(1) Syfy offers a free viewing of the first episode of The Expanse — Episode 1: Dulcinea. (Also available on the Syfy Now App, Hulu, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, iTunes, Playstation, Xbox, and Facebook.)
(2) Variety says additional episodes have been ordered for Rachel Bloom’s series and CW’s iZombie.
Freshman comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” has landed five more episodes, bringing its first season total to 18, while “iZombie” has received an additional six-episode order, giving the second season a total of 19.
Audience for the Bloom series is growing slowly.
While the positively-reviewed “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” hasn’t gained much ratings traction, it has posted its best numbers to date in recent weeks. Paired with sophomore critical breakout “Jane the Virgin,” the six episodes averaged a 0.34 rating in 18-49 and about 1 million total viewers in Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates.
(3) Misty Massey tells about a live slushpile reading in “Getting What You Ask For” at Magical Words.
Many, many times I hear writers complain how much they hate getting form rejections from editors, because such things do nothing to help them understand why the editor didn’t want to buy their story. Editors don’t understand, they cry, that writers can’t fix stories if they aren’t told what went wrong in the first place. Some writers say editors are lazy, others think they’re cruel. For whatever reason, it’s always the editor’s fault.
A couple of years ago, David Coe approached Faith Hunter and me to present a panel called Live Action Slush. (For those who don’t know, the writers submit the first pages of their novels anonymously. A designated reader reads each page aloud, and the three of us listen as if we were slush editors, raising our hands when we reach a place that would cause us to stop reading and move on to the next submission. Once all three hands are up, the reading stops and we discuss what made us stop reading.) David had done such a panel at another con, to great acclaim, and wanted to bring it to ConCarolinas. We had two sessions, both standing room only. As far as we could tell, anyway. We were asked to present it at Congregate later that same summer, and since then we’ve offered it in various incarnations at any cons we attended.
Most of the time, the writers seemed happy to hear our suggestions, although once in a while we would run into a writer who just couldn’t handle the idea that their story wasn’t already perfect. You see, the point of Live Action Slush is to give the writers exactly what they’ve been complaining they never receive – a specific, clear reason for the turndown. Sometimes the problem is that nothing is happening by the time we reach the end of the first page. Sometimes the writer spends the entire first page describing the characters without giving the reader the slightest idea what the book’s about. Characters might be hideous stereotypes, or flat and wooden. There are tons of reasons, most of which are easily repaired once the writer knows what has happened. But there are some writers who really aren’t ready to hear what needs fixing. They’ve come to the workshop fully expecting that the panelists will declare their first page to be utter brilliance. Those are the writers who storm out of the room, instead of staying to listen to the critique of other writers under the same scrutiny. They go into the hallway and tell their friends how mean we were, how we don’t really know anything. Most important, they don’t make any changes.
(4) In an Absolute Write forum, Alessandra Kelley gives the context for a wisecrack James Frenkel made on a Windycon panel and asks “Is what I witnessed abusive behavior?”
There are a number of important questions that urgently need discussing if we are to have any sort of careful, agreeable, professional and accepting environment for our conventions.
Many people make thoughtless remarks or cruel witticisms or little jokes. Should people be more mindful of them?
Is it right to treat a category of people as inherently funny or insulting?
How much tolerance should there be for little jokes? At what point does laughing them away become aiding and abetting the marginalization of a segment of the community?
Should a person with a known history of abusive behavior be held to a higher standard than others? What about a person in a position of authority?
Should we not speak up when we see such behavior?
(5) Lucy Huntzinger reports that the Down Under Fan Fund will be receiving a $2,000 donation from Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon. The DUFF co-administrator said, “Thank you for supporting face to face encounters between international fandoms!”
(6) Today In History
- November 23, 1963 – Doctor Who begins on the BBC.
The first of a four-part pilot episode of the series aired on the BBC on this day in 1963. Titled “An Unearthly Child”, the story introduced the Doctor, the Tardis, and many other things that would become hallmarks of the program.
(7) Today’s Birthday Boys
- Born November 23, 1887 — Boris Karloff, birthname William Henry Pratt, in Camberwell, London, England.
