Everything sounds the same

[PeterSt]

5 minutes ago, esldude said:

So do you go for the Waffles or Texas Toast or what is your favorite menu item? 

 

Three fried eggs, sunny side up. 2 extra slices of white bread. Steal ketchup from the neighbor when not on the table. Be extra nice with tips when it all works out.

 

... Which is almost never. It is not on the menu like so it is a great struggle for waitresses and cooks and the act of working together.

I seriously like the attitude and effort the people ("workers") in that organization put into it all. It is the customer above everything (as how I personally judge it).

 

If I implied otherwise by my previous post about them, then this is unintentional. What I really wanted to say with it, is that it is quite representative of the American and/or America. Again, in my view. And in a positive sense. See this very post.

 

 

[PeterSt]

6 minutes ago, esldude said:

But stay loose, let it sink in, try it a second time and in time the attraction to at least some things becomes apparent.

 

7 minutes ago, esldude said:

Though I wouldn't put Waffle houses at the top of anyone's list for sampling American food.  I would note many Waffle house cooks will alter things to suit the customer if you ask. 

 

100% exactly.

 

 

[fas42]

28 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

I have a little sequence of happenings too. And had great fun with it.

 

1. Marce puts up that superb presentation of John Wu from TI. I tried to envision how much time the man has put into it, so it really doesn't even need verbal support to understand it all. IOW, super great stuff.

 

Just to mention that Thomas Kuehl, a Senior Applications Engineer, created some of the key material of the presentation - https://slideplayer.com/slide/5806990/

 

28 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

2. Frank kind of debunks it by referring to ancient history. At least that is how I read it. I am neutral there (but maybe not 100%).

 

Everything's relevant. What I was specifically addressing was Marce somewhat implying that Mixed Signal design was as easy as "falling off a log ... ", .

 

... many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip ...

[mansr]

9 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

How well do you think face to face is communication is going to work in seminars, hallways and rooms at RMAF? 

Sometimes fist-to-face communication is more effective.

[mansr]

8 hours ago, jabbr said:

May I ask what your native language is? Evident to me it’s not English.

Probably Russian or some other Slavic language.

[Rt66indierock]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

Sometimes fist-to-face communication is more effective.

 

We shall see. There will be some interesting discussions before Chris ends RMAF with his MQA seminar. 

[gmgraves]

15 hours ago, jabbr said:

 

I was disappointed he passed on the Joshua Bell concert last night ? He told me that he thinks that in the future Eminem will be viewed the way we view Beethoven ?

 

I have to say that the car stereo was particularly painful demonstrating to me that, no, not all electronics sound the same.

Tell your son he's wrong. And you can give this example. There was a wildly popular crooner/songwriter in the United States in the 1920's and 1930's named Russ Columbo His career ended in 1934, when he was visiting a friend at the friend's photo studio. Apparently as they conversed, he absent-mindedly picked up an antique flint-lock pistol that the photographer had borrowed as a prop for a photo shoot when it inexplicably went off! Columbo was killed instantly. In 1934 everybody in the country knew who Russ Columbo was. Today, nobody remembers his name, has ever heard anything either written by or performed by him. He is essentially unknown. Popular music and pop performers are like that: ephemeral. Here today, gone tomorrow. Pop music differs from art in that it is a commercial enterprise  and an entertainment, rather than an art form. Sometimes pop music becomes art, but not very often. Also. keep in mind that just because something is regarded as art, doesn't mean that it is good art! For instance, in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, there is a piece of art consisting of nothing more than a slab of wall board, with an "American Standard" urinal (!) mounted on it! It doesn't even work and patrons are discouraged from trying to use it for it's intended purpose! 

There are exceptions and time sorts them out. The music of George Gershwin and Cole Porter, from roughly the same era as Columbo will surely live "forever'" as will the music and songs and shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner And Lowe As for crooners, I suspect that Crosby and Sinatra have passed the test of time (but maybe not), but I'm reasonably sure that Elvis will, as will The Beatles and perhaps the Beach Boys. But again I could be wrong. There is so little actual "music" in rap (IMHO) that I don't really understand how it's lasted this long!!? (but I'm probably not qualified to make any real critique of rap and hip-hop, so take that with a grain of sand).

