>> One of my Christmas presents (from Lisa, actually) was Gosford Park,
>> which I really wanted to have and am delighted to own and very much
looking
>> forward  to watching
>
>did you ever see it in the theatre?

Yes, that's how I knew I wanted to own it

>I think you will enjoy it -- very much above and below stairses....

I thought it was one of the better above and below - better than "Upstairs
Downstairs" -because it wasn't trying to make a point with that, it was a
matter of fact part of the story. Lisa and I watched it last night. We both
enjoyed it, and will both watch it again

>Though Stephen Fry's detective showed up for the wrong movie, I think.
>He's such a jarring note, I wonder if they filmed those bits first with
>another movie in mind, then things took the proverbial left turn at
>Abuquerque....
>
I didn't find that. I thought he continued the same theme that the servants
were nobodies that was shown throughout the movie, which is why he missed
the main suspects. It might have been a bit over the top for him to dismiss
the clues, but it was in keeping with an upper class snob refusing to listen
to an underling who interupted him. I would have prefered that the detective
missed the clues a little less ham-handedly, but it did fit IMHO
>> >
>> >>rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes (because I'm gonna
>> make GRAVY), brussells sprouts (ooh, look at Laurie gag!)....
>> >
>> >Heehee.  Would make me gag, too, but Elizabeth managed to fix 'em
>> so they were really good!  Just steamed a little in white wine.  Oh, my.
>> >
>> Had the Christmas dinner here Christmas Eve with some of the family
>> and Lisa. That one was roast pork with crackling, applesauce, mashed
>> potatoes and excellent gravy made by Lisa, steamed squash, peas - no
brussels
>> sprouts
>
>the mashed potatoes made their final bow tonight on top of a sort of
>Shepherd's Pie thingie I patched together (with fresh corn on the cob and
>asparagus with a Chinese Vinaigrette and biscuits)
>
Lisa finished up the mashed potatoes - we don't make big mounds of them now
that I can't eat them in quantity. I thought it would be a big loss to me,
but it only took a few experiences of being uncomfortable after eating
starches for me to look at them all differently. A mouthful of a taste I
particularly enjoy is enough for me nowadays, which I find very surprising

>> Went to the Island Christmas Day for the Christmas dinner at my ex's
>house with more of the family. Had roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roast
>> potatoes, roast sweet potatoes,
>
>a starchy gathering indeed!
>
I picked from among the dishes for things that I could have and enjoy
without a problem

>> stuffing, gravy, peas, carrots, my children's
>> stepmother's totally excellent brocolli and mushroom casserole - no
>> brussels sprouts. (Only thing she did that was not my absolute favourite
was
>> a horrible thing of carrots and parsnips whipped together. What a
>> nawful thing  to do to prefectly nice carrots)
>
>but I've heard it's a Naiamo (sp) speciality.... [Mom's got friends what
>live up that way]
>
I think it's an old English thing that came over with the settlers. My kids
enjoy it because it reminds them of happy times in their childhood. They
never had it any place except at their Dad's and their stepmother only made
it at major meals, so its taste has good associations for them. The taste of
parsnips in any guise brings back memories for me of being hungry. When we
were not getting enough to eat as children there were parsnips, turnips,
cauliflower, brussels sprouts endlessly. They are not festive food to me,
they are starvation food - that's what you eat when you're too desperate to
care what things taste like. Interestingly enough, there were also endless
potatoes and carrots and cabbages that do not carry the same connotation
with their taste. Why? (Cabbage is easy, no one tries to pass cabbage off as
a festive food the way they do brussels sprouts, which are essentially the
same thing. Maybe potatoes don't hold the connotation because they can be
cooked into so many different tastes, but carrots have a distinctive taste,
so if the distinctive taste of parsnips makes me gag and brings back
feelings of hunger and desperation, why not carrots?)