- Born November 23, 1914 – Wilson “Bob” Tucker
(8) Early suggestions coming in for the 2016 Worldcon program…
WorldCon Panel Proposal: THE WRITING LIFE – 5 esteemed panelists sit, paralytically drunk, mumbling incoherently about the end of publishing
— Myke Cole (@MykeCole) November 23, 2015
@MykeCole I do that panel at every con, and also at my house
— a taction for the take-tack on the terror shank (@robertjbennett) November 23, 2015
(9) The Kickstarter for The Dark North – Volume 1, a premium coffee table art book with new stories from Scandinavia’s best illustrators and concept artists, is just fully financed, but it’s still possible to contribute.
Artist: Lukas Thelin
(10) “Being a Better Writer: Names” by Max Florschutz at Unusual Things has four good ideas for dealing with a fundamental sf writing challenge.
So, naming things. This is, as you might guess, a requested topic. And to be honest, I think it’s one worth talking about.
See, naming things can actually be pretty tricky. When creating a world from scratch, or even just a redesigned/repurposed version of our own world, often one of the first things a lot of young writers do is assign their characters, places, and things very interesting names. It’s kind of a trope by this point, but if I had to guess my prediction would be that to the new writer, the goal is to excitedly show you how fantastical their world is. So they don’t have people with names like Joe or Samantha. They have people with names like Krul’Qa’pin or something like that. And they live in the city of Byulnqualalaltipo! Aren’t those fantastic?
Well, in sense, sure. They’re also completely unpronounceable, for a start. And that is just the start.
See, there are a host of problems with names like this. The first being that they’re difficult for the reader to read, pronounce, and parse. They’re these very out there, fantastical names that are hard to make sense of, and the more of them a writer puts into his story, the harder it will be not only for the reader to keep interest, but to keep everything straight. Especially if the writer has gone and made a number of the names similar through conventions such as “I’ll stick apostrophe’s here and here and that’ll make a name.” And while it certainly might create names that look impressive, the truth is that a lot of “name creation techniques” that novice writers go for tend to create a whole host of problems like what we just discussed.
Okay, so this is writing that, if not bad, is certainly not good, clearly. But in order to avoid this trap, it’s worth understanding why it’s a trap in the first place. Why are writers doing this? What makes creating a multi-syllable name that defies typical English attractive?
(11) A dress worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, (which did not win the brackets, darn it) sold at auction for $1.56 million today.
The blue and white gingham dress, one of 10 thought to have been made for Garland in her role as Dorothy in the movie, was among the top items in the Bonham’s and Turner Classic Movies Hollywood memorabilia auction….
A year ago, the Cowardly Lion costume worn by actor Bert Lahr in the movie sold for almost $3.1 million at a Bonham’s auction.
(12) National Geographic reveals “An 80-Year-Old Prank Revealed, Hiding in the Periodic Table!”
You wouldn’t know it, because it’s hiding down there at the bottom of the periodic table of elements, but it’s a prank—something a five-year-old might do—and the guy who did it was one of the greatest chemists in America. It’s pure silliness, staring right at you, right where I’ve drawn my circle, at element 94.
(13) At Motherboard, “For the First Time Ever, Astronomers Have Observed the Birth of a Planet”:
The new research, published this week in Nature, provides hard evidence of a developing gas giant orbiting a young Sunlike star called LkCa 15, located 450 light years away in the constellation Taurus. What’s more, it appears as if at least two other giant bébés are also forming around the star, though only one was directly detected.
“No one has successfully and unambiguously detected a forming planet before,” said astronomer Kate Follette, a co-author on the study, in a statement. “There have always been alternate explanations, but in this case we’ve taken a direct picture, and it’s hard to dispute that.”
(14) Click at your own risk! From ScienceFiction.com – “Thanks To A Leaked Children’s Book We Have Some HUGE ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Spoilers!”
(15) “Steven Moffat Reveals the Nightmare Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special We Could Have Had” on io9.
But while those meetings went on, more and more actors publicly denied that they would be a part of the special, prompting growing discontent from Doctor Who fans—who didn’t realize that behind-the-scenes problems with the script, and a ticking clock, meant that Moffat very nearly had to scrape together a story with whatever actors he could find. Case in point? In one form or another, there was a story outline for “The Day of the Doctor” that featured no Doctors at all… only Jenna Coleman as Clara.