Indeed, not all electronics sound the same. Luckily (for me) I have decided long ago that I don't care about car audio AT ALL. There are two types of car audio systems; ones that are good enough for me to listen to while driving and those that fall below my minimums (meaning they're painful to listen to). This might sound unusual to say, and perhaps my memory is wrapped in nostalgia, but I think that the best car sound I ever heard was the "Sonora" AM/FM radio (the first FM section ever made available in an American car AFAIK) in my father's 1954 Buick Century! It was tubed of course with about a 12 Watt push-pull amp using 6V6 output tubes. The 6X9 speaker was part of the radio chassis itself and "spoke" from dashboard. It must have had a coaxial tweeter, because in FM it certainly had highs. In 1954, I doubt seriously if most people's home radios sounded as good! I do remember that when my dad bought his 1959 Buick Electra, the radio didn't sound anywhere as good. Luckily we kept the '54 for mom to drive, and later for me.  

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Sad to hear about Ross Columbo's tragic end, but I struggle to see the relevance of that story in the context of music appreciation.

 

Sorry you are missig out on so much of what  20th century music has to offer.

 

 

[wgscott]

10 hours ago, mansr said:

Probably Russian

 

If it isn't Brexit, Facebook and electing Trump, it is subversion of audiophile websites.  They even take both sides of the cable arguments.  

[Ralf11]

14 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

Three fried eggs, sunny side up. 2 extra slices of white bread. Steal ketchup from the neighbor when not on the table. Be extra nice with tips when it all works out.

 

... Which is almost never. It is not on the menu like so it is a great struggle for waitresses and cooks and the act of working together.

I seriously like the attitude and effort the people ("workers") in that organization put into it all. It is the customer above everything (as how I personally judge it).

 

If I implied otherwise by my previous post about them, then this is unintentional. What I really wanted to say with it, is that it is quite representative of the American and/or America. Again, in my view. And in a positive sense. See this very post.

 

 

 

depends on what part of the US - you have to work hard to get white bread* in the white bread town I live in

 

we do have ketchup tho - it is organic, locally sourced, yada yada

 

 

* baguettes excepted

[lucretius]

9 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

 

depends on what part of the US - you have to work hard to get white bread* in the white bread town I live in

 

we do have ketchup tho - it is organic, locally sourced, yada yada

 

 

* baguettes excepted

 

Why do Americans insist upon putting ketchup/catsup on everything? Is the food that bad?

[Ralf11]

C'est sauce d'Amerique

[jabbr]

16 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

Three fried eggs, sunny side up. 2 extra slices of white bread. Steal ketchup from the neighbor when not on the table. Be extra nice with tips when it all works out.

 

... Which is almost never. It is not on the menu like so it is a great struggle for waitresses and cooks and the act of working together.

I seriously like the attitude and effort the people ("workers") in that organization put into it all. It is the customer above everything (as how I personally judge it).

 

If I implied otherwise by my previous post about them, then this is unintentional. What I really wanted to say with it, is that it is quite representative of the American and/or America. Again, in my view. And in a positive sense. See this very post.

 

 

 

Very interesting you should say because we have a high opinion of "Belgian Waffles" and "Bretagne" crepes. The difference, best I can tell, is the use of yeast in the batter, whereas the "American" version is notable for white flour, and baking powder, so a very bland, generic taste to which syrup is added, maple if you are very very lucky, not not real maple typically.

 

Yes eggs, and yes bacon, or "Canadian bacon" aka "Country ham" which when hand made/properly aged in Western Ky, rivals the best of Italian "Prosciutto" ... most of our generic ham is what they call "English Ham" or "Prosciutto Anglaise"

 

The Waffle House is notable for being open 24 hours! So think of a meal after a very late night party ... or a very early breakfast before a long road trip.

 

The Original Pancake House has a broader and more upscale menu with some items such as the  pancake variant "Dutch Baby" which best as I can tell are from a Pennsylvania Dutch origin rather than Netherland origin (but @PeterSt please correct me)

 

Another Southern origin is the "Waffle and Fried Chicken"

[esldude]

18 minutes ago, jabbr said:

 

Very interesting you should say because we have a high opinion of "Belgian Waffles" and "Bretagne" crepes. The difference, best I can tell, is the use of yeast in the batter, whereas the "American" version is notable for white flour, and baking powder, so a very bland, generic taste to which syrup is added, maple if you are very very lucky, not not real maple typically.

