bribing with treats.
Now back to the topic: there are no point in Ireland that is located more than 90 kilometres from the sea.
There are no snakes in Ireland as good old Paddy chased them in middle ages.
The first European to have sailed to America would have been St Brendan, in middle age . he would have sailed in a stone coffin.
Just beat the last of us 2 last night and starting jedi: fallen order right now, both use unreal engine & when I say i knew 80% of jedi's buttons right away because they were the same buttons as TLOU2 its ridiculous, even the same narrow hallway crawl and barely-made-it jump they do. Unreal Engine is just big budget RPG Maker the way they make games nearly identical at its core lol.
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