(16) A project known as “Justice League Dark” is inching closer to a greenlight. Joblo lists the front-running candidates to direct:
Things are heating up for DARK UNIVERSE, as casting rumors have been swirling around the past week and now we have word on who the studio is eyeing to direct the supernatural superhero tale. We’re told that BIG BAD WOLVES directing duo Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, as well as EVIL DEAD remake director Fede Alvarez are the top contenders to take the gig right now. Both sets of filmmakers have a strong grasp of the dark and macabre genre and would easily fill the shoes of Guillermo Del Toro, who left the film after turning in his screenplay and toiling with the studio over casting and scheduling. However, Del Toro’s script is said to be excellent and one of the main reasons that the studio is pushing to get JLD underway with a shooting start in early 2016.
Yahoo! says Dark Universe is expected to put the spotlight on some of the lesser-known heroes and villains of the DC Comics universe whose adventures typically involve magic or supernatural elements of some sort.
Among the characters rumored to have a role in the film are occult detective John Constantine, who was featured in a short-lived television series of his own recently, and Swamp Thing, a multimedia sensation who was the subject of two live-action movies, a live-action television series, and an animated series to go along with his long-running comic book series and other projects. The film will also reportedly feature the villain Anton Arcane, the antihero demon Etrigan, and the sorceress Zatanna, as well as Madame Xanadu and the body-swapping spirit Deadman.
(17) Ice Age 5 short: Scrat In Space!
[Thanks to Hampus Eckerman, Will R., JJ, John King Tarpinian, and Michael J. Walsh for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day RedWombat.]
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More directly related to the conversation at the moment is the link that eating foreign foods without lamenting about social problems in the country of origin — and producing “fusion foods” is inappropriate cultural appropriation. (A link with commentary.)
And how about non-Japanese not supposed to be allowed to wear kimonos?
Yes, while I’m very willing to agree that something like minstrel shows are offensive and in generally poor taste, there are levels of people who are genuinely offended that–rather than apologizing and caving to them–I prefer to say that they are idiots and their ideas are stupid.
@Camestros: Music is just a global ball of influential twine, yeah. Like, jazz really starts as a black American art form, but it works its initial changes on the “American songbook” created by white ethnic songwriters. West-African musicians go to school on Motown and add their own twists. And on and on.
Whereas I have had stupid ideas myself so I prefer to apply the principle of charity.
On a completely different note, I can’t see the thread title without getting that stupid song stuck in my head for hours, so thanks for that, OGH.
No one will argue with me that hydrogen is or isn’t on track to hit a dollar a kilo? I’m losing my touch.
@Brian Z: The important thing is, we’re all fans of hydrogen.
Whereas I have had stupid ideas myself so I prefer to apply the principle of charity.
Let’s frame it differently–were you highly charitable when BT made his “Waaaaah! I can’t judge books by their covers!” argument, or did you lambaste it for being incredibly stupid?
It doesn’t help that it was in Doctor Who a couple of weeks ago too.
ULTRAGOTHA: I’m away from my reference books at the moment, so I can’t track down the specific recipe I was looking for–could swear it was from either The Forme of Cury or Le Menagier de Paris, but online sources say “no.” However, I did find a recipe from the Wagstaff Miscellany, circa 1460; would that do?
Payn purdyeu
Take paundemayn or fresh bredd pare a wey the crustys cut hit in schyverys fry hem a lytyll yn claryfyd hony buture have yolkes of eyron drawyn thorow a streynour & as hote as thu may ley the brede ther yn that hit be al helyd with bature then fry in the same bature & serve hit forth & strew on hote sygure.
Translation: Take pain demain or fresh bread, pare away the crusts, cut in shivers [slices], fry them a little in clarified honey butter; have yolks of eggs drawn through a strainer & as hot as you may lay the bread there in that it be all [covered] with batter, then fry in the same batter & serve it forth & strew on hot sugar.
Medieval French toast. You never know what’s going to make you glad, any particular day, you read the comments here…but it’s usually something. This is that.
@Darren Garrison:
The latter, probably substantially for mood-affiliation reasons. I could tease out a bunch of reasons that cash out to Torgersen’s mistake coming out of the pain that drives revanchism while the folks over-extending the concept of cultural appropriation are coming out of the pain of actual oppression, but it’s a valid point that I could extend more charity to Brad regardless. It’s what a better person than me would do.
That can’t be true, because there never was a Doctor Who episode about parasitic sentient killer eye boogers! Also never one about killing the moon! I don’t know why people insist on spreading these false rumors…
@rcade: if somebody does not have a gravatar, is it then not possible to add them to the list of whited out types?
Also the Doctor never visited the O.K. Corrall and was never mistaken for Doc Holiday and no one sang terrible renditions of pseudo-American songs slightly out of their range.