>>followed by old fashioned Chrstmas  pudding
>
>oooh.... someday I want to try one of those
>
That's the way Gwen felt, so this year she did

>> done Gwen's way which means leaving out everything she doesn't like,
>> so you end up with this sort of dark sludge. She and I made a sherry
>cream  sauce to
>> go on it, which means I whipped cream, she read a recipe for brandy
>> sauce and left out things she didn't like and put in sherry instead, and
I
>> added things to make up for what she left out, and it was sinful.
>> Decadent. Excessive. Not Suitable for Small Children.
>
>they wouldn't appreciate it, anyway

They didn't. They couldn't even be teased into trying a taste. Very
humorous. Lots of squealing, running about and laughing. Strangely they
weren't interested in trying the trifle, either, which I find surprising
given that it looked like something kids would have adored. I think they
were just too full, and had got started on the "No, no! It's evil, I tell
you, EVIL!" games and just carried on to the next thing. No one's going to
actually care if kids turn desert down, and since everyone was enjoying the
silliness so much that no one was interested in becoming serious, they never
did try the trifle. I would have bet all of my millions that they would have
wanted something with whipped cream, custard, and fresh fruit later, when
the games were over, but they never did. Odd

>[sort of like this crustless thingie I've come up with for pecan pie]
>
Sounds like something I'd like to try on the one hand, but on the other hand
pecan pie is usually far too sweet for me, so maybe not. If someone could
invent a pecan pie that wasn't basically cooked sugar with a few nuts on top
I'd love to try it

>> Then there was a massive power outage (as in 300,000 homes without
>> power - all of Vancouver Island, plus some of the larger Gulf Islands,
and
>> Sechelt  on the Mainland) and then it started snowing with a vengance
>(my  ex's house
>> is quite a ways up the mountainsides above Nanaimo) so we decided we
>
>Nanaimo, that's how you spell it; thanks -- I'll remember about 10
>seconds
>
Interesting to watch people who "aren't from here" try to say it.
Nan (as in
Nana) eye mo - nanEYEmo

>> weren't
>> going anywhere. We were warm, dry and safe (my ex has wood heating
>> which also heats his water so that he's independant of power just for
>> times like that) so we decided not to take our chances with trying to get
>> anywhere.
>
>very smart
>
Smart man

>> That meant we were all in place on Boxing Day instead of being at
>> home, so, instead of reheating the turkey, my ex dug into his freezer and
>> found a tail of black Alaskan cod (sable fish) about a metre long, plus
he went
>> out in the 4 wheel drive and came back with enough fresh local oysters to
>> feed an army.
>
>did he go oystering? or to the fish market?
>
Nothing was open, and he wasn't gone long enough to collect them himself, so
I suspect it's something closer to "the owner of the fish market is a
friend/neighbour/customer of his." They were the massive local Vancouver
Island oysters, each oyster bigger than a large hen's egg, some nearly twice
the size of an extra large egg. Where "wrapped in bacon" usually means the
bacon covers or almost covers the oyster, with these the bacon was like a
belt around the middle

>> My ex's wife made one dish of braised oysters and one of
>> oysters wrapped in bacon, and my ex decided he didn't want the smell of
fish
>> cooking in the house so he went out in ankle deep snow and fired up the
>> bbq.  Completely, utterly, delicious impromptu dinner with no brussels
>> sprouts
>
>poor forgotten little brussels sprouts
>
serves them right

>> I'm home now, safe and sound, many funny, silly memories, too much
>> good food, far more wonderful gifts than I could ever have imagined (I
>> made out  like a bandit) wonderful, wonderful memories, much laughter,
>and no  brussels  sprouts
>
>excellent
>(except that exclusion of brussels sprouts)(=wink=)
>
On top of which, no one missed them :>)

>Some of us might say you've just never had them cooked properly; but we'd
>just as soon you leave them to those of us who really appreciate 'em.

No matter how you cook them, they still taste and smell like dressed up mini
cabbages. I like cabbage in coleslaw (some kinds of coleslaw, not the
vinagary kind) raw, shredded in salads, used as wrap in cabbage rolls, red
cabbage cooked the German way, and braised cabbage cooked with corned beef.
It's possible to subsitute brussels sprouts for cabbage with corned beef (in
fact, I defy anyone to tell the difference if they taste without seeing what
they're eating) but I don't like brussels sprouts when you can taste them.
Cabbage just doesn't go with a classic roast turkey dinner any better than
fish sauce does

>[Except post-harvest, with their abandoned stalks ROTTING in the fields
>-- pew!!!]
>
Lord, yes!

Laurie now that the storm has blown through, it's sunny Phoenix

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha