What's your country like

[Lizra]

Of course AE! I think it's some kind of rule. My maternal grandparents immigrated in the twenties. Sarkesian and Mooradian. They settled in San Francisco where there is a large Armenian community.

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by cassiopeia
As for the food: Vegemite is yum! The secret is to put lots of butter on toast and just a little scraping of vegemite. Meat pies are very Australian too, but I don't eat them.

Marmite is better... And it has to be on wholegrain bread, slighly burnt, with lots of butter, and a generous spread of marmite. Mmmmm!

As for meat pies, yeah, they're pretty big over here as well... Yuck!

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Khamûl
Vegemite? What's that?

I'd like to know. My "cousin" in Australia said he was going to send me some.

"Maybe I'll even send you some Vegemite! You haven't lived till you've tried it."

BUt I never did ask him what it was. I was thinking it was a "spread" made out of vegetables you put on bread or something.

[Khamûl]

Marmite? What's that?

If vegemite is a spread made out of vegetables, I don't think I'd like it too much. Has anyone ever tried kudzu jelly? I've never had any, but I've heard that it's delicious. It might just be a Southern thing.

[cassiopeia]

Vegemite is a thick black spread for bread. I don't think it is made of vegetables. I think it is made of yeast from the leftovers from brewing beer! Sounds gross, but its yum!

[BeardofPants]

Marmite is an NZ invention - a black yeast spread that used to have some meat thing in it, and the Aussies invented Vegemite - which replaced the meat bit with vegetable extracts. Marmite is now meat free.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by cassiopeia
Vegemite is a thick black spread for bread. I don't think it is made of vegetables. I think it is made of yeast from the leftovers from brewing beer! Sounds gross, but its yum!

That's cool - when he mentioned it - I was actually expecting some sort of spreadable tofu or something.

[afro-elf]

NZ

ful trot flops what was the name of that damn dog and silly song slice opf heaven?

AU wa wa knee

[Etheria]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
I live in British Columbia, Canada (more specifically, Vancouver Island). I love it here - everything's so green. And I don't think that I could stand not living near the ocean. I love the ocean!

I used to live in British Columbia...in Vancouver Island as well, near Departure Bay if you know where that is. (I like the ice cream there!) You're right- it's the nicest place I've ever lived. Everything looks lively and...just beautiful. But I had to move and now I couldn't see an ocean for a thousand miles so bah! life just isn't fair I guess.
For everyone else: If you ever go to bC on a trip, you should visit Cathedral Grove,Vancouver - really amazing. And also you should go to Wissler. Ski, snowboard, whatever else it is that you do. Or take a trip to Victoria, that place is nice as well. They have a neat Wax Museum and an aquarium. Really appeals to younger kids. Hmm...go give Ogopogo a visit too, that lake monster probably gets lonely sometimes. Well, if I can remember anymore cool places for you to check out, I'll tell you.

And Shadowfax, the ocean is awesome. You don't know how weird it feels not living near it (in my opinion).

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by afro-elf
NZ

ful trot flops what was the name of that damn dog and silly song slice opf heaven?

*BoP screws up her eyes thoughtfully, and attempts to translate yet another text from the fingertips of A-E....*

That would be "Footrot Flats" by Murray Ball. There was a movie made about it. And they were great - if a tad sexist... And the silly song "slice of heaven" was by Dave Dobbyn (yes, very silly, can't stand the man - but that didn't stop me going ga-ga when I bumped into him the other day... )

[emplynx]

Originally posted by cassiopeia
Vegemite is a thick black spread for bread. I don't think it is made of vegetables. I think it is made of yeast from the leftovers from brewing beer! Sounds gross, but its yum!

My sister went on a mission trip to Australia, and brought back a little jar of vegemite. It is the nastiest stuff I have ever had.
http://www.vegemite.com.au/ is the official vegemite web site.

[Renille]

Oh wow. Whenever I heard BoP talking about eating marmite, I thought it was a fuzzy little animal. I guess I'm crazy...but that's okay.

Claenoic, yes, I forgot WI Dells. Sorries. And remember, almost EVERYTHING is cheesy in WI in one way or another!

[Claenoic]

Originally posted by Renille

Claenoic, yes, I forgot WI Dells. Sorries. And remember, almost EVERYTHING is cheesy in WI in one way or another!

*Groan* Corny joke...

[BeardofPants]

I just spent some of the day braving the weather down at Auckland's scenic viaduct basin (built for the America's Cup) protesting against the plutonium shipment in the pacific (we're anti-nuclear), and guess who turned up, of all people! Our Prime Minister, Helen Clarke!! Only in New Zealand would the PM gatecrash a greenpeace movement to join the protest. At times like this, I LOVE New Zealand.

[mirrille]

Originally posted by Renille
Oh wow. Whenever I heard BoP talking about eating marmite, I thought it was a fuzzy little animal. I guess I'm crazy...but that's okay

Haha! You're not going crazy. I think you are thinking of a marmot , which is a very cute furry animal. They've got some on Vancouver Island, but that particular species is very very endangered, I'm told. I don't think we could eat them.