Thank you to everyone for being willing to be distracted with food. 🙂 Good to have some variety in the thread to keep the temperature down. (Also, er, this got long. You were all quite chatty, you wonderful things, and I ended up replying to a lot of stuff.)
There is one savoury pancake I love – Korean seafood pancakes. Omfg, so good. I could eat my weight in those. I miss my ex’s roommate’s mother’s cooking so much. I’ve been meaning to try injera pancakes, too, but finding an accessible Eritrean or Ethiopian (or similar area) restaurant is a bit tricky.
I don’t think I’ve ever had pancakes for breakfast, although a lot of places in London that have special breakfast or brunch menus now offer American-style pancakes as an option. It was usually only a meal for evenings, on Pancake Day or special occasions.
What are German pancakes?
@Cally
Really? Swedish pancakes? We just called them pancakes. They’re the only ones without a qualifier!
@Peace
There are commenter scores? Gosh, I’ll have to catch up on the months I missed, then. Wouldn’t want to lose. 😀
@Hampus
So what are Swedish pancakes (your “standard” just-called-pancakes pancakes) usually like? 🙂 More like crêpes or more like the thick American pancakes?
Also:
That sounds ace. 😉
Also also, thank you for the bit about yoga. I didn’t know that.
@Mary Frances
Thanks for the medieval recipe!
Re: Social Justice
I’ve lately (after some exposure to the Gamergate situation, the Sriduangkaew revelations, and to certain small parts of Tumblr) come to the conclusion that while it is often worth listening to someone from a minority when they’re informing you about something you’re unfamiliar with, being from a minority does not inherently make someone more likely to be right. You aren’t obligated to agree with someone. You certainly aren’t obligated to listen to someone who is engaging with you in an abusive way – and yes, sometimes angry means the way someone is communicating really is bad and unproductive and, sometimes, very cruel. Even if the reason for their anger is correct.
Some people will use social justice language against things that are perfectly harmless. Some of those people will be from minorities. It is usually worth assessing the idea on its own merits (which is difficult, I know, unconscious bias is a thing) instead of assigning it maximum points because of who said it.
We all have to find our own balance to strike on these matters. It would, however, be better to treat even the people you disagree with, so long as they’re engaging constructively, with a bit of respect. These things aren’t so black and white that you can tell at a glance whether someone is “right/good” or “wrong/bad”.
Re: Cultural appropriation
My line is usually whether I feel it came from a place of respect and enthusiasm – not necessarily correctness. Are you enjoying it? Celebrating it? Do you love it? Have looked into it a bit? Then it probably is okay. Making fun of it? Using it as window dressing without understanding? Are you taking a religious or restricted symbol and using it inappropriately? Then it probably won’t be.
The Japanese people I’ve known typically gave kimonos and kimono-adjacent outfits to Westerner friends and acquaintances as gifts. I don’t think many of them would have been upset about people wearing them. However, anecdata!
@Lenora Rose
Thank you for the link about the yoga thing. It did seem a bit too outragey and it’s good to have clarification.
@Darren Garrison
I’m perfectly capable of saying something was stupid without phrasing it as anything similar to “go screw yourself you nitwit flake”. There are degrees of impoliteness, and I generally prefer to be blunt rather than to use insults.
@Aaron
I’ve got to say, you telling someone off for using insulting language is one of the funniest things I’ve seen all week. 🙂 (Note: Intended as gentle teasing. I’m sorry if it crossed the line to something else.)
Meredith, you are a treasure.
I think it possible that what people mean by a German pancake is a kind of moist, thick, baked, almost bowl-shaped thing, not especially sweet although it is often served with cooked apples. Serves a family of three or one hungry teenager.
I could be wrong, though.
Around here “Swedish” pancakes are large thin things, like crêpes but with buttery crispy laciness at the edges, eaten with butter and lingonberry jam (which, BTW, is nearly indistinguishable from the American Thanksgiving staple cranberry sauce, in my opinion).
Food!
I grew up with American pancakes–not only that but in a part of America where it was all a matter of pride for some diners to make huge pancakes (bigger than the plates huge)!
I learned about crepes and other sorts of pancakes when I was away at college (including having my first bagel!). Not a lot of food varieties in Idaho during the 1950s/60s.
