A delightful and interesting article from Andrew Losowsky on the notion of being an expat. I used to live in Belfast, but I'm now living in London. I was struck by how many of the things in this article reminded me that I'm really an expat too. I talk to new people from Belfast and try to make connections, I'll drink Guiness or eat soda farls. I miss the Belfast humor, which is so present in books like Divorcing Jack, also a film (DVD), which has an old friend Colin Murphy in it. I'm currently reading Eureka Street and it is making me laugh out loud on the train. Belfast humour is black, cynical and sharp, I've yet to meet anything that beats it. A charcter recovering from a hangover says to a mate "I'm dead, but I haven't the wit to stiffen", is one example, but they are on most pages
Tonight I'm off for dinner with an old friend George from Belfast, maybe I'm just being wistful about my old town. Or maybe I'm really an expat and hadn't realised it yet.
Building Social Web Applications by Gavin Bell.
I think, deep down, we're expats in denial. What's a farl?
SODA FARLS
275g plain (bread?) flour
1/2 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
250-300ml buttermilk.
Add buttermilk gradually to rest ingrs in large bowl. Mix to stiff dough. Knead gently to a smooth round. Roll out into 20cm circle, about 1cm thick. Cut into 4 farls. Cook on griddle or frying pan sprinkled with flour for 6-8 mins each side on medium heat till they sound hollow when tapped. Wrap in cloth and allow to cool.
(Recipe from back issue of Food Illustrated, now Waitrose Food Illustrated)
Or (gulp) buy them in Sainsbury's. Great split and toasted then served with an Ulster fry or just thickly spread with butter and jam.
Lucy
Yes, but where do you get proper (i.e. by the pint to drink) buttermilk in london???
proper (ie. half pint to drink) buttermilk can be bought from tesco.com
Re:Buttermilk and Tesco.
Don't think so.
The delivery comes from your local store - and it's not availble in London.
I find that the only place to get genuine Irish buttermilk to drink by the pint, is in Ireland. The stuff we get in England is actually cultured buttermilk, in other words it has to be made. It just does'nt have the same taste. I have been living out of N,Ireland for over thirty years, and still miss the tastes of that good country.
There used to be a German foodshop in Richmond Surrey. They sold really good buttermilk by the pint! This was imported directly from Germany where apparently you can find buttermilk next to ordinary milk in every shop.
Since they've closed down I am left high and dry with my "2-pints-of- buttermilk-a-day" addiction. I know that "yoplait" do it but haven't seen it in any shops in my area and don't know what it's like...
Waitrose do the Yoplait Buttermilk but unfortunatly it is cultured as well. I'm Canadian and you can't use the cultured one for cooking or drinking (what's the point of it?)