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Posts posted by Brisketexan
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I still remember thinking I was big shit when I was a kid because I got to spend most of one summer in Houston with my dad. Told my friends about “big city” life when school started.
Now I read this about kids summering in Berlin & going to school in foreign countries and it ruins my perception of childhood and damages my ego. Check your privilege, Brisket.
Yeah...as a kid my typical summer vacation was driving 15 hours to visit family in the Mexican desert, with a stop off in the RGV to visit my mom’s folks. The big years were the years we road tripped to Colorado, and then a couple years later, to Florida. I was thrilled if we stayed in a motel with a pool.
My kids have been made VERY aware that their first trip to Europe was MY first trip to Europe. And that with experience and perspective comes responsibility and obligation. They know a lot more about this world and the people in it than I did...so what are you going to do with that?
And, this trip is a bit nicer than I had originally planned, as my wife’s uncle left us a nice gift, and he was a world traveler (flew in for our wedding direct from Botswana), so we thought it appropriate.
It helps that we’ve cultivated friendships with folks in several countries - people to host us, show us around, etc. (and of course, our door is open to them - my kids’ friends call our house the “Europe house,” because we often have someone from overseas staying with us).
We’re very fortunate. -
I loved my visit to Copenhagen. Hope y’all have a great time, such a beautiful city
What were your highlights? Your favorite places to visit, eat, etc? We’re still playing it by ear. -
So, we went to our first Michelin starred restaurant tonight: Lofoten Fiskrestaurant. It was good. But we weren’t blown away. Granted, we’ve eaten some amazing meals, just in cities Michelin doesn’t cover.
Didn’t get pics of everything, but some sampling from our orders.
Starters:
Tuna tartar. This was better than most any other I’ve had.
Fiskesuppe. Good enough, but they went too heavy on the basil. Honestly, we preferred the classic fiskesuppe we had in Ålesund, and even that we made in our cabin.
Smoked mackerel. This was very good...but again, I picked up a piece at a fish market to eat in the car that was just as good.
Scallops. Very good, but scallops usually are.
Bisque, with smoked mussels. This was creative, and good... it again, I’ve had better bisque.
Cod with saffron sauce and summer veggies. This was very good.
And Arctic char - the wife liked it, but wasn’t blown away.
I know it seems silly, but we just haven’t had great luck with “fancy” dining. We seem to do better, and are happier, when we discover something small, local, and basic. Do what you do, and do it well.
We may try something similar in Copenhagen...we’ll see.-
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Some things are the same everywhere you go.
16 yr old boys still make dumbass decisions? -
There are liberals in the rural south. Just as there are in the ultra-conservative Midwest. My dad has a sister who is the only liberal in her generation of a very large family. She’s beloved, despite her politics. Trumpists would demonize her as a capital-L Librul. Do her brothers and sisters really believe she is evil incarnate? Because that’s what Fox News and Trump mouthpieces everywhere would have them believe.
You use that example as a way to get them thinking. To defuse the anger. Everyone’s spoiling for a fight because they’ve abstracted the other side to a nameless, faceless evil. Show them that the monster they’re about to swing at is actually their sister. Their son. Their childhood friend.
Brother killed brother in our civil war. Neighbor turned neighbor over to the Gestapo.
Human decency isn’t going to save us because the people who need to practice it are actively cheering its demise.
Fundamentally, the problem with your approach presumes that the republic isn’t already dead. You’re the pilot at the stick of a plane that’s lost a wing. Go ahead and fight like hell to get it under control - I’m there with you, fight till the bitter fucking end - but know this: we’re already dead.
When the group in power chooses to discard and then burn essentially everything that arguably makes us different, special, and good, there’s no recovery from that.-
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You don’t have to convince them all. And you don’t have to win the very next battle. It’s about staying in their ear. Chipping away. Being that angel on the shoulder, who keeps coming back to say “I know you’re a good person” even when they make stupid fucking decisions.
At some point, enough Trumpists will wake up and say “Oh my God, what was I thinking?” I’ve already seen it. Not with every Trump voter I’ve talked to. But with enough. I’ve heard that audible gasp in response to the “I worry about how this will hurt [insert dear friend here]. He’s [insert targeted minority].” I’ve seen the light bulb click on. Not every time and not with every Trump voter. But with enough to know it’s a better strategy than shouting “YOURE A FASCIST ASSHOLE!” Which is of course what I’d love to yell at many of them.
My grandfather shot dead many Germans who may well have been troubled by Hitler. But they still carried his water/carried a rifle for him.