 

Yes eggs, and yes bacon, or "Canadian bacon" aka "Country ham" which when hand made/properly aged in Western Ky, rivals the best of Italian "Prosciutto" ... most of our generic ham is what they call "English Ham" or "Prosciutto Anglaise"

 

The Waffle House is notable for being open 24 hours! So think of a meal after a very late night party ... or a very early breakfast before a long road trip.

 

The Original Pancake House has a broader and more upscale menu with some items such as the  pancake variant "Dutch Baby" which best as I can tell are from a Pennsylvania Dutch origin rather than Netherland origin (but @PeterSt please correct me)

 

Another Southern origin is the "Waffle and Fried Chicken"

Yes, when in college virtually nothing was open late in those days.  Two exceptions were the Waffle house and Pancake house.  So if you were up late studying or otherwise and wanted a snack out somewhere those were your choices.  We had a saying, "the floor show starts at 2 am".  Around 2 am is when all the strange (and often interesting) people would show up.  

[jabbr]

40 minutes ago, jabbr said:

some items such as the  pancake variant "Dutch Baby" which best as I can tell are from a Pennsylvania Dutch origin rather than Netherland origin (but @PeterSt please correct me)

 

Had to look this up ... So called "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a misnomer that arose from "Deutsch" or German. Many of these Amish/Mennonite/German Baptist people arose from Germany/Switzerland and not the Netherlands. The pancake is indeed an American version of the German Apple Pancake: http://www.german-recipes-and-more.com/apfelpfannkuchen-recipe.html. I first had traveling through southern Pennsylvania.

 

Most highly recommended!

[Ralf11]

if it says "English" it is best to keep it out of your mouth

[jabbr]

3 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

if it says "English" it is best to keep it out of your mouth

Quote

Well, to be perfectly honest, there was this girl in Philadelphia

James Bond, Never Say Never Again, 1983

[PeterSt]

7 hours ago, jabbr said:

Had to look this up ... So called "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a misnomer that arose from "Deutsch" or German.

 

Correct. But driving through the area and interviewing some Amish which is in about the same area as I recall, unveiled that it is more complicated. I recall a story about ships which left from the Netherlands because we have the harbors to the North Sea (and from there go to America (I avoid the "States" for now)) but the ships were loaded with German and not with Dutch. Don't ask me whether the ships would be Dutch and carry Dutch flags, but I suppose the latter and now the most nice confusing thing is :

 

Drive through that Dutch area and see that the flags which are everywhere to expres the forthcoming are ... Dutch flags. Allow me :

 

 

The German flag is slightly different :

 

 

Add to that indeed the similarity between the words Dutch and Deutch which an American would both express quite similar, and there you go. All history down the drain.

 

Maybe now I start investigate where ever the word "Dutch" comes from because at this moment I have no clue. We should be Hollandaise or something, but I suppose that was already occupied by a French sauce. Of course this is not to be confused with German Sausage where no ketchup is put to but mustard. This latter again seems French to me. And although for the whole of my life I thought that Heinz was Dutch, I saw so much Heinz in the US that I started a deep investigation and learned that I was wrong and that we had to go to Pennsylvania for that indeed. With a bit of a detour through Louisiana you may end up in Avery Island and find yourself in the Tabasco pepper fields and adjacent factory. Never go to Mexico for that because there they have quite different matter.

[PeterSt]

8 hours ago, jabbr said:

Very interesting you should say because we have a high opinion of "Belgian Waffles" and "Bretagne" crepes. The difference, best I can tell, is the use of yeast in the batter, whereas the "American" version is notable for white flour

 

Ho ho ho, know your stuff. We seriously have our own bakery over here (I mean in-house) and for maybe 25 years by now we improve and improve and improve. Side note in advance (with apologies to @diecaster) there is no single way there is any "real" bakery where we buy bread of any sort because our own is so infinitely better by now.

The upside : a lot we take from an American named David Lebovitz  but IIRC his history is that he had to move to Paris to exploit his art (of baking). I think it was him my wife received a baking course from. But this is not what I wanted to tell ...

