Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Differences

I love the internet.  Mostly because you can get information about anything with the click of a button, but also because it allows people from all over the world to share their lives with each other.  It allows us to share ideas and discover new ways of doing things.

For example, I used to play online games with friends who live in America (I live in Australia).  During this time, one of my friends, Chris, would often say he was going to make some PnJ on toast.  I had no idea what he was talking about and when I asked him what PnJ was, he was amazed that I didn't know and was quite happy to share something that appears to be a part of American culture.  Of course most of you probably know that PnJ is Peanut Butter and Jelly.


In Australia, Jelly is a crystalised powder that, when mixed with hot water and then chilled, turns into a gelatin dessert (something like this).  Something which I believe is referred to as Jello in the US?  You can imagine my thoughts at the time as I pictured a peanut butter and jello sandwich...  until I worked out that jelly in the US is what we call jam in Australia.  I have since tried PnJ many times and agree that it is rather tasty!


Another difference that came up was with pumpkin.  I would often tell the guys that I was cooking a roast dinner with roast potato and pumpkin.  Pumpkin as a main course??  Pumpkin is a dessert they would tell me.  A dessert??  No way, you guys are weird!  Afterwards, Chris told me all about pumpkin pie and said I had to try it.  In Australia, we traditionally boil, steam or roast pumpkin and eat it as a vegetable with our main course, so the concept of pumpkin as a dessert is a little strange and unfortunately I have yet to try one.  So if anyone has a good recipe they would like to share, let me know :)


So thank you internet, and thanks to all the blog writers out there for sharing just a little bit of their lives.

8 comments:

  1. Hi There. I came across your blog whilst reading another blog. How do you do?

    I used to live in the States where we had pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins and even souffles. They are delicious. You've got to try them if you can.

    I live in the UK now and I also enjoy having pumpkin in savory dishes.

    Have a good day.

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  2. Too funny! I suppose there are a ton of differences. Nothing like a good PB&J. Hope you liked it. There are a ton of great jelly recipes, I love jalapeno pepper jelly, wonderful!

    Dude, you gotta try pumpkin pie. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cheesecake, even pumpkin with chocolate brownies. They all rock. It is overlooked here as an vegetable though. I see sweet potatoes cooked as a main dish often and I love them but pumpkin isn't. They are slightly similar. The sweet potato pie is often compared to the pumpkin pie.

    Love your blog and I can't wait to look at some more, thanks!

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  3. Pumpkin is my favorite ingredient to use in various recipes, but I've never actually thought to eat it plain as a side veggie. I'll definitely be doing that this pumpkin season.
    Pumpkin pie really is delicious.
    My favorite dessert for pumpkin is pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Pumpkin turns out the most moist and best flavored cookies you'll ever have!

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  4. Great post! I travel a lot and run into the same problem. It can be fun or frustrating, depending on the situation.

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  5. Dave-Nice to "meet" you! I think food even varies a lot from region to region within a country. Actually, I think pumpkin makes a lot of sense as a side dish!

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  6. ...and thank you for sharing bits of yours with us. I love your blog, Dave. For the record I use pumpkin in sweet and savory dishes. As a matter of fact I have some savory pumpkin dishes coming up really soon. If you go to a site called America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Illustrate) you can search for their pumpkin pie. it's the best I've ever had. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  7. We often have roast pumpkin with dinner, it's usually a sweet veggie after 30 minutes roasting. We should try pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cheesecake? wow, haven't heard of that one!

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  8. I love baking with pumpkin. I make pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin cookies. And very rarely I make pumpkin fudge. Making sweets with something as healthy as pumpkin removes a bit of the guilt factor when indulging. :D I enjoy serving roast sweet potatoes with dinner, so I image I would enjoy eating pumpkin as a side dish with dinner.

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