These days, I have a nice buttermilk pancake recipe (reduced from the original) that I make weekends (alternating with French toast, using EggBeaters) for our special weekend breakfasts that still fit (mostly) within the diabetic diet. We use a sugar-free syrup (Log Cabin one has the best flavor) and some days heat raisins in it for an extra special treat.
And today I spent the whole time (up to about 1:00 p.m.) cooking for tomorrow. Have made a vegetable soup (new recipe for us), our favorite fall/winter soup, Roasted Carrot soup (dead easy with a large food processor), four cups of mashed potatoes (we’ve found real food using portion control is a large part of why we’re able to stick to the diabetic lifestyle), and baked sweet potatoes for partner who will make HEAVENLY sweet potatoe praline pie tomorrow (The Big Book of Diabetic Desserts is one of the best buys ever–our favorites are the brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and did I mention the sweet potato pie!).
Will do turkey and stuffing tomorrow.
In an ideal world, I wouldn’t tell off anyone in language I would feel at liberty to object to if said to me after I said/did something comparably stupid and/or cruel. It is, um, not an ideal world, but I shoot for it anyway. Partly I’m learning from more years of trying to manage PTSD how often it’s the little gratuitous fillips that end up being the one straw too many, the one brick too many, the snowflake that starts an avalanche, and I’m really trying very seriously cut them out of my criticisms of others. I wish I were doing better at it.
It’s difficult to overcome a generalized fascination with rhetorical flourishes. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that really highly prized language and its use for both serious purposes and entertainment, then discovered sf/f/h fandom, and, well. Mostly it’s generally harmless, I think, but wow can it be a knife in the mind in some circumstances.
I’ve also done a lot of self-scrutiny about subtexts and connotations in recent years. I am, I think, a lot more likely to be brief and straightforward in addressing someone I think said or did something boneheaded, and then tell friends in restricted-distribution posts or chat, “This guy, he was such a nitwit flake. I wanted to tell him to go screw himself, but it wouldn’t have helped. You may now give me medals honoring my restraint. :)” Not everything needs to be said to the world.
It is possible, because their generic gravatar still has a unique ID.
@robinreid,
You don’t need to have an avatar to have a Gravatar ID, so for example:
Lorcan Nagle
id=”grav-1a5cbeea4f432efe915e7edd2cf45daf-0″
Mary Frances
id=”grav-2d5143de54af51bd31d200859713b44d-0″
A couple of months ago, I attended a wedding in another state, and stayed at a hotel there, and ate their free included breakfast. I’d been disappointed that they didn’t have one of those waffle makers that you pour a little cup of batter into and turn over and they cook a waffle for you, but then I spotted the pancake machine. You press a button, and a minute or two later, out the side slides a pancake, like paper from a copier machine. Magic may be involved. Lots of butter certainly was, by the time I had my way with it.
Meredith:
A pancake in sweden is large and thing, a bit like crêpes in that way. They are typically served with some kind of jam. Or, lets call it pancake cake.
http://www.hannasbageri.se/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/DSC_6781.jpg
As usual there’s a north/south pancake divide in the UK. To me pancakes are more like the American variety, though typically not as wide and eaten with butter and jam. Somewhere near the border these become drop scones or Scotch pancakes and the crepe type takes over.
ULTRAGOTHA on November 25, 2015 at 10:40 am said:
NO! No raisins!
>shudder<
Raisins are a truly divisive food.
There are people are thrilled to discover a new place to use them, and correspondingly people who are appalled to find them in unexpected places.
I tend to be of the second persuasion, myself.
There are people who put them in apple pie.
(Why?)
Or salads.
(Why?)
The worst ever, for me, was someone who put them into a chocolate cake, to make it “moister.”
You couldn’t even see them to work around them… a poor innocent cake that never did anything to deserve an infestation of raisins.
I mean, I actually like raisins.
Hand me a raisin and I’ll eat it.
But don’t go hiding them in otherwise perfectly fine food.
Cally on November 25, 2015 at 12:40 pm said:
…then I spotted the pancake machine. You press a button, and a minute or two later, out the side slides a pancake, like paper from a copier machine. Magic may be involved. Lots of butter certainly was, by the time I had my way with it.
I no longer fear a coming dystopia.
The future will have pancake machines.
I like raisins.
But not in apple pie.
I’m okay with them in mince pie because at least there one is warned.
I like them in what my family calls “medieval meatloaf”, but enough of my family members don’t like it that we don’t have it that often.
I loathe them in that nasty sweet and sour goop put on ham in institutions.
