Off Topic The Review Thread

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Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. I thought the last thing anyone needed, even irredeemable fans of Italy and Italian food and wine like me, was yet another TV travelogue set in Italy and various restaurants and food producers.

But this is very good, as always beautiful scenery and pictures, and Tucci is very simpatico, a genuine fan, speaks Italian and has an endearing habit of muttering ‘Jesus Christ’ when eating something especially delicious.

In Emilia Romagna tonight, a province including the towns of Bologna, Parma and Modena, where lots of what we consider to be ‘typical Italian’ food comes from (excluding pizza).
 
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We have the Baftas on, while waiting for Peaky Blinders. OMG. Rebel Wilson is cringe-worthy.
Switch to Stanley Tucci.

My son and I have just had a large steak dinner (the ladies of the house are away on holiday). The segment on Parma ham forced the lad to the fridge to see if we had any, even after a mountain of beef ( I bought the same quantity as we usually have for the whole family. And we ate it). So now he has added air dried pork to the beef…..
 
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Switch to Stanley Tucci.

My son and I have just had a large steak dinner (the ladies of the house are away on holiday). The segment on Parma ham forced the lad to the fridge to see if we had any, even after a mountain of beef ( I bought the same quantity as we usually have for the whole family. And we ate it). So now he has added air dried pork to the beef…..

Started watching the last episode of Around the World in Eighty Days instead.

I'm not really a fan of Italian food, but I'll try to watch the Tucci thing on catch-up.
 
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I did see just enough of the Baftas to catch a glimpse of the wonderful Jessie Buckley though, so it was worth it.

I tried to get tickets to see her in Cabaret (imagine!), but she's only in it until 21st March and there aren't any tickets to be had. Gutted.
 
Started watching the last episode of Around the World in Eighty Days instead.

I'm not really a fan of Italian food, but I'll try to watch the Tucci thing on catch-up.
Ok, we have to discuss this. No problem, but I’m interested in what it isn’t that doesn’t make you a fan. For full disclosure I’m not a fan of Chinese food, despite having the best available for 3 years when I lived in Hong Kong. I’m meeting up with a few mates I worked with there in a couple of weeks and they want to go for ‘dim sum’ which makes my heart sink. Thankfully it’s only lunch, followed by pubs and hopefully a curry in the evening. I’ll eat Chinese food, especially Szechuan, and enjoy it, but given a choice I can’t really see myself choosing it.

If forced to have one cuisine for the rest of my life it would definitely be Italian, which is way more varied than many think, and I’m a man who once had two curries a day for six weeks (in India) and was some way short of getting bored with it.
 
I did see just enough of the Baftas to catch a glimpse of the wonderful Jessie Buckley though, so it was worth it.

I tried to get tickets to see her in Cabaret (imagine!), but she's only in it until 21st March and there aren't any tickets to be had. Gutted.
People are talking about your thing for young Jesse.
 
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Ok, we have to discuss this. No problem, but I’m interested in what it isn’t that doesn’t make you a fan. For full disclosure I’m not a fan of Chinese food, despite having the best available for 3 years when I lived in Hong Kong. I’m meeting up with a few mates I worked with there in a couple of weeks and they want to go for ‘dim sum’ which makes my heart sink. Thankfully it’s only lunch, followed by pubs and hopefully a curry in the evening. I’ll eat Chinese food, especially Szechuan, and enjoy it, but given a choice I can’t really see myself choosing it.

If forced to have one cuisine for the rest of my life it would definitely be Italian, which is way more varied than many think, and I’m a man who once had two curries a day for six weeks (in India) and was some way short of getting bored with it.

I'll just show myself up for some kind of culinary heathen, but OK. I just don't see Italian cuisine as being varied. Pasta, mince and tomato sauce can only be done in so many ways. What is it with pasta anyway? Why do they make it in all kinds of different shapes as if that makes it less bland?
 
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I'll just show myself up for some kind of culinary heathen, but OK. I just don't see Italian cuisine as being varied. Pasta, mince and tomato sauce can only be done in so many ways. What is it with pasta anyway? Why do they make it in all kinds of different shapes as if that makes it less bland?
I’ll take you to a decent Italian restaurant sometime. One where you don’t have to see pasta, mince (never seen in a proper Italian dish to my knowledge) or tomato if you don’t want to. Italian roast pork and rosemary roasties ……

….no point debating in pixels, a taste test required. If you could only have one cuisine, what would you pick? (I know this is a stupid and especially bloke-ish question, but indulge me).
 
I’ll take you to a decent Italian restaurant sometime. One where you don’t have to see pasta, mince (never seen in a proper Italian dish to my knowledge) or tomato if you don’t want to. Italian roast pork and rosemary roasties ……

….no point debating in pixels, a taste test required. If you could only have one cuisine, what would you pick? (I know this is a stupid and especially bloke-ish question, but indulge me).

I'll take you up on that offer, although my wife makes pretty good rosemary roasties.

I don't think I could possibly restrict myself to one cuisine, but if I had to it might well be Indian. Can you get an Indian fry-up?
 
I'm just in from seeing Tom McGuire and the Brassholes - I hadn't even heard of them until this morning, Mrs had been given the tickets for her birthday and forgotten all about them. Venue was The Old Fruitmarket, in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, a beautiful venue...

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Went with no expectations of the band, and was very pleasantly surprised. Funk, soul blues - lots of audience participation, including crowd surfing on an inflatable pizza slice! Would definately go see them again.

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That really does look like a great place to see a band. It reminds me a little bit of the Mean Fiddler, where I spent many a drunken hour in a happy haze.
 
That really does look like a great place to see a band. It reminds me a little bit of the Mean Fiddler, where I spent many a drunken hour in a happy haze.

They don't do anywhere near enough gigs in there IMO....think it's owmed by the BBC...do a lot of Celtic stuff during the Celtic Connections Festival each year, and then a couple of random oned through rest of year
 
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Attention Naked Wine ****ers, which is probably only @Stroller and me.

Just ordered another case and at checkout you are offered the chance to buy a further case for £84 - all profits to go to aid for Ukraine. 6000 cases randomly selected, and you don’t know what you are going to get. A nice way to contribute something, or virtue signal, according to your perspective.
 
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