h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I keep telling you...throwing up after ten bottles doesn't count as allergic.

What I remember best about Romania, food-wise, is the walnut pastries.

Ha, ha. But I am actually allergic to hops, as well as getting a really stuffy nose and bad asthma any time I have more than 6 or 8 ounces of alcohol at a time.

I never used to be able to eat walnuts, but now that I appear to have gotten over that pesky nut allergy, I'll have to try to make some nice nut-filled pastries or baklava at home sometime.

Oh, and I still haven't looked at any other houses, yet.

Though I did get some new, bright orange rubber rain boots yesterday. They look a bit like shiny, orange Dr Martens, made from rubber. Although they neither match my outfit or technically meet the dress code for the office, I'm refusing to take them off this morning, because other people have otherwise been irritating me.

These aren't actually Romanian:

http://www.corrieblog.tv/2009/04/the_gypsy_cream.html

Hmm...I'd be Very Worried Indeed if a pair of bright orange rubber boots *did* match any of your outfits.

The answer to hop intolerance misery: Fraoch Heather Ale, flavoured with - er - heather. (also Grozet with gooseberies and Ebulum with elderberries)

http://www.williamsbrosbrew.com/historicales.php

That sounds nice- and I can usually handle a bottle of beer or so before my sinuses are too stuffed up to stand it. I'm typically good for a glass, glass-and-a-half of wine, too. Not so often, though. It also makes my face break out in hives and my stomach gets tetchy, too, in much larger doses than that.

Now what I'd like is to find this nice alcohol-removed red wine I had once, locally. I wouldn't mind getting the antioxidants without the stuff that makes me itchy and sneezy.

Hops, though- hoppy stuff tastes fantastic but even just a few sips gives me mad sneezing fits.

The only McVitties I ever see for sale around my 'hood are Chocolate Hobnobs (and any time I think of or speak of them, I do it in the Eddie Hitler of Bottom voice).

Alcohol-removed red wine?


Frankly...no.

Well, I quite like the taste of red wine, but I don't want the negative effects of alcohol. Aside from the stuffy nose/ itchy eyes, I don't like feeling intoxicated at all, either.

Actually I find it quite annoying that there are so few alternatives to wine when you're out dining. The non-alcoholic wines tend to taste like over fermented grape juice I don't like to drink soft drinks with proper meals, and water gets boring in the long run. Lately I've asked for cranberry juice with lime, which is nice even if you have a rare steak for dinner.

I don't mind water with meals, or tea with certain foods. I'm not really big on soft drinks in general (I only have one when I want caffeine at the office, the coffee here sucks). And I don't like coffee with food other than breakfast or baked goods.

There are some non-alcoholic wines that are sickly sweet, yes. This one I tried recently tasted like wine- but without any of the negative effects. It'd be nice to have the option to have a glass of wine with dinner without having to worry about being sick for a couple of days afterward. Sinus congestion, low-grade fever, hives, heartburn...

I simply don't much like most alcoholic beverages

I don't mind the taste of some things, and if I go to a restaurant I don't mind having, say, a Margarita with Mexican food or a Mai Tai with Chinese. Provided they're not too stiff, I can swing two mixed drinks over a long, leisurely meal. I don't bother with anything that's not veggie-friendly anyway, so that narrows down the list.

I've never much cared for drinking anything that tastes of booze, so you'd never see me with a highball, a martini, or doing shots or anything like that. I can't even get it down my gullet without gagging.

Just goes to show we are all different, nobody's right or wrong; interesting to hear what other folk's views on food & drink are.

For me, being vegetarian & don't exactly eat much generally; but do drink alcohol:

*Assuming there's enough solar/wind power for freezer; i try & buy in local, seasonal veg, convert it to an actual meal & freeze it, for those times when i can't be donkeyed cooking.

*We eat out less than 3X a year; it's bloody expensive; the exception being if i am with p on business trip, so the company pays. (which is fair enough, he pays his own travel expenses, which can be major)

*take outs: we have a good Asian restaurant & an Italian in the village; so if we are in town & tired, we might use either around once a month.

But so much is down to lifestyle i reckon;i don't go out to work; i'm basically a housewife; P works away from home, usually one week a month, but intensively, the rest of the time we can do whatever suits re: food. He eats a ; i don't;he's happy to eat the same stuff two or three days running; i'm not. When he's away i generally just eat one cheese & beetroot sandwich a day.

(And no, i am *Not Anorexic*!), it's just that is enough to keep me going!)

Booze is high in calories, so that is fuel also.Plus smoking curbs appetite.

zdt

I've not seen anybody eat as much as my brother-in-law And while he's nearly 2m tall, he's skinny as a rail

I used to eat quite a lot, and stayed very thin, before I had the thyroid-related debacle. Now I eat a lot less, though, so it almost balances out.

The fact that alcohol is high in calories is just one more reason for me to avoid it as much as possible. The alcohol-removed wine has 15 calories per 4-oz serving, as opposed to 70.

Yeah, if we lived far away from any take-out places, it would be inconvenient to eat take-out much. Delivery charges can be a lot, and if you have to pick it up and lug it home, then reheat it because it's gone cold, it defeats the purpose of ordering.

A lot is relative. But with some relatives... J can eat nearly a pound (dry) of pasta in a single sitting!

And around ten in the evening, he has four or five sandwiches.

Four or five sandwiches is a lot! That's a couple days' worth of eating for me.

There are some things I can eat more than enough of, just because they are so yummy. Guacamole, for example. And sometimes, if I've been really busy and haven't had a chance for lunch or something like that, I'll be overly hungry for dinner and I'll wind up having a bit more than I normally would, because when I'm really famished I tend to eat too quickly.