I love them in oatmeal cookies and in porridge.
I like them with chocolate.
But the idea of chocolate cake or cookies with raisins in sounds awful, I don’t know why.
Now I wonder whether raisins would go well in chocolate oatmeal cookies. Yes because oatmeal, or no because chocolate?
Peace Is My Middle Name on November 25, 2015 at 12:11 pm said:
Yes. Basically flour, milk and eggs baked. Then the side puffs up. Sprinkle with lemon juice and slather in confectioner’s sugar.
The Wikipedia article on pancakes linked above calls them Dutch pancakes.
Mary Frances –
Wow, that really is medieval French toast. Fry in honey butter. Ooooh. I shall have to try that.
Raisins –
Oddly enough, I really like raisins in savory foods. They’re a requirement, IMO, in Biryani and Coronation Chicken.
But in sweet stuff? NO.
ETA: Rev. Bob–No because RAISINS. You’re starting the Cookie Wars up in File 770. Twitter is already a smoking barren wasteland due to the Cookie Wars. (Almost as bad as the moon-like desert left behind by the Pineapple Pizza Wars.)
What about prunes in chocolate cake?
@Meredith: The question is never what language is being used, but rather for what purpose, and towards what objective.
Sourdough waffles with either butter-and-honey or jam (or preserves) or applesauce. Picked up and eaten like toast, not with a fork.
That’s what we do here in 6868.
I seem to remember that it was under the title “pain demain,”
I’ve seen it as ‘pain perdu’.
@Clyto: our diabetic dessert recipes for some chocolate cakes and other pastries have pureed prunes (we buy the baby food) replacing fats. The prunes help the texture/moisture–there’s no flavor of prunes I’ve been able to detect probably because of the chocolate.
@Rev. Bob, Mom made raisin chocolate oatmeal cookies, and I really liked them.
And I’ve had the same experience in recent years with prunes in diabetic-friendly recipes as @robinreid – they don’t add any particular taste, they just sit there and contribute the whole being yummy.
Peace Is My Middle Name on November 25, 2015 at 1:07 pm said:
… But the idea of chocolate cake or cookies with raisins in sounds awful, I don’t know why.
They were stealth raisins.
There was no warning, and then when people reacted to invisible stuff in the cake the cook was basically bragging about RAISINS! making things extra wonderful.
It was for a kid’s birthday, and there was much leftover cake.
I think it just goes under don’t do unexpected things with food without telling people before you serve them.
I wouldn’t be bothered by prunes substituting for fats, as long as there weren’t detectable prune-bits intruding on the experience of chocolate and cake.
I think I even met it in a cake once, and it was fine.
Just no unexpected squishy bits please!
@Rev. Bob
I’ve seen cookies with both chocolate and raisins.
I wouldn’t do it myself, but I’ve seen people like the combination, so especially if there were other options it could be a good thing to try.
Seems like it would be reminiscent of some kinds of trail mix.
Just don’t be sneaky about it.
@rrcade and Soon Lee: Thank you!
*goes to try*
Victory!
P J Evans: I’ve seen it as ‘pain perdu’.
Yeah, me, too, now, though I didn’t remember it that way at first. I’m not sure if I was remembering incorrectly, or if the recipe itself was not clearly labelled–it seems to be “pain perdu” made with “pain demain” (probably stale).
At our place pancakes were either pikelettes, small really thick pancakes which we would top with jam and whipped cream, used as a finger food desert for fancy occasions(and when Mum didn’t want to bake scones); or thinner ones that would get drizzled with honey or golden syrup. They would get eaten with knife and fork or rolled up and eaten with our hands if they were really thin(with lots of licking of fingers when they inevitably leaked everywhere).
I’m not so sure blanking lots of people with Stylish is a good idea, but of course everyone has to do their own self-care the way they see fit.
I love raisins as a snack and they’re fine in oatmeal cookies or plum loaf (which doesn’t actually have any plums in), but anything else I tend to avoid. I consider them to be the ruin of a Danish pastry. (Am now wondering if said pastries resemble anything you’d find in Denmark.)
@Peace
*blush* 😀
I think I’ve seen a recipe for something like a German (or Dutch) pancake somewhere. I shall have to give it a go sometime!
I hate cranberries (most fruit I like, but cranberries are easily the worst thing about getting a UTI. Anyone who has had a UTI will know exactly how much I hate cranberries – SO MUCH) so I think I’ll be avoiding lingonberry jam, but I’m glad it exists for the people who don’t loathe it!
