Darn pumpkins

[saundra]

One lump or two

[Diflower]

I have politely eaten just enough couscous to not appear rude; I have tried a few recipes said to be 'delicious'...enough's enough. They're not fooling me any more with their bottom-of-the-birdcage packaged and labelled for human consumption

Everybody who comes from Britain says the same thing about couscous when they come to France. The French use it in two ways, one is in side salad type dishes often mixed with meat and always in some kind of flavoured dressing which has been absorbed into the couscous. Most of it is wonderful, there is the occasional one I don't like but that's mainly down to what the couscous is in, not the couscous itself which is basically pretty bland.

The second way the French use it is for North African Tajine dishes. Then the couscous is generally served plain but the Tajine should have a lot of liquid with it. When you ladle it out the couscous absorbs the liquid and, if the Tajine is good, tastes wonderful. Plain couscous prepared with nothing on it is truly awful. But, again, it's not actually supposed to be eaten that way.

Most people who come to us in France say they don't like couscous. Almost all of them who leave go home looking for Taboule or with recipies for making it....

We had guests round Saturday night and Mrs S had cooked chicken and quince tajine that was absolutely wonderful. The couscous absorbed all the liquid and tasted as good as everything else...

Pumpkins, wouldn't thank you for them but they do make a failry good spicy soup. Sweet Potatoes? Nectar of the gods....

Halloween? A disease that children love and grumpy old men hate....

I've been to France and eaten at North African restaurants specialising in couscous. The ex worked in France for a couple of years, he used to tell me how wonderful the couscous restaurants were; we went, he took me, I said it would all be lovely if only it weren't for the couscous.
As I said, I've tried. Never dreamt of even trying it plain, have prepared it several times, adding more and more flavour...still don't see the point of it

I cook; I cook, eat and love various tagines. I serve them with tabbouleh, prepared correctly with bulghur wheat, or make bulghur wheat pilaf...
I don't hate couscous, just don't much like it and wouldn't choose to eat it

[Suff]

People tell me Endive is good to eat too.... I've tried it every which way, stubbornly tried to "like" it.

In the end I gave up. Eating something which tastes to me like ashes was never in my acceptable category.

I was just saying that, in most cases, people who had tried couscous in the UK and not enjoyed it, wound up liking it in France.

Food is one of those things. Sometimes your taste buds just can't take it.

[meriad]

Food is one of those things. Sometimes your taste buds just can't take it.

Yup totally agree. There are quite a few things I'm not overly fond of and as Di says - woudln't choose to eat, but if I were invited somewhere and it was in food I'd grin and bear it and survive just fine.

But some things regardless of where I am, I'll pick out and leave aside....

[debih]

I hate celery with a passion and dread going for a meal at someone's house if I know they are making a stew as invariably it will have chunks of the Devils food in it.

I swallow the chunks whole, washed down with a gulp of wine!

I do use it in stews at home as Mick and the girls like it but I cut really big chunks so I can fish mine out.


Sent from Santas grotto

[Workingman]

When a child: Peas!

Hated them. I would pick every single one out of any food dished up. Fortunately my sister loved them, but did not like mushrooms, so "swapsies" were the order of the day.

We didn't know what pumpkins were in those days, we had real food, so my dislike for the fart inducing glutinous orange sludge came much later.