Here's a quickie - prompted by the consumption of this very nice beer in the UK (if you can find it, try it!)
The phrase 'proper job' comes from the West Country (the SW region of England). It means 'very good' or 'job well done'. And it's not used like this more nationally.
Examples:
You "I got an A in my exam!". Local: "Proper job!"
Local finishes a pint of good lager, smacks their lips and says "Proper job!".
Bye.
So, we went to Hampton Court Palace recently (a revisit for me - but after a long time!) And they have carts in the grounds where you can purchase fruit, veg and plants from the gardens. There is no charge, and no attendant - you just donate what you can, if you want to. It's a bit like the concept of a hotel Honesty Bar. But with produce.
And amongst the vegetables was this weird thing: a kohlrabi. OK, I've been outside Europe for a while, but I'd never seen it before. So I bought one to experiment with.
This guy is a brassica - related to cabbages and cauliflowers. The bit I got - the 'bulb' - actually grows above ground as a fat stem, as this is not a root vegetable. The leaves can also be eaten, apparently. The bulbs come in white or purple varieties, and the name is German meaning 'cabbage turnip' - which I guess describes its looks! (It does also somewhat resemble a dragon fruit imho... )
I roasted the first half (it requires peeling and chopping, plus steaming first, to soften it up) and the outcome and general review was 'so so'. It's not sweet or flavoursome like a parsnip when roasted, or crispy like a potato. Fairly bland tbch!
Then a Greek friend suggested trying slices raw, dipped in lemon juice. And this was absolutely delicious! Raw, this vegetable is sort of like a cross between a radish and a carrot in texture - crunchy, mild and very refreshing. It would definiately work nicely in salads I think. And I will try it again if I can find one!
Oh look, I have been absent from Blogger for a while, and all the formatting has broken! ANYWAY, until I have time to fix it, this:
Unlike East and Southeast Asians*, Brits traditionally drink tea with milk (and sometimes sugar). I don't think milky tea is popular in other European countries. Italy, France, Spain are definitely more into coffee as their national beverages.
In the UK we also have a habit of dunking sweet biscuits into the tea, and then nibbling on the soaked biscuit. In the modern day, this has an effect of part-melting and warming chocolate biscuits, and softening others. (The duration of your dunk is important for this - too long and whole confection just collapses into your drink..)
Dunking also happens in other Western cultures, but perhaps with coffee and/or more specific biscuit types (biscotti in Italy, for example, or stroopwafels in the Netherlands).
History
Apparently the ancient Romans used to dunk hard, crunchy bread into wine. And more recently in Europe, 16th century sailors would dip their rock-hard biscuit rations into hot drinks, simply to make them edible. When British Victorians invented the formal 'afternoon tea' and Queen Victoria herself was seen to dunk her biscuits, the trend caught on, and was thereafter exported to countries such as the US and Australia.
In Britain, most cookie types can be dipped, and we just do it with tea. Click here for the Wheel of Dunkability and find out which UK biscuit you are! (The chocolate digestive is apparenty the national favourite.)
* The exception might be modern 'dessert-style' teas such as Taiwanese bubble tea, or matcha and houjicha drinks from Japan.
** English learners: sweet, crunchy confections are known as 'biscuits' in the UK, and 'cookies' in America. Though we do also understand the term 'cookie' in the UK.
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