Two monumental decisions in one week:
Health Care Stays.
Equality is legalized.
Let the celebrations begin.
And then keep up the fight.
Friday, 26 June 2015
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
23 June, 2015
Biscuits and gravy are the signature item on the breakfast menu of any good American diner. Anyone (except, of course, the English) can make decent eggs and bacon but to properly execute biscuits and gravy is the mark of a true culinary artist.
In the limited and it must be said, horrific, world of English breakfast fare, there is no equivalent to an American biscuit. Drop Scones bear a superficial resemblance but it is there that the similarities end. While the average English scone has the density of a Neutron Star, American buttermilk biscuits are as light and fluffy as the chest-hair of an angel.
Prime ingredient number two, sausage gravy, also has no direct English equivalent. It is generally assumed that the English produce both sausages and gravy but to the English, "sausages" are rubber tubes filled with gristle and "gravy" is the hot brown water, flavoured with salt that they float in. In contrast, American gravy is fork-standing-upright thick and speckled with chunks of crumbled sausage that comes from actual meat, as opposed to the fatty bits around the edges.
Biscuits and gravy are the Lennon and McCartney of the breakfast world: impressive individually but unbeatable as a team. Along with Elvis, Jazz and institutional bigotry, biscuits and gravy are one of the defining icons of the American South.
In the limited and it must be said, horrific, world of English breakfast fare, there is no equivalent to an American biscuit. Drop Scones bear a superficial resemblance but it is there that the similarities end. While the average English scone has the density of a Neutron Star, American buttermilk biscuits are as light and fluffy as the chest-hair of an angel.
Prime ingredient number two, sausage gravy, also has no direct English equivalent. It is generally assumed that the English produce both sausages and gravy but to the English, "sausages" are rubber tubes filled with gristle and "gravy" is the hot brown water, flavoured with salt that they float in. In contrast, American gravy is fork-standing-upright thick and speckled with chunks of crumbled sausage that comes from actual meat, as opposed to the fatty bits around the edges.
Biscuits and gravy are the Lennon and McCartney of the breakfast world: impressive individually but unbeatable as a team. Along with Elvis, Jazz and institutional bigotry, biscuits and gravy are one of the defining icons of the American South.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
20 June 12:40
London. Dull, grey, London. Tourists everywhere. Something massive happening in Trafalgar Square that I want no part of. Large women in pink track suits push their way through the crowds, clutching diet Cokes and screeching. Spay-painted silver human statues form an honour guard along the path past the Apple Store. Pick-pockets ply their trade from the open bags of families that stop to take pictures. Guys in suits covered with buttons wait their turn as Mr. Unicycle finishes his act and passes the hat. Covent Garden on a Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)