A great weekend - Hip Hooray for the British

[Marguarite]

A month ago our nephew moved back to live with us, until he gets back on his feet. We are the last responsible adults in his life. He knows about my "Hobby", as my wife calls it, he came home last year unexpectedly and found me sitting in the Family room in skirt, forms and wig. He was very accepting, complimentary and said he was glad it made me happy.
Since New Year, my wife and Marguarite have been doing "Date Night" every other Saturday or so. We found a fantastic little restaurant "Brits",
Great Food, Very Accepting, and a lot of Fun. God love the British, after all they always say "God save the Queens". I thought date night might be few and far between, my wife at times wants to keep Marguarite a secret.
When she mentioned we might be going to dinner, our nephew wanted to go also, she reminded him about my "hobby". He said great he had no problem with that. Before we went out, he got a call from a friend and decided to go with them. He did wait around to see us off, and waited to see my outfit. He was very complimentary and I was very grateful that he made the effort to make me feel comfortable.
My wife and I did make it to "brits" , had a great time, a good dinner, but mostly appreciated spending time with people who are becoming friends. Hip hooray.

[Leslie Langford]

Kudos to your wife not only for being so supportive of your crossdressing, Marguarite, but also for being willing to dine on British cuisine on such a regular basis. I would have thought that a steady diet of Yorkshire pudding, "Bangers and Mash", "Bubble and Squeak", "Toad in the Hole", blood sausage, jellied eel, and steak and kidney pie would be an acquired taste and get "old" very fast. ;)

(...she says, ducking her head and awaiting the onslaught of hordes of our British sisters here for uttering such blasphemy) :eek: :heehee: :D

[Beverley Sims]

I don't go for some of the offers in the yew nited states either. :-)

Glad you all have found a comfortable spot to have a night out

[DIANEF]

Comment on such nonsense would be superfluous Leslie...

[Helen_Highwater]

Marguarite,

Sounds like you're SO is moving in the right direction. Having the support of your nephew may have helped her realise there's more acceptance in the world than she first believed.

Leslie,
Over here we're so grateful you sent us McDonalds to educate our palettes and help us keep our racing snake figures. I rest my case.

[Raychel]

Marguarite, That sounds like so much fun,
Great to have good support of the loved ones around you.
The true support and love that a person needs in life.

Thanks for sharing your story.

PS Where is Brits, My father lives north of Tampa as well.

[Rachaelb64]

You forgot about the fish 'n' chips.....and the curries....chicken tikka mmm... Mind you could always have the curry sauce on the fish 'n' chips :)

[Teresa]

Leslie,
Shame on you we have a far more varied diet than that , besides a well cooked English roast with all the trimmings would tempt anyone , that goes for well cooked fish and chips which really do taste better eaten out of newspaper watching the sun go down by the sea .

[Krea]

Marguarite, that is a lovely story. It is wonderful that your nephew is so positive. :)

[Jaylyn]

I'm glad your nephew is ok with your hobby, I really don't think any of mine would be. You have a very supporting wife and a big Hooray for her also with the Brits.

[colleen ps]

well cooked fish and chips which really do taste better eaten out of newspaper watching the sun go down by the sea .

So you still get yours wrapped in a newspaper Teresa? or is it that long since you had fish n chips LOL

[DaisyLawrence]

Marguarite. I do love a happy ending. Sounds like fun. I do believe the younger generation are generally fine about all this in the western world.

Colleen. Newspaper was banned in the 80's as a F & C wrapper was it not?

Leslie. The last native Englishman to eat jellied eels died in 1971. The cockney Londoners only sell them to American tourists now (looking for the authentic traditional experience at mega tourist prices). Everyone else realised long ago they are awful. Traditional cuisine is another term for "the only rubbish you could get if you were dirt poor that may at least keep you alive". Food didn't matter as Cholera was going to kill you soon enough anyway.

[alwayshave]

Marguarite, I'm glad that you have accepting people in your life.

[colleen ps]

Colleen. Newspaper was banned in the 80's as a F & C wrapper was it not?



That was what i was hinting at LOL. and when i was a kid, our local chippie wrapped my meals in dandy or beano. Trying to read the comic through the grease was interesting to say the least, and the colour leached out of the comics onto the chips. Did we worry about it back then? no, just wanted to eat and read the pages.

Marguarite,
I forgot to say good on you, and as Daisylawrence says, the younger generation seem to be so much more accepting of our differences.

[DaisyLawrence]

Colleen. I found it on google. It became impossible to continue using newspaper as a wrapper after 1985 when existing food safety laws were rationalised. So now we know how Teresa stays slim, no fish and chips for 33 years! :)

[colleen ps]

i find it amusing that just the mention of


Yorkshire pudding, "Bangers and Mash", "Bubble and Squeak", "Toad in the Hole", blood sausage, jellied eel, and steak and kidney pie

Has somehow lured a few Brits to this thread LOL

Oh, and dont forget fish n chips.

apart from the Jellied eels, am i the only one that regularly serves up all of the other meals in the quote plus some of our other favourites, such as Cottage pie, shepherds pie, liver and bacon with onions? oh the list goes on.

