Eurocans and French 'fine dining'

Maybe British cans are designed differently to European ones? Well, I don’t know why not a one of them has a ring pull, to be honest…

One of those things – go into Morrisons down the road and there’s cans aplenty and few with ring pulls. Pop across the road to Lidl and the cans are almost exclusively ring pull.

Oh and they have crab and lobster tails in adjacent fridges. Shortage of Zebra and crocodile, but the 3, 4 and 5 bird roasts fill a wall style chill cabinet.
Which reminds me, no trace of duck, goose etc in the local(French) food marts?

Happy year end festivities (usurped by christians)

go into Morrisons down the road and there’s cans aplenty and few with ring pulls.

British company.

Pop across the road to Lidl and the cans are almost exclusively ring pull.

German company.

Which reminds me, no trace of duck, goose etc in the local(French) food marts?

Maybe non-cooped birds are less desired while Bird Flu is doing the rounds?

British company.

North of England basically

German company.

Hence the eurocans vs standard brit.

Maybe non-cooped birds are less desired while Bird Flu is doing the rounds?

Ah yes, I do recall the news reports about east of england bird farmers keeping flocks indoors while the migrating birds were due to pass through.

Meanwhile, the xmas day package (main family gathering is Tuesday) is a book ISBN 978-1-908724-06-9 which actually came in a book shaped package.

I suspect the others at the family gathering will almost certainly not come in packages that give any clue of the content. Soft clothing has been known to rattle¹ and bikes come in matchboxes² as part of the family tradition.

¹ Walnuts and a note that read “nuts to you” in a subsidiary box.
² Actually a key and a rhyme that guided me to the next door neighbour-but-one’s garage.

Went for a 3.5km walk, found some pottery in the field. Made endless crass jokes about the neighbours eating zebra and crocodile. Mom gave me 978-2-84070-557-4 which has loads of pictures within; and while the “Just Chicken” Fray Bentos was more “just gravy”, we had a big pile of semi-boiled semi-roasted organic vegetables that were very pleasant. The PVR is recording Dr. Who; so when that finishes in about ten minutes (some extra for programme overrun), I will switch SD cards and then watch it properly while eating bite-sized “Heroes” chocolates. It’s been ~15 years since I’ve had Fudge and Wispa. Cadbury doesn’t have much of a presence in France…
I’m also washing it down with a lovely oriental Earl Grey (think Earl Grey with jasmine).
Didn’t do much today, but it was a pleasant peaceful day. :-)

Merry Christmas everyone! Mum and dad came around and we went for a walk. Lovely day here (NZ) so it was a nice change to get some sun instead of sitting in the office all day. Not that I was planning to sit in the office for Christmas anyway!

Well, I don’t know why not a one of them has a ring pull, to be honest…

Ring pulls are everywhere here. I moved out of my parents’ place years ago and it took a further five or so years before I realised that I didn’t own a tin opener!

Cadbury doesn’t have much of a presence in France…

Cadbury doesn’t seem to have much of a presence anywhere these days. ~90% of the Cadbury stuff sold here is imported now, and is often subtly (or significantly!) different from the old locally-manufactured products that everyone grew up with :(

Cadbury doesn’t seem to have much of a presence anywhere these days. ~90% of the Cadbury stuff sold here is imported now, and is often subtly (or significantly!) different from the old locally-manufactured products that everyone grew up with :(

Yes, various people are unamused by the Kraft changes including no bourneville on the Heroes pack Rick mentioned and the stopping of free xmas choccies for its pensioners.

Cadbury doesn’t seem to have much of a presence anywhere these days.

There was that problem of Cadbury’s chocolate not actually being chocolate by European Norm definitions.

Don’t remember if that was actually solved.

Bit like sausages not having enough – well, sausage meat in them to be sausages!

Anyway, our parsnips were done with honey and grainy mustard, and I did pigs-in-blankets as well! Petits cochons sous couverture? Pourquoi pas!

It all took me the whole afternoon, but way easier than opening a Fray Bentos pie can!

Surely Zebra’s just exotic horse isn’t it? Go for the kangaroo. Skippy is basically 6ft bouncy vermin in Oz. It’s effectively fat-free, tastes slightly better than steak, and too numbers are causing a lot of environmental damage in some parts of Oz so doing a few people a favour (except the kangaroo itself, obvs).

Yes, various people are unamused by the Kraft changes including no bourneville on the Heroes pack Rick mentioned and the stopping of free xmas choccies for its pensioners.

The Creme Egg change is interesting; over here the recipe was changed maybe 10-15 years ago; the centre used to be a “creamy, flowing yolk” (to quote the 1985 TV ad) but is now solid, yet soft. It certainly doesn’t flow anymore!

Skippy is basically 6ft bouncy vermin in Oz.

From the description of a former work colleague¹ killing them doesn’t always stop the movement. He and his mates thought it was a youngster causing the movement, turned out to be large worms…

¹ 40-odd yr old Aussie came as a student and didn’t get round to going back until he was 42. Probably a UKIP deportation candidate.

turned out to be large worms…

Worms, ticks, and fleas can be an issue. If you want to eat Skippy, buy proper farmed meat. I like Kangaroo meat, but preparation is important otherwise it can taste really gamy and kind of unpleasant.

Cadbury is awful. Besides a few very select exceptions, it’s all the local supermarket stocks. If we want actual chocolate it has to be from another town. It affects two of my family’s members adversely and it burns my throat which is surprising. I can eat pretty much anything except heavily processed food.

Bit like sausages not having enough – well, sausage meat in them to be sausages!

Don’t get me starterd. Earlier in the year I needed some sausages for a dish I cooked sometimes. I had to grab them from the supermarket because I couldn’t get to the butcher that day. They were awful. I’d say they were hot dogs with a different skin and bovine used. Not going to say “beef” because it was clearly mechanically separated meat.
It really makes me sad, and queasy, thinking about what passes for food now that are sold to people because the change was gradual enough that most never noticed.