So: the Ferrari Purosangue (“thoroughbred”) FUV [sic].
First, you have Chris Harris’s take — the usual obeisance to the Wonder Of Scuderia Ferrari; and then there’s Richard Hammond’s rather sour puncturing of the said Wonder. (His analysis of the badge alone is worth the price of admission.)
I wouldn’t get one, even with a large lottery win, but then I’m more of the Hammond mindset than in the Harris one. Even if it is quite beautiful…
…for an SUV.
…and now it’s the dick’s turn:
Oy. My comment on this “survey” is identical to last week’s one about ladyparts.
Without bothering to read the article in question, I would hazard a guess that the size / shape / whatever of a penis has a lot less to do with the attributes thereof than does the size of the bank balance that comes with it. [sic]
But perhaps I’m being too cynical.
From Longtime Friend & Reader Weetabix:
This morning on the radio, the host called an idea “far-fletched” before describing the problems with the idea. The guest then said, “You hit it right on the nail.”
1) Is a “far-fletched” idea one that has better fletching so it can fly farther?
2) Did the guest believe the host was trying to hammer his thumb on purpose?
Good questions, both. In mitigation: radio is a live medium so people can misspeak while expressing an opinion — but that’s all the more reason to gather one’s thoughts before expressing them.
One final thought on the elections:
Update: it appears that half of this post has disappeared into the Intarwebz Black Hole. Damn.
I’ll make up for it next week.
As much a stage actress — perhaps more so — as a movie star, Maude Fealey was one of those women who distinguished themselves not so much for their acting but for what they did for the business after their careers were over.
Not that she wasn’t lovely, though:
I just wish we could have seen her smile… but I can’t find any such pics of her, except perhaps this one:
…which just hints at it.
As someone who’s traveled quite a bit, this article struck a chord with me:
A recent Reddit discussion has highlighted how trips abroad are capable of permanently changing a traveller’s diet, with commenters revealing foreign dishes they had on their travels that they now can’t stop eating.
The list includes acai from Brazil*, Morocco’s cinnamon-dusted oranges, onigiri (Japanese rice balls), pasteis de nata (milk custard tart) from Portugal, ajvar (a red pepper paste) from the Balkans and even spaghetti carbonara from Italy — which is quite different from the stuff you’ll get at Olive Garden, trust me. (There’s other less-salutary stuff like haggis and buffalo wings on their list, but whatever.)
*can someone tell me the difference between acai and blueberries?
One of the foods on the Reddit list struck home for me: French baguette and butter — which, having sampled it in Paris, made me refuse to eat American shelf bread ever again. Seriously. Who would have thought that simple bread and butter would be an exquisite meal all by itself? (Well, anyone who’s ever tasted the real stuff.) It’s one of the few dishes which I prefer eating with unsalted butter, because the bread becomes unutterably sweeter.
That Portuguese tart (not Sarah Hoyt) is very familiar to me as the Afrikaans melk tert (they’re almost identical, and the Seffricans have even made a cream liqueur based on its taste). The only difference is that the Porros use puff pastry instead of pie crust pastry. Hmmmm… now that’s a thought.
I”m going to try the Moroccan oranges this weekend after I’ve done the Friday shopping (no oranges in the house), but with three different sugars as an experiment to see which tastes best. (Light brown, Demarara or 10x mixed with the cinnamon, in case you’re wondering.)
I’ll also try making ajvar, which sounds like hummus mixed with ground spicy red peppers, but I’ll use South African Peppadew spicy peppers because they are spectacular.
There are a couple that I’ve encountered on my travels which I wish were staples Over Here.
One of my all-time favorite imported meals happens to be poutines, from Canuckistan, but only one place around here makes them properly (the Holy Grail pub in Plano). I must have eaten poutines at least twice a day when driving back from Montreal to Detroit, along with Tim Horton’s coffee to wash them down.
Another is Viennese Sachertorte which, having had some in meine schones Wien, would kill me if I could find it here because aaaaargh it’s luvverly.
Over Here, we’d call it “death by chocolate”, because it really is.
There are a few others, but I think they would be best enjoyed in their home countries (e.g. pisco sours in Chile and Welsh rarebit in Britishland). Of Wadworth 6X and Greggs sausage rolls we will not speak.
And so, Gentle Readers: tell me about your favorite furrin dishes, in Comments.