 

Suppose you are from outside the US of A (but US citizens can do it too) and you pass SF anyway, get yourself a starter of the most original sour dough. Yes, world wide famous, whether you know it or not.

By now I forgot what year it was, but probably 2012 when we collected ours and it still lives (if you know about dough starters you know what I mean). But merely : we spread it (it grows and you can split it and give it away to neighbors etc.). Even 6moons reviewers received it and possibly they now review through sour dough eyes. Anyway ...

we learned to make all bread by means of it. Also baguettes. And yes, also waffles. 

 

So the trick with sour dough is that no yeast is involved. It replaces yeast (and flower only doesn't really let "rise" dough although sure bread exists which doesn't need to rise (or only very tiny like Balymaloe Brown Bread - also by recipe of Mr Lebovits). E.g. Irish Soda Bread doesn't require rising at all (the soda acts as a kind of baking powder).

I just asked the specialist but waffles can not be made without any rising means (the least it requires is some kind of baking powder with (I'd say) yeast ingredients).

 

So the key to almost all is that San Fransisco sour dough starter. Nothing resembles it. And might you want to know - at least over here no bakery even produces sour dough based bread because it takes too much effort. There's fake though, with a "sour" kind of taste but as ugly as everything else.

[diecaster]

24 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

Correct. But driving through the area and interviewing some Amish which is in about the same area as I recall, unveiled that it is more complicated. I recall a story about ships which left from the Netherlands because we have the harbors to the North Sea (and from there go to America (I avoid the "States" for now)) but the ships were loaded with German and not with Dutch. Don't ask me whether the ships would be Dutch and carry Dutch flags, but I suppose the latter and now the most nice confusing thing is :

 

Drive through that Dutch area and see that the flags which are everywhere to expres the forthcoming are ... Dutch flags. Allow me :

 

 

The German flag is slightly different :

 

 

Add to that indeed the similarity between the words Dutch and Deutch which an American would both express quite similar, and there you go. All history down the drain.

 

Maybe now I start investigate where ever the word "Dutch" comes from because at this moment I have no clue. We should be Hollandaise or something, but I suppose that was already occupied by a French sauce. Of course this is not to be confused with German Sausage where no ketchup is put to but mustard. This latter again seems French to me. And although for the whole of my life I thought that Heinz was Dutch, I saw so much Heinz in the US that I started a deep investigation and learned that I was wrong and that we had to go to Pennsylvania for that indeed. With a bit of a detour through Louisiana you may end up in Avery Island and find yourself in the Tabasco pepper fields and adjacent factory. Never go to Mexico for that because there they have quite different matter.

 

"Pennsylvania Dutch"  very much means "Pennsylvania German" and not "Dutch" at all. Any reference to "Dutch" in that region most certainly means "Deutsch", or in English, "German".

 

Here is the description of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" flag:

 

http://visitpadutchcountry.com/die-pennsylfaanisch-deitsch-faahne/

 

Who knows why you saw some real Dutch flags.

 

The first ship to bring German immigrants to Pennsylvania was an English ship named "Concord". It sailed from Rotterdam with the German immigrants to England. Then sailed on to Philadelphia.

 

No Dutch were involved.....

[diecaster]

9 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Side note in advance (with apologies to @diecaster) there is no single way there is any "real" bakery where we buy bread of any sort because our own is so infinitely better by now.

 

Why am I not surprised? Of course your bread is better than anyone else's bread. How could it not be. And I am sure your ?doesn't stink either....

[PeterSt]

Because this thread is about nothing anyway, we can just as well proceed with Applebee's and their baby back ribs. But merely the secret sauce to it. So what we do after visiting maybe 10 of those restaurants and finally observing that this sauce is the thing to go for, we Google till we drop and find the recipe of the sauce. And also how to first cook and after that bake the ribs.

 

Audio is one hobby, but cooking is the good second, if not the first because when cooking, music is playing unconditionally.

 

Many good things come from the US. If it is about restaurants the down side is the "I am your server" model. It makes all bland and good restaurants are hard to find (when driving randomly through the country). Asian restaurants are virtually inexistent but the very one we coincidentally ran into, was outside the "server" model. And with that readily great. The same happened with a restaurant ran by a German family. This is two and not more. Ignorant in the midst of everything else.

