examinator

Perhaps you are catastrophysing. This is maple flavoured syrup and a different variety of spuds in a bowls club. Any reasonable person would not expect expensive imported maple syrup in a cheap subsidised meal.

As for the 'taters, well maybe the cook was more aware than the customer that 'Idaho' is a generic term that is used for lots of different varieties of potatoes. Back where the name came from, 'Idaho' originally meant any potato grown in that State. Some think that the Russet Burbank is the 'real' Idaho, but they would be pressed to separate it from other Russet clones and maybe from many other potatoes that look around the same.

Of course if you are like me (and possibly the subject customer) and you are looking forward to a floury potato then you might be a bit let down if (say) a waxy (the texture) but otherwise delicious Nicola was served instead. Although a Nicola is probably a better potato to serve as a bake with roast.

However I do not pretend to have the eagle eye and sensitive palate that can distinguish varieties of cooked potato.

As much as I am opposed to scams in advertising and in business the examples given are trivial and unfair. It was a cheap meal in a bowls club, not the Hilton. No need to call out the hounds or damn Australian business for shonky substitution when in fact our business practices are pretty damn good by US and world standards.

david f,

You sound like you might be really homesick ?

While the things that irk you seem trivial, I imagined myself overseas and invited to a shindig featuring simple Aussie fare like Vegemite toast. I can imagine my disappointment if I bit into a some sort of Promite thing. It just wouldn't meet my expectations and I think I'd wonder how anyone aiming to present Australian tucker could get it SO very wrong.

In my observations too, Americans seem to have had a long time of exposure to an unimaginably wide range of food - I notice my friends can distinguish between berries and other fruits, veg, sauces and syrups that look and pretty much taste the same to me; meats cured different ways and all sorts of things - just like you and your potatoes. I laughed at a scene in Super Troopers where in some sort of contest one of the troopers downs a huge bottle of maple syrup - "I am ALL THAT IS MAN!!" he roars in triumph.

I love maple syrup, such as I know it. Wouldn't know whether it's some second rate mix. My palate is not too refined; I guess we're a provincial lot on the whole.

- but going back to my Vegemite scenario, I think I'd probably give myself a good talking to, to remind myself that there are whole populations starving who might live their whole lives without having one day with the food choices and availability we enjoy.

Our fussiness is, I think, an almost embarrassing testimony to our priveleged position in the world.

http://whatscookingblog.com/2007/10/31/weekly-groceries-from-around-the-world/

Anyway - get your relatives to send you what you crave :)

examinator

<< Naughty corner? >>

Well, as someone who detests toilet humour, your post did seem a bit heavy on toilet references and almost had me wondering about a spell in the corner for you. :) It was two of your other comments though that clinched it for sure!

<< Take all these homeopathic cures (sic) most at best have elements of benefit but cures or absolute benefits, hardly. >>

I've only ever tried homeopathic remedies twice and on both occasions I was extremely impressed, so I really don't like to see homeopathic 'cures' disparaged like this. :) Besides, what proportion of conventional 'cures' actually cure anything, as opposed to temporarily alleviating the symptoms?

A vile tasting but very effective homeopathic solution really helped me to stabilise fluctuating blood sugar levels at one stage, until the practitioner left the area and I moved onto other measures, which in some ways have never been as effective.

Both my dogs had very similar congenital heart conditions. The first I treated conventionally with heart and fluid tablets, which kept her alive but she was never very well. After my own favourable experience, I decided to try a homeopathic vet with the second dog and he's already a lot older than she was and doing so much better. I know there are other variables at play here, but I'm convinced the homeopathy is a major factor.

<< I don't wish to support Kevin 0 anything specifically (all parties and the current political system sucks big time). >>

All parties? I can't agree. The Greens definitely do NOT suck - big time or any other time.

Now off you go, five minutes for each transgression. :)

Dear Pynchme,

It is so true. I have lived life in a way the starving masses would envy. Yet if I don't get my maple syrup and Idahoes how does that help the starving masses in Ethiopia?

My relative's packages containing foodstuffs would be confiscated by customs. Silversides approaches corned beef. Buckwheat approximates Wheatina, and imagination helps somewhat.

I make my own spaghetti sauce and season it with herbs from our garden. I miss my grandmother's rhubarb pies and planted rhubarb. it didn't grow well. Following a season of growth the rhubarb crown becomes dormant and temperatures below 10 C are required to stimulate bud break and subsequent growth. Queensland where I live is too hot. I miss snow. On a visit to the US I stood outside to enjoy a snowstorm.

Rhubarb was found growing along the Volga by adventurous Greeks. Rhu is Greek for Volga. Barb means foreign, but Queensland is too foreign for rhubarb.

I read of the death of Don Lane and felt saddened. Another American dying on foreign soil. Tragic.

David,

I wasn't meaning that going without something would benefit anyone else directly. I meant that reminding ourselves of others helps us appreciate how wonderfully well off we are, so we feel less 'deprived'.

What you say about customs is true - I'd forgotten that.

Oh yes I too love rhubarb! Anything rhubarb is a real delight.

I have a couple of friends who send me a supply of butterfingers and a few other things, but one thing you have to admit is that Aussie jelly beans and licorice are superior - g'wan admit it - *nudge*

Maybe you could tell people to give you a (Christmas) gift certificate to this Melbourne supplier:
http://www.usafoods.com.au/

Yes - good old Don Lane. His declining years and demise are very sad events.

I think I read somewhere that he did live some of his post-talk show years in the US again; I suppose he returned to Australia when he retired or something.

His shows were a little before my time, though I saw a couple when I was very young. Also, we didn't have TV where I grew up so I only saw a few odd things when visiting the southern states for holidays.

One thing I liked very much was the way that he seemed to genuinely enjoy Bert Newton's talent. I saw him stand back and laugh with great delight while Bert did something or other to get the laughs. Don Lane was apparently self assured enough; there was no display of jealousy. People talk about American arrogance but Don Lane wouldn't qualify as an example. When he won one of his Logies, he insisted on sharing it with Bert - a lovely gesture.

Btw: Liza is out here!