Poll

I don't think CariH and I can do the 29th, so you will in charge of fabulous Brit food, Carrie.

I just made some fabulous scones. Straight from the oven with butter and raspberry jam, and a cup of tea. Nom nom nom.

Aww that sucks!
Well I wasn't a very good Brit rep the last time! Lol but I will try harder this time :-)

*shudder*

Cari wrote: "Ferox obviously doesn't remember but we have read one of McDermid's novels, A Place of Execution, but none of her earlier gayer novels with Kate Brannigan."

Lindsay Gordon was the lesbian series. I read the first of those, can't really remember it (but then, Val McD said she only wrote the first two to get to the third story which was the one she REALLY wanted to write only didn't know how!) Trick of the Dark is the very very gay one, apparently.

I want a scone! :-)

Is a biscuit in America a scone to us Brits?

nancyjean wrote:

I switched my vote to Trick of the Dark. It's a revenge vote against the twats."

The twats are amazing. To not notice that a famous literary lesbian is in fact lesbian (and then be offended because her characters are lesbians) is all kinds of idiotically awesome :-)

Yeah, I think the eating of black pudding may cancel out the BBQ torture to some degree.

Trick of the Dark is pretty gay. I don't really remember that being a secret that readers wouldn't know from the beginning though. But, I guess if readers were expecting her Wire in the Blood character, they may have gotten a surprise.

Biscuits are sort of our scones. I'm not sure whether they're more of a savory thing. We pinched a delicious one from NJ in Palm Springs which was freshly baked and all garlicky.

Sunny - I wasn't talking about Trick of the Dark being the "oops, she's a lesbian - SURPRISE!" book. That's a different one that I'm reading at the mo. I wonder how many of Val's "fans" don't know she's gay and wouldn't read her stuff if they did. I wouldn't have ever thought it'd be an issue for people but that was before I read those reviews.

Well I know Americans have them with gravy lol so I believe you ate right, thanks

I'm a fan of biscuits with honey or jam. But they're soooo good with country gravy.

I really want to try some but I can't figure out the American to British recipe as we don't measure in cups lol

I really want to try some but I can't figure out the American to British recipe as we don't measure in cups lol

Get a cup then, yer pillock! ;-)

You can actually buy those multi-measuring cup thingies, y'know, like those multi-measuring spoon thingies only in cup format?

I think Yanker biscuits are softer than scones, and smaller. And don't come with fruit in them.

Haha! ;-P

I will get those thingies as I know what your on about :-D ill have a go and see if it works, I'm a baker so how hard can it be? Lol

I forgot you were a baker! You should just be able to chuck in a handful of flour and marg and make everything come out splendid.

Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence! lol I cheat at work because I have machines that do the hard work :-)

But I'm willing to try making them.

Cheri wrote: "Ha! It takes me a quarter of the book to remember how to turn pages. :-)"

What gets me when reading a "real" book is the frequency with which I look at the top of the page to see the time! Damn things don't have a built in clock!
Blu

Carrie wrote: "Well I know Americans have them with gravy lol so I believe you ate right, thanks"

Yeah but the "gravy" isn't gravy, it's sort of white sauce type goo. They do this stuff just to confuse us, y'know.

Oh really! I assumed it was our gravy :-D lol
Haha Yes they are confusing people ;-)

http://www.macheesmo.com/wp-content/u...

Ok that does not look appetising at all! Lol that looks more like our cheeses sauce than gravy :-)

It's called "country gravy" and is a white gravy with sausage in it. That's not the best pic but I was in a hurry...

Mumm sausage, sounds nice :-) ill see if I can make it at some point, of all the books I've read a few have mentioned biscuits an gravy and it always been on my I'd like to try list :-)
Thanks for the info.

Hope you enjoy them. Mmmm.

Well ill be trying to make them this weekend, an ill let you know how it turns out ;-)

White gravy it tasty! You use flour and milk with whatever sort of grease - usually sausage - and it's the best stuff for over biscuits. Brown gravy is usually from beef and best over potatoes. This was one of the few things I liked about my first ex-husband's family - his father made really excellent baking-powder biscuits and gravy for me every time we visited, which is one of my very favorite things in the world. Next to baking-powder biscuits with honey. Mmmmm.

