Ok, this will be the last post I write on this theme, but I was thinking about the big disappointment the Man Who Cooks and I had when we were in the U.S. last year. Here in Australia, an iced coffee is a double whammy of coffee (duh) with ice cream and sometimes cream in it, served in a tall glass with straw and long spoon. This is a great appetite spoiler, a good way to have coffee when the weather is hot, and doubles as a dessert as well.
So it was a real surprise that when we ordered an iced coffee, we got...coffee with ice in it. When we queried this with the wait staff, we were told where the sugar and half and half were, and we could help ourselves.
It just goes to show that things can have the same name but be entirely different entities altogether. This was also the case when we moved from the east coast to the west coast of the U.S. in 1960. I can't remember many examples now, but there was one having to do with hush puppies. In one place it was a type of shoe or shoe brand, but elsewhere (the south?) it had something to do with food??? I'm sure someone will have more specific info on that.
While I'm on the subject of recreational eating, I've just come back from morning coffee with former colleagues. It was great to catch up with them, and also to sample the bakery goods of a local cafe. Almond croissant with custard filling - YES! It was quite large too, and I thought I would take home half of it, but no. I ate the whole thing. I think I'll just have an apple for a late lunch.
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12 comments:
As far as I know, Hush puppies are little corn meal balls with green onions in them that are deep fried..
Hee hee! I thought they were something like that, so you can imagine how people would be bemused by hush puppies being referred to as shoes. Here in Australia of course that's the name of the shoe brand.
Hi Val ~~ In Australia we make lots of slices of various kinds, but when I mentioned something about a slice, I was asked what it was.
Thank you Val for the Birthday Greetings and I like 73 years YOUNG.
Take care, my friend, Come on Blues,
Love, Merle.
Hi Val,
Thanks for visiting me at Patra's Other Place! I have 'known' you for a while via LeeAnn and Meow, and have visited you occasionally. I believe you have met/are meeting up with Sharon of Beyond The Blank Page? She mentioned you last week when she and Pete were visiting.
I'm enjoying your blog, nodding enthusiastically at most of your posts, especially the ones about cafes and their odd interpretations of food service!
When my brother and his wife visited Europe back in the early ninties he couldn't get over not getting enough ice in his cola. He expected everything to be like it is in the States. I got a laugh out of it.
Here we do not add too much ice or add none to the soda, and if we order coke with no ice in the US we sound strange to them. Think about it, you can get more of the soda if you add less ice! :-)
Sounds you had a great time with former colleagues. Almond croissant with custard filling... hummm, looks yummy!
What I enjoy the most is called Iced Cappucino...it's coffee blended at high speed with crushed ice and cream. Soooo good! Now you've made me thirsty for one and hungry for an Almond croissant with custard filling!!!! xox
Man...that muffin sounds great!!
:)
and of course all americans need to know that in Aus a soda isn't a soda, it's soft drink.
Have you been up to Coffee Basics at the Enterprise Centre at the north end of Castlemaine ?
Hmm,
We had iced coffee today at Starbucks and it really was that! (Coffee with ice!) Your iced coffee sounds almost like a soda!!
My big gripe about things not being what they should be is the Melbourne version of fish and chips when it is not fish. It is called flake and it's shark. As a North Australian, I have to say if people thinks that's fish and chips people don't know what fish and chips is. BTW, we should not be killing sharks for food for a number of reasons including sustainability. But Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Profligate Summer, points out we should not be killing the predators.
Blessings and bliss
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