I was too. No one understood my pain! It was unique to me and made me special.


My friend and I created a collective noun for large groups of misunderstood teenagers: a confusion. As in "a confusion of misunderstood youth had collected in the parking lot of the 7-11 to hang out." Or "a mass confusion of misunderstoods made their way to the the marilyn manson concert."




Is it not the biggest disappoint of 80s anglopheliac that this is not so?

Perhaps the Smiths were your favorite band? Or Siouxsie?




and yet, we still got Brits as husbands!

Confusion -- LOVE it.

Yes, it was a massive disappointment. Also disappointing was the realisation that being poor and bohemian isn't nearly as nice when you get past about 25.

Ha ha! So true. My 18 year old self would be very disappointed at the way my 30something self has sold out to The Man.

I wish I had experimented more with my hair. When I was about 8 I had a total tantrum when I was getting my hair cut (it was also my aunt, a hairdresser, cutting it) I totally embarrassed my mother. I wanted my hair cut up to a bob with a fringe, at the time my hair was halfway down my back. My mum tried to convince me to go half way up, and if I still wanted to, go full bob after a week or so. I kicked and screamed, god what a temper I had, and finally got my way. I actually didn't like it in the end, but pretended I did. No pictures of it though, sorry.

ohhh, Ginger, I missed the post about the cresent rolls, they look yum. I just love the cookie dough, biscuit dough etc that you can get here. They might have been available in england, but I never noticed them.

does anyone else get that, where posts appear further back the thread, and you didn't see them at first? I'm not explaining it very well

I get that all the time, pointy.

And I LOVE crescent rolls. Staple of my childhood dinner plate.

That picture looks like it could have been an album cover.

I never had terribly interesting style...for most of the 90's where I'm from you had only one style: checked button down shirts and Pepe Jeans. Maybe Z Cavarici's. And brown clogs.

I'm a fan of pretty much any baked product. I can't really think of a baked product that I've met that I haven't liked. Baked goods are my achille's heel.

mmmmhmmm I love farmers markets. The one near me is way cheaper than the supermarket, and I just made a bowl of guacamole from mostly farmers market ingredients, yumm

What do you all put in your guac?

it was avocado, tomato, onion, lemon juice, tiny bit of rice vinegar, as much cilantro (yes, I said cilantro) as I have, and I put in some chili flakes and some smoked paprika too. it was good, I ate it too fast, it always tastes nicer when it's been left sitting for a while

Matricide, fratricide, parricide, suicide -- what is it called when you kill your husband???

No I put cilantro in mine too...I think a little bit truly makes it taste out of this world.

I use basically the same ingredients, but I like to add some tomatillos, poblano peppers, fresh garlic, and green/red peppers as well. I LOVE me guac!

You live in LA now, you gotta make it the Mexican way-

avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, cilantro*








*gag, not in a million years, hate it, tastes like soap.

you should try the smoked paprika, it's amazing. I was joking about the cilantro because we call it coriander


Sounds like a nice simple recipie dev - but you don't like cilantro?? It makes it taste so nice and fresh!

when I first moved to the UK I was distressed because I couldn't find cilantro - where could it be and will this thing called coriander do?


Wot's Bruce done, maven?

I think killing a spouse is mariticide

I detest it. Hubby likes it though. Loads up on it if we go to Baja Fresh or something.

Smoked paprika in Spanish omelettes, along with Spanish chorizo - one of my fave meals ever. Hubby makes the BEST omelette. It takes like 30 minutes - crazy.


R - Have you been to that cute gourmet store on Abbot K & Washington? they have lots of int'l stuff. We got a Chimay cheese last time ($$ & not great but interesting), Maunka honey from NZ ($16) & a UK treacle tart (which I'd never had but he loves). Not great.




Did he buy another car??

ARe you kidding! It's practically part of the weekly shop. And they always have free samples! Once, H and I ate so many free samples, we couldn't leave without buying something as it would have been embarassing, so we spent $50 on cheese. Have you ever been to the french place across the street from it? They don't have as big of a selection (and it's only french) but they have nice things. The cafe there is good - the quiche lorraine is the business.

Hmm, no. I gotta check it out. We found that shop on a bike ride over there.

Have you been to Surfas? They have some good stuff too.




bump, cuz no one answered....

Grrrr...he's just the crankiest McCrankerson out there. Bleh.

Maven - I totally didn't pick up on that, care to share?

Dev (sorry, illumine just doesn't sound like a person) - I used to in London, and I went most days when I got here first, but I was just buying too much stuff (cos i didn't have to carry it all home) so I had to stop. Now I'm down to every 2 or 3 days.

We kind of do it - but then we also know how lazy we can be after work and that if we don't have supplies, we'll just get take away which isn't the best option so we try and stock up for a week.

Smoked paprika...I'll give it a try! Do curry places in the UK use coriander/cilantro in their cooking? My favorite Indian restaurant back in NE always put it in their mullagatawny and saffron rice.



Chimay cheese...I'm assuming the cheese has the Chimay beer as an ingredient?

I just bought a real nice cheese the other night...it's by Kerrygold called Dubliner which I guess is harder cheese like cheddar but it has a sweeter flavor like an aged camembret. I'm also in love with this cheese I found at Dominick's called Kirsch...it is a brie that has a slight cherry flavor to it. I think it's Alsatian but I'm not quite sure.

I also can't stand cilantro. The taste of it is horrific, makes me gag and the smell? Oh my.

