FORKNI-L

FORKNI-L Digest - 21 Mar 2001 (#2001-91)

Wed, 21 Mar 2001

There are 7 messages totalling 237 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. Nick and food--again (3)
  2. Ok, Libby, what did you feed the list hamsters
  3. Rats (wuz FK recognition)
  4. Rasputin (was   Re: Does it bother anyone else?)
  5. CB question (was:   FK recognition)

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Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 21:04:19 -0000
From:    Linda Hepden <Kezia.Hepden@b.......>
Subject: Re: Nick and food--again

Molly - when I went round the Museum of London's 'Streets of Londinium'
recreation of Roman London last year, the tour guide did point out that the
Romans baked bread rolls, and ate grilled patties made with ground beef and
spices... sounds like the makings of a hamburger to me!

And do you know the origins of the modern pizza?  It started off not in
Italy, but in England, where in the middle ages it was the practice to bake
bread, leave it several days to get really hard, slice the bread and then
use these hard slices as substitute plates.  Called 'trenchers' from the
French 'trenche' (or slice), this is the origin of the phrase 'a good
trencherman' for someone who loves their food.

Apparently, food (most dishes were made with a thick sauce for the purpose)
was put straight onto the 'trencher' - those lower down the table in the
Great Hall would have their trenchers put straight onto the wooden table,
higher up you got a wooden platter underneath, then pewter - nobility and
royalty got gold and silver plates.  And it was a sign that you had more
than enough to eat if you left the trencher, and had it sent out to feed the
poor at the gates - with the meat juices and sauce that seeped down into the
bread, it would have been quite tasty!

Anyway, somewhere along the line some Italians encountered the 'trencher',
and were impressed enough to take the basic idea back home with them... some
time and some Italian flair later, along came the pizza!  So... Nick and
LaCroix would almost certainly have encountered the early version of the
pizza in the English Middle Ages.  Happy?

Oh yes, and both the Romans and Medieval English ate pasta - it disappeared
from the UK about the 1600s, to reappear gradually in the Victorian era...
The Romans also had icecream, or more accurately sorbet, but it was a very
expensive commodity - and it was a savoury dish, as they flavoured it with
that pickled salted fish sauce (the name of which I forget, but it pervaded
Roman cooking), which made a lot of Roman dishes 'sweet and sour'.

Phew!  That's quite a lot of 'modern' dishes General Lucius would have been
able to enjoy...   I can imagine Uncle's reaction now, to rediscovering
variations on dishes he hadn't been able to enjoy for a millenia or so...

Kezia

> In an offlist conversation with McLisa, she pointed out that the Romans had
> sausage, mustard, onions and pickled cabbage.  I already knew that they had
> fast-food shops, so it occurs to me that LaCroix and Nick, whilst mortal,
> probably had had something resembling a hot dog!
>
> Now I wonder if they'd had any other foods that we consider 'modern'--maybe
> Lucius indulged in a 'white' (i.e., tomato-less) pizza?
>
>

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Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 16:26:03 EST
From:    Libratsie@a.......
Subject: Re: Ok, Libby, what did you feed the list hamsters

In a message dated Wed, 21 Mar 2001  3:51:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, Lisa
McDavid <cecily1349@y.......> writes:

<< I just got back the following as a rejected posting
because the listserv insisted it had been posted
before to Forkni-l.>>

Well, h'it sorta 'az, ya know. heheh. Cuz I just did the reply thingee ta
h'it.

<< All right, Libby, when did the
list hamsters join the Ratpack and what exactly have
they been indulging in? :)>>

Jest the uzual wot makes 'em bubble then squeak. heheheh.  An' tha' weren't
the list 'amsters. They're h'on a vacate-shun sort o' 'ollydaze so we're
fillin' h'in agin.

<<--- Libratsie@a....... wrote: (allegedly quoting me)>>

Droogs, h'it may not be an EXACT quote, but it sure is close. I remember
mentioning h'it ta me then-hubby who jest rolled his eyes.

<<> "I'm Lisa McDavid! You are just so... so... CUTE!"

Libby, hon, just what how aged was that cheese? :)>>

It may nah have been "cute," but maybe "adorable"? "Precious?" "Priceless?"

It wuz SOMETHING uttering-ly bizarre to use in a phrase concernin' a
Ratpacker.

