Flyer's diary

two new vocab words this morning...

adjective: specious (spee-shis)

superficially plausible, but actually wrong.
misleading in appearance, especially misleadingly attractive.


noun: patois (pat-wah)

the dialect of the common people of a region, differing in various respects from the standard language of the rest of the country.
the jargon or informal speech used by a particular social group.
 
sometimes when i return from a walk, i'll say, "wth... one soda isn't going to hurt".
so i go to grab a 20oz bottle (you can't get a 12 oz can without buying a 12-pack) for $1.99 and then i see this...

diet coke.jpg

how on earth are people supposed to make a healthy choice when it seems everyone is out to jam as much of their product into us as they can get away with.
 
That's just bonkers. Here I can buy a single 0.5 l bottle or even a can (which is... 0.25 l I think?), chilled and ready to go, in any grocery store. The large bottles won't be cold because they don't expect you to buy them for immediate use.
 
yeah, you have a point with "ready to drink"... the 2L bottles are room temp, but i live about 5 minutes walk away so i carry it home to get some ice. good tip for pouring diet coke (maybe regular coke too)... DO NOT pour it over ice. pour it in a glass and then add the ice. if you have done this before you know exactly what i'm talking about.
 
the 2L and 3L bottles are in the fridge ready to go at the convenience stores here, I am not tempted to drink coke as it triggers an allergic response but my son always has a couple of cans in the fridge.
 
LaMaria said:
... I don't drink anything with ice if I can avoid it though.
Click to expand...

i have heard that Americans are obsessed with ice.
when you ask for a glass of water anywhere else in the world, you get a glass of water, not a glass full of ice topped off with water.

sadly this was going to be the year i finally got over to Europe ... so much for that plan.
i was looking forward to visiting Scotland and asking for a glass of iced tea... :)
 
Last edited:
my grandparents were from Arbroath and some relatives still live around Glasgow, opposite sides of the country, but i know distances there are not the same as in the U.S. when they visited us here before, it was remarkable to them that we could get in the car and drive 100 miles just on a whim. that and i remember the guys were always impressed with the size of the trucks they saw. interesting.

i just hope i can pick up on pub etiquette fairly quickly.
i don't think i have the manner of an ugly American.
remembering my grandfather, i fear Scottish-English is going to be a challenge.
 
the freeze dryer needed to do a test cycle and the instructions say to use plain old white bread.... something i haven't bought in a few decades. i only needed 8 slices, so this might be the last time i could try using the old Toas-Tite. luckily i remembered the recipe... butter, cheese, bread... :)

squeeze cheese.jpg
 
I need to play the lottery today... my birthday is on 5/27... this morning i got up and looked at the clock... 5:27 ... on the news, CNN had the popular vote on the screen ... the counting is still going on, but i did the math ... Biden currently leads Trump by 5,257,275 votes...!
 
overlandflyer said:
sadly this was going to be the year i finally got over to Europe ... so much for that plan.
i was looking forward to visiting Scotland and asking for a glass of iced tea... :)
Click to expand...
Hope you can get to Scotland sometime soon. I also would love to get to Scotland--would love to do an extended walking holiday there...maybe that will be the forum's meetup place!
overlandflyer said:
i might throw a few Jalapeno’s into the mix.
Click to expand...
yeah that sounds really good!
 
so one thing about freeze drying... it not a 10 minutes process... the first batch is going on 20 hours... maybe 2-3 hours to go... strawberries and apples are looking good, though...

strawberries & apples.jpg

more good news... it's definitely keeping me distracted... :)

11.12.20..166.5.jpg
 
well, i've been here about 20 times in the past 20 weeks, and if i don't see 163 soon, i might pass on baking shortbread this year... :(
 
well, here's the situation this year... my Scottish aunt was by far the main reason i have been doing this since my mom (her sister) passed away in 2004 and now Agnes is gone. the bright spot is that i believe i got my 2 nephews hooked with a shipment to them last season, but the real problem is how to get rid of the rest. i normally go around town gifting them to bartenders and store owners i know... you know... the people i literally haven't seen or talked to in 7-8 months. and the ones i do see... well, asking them to touch anything these days, i fear might be met with some trepidation ... :(

i will likely make a very small batch.
 
holy cow... i believe i stopped eating at 4pm yesterday. it's 4pm today. i guess i'm on a 1 day fast... lol.
the weirder thing... i've got a huge pot of chili going on the stove. it smells great... but i'm not really hungry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top