Brown gravy is all we have over here, well, it's certainly the only thing we'd call gravy (or put over our chips!) Your "gravy" is more of a roux sauce with added bits in it!

It all depends upon where you are in the states. Down here in the south to call white gravy "not gravy" is fightin' words... LOL Back home in Montana my mom made it both ways, depending on what she was cooking. Chicken or sausage = white gravy; beef = brown. I like 'em both; the white gravy is "chunkier" and richer, but I love the flavor of a good brown gravy. The only thing I like on chips is salt, or maybe some horse radish...

It's so interesting how different cultures view food and eating. I know there is a huge regional difference here in the states, depending upon where you live. Up north iced tea is served as it is, and if you want it sweetened, you have to add your own sugar. Down here in the South if you want tea that isn't sweet, you have to specify it, because tea down here is sweet tea. It's awesome, too. Man, I could never go back to drinking it without it being made properly Southern Sweet tea...

That's another thing I wud like to try sweet tea ;-) sounds delicious, the white gravy looks like our british cheese or bread sauce lol I'm going to give it a go though I still would not call it gravy :-)

Carrie wrote: "Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence! lol I cheat at work because I have machines that do the hard work :-)

But I'm willing to try making them."

You can't make biscuits with a machine. By hand is a southern tradition and buttermilk is a must.

Carrie wrote: "Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence! lol I cheat at work because I have machines that do the hard work :-)

But I'm willing to try making them."

You can't make biscuits with a machine. By hand is a southern tradition and buttermilk is a must.

Right, Michelle. My mom's trademark on her buttermilk biscuits is her finger marks on the top where she presses them down in the pan.

I was born and raised in the deep south and I find that most white gravy around here is bought in a store or restaurant. The gravy I grew up with was always brown and usually came from country fried steak that was smothered with it. Then it was poured over mashed potatoes or a piping hot biscuit. Mmmmm. Good eats!

And over here, pretty much no one drinks ice tea and if you ask for tea, you're getting a hot mug of builder's tea with milk and/or sugar!

British chips and gravy would never come with odd white gunk on it. I think the world might well end if that ever happened ;-)

The gravy is creamy with fresh ground pepper it.

I have a buttermilk recipe I found that I'm goin to try :-) and I won't be using a machine ;-) and I'm going to making the *gravy* that doesn't look like a gravy lol

If you lived in South Philly Gravy is Red and others refer to it as Sauce.

See this is why I can get away with dodgy Americanisms. You lot have so many different words for the same thing, I can always claim that someone somewhere uses the term I went with ;-)

But then, best not to get us Brits started on the topic of barmcakes...

Ok I have ta admit what the hell is a barmcake?

I was just waiting for that!

Bread roll, batch, bap, tea cake, flour cake, cob, stotty, bun...totally depends on your region.

Haha! What from me!? Lol thanks that's good to know

Speaking of American foods I want to try a grilled cheese sandwich :-)

Grilled cheese is easy - just slap some cheese between bread and butter the outside parts of the bread and fry it on a grill or skillet until each side is brown. Best with "American" cheese from Kraft or Velveeta cheese, IMO.

:-D thanks I will try that

Stopped by to see what book was on top of the poll, and now I am hungry.

I'm a grilled cheese snob and like to use sharp cheddar cheese with either buttermilk bread or sourdough bread from the local bakery/cafe.

Also, my mom made the BEST country gravy when she made chicken-fried steak. Grease + flour + milk + pepper, scoop it up with slices of bread. Yummy.

And... we have a tie vote!

Vongola Barbuta!

nancyjean wrote: "Stopped by to see what book was on top of the poll, and now I am hungry.

I'm a grilled cheese snob and like to use sharp cheddar cheese with either buttermilk bread or sourdough bread from the loc..."

Haha! I know! We kinda got off topic! LOL :-D

That sounds so good! I'm going to try that now!

And what do we do in the event of a tie? :-)

Read them both.

:-) yay! I wanted to read these