Food and Food Culture

I first heard of mead from a book about honey. I didn't realize it was considered old-fashioned. Alcoholic drinks made out of honey just make sense.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Mar 14th 2020 at 6:21:08 AM

Given that making alcohol needs sugar, yep, it makes sense indeed especially in climates too cold/rainy for things like grapes.

Apparently mead is the oldest form of alcoholic beverage.

Mead is awesome.

I say that as someone who absolutely detests honey and anything honey-flavoured.

I have to drink it in small doses, however, because it is a bit on the sweet and syrupy side for me.

And that reminds me. I've had a bottle of unopened mead in the house for months that I haven't got around to drinking yet.

Speaking of alcoholic beverages, what beer is your fave? I have a taste for IPA myself.

I will admit to liking the Warhammer ones sold at Warhammer World in Nottingham. As for more normal ones, if we are talking about ales then I do like Proper Job Cornish IPA

Edited by SebastianGray on Feb 29th 2020 at 1:30:01 PM

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

And, in time-honoured tradition, to celebrate St. David's Day, my house is full of the smell of home-made bara brith.

The Welsh cakes are yet to come.

The cawl, however, is being pushed to Tuesday. That's because my family is having a Sunday roast (it being Sunday) and we always have a second 'Sunday' roast on a Monday to use up the left-overs.

Lots of leek and potato soup coming my way this week, too.

I'm going all in this year! Comfort food, here I come!

A long time ago, some friends of mine and I made some attemps at making mead.

I think I tried only once: I managed to transform like 5 kilos of honey, plus some water into a bath of bad-tasting bacteria.

Without me () some friends of mine managed, afterwards, to make something good. But it was much work and we were twentyish which much time to spare; nowadays we don't do that.

However making your own mead is technically simpler than making your own beer. Honey is mostly sugar already, so you don't have to handle this germination thing about beer that consists in transforming amidon into sugar.

Recently, I've been getting weird cravings for cheap beer, and only cheap beer. I don't even like beer. Hell, I don't even drink all that often.

I'm quite liking fortified wines atm - Port and Commandaria especially - but I think no.1 right now is Glenfiddich Single Malt Whisky.

Mikes Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice for me.

In Taiwan we've got...Taiwan Beer. That's the actual name. It's as generic a name as you can get.

It's not bad for a cheap beer though.

Samuel Adams Oktoberfest!

Hello, fellow single malt whisky drinker!

Glenfiddich is my fallback. I always have some in the house. It acts as my 'everyday' whisky (no, I don't drink whisky every day, hence the inverted commas). I've also got Glenmorangie in the house because... well, it's Glenmorangie. I bought it for Christmas, but still haven't broken into it yet.

Meanwhile, I try a new single malt whisky whenever my 'main' one runs out. It's so I can try a whisky I've never tried before and build up a list of ones I like and don't like. So far... I've liked everything. Except for the whisky I finished over Christmas (Aerstone Sea Cask — I do not recommend it). The new 'to try' whisky I bought after that one is Tamnavulin. It's a Speyside double-cask. I've never tried it before and I haven't broken into it yet.

Talking by experience, you'll not be disappointed with that. It's got the typical Speyside lilt to it with a lean towards the rounder, more spicy side, rather than clubbing you over the head with its higher citrus notes.

I'm slowly working my way through a delightfully slightly-burnt-toffee-apple-with-heavy-heather-and-gorse number: an Irish single malt by the name of Wild Goose. Got it for Christmas. Being careful to enjoy it while it lasts.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Mar 8th 2020 at 10:29:16 AM

I know lots of Wild Goose fans. Somehow, I've never got around to trying it. I really should, I haven't heard anyone dislike it.

I have to be careful with my single malts. I do love 'em, but drink too much too quickly... And reflux.

One trick I've learned is to have Hob-Nobs or oatcakes handy. Or use the old Scottish trick of "put whiskey in everydish oaty". Grown-up porridge what puts hairs on your chest is actually quite good (though I usually go blends for that).

That's pretty much how I go as well.

There's nothing like having a gastric condition to discover the wonders of oats. I'd grown up on porridge anyway, but you don't truly appreciate the power of oats until your digestive system starts screaming for it as a magic reset button for when things go horribly wrong.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Mar 8th 2020 at 1:00:14 PM

Would the beef noodles be Taiwan's signature dish?

It is one of them, yes.

So, uhh, my Indonesian coworker shared this article about the ostensible anti-coronavirus properties of wild horse milk.

How do I make sure that my mum never sees it ever

Unless wild horse milk is something she can easily obtain, you probably don't have to worry.

I have to admit, substituting "wild horse milk" for "tinfoil theory" sounds awesome on paper...

And here we have another wild horse milk story...

You know, it is sort of fun to say.

There was an article on how the fact that Central Asia in general and Kazakhstan in particular got their first COVID cases only recently (like, the first two official cases of coronavirus in Kazakhstan got registered only yesterday in Almaty) despite being the next-door neighbors of China is attributed to the casual usage of the wild rue fumes in the region. Supposedly they are that good of an antiseptic.

Now it's kumis.

Rampant corruption within healthcare officials is getting more and more euphemisms every day...