Text 23732, 91 rader
Skriven 2015-02-06 12:57:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: things to eat 146
=============================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 02-02-15  19:12 <=-

 NB>>> The nouveau riche have a lot to answer for...  ;0
 ML>> For sure, but on the other hand some very delicious things
 ML>> have more than a toe dipped in the ocean of ostentation.
 NB>> Ok, I'll give you that, too... I suppose some things had to turn
 NB>> out pretty nice...  ;)
 ML> Nouveau riche doesn't necessarily mean palate-dead, and
 ML> expensive doesn't mean bad. After all, hearts just as pure
 ML> and fair may beat in Belgrave Square as in the lowly air of
 ML> Seven Dials!

True, indeed.   :)
 
 NB>>> Did you have other congenial company to help with that bottle...? 
 ML>> Some executive of Delta Airlines, a dude.
 NB>> Was this trip a frequent flyers one...?
 ML> Yep. Interesting history to this one. There used to be
 ML> destinations that were favorably priced, I suspect because
 ML> the local government partially subsidized airfares in a
 ML> loss-leaderish way. Long ago, Hawaii was one such; and
 ML> 15-20 years ago Singapore: I figure the Lee government gave
 ML> the companies a favorable deal, and airfares were reasonable.
 ML> You could get an upgradeable round trip for 700-ish, for which
 ML> you'd get 20000 miles, or 3.5c a mile, which were then valued
 ML> at 1.5 to 2c a mile on the market. And real frequent fliers
 ML> got double miles, so as you can see the net travel cost was
 ML> negligible. So back in the '90s I started visiting long-
 ML> neglected friends and places in southeast Asia for what
 ML> amounted to next to nothing! 

Pretty much a no-brainer, for those in such a position, I see. :)

 ML> Well, there grew up a frequent
 ML> flier affinity group called Flyertalk that stumbled upon this
 ML> very anomaly, and 13 years ago started organizing a weekend
 ML> every year dedicated to exploiting it. It's since become a
 ML> tradition, though the economic justification has faded to
 ML> nothing - the Singapore economy has become one of the
 ML> strongest in the world (as I've been describing to Ruth), the
 ML> airfares and hotel and food costs have increased beyond
 ML> inflation, and there's been a gradual devaluation of program
 ML> miles to close to 1c. Now it's more seeing people whom one
 ML> has seen every year or two for over a decade and thawing out
 ML> for a week. I talked with the organizer (the 4th such in 13
 ML> years) about maybe moving the event to a more cost-effective
 ML> venue next year.

Seeing people is good, as is thawing out... ;)   Cost-effective is also
a good thing, especially for those whose income decreases with age.. ;)
Did you have any specific destinations to suggest to him/her...?
 
 NB>>> Can't say as I blame you much for feeling put out about that...
 NB>>> especially when you were someplace where the food was part of
 NB>>> the charm... ;)
 ML>> But the thing I most regret not experiencing was that
 ML>> KFC Double Down Dog. 
 NB>> Well... that's not available here, either... ;)
 ML> It's being test marketed only in the Philippines, and I was
 ML> there when it was there. What a missed opportunity.

Indeed.
 
 ML>> Lilli gave me some to taste, and I enjoyed it, even if
 ML>> I left half her gift on the plate.
 NB>> Maybe they start out with better chickens to begin with...?
 ML> I'm pretty certain that is the main explanation. I don't
 ML> know what the southeast Asian equivalent of Tyson is, but
 ML> the locally-sourced certainly is tastier.

I'd certainly expect so.  :)
 
 NB>> Onions, one can specify small, medium, large

 ML> Those terms conjure up something in my mind, but what you
 ML> may imagine might not be quite what I'd imagine. To me,
 ML> these mean 1/2 lb, 3/4-1 lb, and bigger. But then I like
 ML> onions, too.

Point.  I've not exactly weighed the onions I use... probably the ones I
get in the bag of yellow cooking onions I'd classify as small or medium
(with gradations thereof)... sometimes there's a larger one in the bag,
but I try for a bag that seems to have more uniformly sized onions.. ;)

ttyl       neb

... But I !!WANT!! the two in the bush...

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)