 

Context (also for European) : Outside of the US the waiters and waitresses earn a salary which does not depend on tips. However, they do receive tips when they perform (which means : are nice, treat you with specialty, etc. etc.). The US model depicts giving tips because else there would be no way the servants could live from the money they normally earn. For us (European) this makes it very strange and contradictory because servants too have days off and shout at you etc. Still you are obliged to give this tip ... (and nothing wrong with that once you are used to it).

 

Anyway, Applebee's baby back ribs. And since we are not always in the US, we steal the recipe and make it ourselves.

Not everyday. 

[PeterSt]

On 9/25/2018 at 11:16 PM, gmgraves said:

Speaking of pizza, southern Italy literally ruined me for pizza. There are so few pizzas that I can eat since I tasted a real one

 

OK, last one (lucky you) ... About pancakes and pizzas.

 

I forgot where it was exactly, but a bit of a larger city above Phoenix. Pizzas are generally fine and we ate them in general restaurants. I mean, not Italian restaurants.

This time we found the real Italian restaurant and I went for a pizza. Okayyy. The bottom really was like a pancake and I asked the waiter what this was about. "We can't make them better here, Sir". And "You may like to order something else".

Really.

 

Putting forward the crazy hobby : we have 5 ovens over here. Over a year ago we bought a crazy pizza oven which goes to 500C (932F) in 15-20 minutes. This bakes a pizza in 90 seconds (can even be less). And mind you, it is all about the heat. With that heat anything is cooked (as in : not raw) almost instantly. Even fairly thick beef is. The crust of the pizza is great by this means, and btw no different from how the real Italian restaurant bakes the pizza.

 

The super trick is the smoke of wood. OK, I am not going to tell any American how to cook meat on a barbecue, but it might be good to know that it is explicitly the smoke which makes meat (and more) tender. Same thing with the pizza oven which has to be fired with wood. The 500C/932F oven I talk about can run on wood and on gas. But, heating it up to that heat on wood takes an hour, while gas takes 15 minutes. The trick now is : dunk a piece of wood in there when it is hot which instantly catches fire because of the heat, and now you have the smoke. Tuck in the pizza and there you go.

 

The trickery with BBQ and how smoke does the job can be proven by this :

Assuming not everyone has a smoker, take out your Weber. Fire in the middle only. Heat up as much as possible. 

Put chicken thigh on the side(s), cover on. All vents open (under and top, but top maybe less to temper somewhat). You can't let this chicken stay in forever or else all gets mighty dry. Think 10 minutes.

Now do the same, but put a small wood log (1x1x6" or so) in the fire. Cover on again, and it will nicely smoke. Do not remove the cover because the smoking will stop and only commence with a new wood log. Let this stay for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes or more than 60 minutes (replace the log when smoking stops). Apart from the greatest color the chicken thighs receive, they stay moisty no matter the cooking time. I tested this for fun, with the notice to Dutch that this year has been the all time record for eating outside (which was 7 weeks in a row this summer). It's not Miami here, but this summer has been close.

 

Back to that other hobby now.

[Shadders]

11 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

if it says "English" it is best to keep it out of your mouth

Hi,

Ok, i am going to bite.

Why would you say that ?

 

I just looked at the exports of Beef and Lamb - and most of our produce goes to the EU countries, France, Germany and Netherlands. The US is not listed in any of the reports i examined.

 

So, the issue may be, that what you see as stated as being "English" is in fact a US producer marketing it as "English" as a sales technique, not that it comes from England. Maybe check the fine print ?

 

Regards,

Shadders.

[lucretius]

1 hour ago, Shadders said:

Hi,

Ok, i am going to bite.

Why would you say that ?

 

I just looked at the exports of Beef and Lamb - and most of our produce goes to the EU countries, France, Germany and Netherlands. The US is not listed in any of the reports i examined.

 

So, the issue may be, that what you see as stated as being "English" is in fact a US producer marketing it as "English" as a sales technique, not that it comes from England. Maybe check the fine print ?

 

Regards,

Shadders.

 

So, no more issues with mad cow?