I know some women are willing to suffer to look beautiful. And sometimes I also show my support with my short dress or skirt to those women. But this time in Cardiff some women really got my eyes opened and also think they really pushed the idea to the extreme that I can never ever achieve.
During this trip, besides some London girls I met at the pub admitted they were as confused as I was when watching a rugby game, another comforting thing was I didn't need to wrap myself til being stumbled by my own layers of clothes to against the winter in Europe. Moreover, many locals I had talked to unanimously confessed they felt very cold as well.
The last evening when roaming around the city centre, I saw a lot of young men and women walking along the street wearing a burning summer outfit without ANY coat, jacket or cardigan covered or even just lingering on their arms. However, this didn't surprised me that much since I had been told (and warned) so many times before. The thing really surprised me and I really want to know is how they prevent themselves from shivering? How do those young people cheat their bodies?
That's the question I always asked the bus drivers when I needed to take a bus back to where I stayed in Cardiff. I had no problem and felt like a local taking a bus from where I stayed to the city centre, but going back by bus always exposed my identity as a stupid tourist.
The evening when I came back from Bath, at Cardiff railway station I thought taking the same bus which brought me to the railway station in the morning should be able to take me back. But the bus driver told me it's another bus I needed to take. Even though it confused me, I followed his advice.
It bewildered me a lot about the bus system in Cardiff. In Taipei, generally, buses go and come back by taking the same route. Buses can bring you back to the place where you get on. And there is usually a electrical board to tell you what the name of the stop is. So no need to worry even if you have never been to that place or whether you will miss the stop. But it's totally not the rules in the UK. Why can't you Britons make taking a bus simpler?
But, thankfully, the bus drivers I met were all very friendly and helpful.
3.How impatient British people are when it comes to tea?
It was absolutely not the first time I saw how to make some tea by using a tea bag or a pyramid tea bag. And I've bought some loose tea from Harrods, Fortnum and Mason, Whittard of Chelsea and Lipton, but none of them can compete with the speed of making a cup of tea like a PG tips tea bag did.
Once I pour some boiling water in my mug with a PG tea bag, then even before I put the kettle down, the water in my mug has already been perfectly dyed and also become strong enough to fresh my brain. (I don't even have the time to yawn and feel how much I miss my bed in the morning!)
Being a tea addict, no matter it's Chinese tea, Japanese tea, herb tea or black tea I had, at least I needed to put myself in a Zen mode to wait for a few seconds, then I could feel comforted with every following sips. Therefore, at first I was surprised and also kind of worried how tea could be made that fast, but quickly I became a fan of it, since I am not just a tea addict, but also an impatient one!
4.What are the ingredients of Britain's cookery programme? - A comparative study of cookery programmes in the UK and in Taiwan
1 big and posh kitchen1 pretty woman, with a big butt (optional)
2 hairy bikers
4 total unfamiliar dinner guests
500g of stylish, rural, or cozy atmosphere, plus extra for dusting
3 tbsp tension
pinch of tears
They are the ingredients I roughly conclude for making a Britain's cookery programme after watching Nigella Express, Jamie's Kitchen, Come Dine With Me, The Hairy Bikers, Ready Steady Cook, Rachel Allen:Bake, Cooking It and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. And I am wondering if a cookery programme to British people is mainly about entertaining more than providing basic rules or key information of cooking a dish.
The programmes were taken in a shinny, expensive or a professional kitchen or in a beautiful garden. (By the way, I learn the word "pantry" from Nigella Lawson's own kitchen in the show. Jeez...it reminded me how humble my background is. Cos before that I didn't even know there is such a space in a house!) To British people, in a way, cooking seems to become a dreamy living style, not something basic and realistic to our daily lives.
Cookery programmes in Taiwan are usually taken in a studio. And so far, I don't know why but besides a chief, there got to be a host. The kitchen in the show is just a combination of a stove, a sink and a working surface. Nothing really fancy or posh. And in the beginning and the end of the programmes usually they will clearly list on the screen all the ingredients for the dish and give you a review of the method. But, in the UK they don't list it and the chiefs (mostly is also the host) usually speak very fast. They don't seem to expect people to take notes of it.
Don't get me wrong. I like those programmes very much. I enjoyed observing what people wear, what they talk about or what they do during a dinner party on Come Dine With Me. I would also root secretly for the participant and hope after a few weeks' training, he/she could really defeat the other two professional chiefs and cheat the judges. The shows were all amusing, entertaining and educational (from a cultural and English learning aspect), but if I tried to recall what dishes were made and what I've learnt, the images in my head are usually in pieces. Is It because they belong to the Reality Television genre more?
Anyway. I am just curious that after watching those cookery programmes, how many Britons feel stimulated and really cook something, or they just feel entertained and think they need another bag of chips?
I seldom buy lottery tickets in Taiwan. Because from limited experiences, I found I got little luck on gambling. In Taiwan, you can only buy lottery tickets in a lottery stall and it's usually not very easy to miss a lottery store, especially when the stall has sold a winning ticket of the biggest prize.
Normally, they will hang a long red banner or put up a big red poster in front of their stall to tell you that. Because many Taiwanese people think it means the place is full of luckiness or the god of fortune has greater chances passing the stall so that they have higher possibility to become a billionaire. Besides, you can always find the god of fortune on the counter of a stall. And I don't know where the ritual comes from, but I've seen people touching the head of the god's head with their lottery tickets. (No wonder the good of fortune is a bald guy....)
Compare to the lottery stalls in Taiwan, the places where people buy their lottery tickets in the UK are very 'quiet'. You would not see any banner or poster on the wall. In fact, you will not even notice they sell lottery ticket! I remember the day before going to Manchester, I got my lotter ticket from a grocery store where I didn't even notice a single sign they sell lottery ticket, let alone seeing Britain's god of fortune.
Ok, maybe we Chinese are too obsessed with money.
2 comments:
Big island, as opposed to Beautiful Island, huh? I think you summed up the differences beautifully! The British are big and the Taiwanese are beautiful :)
I agree about the British seeing food programmes as entertainment. It's funny but each of the famous TV chefs has a gimmick, like movie stars... so Nigella is the sensual one; Gordon is the bastard; Jamie is the cheeky chappy; Hugh is the natural food guy, etc.
They do have the recipes on the websites, however. But, like you, I wonder how many people actually make the recipes. Ditto loads of people buy their books, but how many use them?
How about a blog entry about your British cooking experiences? You have mastered quite a few classics... liver and bacon; kedgeree; roasted parsnips, etc.
We need more about your UK cooking/food experience!
X
Big island is just opposed to Small Island. But I like your interpretation better! :)
X
Post a Comment