EAD approved & AOS case transferred to California today. Off to Gaelic imports this weekend for Irn Bru & other bits & pieces I've not been able to enjoy since leaving the UK.

Have a great weekend y'all!

People seem to either love it or hate it. When I'd go to eat Indian food w/ my best friend back home she'd always give me her cilantro....she HATED it and I LOVED it.

Is cilantro like cucumbers, the way to some people the just taste watery, but to people with a certain gene they have a really strong taste?

Congrats on the EAD!! I miss Irn Bru too

Sorry to come over all cryptic-like yesterday. B and I are both feeling a bit unwell and snipping at each other over stupid, insignificant and imagined slights. I honestly can't even remember why I felt like locking him in the workshop yesterday now. It was so weird -- I felt hungover all day but I haven't had a drink in a week. B says he's felt hungover for about a week, and he hasn't had a drink in about a year! Does anyone know what might cause hangover symptoms when you haven't had a drink?

dehydration or lack of a decent night's sleep can cause hangover symptoms I believe.

Agreed because dehydration is in effect what a hangover is.

That's what I thought it might be, so I drank a lot of water yesterday and had a lie-in today. My first 8 hours in ages. I feel moderately better but still some residual blah. It's plain poop having a hangover when you didn't even do anything fun to cause it!

Yup, I would have said the same thing. I suppose it's just easy to get dehydrated in the heat and a/c doesn't help either. I sometimes feel like that when I have a slight cold coming on, drowsy and fuzzy in the head.

Try drinking some gatorade too. You might be running low on electrolytes. If I'm low on electrolytes I typically get a migraine. I'll drink a gatorade and I'll almost immediately start feeling better.

We got out to Gaelic Imports today...wow the best Irish grocery I've ever been too. We stocked up on Scotch Pies, Donegal brand fish sticks, fresh baked sausage rolls (they have a baked goods area), Irn Bru, Salt n' Vinegar Taytos, black and white pudding, wheaten bread, bangers, HP Sauce, Chef Malt Vinegar and Irish bacon. Nicky literally was drooling as he ate his sausage roll with brown sauce and washing it down with Irn Bru.

Best part was...they had TONS of free samples. They had several different types of samples of Kerrygold cheese and butter, soda bread, mini pasties, bangers and shepards pie. I mean they were literally shoving shepards pie in our face. And plenty of Jacob's chocolate biscuits too. If they do this every Saturday it will be well worth the 1.5 hour ride by bus out there again!

yummmmmm yuuummmmm. I can get kerrygold cheese and butter here, and dubliner cheese (which is actually sold in ireland unlike some of the other 'irish' cheeses. But bacon, soda bread and TAYTO's!!!!! MMMMMmmmm. I'm jealous.

If you can't find anyplace in LA we can always ship some of the dry good stuff. Unfortunately they don't have an online store, but you can get a look at some of the stuff on this link

I think I'm going to make a go at making some of the mini pasties like they had there. It looked like they used crescent roll dough or pastry dough, and I can pick up some of the sausage filling at the store tomorrow.

Kerrygold is fairly common around here too...the Irish Dairy Board's US HQ is actually just up the road from me!

Dirty, dirty girls, with all this food porn. This is a family website!!!1!!11!

I don't think so - how did you come to meet?!


I think I got reasonably lucky with my hair - I never dyed it, short of there being a phase of dying the fringe (bangs) red but I tried it and it faded pale pink in a couple of days. No pics Other than that, I had a mid-child crisis when my dad left and cut my waist-length hair into this "pageboy" kind of hairdo - it was a chin-length bob that was layered in so I just looked a bit like a lollipop-head. I hated it and grew it back asap - it has never got back to how it was despite me trying. Since then I haven't really done anything with it - I got it layered at the front then layered all over and a little shorter to bring out the curls now I am growing it back to the layered-at-the-front thing again I like it straightened but as I have never used a hairdryer (really!) I have no hand-hair-mirror co-ordination so straighteners will be interesting





Hrmmm... Living at home until I was 26 means that I have had to have the young, poor and bohemian thing later in life... Hopefully it won't last long... I like spending too much!!!


Totally - someone will quote something and it will be the first time I see it - then I have to backtrack to find out what the context was!!


The Kerrygold one is Irish - they sell it at our local grocery store which is kinda cool Used to get it back in the UK as well - they do butter and things too


Great news! Sounds like you'll be one of the quick ones like julez!! Yippee!!

I still can't even see my cases online so goodness knows what is going on there - I am expecting RFEs so maybe they will show online then

Ginger, you are a disgusting food harlot. Stop the brekkie smut. Stop it now.

Oooh, off to watch more 1970s Doctor Who now.

someone say porn?

Girl, you haven't seen nothing yet! I present...dessert snuff:



They must have filmed this in Thailand...

TOS violation! Take your filth elsewhere!

(seriously, do you have that burned onto DVD? Cause that's hot.)

The DVD came from the back of a van in a dark alley in an undisclosed location. Apparently it is one of Gary Glitter's favorites.

You know maven, I ben thinkin, you wouldn't have recently given up taking your starbucks trip? What you've had sounds like what it feels like if I stop drinking coffee too abruptly.

anyone else watching the emmy's or am I the only saddo?

I didn't see Robin on the red carpet tho!

I Ricky Gervais.

I don't think you will see me on theTV- though I have just watched some coverage on the Tivo and I think I see me. But I practically cried when Brian Cranston won Best Actor - so unexpected and so well deserved!