catfan 14,793 Posted July 27, 2018 Report Share Posted July 27, 2018 Inconsiderate neighbours. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 We have tractors that make a noise at all sorts of times that dont suit us. Making hay bales at midnight because its cooler and doing the vendemmia too. Before dawn.Our neighbours are fine very friendly and we dont have any sort of problems with them, but one side they have too many cats ( strays) which in itself isnt bad but the cats get everywhere and use our plantpots for their loos. The other side have always had alsation dogs ever since weve been here. They have lost two and this latest one is a beautiful huge pup , but has an awful bark and it barks at the slightest thing. When I take my puppies out to walk it starts his barking and doesnt stop until we are out of sight. Now I have taught my dogs to stop barking on command ( they are only 11 mths old and obey most of the time) but when we go out and Billy starts my pups are starting to go berserk. The neighbours grumble because he barks but don't do anything to stop him. This annoys me . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 C’mon Nonna we know that cats are a culinary delicacy in northern Italy. ‘Roof rabbits’. I know it’s illegal now but I bet it still goes on! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 Phil where have you heard that . Never heard of roof rabbits. Hope you're not taking the mickey . I know the italians especially in piemonte eat some strange things but cats? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 I thought that was well known in Northern Italy. It’s probably just the rednecks! An old friend of mine ‘escaped’ from an Italian prison camp during the war. Well he just walked out of the gate actually! He holed up with a farming family up in the hills who took care of him. He spoke the language fluently as he was at school there pre war when his father was a military attaché. He was intrigued to see hanging on their washing line a row of cat skins. He had enjoyed a particularly tasty ‘rabbit’ stew the night before. I remember eating rabbit at a gourmet evening at La Bucca! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Was he sure they were cat skins Phil as rabbit skins are similar? Yes rabbit is very popular here and we did do a gourmet evening with rabbit as main course. Its not a great deal different to chicken and many years ago rabbit stew was always available, but done in a stew is tasteless. Give me rabbit with peas and rosmary or as my daughter makes it, with chocolate. Weird as it may seem you don't taste the chocolate but its delicious. Wild boar is popular here but for me its too strong. Talking about weird tastes we have a cheese here that if you're not attentive the maggots can run away with your bread. Seriously, once your knife has cut into into it you have to chase the maggots, but as they say "its all protein" Personally I haven't the courage to try it. Not even washed down with the local Barbera. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 My friend was a switched on sort of chap. A pilot with the Army Air Corps. He was pretty sure they were cats but very tasty. I gather they were a delicacy in the Piedmont region but that’s probably like the Appalacchian area in the States. Law of the jungle and all that. Killing and eating cats has been made illegal in Italy so there must have been some foundation in the story. A large ginger cat is sitting on the table opposite me. I think he’s reading this upside down. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,378 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Hmm, I wonder what they would do if 'Puss in a Pie' appeared on the menu at Westminster. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 There is nothing intrinsically wrong in eating cats or dogs or monkeys or budgies (although I understand they are a bit tough) or rats or mice or guinea pigs or almost any animal. It is merely a social convention that certain creatures are taboo. Rabbits and hares are very popular around here, especially the latter stewed for hours in red wine and vegetables (carrots, onions, celery garlic etc.) together with a small amount of chocolate - real chocolate not that Dairy Milk muck. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 I’ve knowingly eaten horse in France and Belgium and it was very good. Even frog’s legs are perfectly acceptable. Haggis is one of my favourites and very few know what’s in that! Perhaps it’s better we don’t. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Don't haggis have one set of legs shorter than the other so it is easier to run round the hills Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 I would eat horse more often but it is too expensive. Regarding frogs legs, the things served to tourists as grenouille in restaurants down here are often small chicken breast fillets (just as escargots are mushroom stalks stuffed into a snail shell). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Some say that haggis is round like a football and you don’t know whether to cook it or kick it. When you’ve cooked it you wished you’d kicked it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 2 minutes ago, jonab said: I would eat horse more often but it is too expensive. Regarding frogs legs, the things served to tourists as grenouille in restaurants down here are often small chicken breast fillets (just as escargots are mushroom stalks stuffed into a snail shell). Yes, I think the garlic sauce makes the natural flavours indistinguishable and the punters are easily conned. Perhaps that’s why they say that snails and frog’s legs are not as bad as they thought they might be! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Frogs legs are very much like tiny chicken thighs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Yes, they cut the flippers off to make them look more palatable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 The maggot cheese that Brenda mentioned is probably a Corsican cheese called casgiu merzu or casu marzu in Sardinia. I tasted it once during a visit to Corsica. It didn't get very far into my mouth before it was rapidly ejected. The feel of the maggots wriggling about in my mouth was just too much. I have to admit, though, that the flavour of the residues of the cheese was very nice but much improved by the wine used to remove the traces of maggot. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,497 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 2 hours ago, jonab said: I would eat horse more often but it is too expensive. Regarding frogs legs, the things served to tourists as grenouille in restaurants down here are often small chicken breast fillets (just as escargots are mushroom stalks stuffed into a snail shell). Do you reckon this is a few chicken fillets Jonab? My starter one day in a La Napoule restaurant. https://s33.postimg.cc/3v0j2qghb/1_FBC00_C3-122_C-4302-_BD52-1_EF385_A8_E0_BD.jpg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Difficult to say from a picture. There's not always a substitution sometimes they are real, other times it is a chicken fillet with a rib bone pushed along the meat. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 3 hours ago, Bubblewrap said: Don't haggis have one set of legs shorter than the other so it is easier to run round the hills Yes I suppose you're right but you have to wait for the mating season when they grow very long feathers and nest in small groups on very rough ground. if you believe this you'll believe anything A Dr customer we had in Radcliffe was Scottish and he used to send us haggis, I love them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 3 hours ago, jonab said: I would eat horse more often but it is too expensive. Regarding frogs legs, the things served to tourists as grenouille in restaurants down here are often small chicken breast fillets (just as escargots are mushroom stalks stuffed into a snail shell). Horse meat is very lean and very tasty. we have eaten donkey meat too especially salami. Don't think they'd get away with stuffing mushroom stalks into snail shells in Italy. Even with a strong garlic taste you'd still taste the mushrooms.I don't like them , I love the taste but not the texture. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Jonab the cheese is Piemontese but probably the same sort of thing.It took me ages to appreciate the taste of Cheddar when I was younger, then I began to accept the different tastes of our local cheeses. A cousin makes his own Ricotta Salata (salty ricotta) and its delicious on a plate of pasta with a tomato sauce. Goodness what did we start. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Phil don't know if you were in the restaurant one night when there was a lot of hammering coming from the kitchen. it was the chef trying to tenderise a steak. Alex came to the rescue as a client was complaining saying that the chef was having a problem catching the frogs Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 52 minutes ago, nonnaB said: Don't think they'd get away with stuffing mushroom stalks into snail shells in Italy. Even with a strong garlic taste you'd still taste the mushrooms.I don't like them , I love the taste but not the texture. 3 That trick is usually reserved for the English holidaymakers who wouldn't know any better. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted May 23, 2020 Report Share Posted May 23, 2020 You’ve been warned 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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