Steam, sausages, and chocolate

[vilakins]

We went on a steam-train trip yesterday: an hour's circuit taking us round Auckland and from one side of the country to the other and back, a less impressive feat than it sounds. Greg, devoted ferro-equinologist that he is, is down at one of the stations now, waiting to get a photo of the train thundering through. It's too hot for him to wear an anorak though. :-P Across the road from the station is Avon's Butchery. Avon (yes, he's really called that) has won awards for his sausages (What!) and Greg is buying some to whack on the barbie tonight along with the soy ones I bought for myself yesterday.

Which reminds me: I discovered Green & Black's organic fair-trade chocolate in the organic supermarket yesterday. Yay! I bought orange with spices, vanilla white, and extra cocoa. They didn't have the chilli various UK friends have raved about. I asked at the checkout and they said they'd see if it was available but I won't hold my breath. I had three squares of the orange last night. Yum. [craves some now]

Comments

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

What!? But according to the Liber Avonis (http://web.archive.org/web/19991004053908/www.geocities.com/Area51/6390/sausage.html), Avon has no sausage!

I would love to try some of that chilli chocolate. I can see I'm going to be doing some Web searching. :-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've been googling and maybe it isn't Green & Black who make the chilli chocolate. Montzezuma's Revenge do though. I must see if the organic shop stocks that.

That Liber Avonis page is ... strange. But Avon hasn't a sausage. :-) There's a difference in British English.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

But Avon hasn't a sausage. :-) There's a difference in British English.

::scratches head:: Really? I've never run across this. Can you explain it to me, please?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

"I haven't a sausage" means "I haven't got anything". "Not a sausage" means "nothing".

So the point of that story was that Avon came into the world with nothing.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

"Not a sausage" means "nothing".

Let me be sure I get this: do you mean this is an idiom? Is it only a sausage, or would 'not a pickle' mean 'nothing'?

[trixieleitz]

Yes, "not a sausage" is an idiom. I suspect, though, that if you substituted some other foodstuff, an astute listener would get what you meant from context, and be quite amused :)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thanks. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's just sausages, perhaps because they're intrinsically funny. Now I think of it, Germans who don't care about something say, "Das is mir Wurst" or "That's sausage to me". :-)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Now that's intriguing. Thank you.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

To back up the others (not that they really need it, I just like overkill) you'll note the idiom is also used by Marvin the Paranoid Android in HHGTTG when he is left to defend the building against the amazingly deadly and astoundingly stupid automated killing machine whose name I've currently forgotten, though being an android, he modified it to :

"Nothing. Not an electronic sausage."

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that. It's funny and informative, too.

[trixieleitz]

ferro-equinologist
Pffft!

The chilli chocolate was made by Plamil's (unless G&B have started as well). Let me know if you find a source :) And G&B's chocolate icecream range is definitely worth looking out for.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I bet it is. [wonders if the shop has it] I don't think they had Plamil's though. I've had chilli icecream several times, and chicken with mole sauce (cocoa and chilli), but not chocolate as such.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

chicken with mole sauce

The bit in brackets came too late to dispel the disgusting image now in my head...:)

G & B's Maya Gold is amazing. I haven't yet forgiven OH because when I wasted a square on him he said "it's all right". That y chromosome is missing a lot of genes.

[trixieleitz]

I'm fairly sure it's pronounced something like moe-lay. But I doubt that that helps ;)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It is indeed.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

G & B's Maya Gold is amazing.

It is! I tried their white tonight; it had little flecks of real vanilla bean. Mmmmmm!

The mole sauce is pronounced to rhyme with olé. It just looks disgusting when written (and I couldn't help but think of Moley).

[kerravonsen]

It is! I tried their white tonight; it had little flecks of real vanilla bean.

Really? I normally hate white chocolate, but this intrigues me.
Mind you, the only place I've found Green & Black chocolate is at the Oxfam/Community-Aid-Abroad store in a particular City arcade.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I don't really go for the Maya Gold either. But I've been stuffing myself with alternating squares of Vanilla and 70% Dark all evening.

[trixieleitz]

Ooh, I just remembered that the Plamil chocolate was marketed as cayenne chocolate. Might make a difference in finding it?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I only got one hit for Plamil's in NZ and that was a link to a UK site. :-(

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

Green & Black's white chocolate is to *die* for.

*drools*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It is! I tried it tonight. [joins you]

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

G&B is wonderful! I love the Maya Gold, and I've recently branched out into the cherry one, too. Mmmmmm.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They only had Maya Gold, vanilla white, and milk with extra cocoa (haven't tried that one yet but the other two are superb).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And I must add: Avon's prize-winning sausages (beef) were indeed excellent. I'm not keen on meat and I avoid sausages but Greg made me try them; the're the best I've had in years. Mind you, he also agreed that the soyburger was also very tasty.

[kerravonsen]

Avon's prize-winning sausages (beef)
Ah, now I much prefer beef sausages to pork sausages. And strangely enough, while in the UK, the "default" sausage is pork, in Australia it seems to be a mixture of beef and pork...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[shudder] See, this is why I won't normally touch them; that and the usual quality; I know what I'm getting with soy. These sausages were surprising free of yucky bits and filler; I'll have them again.

[kerravonsen]

One of our local butchers makes prize-winning sausages, which I would love to have, but sausages are definitely off the menu as too fatty.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's carbo I have to avoid, and these seem to have a high proportion of protein. The lack of white bits probably means they're not too fatty, and BBQing is a fairly healthy way of cooking anyway.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Green and Black ginger chocolate is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. Mmm.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They didn't have that. :-( And I adore ginger.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Isn't it amazing how eloquent we all wax on this subject? :)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Yay for steam trains and Green & Black's :0)

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Ok, miles and miles and miles behind, but this just had to be commented on.

G&B. The Cherry, Ginger, and White options are awe inspiring, and they've also just released a great new version, Dark Almond, which only seems to be available at Waitrose (no idea why). They also make plain, dark, rich cocoa powder, which is the best thing ever for making up hot chocolate without all the excess sugar.

While in Oz this month, I spied advertising for limited edition Chilli Tim Tams. I didn't try them, but I thought I should let you know in case you can have them sent over.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I heard about the chilli Tim Tams, and also about the new Tim Tam ice-cream. We get several flavours of Tim Tams here, but I haven't seen the chilli ones. I'm buying them if I do, though I'm trying to eat healthy food. :-P

Ginger G&B. I long for ginger G&B. I did find some by Whitakers though which is pretty good. Thanks for the tip about the cocoa powder; I want a good one that isn't sweetened. I'll have to see if they stock that.