--Libs

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Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 16:26:38 EST
From:    Libratsie@a.......
Subject: Re: Rats (wuz FK recognition)

In a message dated Wed, 21 Mar 2001  3:40:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, Lisa
McDavid <cecily1349@y.......> writes:

<<Libby, hon, just what how aged was that cheese? :)>>
Wot? Wot cheese, eh?

*burb*

<<McLisa, who well remembers the bidding war over the
Ratsie What Kilt Screed>>

Who could forget it when an FK actor, Natsuko (Cohen), is screaming
hysterically on stage, "You people are SICK" so I just start shouting out
prices. I'm told that it quickly became apparently I was serious and NO ONE
was gonna get that sweet, wee ratsie but moi. heheheh. I don't recall Natsuko
ever actually calling out prices, just screaming hysterically.

WHo ever dreamed a dead rat could be such funsies and make me so many
friends.
Makescha wonder about some of my friends here, eh?

--Libs

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Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 14:29:10 -0700
From:    StormBorn <smolly4@q.......>
Subject: Rasputin (was   Re: Does it bother anyone else?)

Jennifer wrote:
>>Was there one with a flashback involving Tsar Nicholas II and a vampiric
Rasputin?<<

"Strings".  Yeah, and there's not enough cheese in the world to save the
historical inaccuracies in this one--though perhaps there would have been if
they'd had time to flesh out the flashback a little more.

Rasputin was invited to a party where he was first poisoned, then stabbed,
then shot, and finally--still alive--dumped into the Neva River.

Oh, well, even a rabid FK fan like myself has to admit that it's not
perfect.

Molly/StormBorn
Cousin, Ravenette, Dark Trinity, Seducer, Forum Fanatic, FK Pagan
NA Forever!
Abnormally fond of dead guys
smolly4@q.......

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 14:39:25 -0700
From:    StormBorn <smolly4@q.......>
Subject: Re: CB question (was:   FK recognition)

McLisa wrote:
>>It's since occurred to me that I should have gone out to reference and
looked in one of our English-Chinese dictionaries to see if "vampire" was
included.<<

I have that 'after-the-fact' brain fade a lot...

>>Btw, to all but a couple of others whom I brought across, FK was known to
the rest of the library staff as "that weird vampire show of yours." :)<<

A friend of mine who tends to be a know-it-all once tried to insist to me
that a flashback from one ep actually took place in another.  After a little
polite discussion, I finally had to say, "Look, I *know* this show.  I know
it far, far better than you ever could--so shut up, already!" <g>

Molly/StormBorn
Cousin, Ravenette, Dark Trinity, Seducer, Forum Fanatic, FK Pagan
NA Forever!
Abnormally fond of dead guys
smolly4@q.......

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 15:44:09 -0600
From:    "Christella M. Stillman" <cstillma@u.......>
Subject: Re: Nick and food--again

At 09:04 PM 3/21/2001 -0000, Linda Hepden wrote:
>The Romans also had icecream, or more accurately sorbet, but it was a very
>expensive commodity - and it was a savoury dish, as they flavoured it with
>that pickled salted fish sauce (the name of which I forget, but it pervaded
>Roman cooking), which made a lot of Roman dishes 'sweet and sour'.

I can't remember the name of the sauce right now, either.  I'll have to dig
out the cookbook I found in my brother-in-law's possessions after he passed
away.  It was a reproduction of some famous ancient Roman chef's recipes.
Some of the stuff sounded not-so-great, but then I haven't had access to
peacock and sparrow tongues, so who knows.... <G>

Christy
cstillma@u.......

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Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2001 16:00:28 -0600
From:    Nancy Kaminski <nancykam@m.......>
Subject: Re: Nick and food--again

> I can't remember the name of the sauce right now, either.  I'll have to dig
> out the cookbook I found in my brother-in-law's possessions after he passed
> away.  It was a reproduction of some famous ancient Roman chef's recipes.
> Some of the stuff sounded not-so-great, but then I haven't had access to
> peacock and sparrow tongues, so who knows.... <G>

It's garum, and I thought I read somewhere that they don't really know the
recipe, except that extremely aged fish is in it.

Nancy Kaminski
nancykam@m.......

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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 21 Mar 2001 (#2001-91)
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