This is now a True Brit thread hijack!

Marguarite, if you ever visit the UK in my area, pop round on sunday for a true old fashioned roast dinner. Lamb shanks, mash and onion gravy is a good alternative.


(...she says, ducking her head and awaiting the onslaught of hordes of our British sisters here for uttering such blasphemy)

Now, where is Leslie, we Brits need to go canuke bashing.

[kayegirl]

Colleen, No you are not the only person here who regularly enjoys all of the foods listed, with the exception of jellied eels that is, oh and I prefer to call my blood pudding , Black pudding. The only thing missing from the list, Haggis, wonderful food.
Now, with regard to newspaper and fish nd chips. It is possible to have them wrapped in newspaper, PROVIDED that the food is not in direct contact with the newspaper. And before anybody starts quoting Google or whatever, until I retired a short while ago, I worked as an Environmental Health Officer, in one of the largest metropolitan districts in the UK, and food hygiene and control were my specialist areas.

[DaisyLawrence]

Haggis? But but it's bits of lungs and other dog food stuffed in a stomach. I mean, really? I think I'm going to try the jellied eels instead, can't be any worse :)

The dreaded haggis is popular here in northumberland due to proximity to Scotland, surprised it made it to west Yorkshire. In the late 80's my chippy used to still wrap in newspaper after first wrapping in suitable plain paper that was allowed to contact the food. Then they realised it was pointless. I never missed inky fingers!

[LilSissyStevie]

My wife is from England but she grew up mostly on French food. Maybe there's a reason for that. Leslie's list sounds a lot like the menu from the Renaissance Faire. I occasionally see a restaurant serving British cuisine but I've yet to see a Canadian restaurant down here. Poutine has yet to really catch on here south of the border. I did learn from an episode of Trailer Park Boys that "poutine" is also a verb. So you can take your favorite dish (onion rings, fish sticks, chicken fingers, etc.) and poutine it! Yum!

[ambigendrous]

Canadian food: poutine, maple syrup, and my personal favorite: Nanaimo Bars! (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25095/nanaimo-bars-iii/)

[Teresa]

Colleen,
OK I was just remembering old times ! Come on surely you remember how good they tasted . Yes the only trouble was if someone noticed an interesting story and tried to read it not relising you meal was about to hit the deck !

[colleen ps]

Just pulling your leg Teresa LOL.

Oh, Haggis! i was going to mention that but decided against it. some people believe it is made from
bits of lungs and other dog food stuffed in a stomach and as an ex master butcher and chef, i can tell you IT IS LOL and if you can get over that, then the flavours combined with tattie, neeps and liquer are to die for.

My recipe was pretty simple: sheep's stomach stuffed with diced sheep's liver, lungs and heart, oatmeal, onion, suet and seasoning.

The seasoning is my secret!

You must remember that this was a way to maximise the amount of food available from the sheep along with sausages etc.

Daisylawrence, I assume you eat sausages? Traditional butchers sausage are made with "natural" casings but we wont go into what part of the pig they are made from.

Maybe we should get the thread back on topic now.

[Marguarite]

Hello Raychel,

Brits is in the Publix shopping Center on the corner of Hudson Ave and Little Rd.

Just finished reading rest of posts, and I am amazed of the amount of dishes we enjoy from around the world.
This past weekend Poutine, my wife is German -Italian, taught to cook by her Italian Grandmother and her Italian father , who was a chef in a German restaurant . Add to that, she has a special affinity for the Irish. Shepard's pie is a monthly meal like spaghetti and meatballs. Yes, we have tried everything on the menu. ( fortunately no eels, no haggis )

[Rachelakld]

What a fun life with a fun wife.

I went out tonight with the wife hoping for Yorkshire pudding (but they didn't have so I'll end up making some for the Sunday roast).
The secret to a good Yorkshire pudding is in the gravy.
Don't get the mushy peas - while I love them, they are an acquired taste, wife likes hers with beef gravy, I like mine with vinegar.

Thank god we Brits discovered Indian curry, Fish & Chips without the newspaper is rubbish (maybe it was the Indians who forced us to give up newspaper so they could make more curry sales - a conspiracy???).

[DaisyLawrence]

Rachel, Chicken Tikka Masala, anglo style off course, was the most bought takeway in the UK some years ago, overtaking fish and chips! Talk about globaliasation!

[Helen_Highwater]

What something is made from and what it tastes like can be quiet a revelation and that's certainly true of Haggis. Love it!

Now, back to dining out enfemme. Haven't done it that often, say 6 or 7 times. What I can say from those experiences is on each occasion I was treated like any other customer. The waiting staff were always attentive and polite and I one occasion I got into a long and pleasant conversation with another group of diners.

I can fully understand Marguarite's enjoyment in dining out at what has become a favorite restaurant. It is hugely validating to be treated simply as another human and to enjoy the same pleasures as everyone else. Bon appetite.

[t-girlxsophie]

Can't believe you all missed out Deep Fried Mars Bars :D