@Bruce Baugh
Your comment at 12:16 is very good. 🙂
I got through a lot of WoW officering by utilising officer chat (or whisper) for anything that wouldn’t have been wise to say to someone’s face. Sometimes officering is a bit like herding toddlers.
@Cally
That machine sounds awesome and I want one. Magic pancakes!
@Hampus
Oh, wow, pancake cake. Although, I have noticed that food stacked in layers seems to be more common in Sweden than England so I oughtn’t be surprised. 🙂 (I have Swedish guildies, who gifted me a Swedish Cookbook – translated, of course.)
@IanP
I equated American and Scotch in my initial prompt so I’m glad you confirmed they’re similar. I had an attack of nerves after the fact that perhaps they were a lot more different than I was aware of. I’ve never liked Scotch pancakes, although I’ve only ever had them out of a packet so I might be judging them unfairly, so I wasn’t sure.
@Aaron
Choosing who you care whether they think you’re a dick? 🙂
@robinreid
I think I’ve seen people use beetroot and bananas in a similar substitution way, especially in chocolate desserts. I think because chocolate is usually a strong enough flavour to overwhelm them.
Thank you for the 1460 “French toast” recipe. Sounds fascinating.
I love crepes but haven’t had the energy to make them in years.
Most savory thin pancake like things I’ve started making inside puff pastry as pie crust. I can buy the frozen puff pastry, find it easy to work with, and still get the great insides. I do miss the prettier presentation and individual servings for people.
It’s amazing how many cultures have thin pancake dishes. I’m glad we like to share food rather than considering it cultural appropriation for the most part. Both sides are usually able to laugh at how off the borrowing culture is.
Today my parents were telling me about a show that’s on at the moment where Ainsley Harriott (a tv chef) is taking Len Goodman on a bit of a tour around the various culinary experiences in Britain (well, it says Britain but all the locations look ‘England’ to me). Somehow, despite being 71 and having travelled the world as a professional ballroom dancer, teacher, and television personality, not to mention being British, Goodman has managed to have his sum total of not-British food experience be two onion bhajis. I honestly can’t figure out how even someone British who’d never left the country could manage to evade the ubiquitous curries (not that most people would want to evade them – they taste great), let alone someone who travelled extensively. Loads of different cuisines available here (the perks of letting the people you colonised against their wills immigrate to the UK), and often very good! Cultural exchange is, I think, as important as avoiding cultural appropriation. Understanding, appreciation, and familiarity can help prevent some racism and xenophobia.
The tricky bit is staying with ‘exchange’ and navigating around ‘appropriation’. (While getting to eat lots of delicious food.)
I am profoundly horrified what I have been reading; the One True Pancake is wafer thin, fried in a little butter, and served with lemon juice, sprinkled with fine sugar.
Anything else is profoundly deviant, and I wish to point out that I have conducted research on this very issue at University level. I was required to do a literature review on an aspect of sociology of my choice, and a preliminary visit to the library stacks revealed the fact that the sociology of deviance had very few books in its section.
And thus it came to pass that I became the world’s living expert on the sociology of deviancy, which is a lot easier than it looks, and I continue to spurn anything which does not comply with the One True Pancake, even here in 6904…
I’m a bit surprised that lemon juice and sugar isn’t as common in the USA, but as an accepting and tolerant multi-cultural sort I accept the failings of others. 😉
I always thought it was bizarre that day-old bread would be called “pain demain” (tomorrow’s bread) instead of “pain hier” (yesterday’s bread). Then someone told me that it’s actually “pain de main” (whatever bread is close-to-hand).
As a pancake-lemon-sugar concern troll I am obliged to say that while I agree with you in principle, it is important that we do not condemn the heathens too strongly lest they react to the truth to negatively and continue mashing avocado and nutella onto inch thick poorly cooked batter. They should be brought gently to the fold with kind words and sympathy.
I think many commentators here are being unraisinable.
@JJ:
If it lasts through the weekend they call it “pain de la semaine.”
I’ll show myself out.
*snort*
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. 😉
Regrettably, lemon juice and sugar on pancakes is almost unheard-of in the US. It’s butter and maple syrup all the way.
There are specialty pancakes, of course, with various jams and compotes and nuts and other syrups.
But I’m willing to bet upwards of 95% of all American pancakes are served with butter and maple-like syrup.