Bop, I'm impressed. If your even your PM actively gets involved in environmental protection, no wonder NZ is sooo beautiful.

[Grey_Wolf]

Sweden is a very long country. 2600 km long and 400 km wide.

Divided into three major parts of which Norrland is the northern one. The land is made up of mountains, pineforests and rivers.
Here most of our major predators can be found, such as wolves, bears, lynxes, wolwerine. Elk (moose) can be found in this region. (there are even farms which use their milk to make cheese)

Svealand, which is the central part. Here rigdes, lakes, forests and fields dominate the scenery. Smaller predators, fallow and red deer. Good fishing.

Götaland, which is the southern part. More fields, plains, forests, a couple of major ridges and most of our farming communities. Smaller predators and roe deer.

The three major cities are: Stockholm, which is the Capital, with 700 000 inhabitants (1,4 million if you include the suburbs). It is situated at the lake Mälaren, spread over several islands and a very beautiful town, called the Venice of the North.
Then we have Gothenburg (my favourite town BTW) with 450 000 inhabitants. It lies on the western coast, not so far from Norway. It was built by Englishmen and is a very nice town. The third town is Malmö which lies in the south-western corner of the Sweden, very close to the new bridge spanning the sound between Sweden and Denmark. I live in Helsingborg, in the north-western corner of Scania, some 70 km from Malmö.

Most Swedes have a moderate to very good grasp of English and are usually friendly and helpful towards foreigners.

[afro-elf]

Most Swedes have a moderate to very good grasp of English and are usually friendly and helpful towards foreigners.

when I was in stockholm was was a tad disappointed.

there where SO many black, asians, and eastern European,balkan, turk etc

I was like " were the white people at"

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by afro-elf


when I was in stockholm was was a tad disappointed.

there where SO many black, asians, and eastern European,balkan, turk etc

I was like " were the white people at"

I always picture Swedes as being fair skinned and with blond hair.

I just found out that Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson ( a New Jerseyan) were filming down the street from me in Cranbury. The movies is coming out next year called "Anger Management".

That's one thing thaty's cool about New Jersey is that a lot of stars live around here and they do a lot of filming. We don't usually find out they've filmed somewhere - until they're gone though. New Jersey is one of the top five states that is used for location filming. Right now some special effects studios are moving to Trenton.

Last year they flimed all of "A Beautiful Mind" in New Jersey with the majority of filming occurring down the road from me in Princeton. Bebe Neuwirth (a Princetonian), who played Lilith on "Cheers" and starred on Broadway in "Chicago" was scooping ice cream as a benefit thing at Ben Jerry's in Plainsboro. Frankie Muniz, who lives in New Jersey, his cousin is in my cousin's class. There are many famous people that live around this area.

Queen Noor of Jordan is a New Jerseyan - two years ago she gave the commencement speech at Princeton University.

[anduin]

I am going to Vancouver on the 17th if anyone has some more suggestions for things to do. We are going to the Folk Festival though.

[mirrille]

Anduin, what kind of things do you like to do when you visit a place?
And for anyone who is thinking of visiting Vancouver:
Vancouver is really nice because it is a city, but there is alot of outdoorsy stuff to do. I like how we get the best of having both mountains and ocean. You could check out some hiking trails. We are surrounded by mountains, so it's not that far to just go up a mountain and get a terrific view of the city and the ocean. If you want to get closer to the water, then Stanley Park is the major park. It's got a seawall, and it's pretty good for a walk/bike ride/rollerblading. If you are more serious, you can go outside the city a bit for mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, etc.
If you like shopping, then Robson Street downtown is the touristy, expensive place to shop. That's where all the brand-name stores are, if you like shopping for brand-names (Fendi, Ferragamo, Gucci, Prada, the kind of stuff that's not in my budget ) plus some less expensive stuff for the rest of us. It's nice in the summer. Lots of ice-cream shops. The ideal place for shoe-shopping, in my opinion.
Gastown is another touristy place. It's supposed to be the "old" part of the city, and all historic and stuff. I never go there, because it's ALL tourist stuff.
You could check out the universities (UBC, SFU). Some people like doing that. UBC is really close to a "clothing-optional" beach, if that suits your fancy. They might have campus tours. Summer school is on, so it's still pretty busy. SFU is on a mountain and they have another stunning view of the city.
But if you are staying with friends/relatives, I'm sure they will have suggestions.
One thing I highly suggest is to check out the night market in Richmond (not to be confused with the one in Chinatown. that one is really small). It's an Asian style open air market and they sell some neat stuff for cheap (stationary, clothes, cds, teapots, cellphone paraphenalia, accessories, bags, etc..) You can also try some "street food", which is tasty. It's open on fri, sat, sun evenings.
And take advantage of the restaurants. Very good variety. Highest per capita sushi consumption in the country. Some of the best chinese food in north america.
Feel free to PM me if you have questions! Have fun!