More than enough information is out there. At this point, they know damned well they’re supporting cruelty and evil.
We ARE 1930s Germany. Camps for the undesirables and all. The Reichstag fire and suspension of normal elections and laws is coming.
We’re taking about how to talk to people who are happy to collaborate with an evil regime. That’s delightful. The time for talking will fly right by us. And we’ll be left with no choice but collaboration, silence, or physical resistance. This IS how a republic ends. The script is right there for the reading. -
Didn’t get a pic, but while roaming Oslo today, the boy took it upon himself to go into a Norwegian 7-11 and get a freaking Norwegian burrito.
A couple of hours later, he ran into a Norwegian Burger King to release that burrito. -
where else you going to place your plate while eating on the toilet ?
This man is a pro. -
Absolutely. But they can't stop it. It's what makes me giddy. White people are losing and I think it's hilarious.
It’s not hilarious at all. Because they’ve decided that if they can’t have this constitutional Republic, nobody can. They’ll destroy it before they see it fall into the hands of the mud people. And they’re well along the way to doing just that.
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Who the fuck goes reverse cowgirl on the toilet?
Sometimes, when you’re that drunk, you need a place to rest your head.
I mean, so I’ve heard. -
Does he really not understand that North Korea's "Wall" is to keep their own people in?
The president of the US is spooging in his pants admiring the prison walls of a totalitarian dictatorship.
I mean, that’s cool. Nothing out of the ordinary. -
Wanted to see the Viking ship museum since I was a kid...
It was beyond cool.
And the cultural museum was pretty cool, too. They have a rebuilt stave church - didn’t think we were going to get to see one.
Also....tourists from all over, so the museum crapper needed instructions...-
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You buying two seats on the flight home? I think you may need to after seeing all that food porn.
Walking a metric shit ton every day. I mean...I didn’t exactly start out skinny. It I ain’t getting worse. -
Good morning from Oslo.
Hit a food court. Butter chicken and savory svele. -
que es Taco Tub?
Where ever I travel I also wander through the grocery stores ... Fun fact, you can't get half and half in many European countries.
Looks like a rectangular shaped taco salad bowl/shell. In other words, something that would be at home in the Steel Shank thread. Also, something awesome. -
And...had to run around the corner to the grocery store for a couple of things.
They’ve got real Texas BBQ!
And if you want anything Mexican, our good friends at Old El Paso have em covered:
That said, I hauled a coupla packs of HEB fresh tortillas over here for them.
And, all the brown cheese.
And yes, they had strawberries. And yes, I got some for us to eat on the patio for dessert. -
Also...it’s Saturday night, so lots of folks are having get togethers. Norwegians love bad country music, so I can hear “Islands in the stream.” But it’s also multi cultural...so I can hear some middle eastern stuff.
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Passable Norwegian = English, only louder and slower?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?
She starts in German and fakes the rest.
Current situation, at our friends’ rooftop flat:
Kicking back, catching up on laundry, relaxing. We’ll tackle Oslo tomorrow.-
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Stop talking to yourself.
It’s how they work. Of those Jews had only been nicer to Hitler. Of those folks fleeing the violent collapse of Syria had only stayed to bring about peace. Their world only makes sense if it’s always the victim’s fault.*
* except, oddly enough, when the “victim” is Trump, “no president has ever been treated so badly, unfair!” In THAT case, the victim is treated most unjustly, and we should fight AT ALL COSTS to redeem and defend him, even if it destroys the Republic.**
** this offer applies to 42% of the voters...at least. Thus, we’re turbofucked. -
In the Oslo area...negotiating the train and bus to get to our friends’ apartment....doing a mediocre job of it. The girl can read passable Norwegian, so that’s helping.
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Oh, I forgot the little seafood shop in Stryn. Literally just an old wood structure on the back side of town. Smoked fish on one end of the counter, fresh seafood in the middle, and hot dishes of the day on the right.
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looks like a normal family to me... maybe you've been spending to much time in the Fatherland?
Yeah, I just grabbed a shot when I saw a chance. There were probably 100 on our ferry. They are so prevalent that the ferry’s narration of fjord landmarks is done in three languages: Norwegian, English, and Mandarin. -
And yes....Chinese tour groups everywhere.
But we’ve done pretty well avoiding them. They are all on cruise ships and/or tour buses, which all hit the sights early in the day. So, first half of the day, we mostly went to places off the beaten path (except the day we went to Geiranger, there’s no avoiding people on the ferry). Then, maybe around 1:00-2:00, we’d head to the bigger destinations. When we hiked to Briksdal Glacier, we probably saw a total of 300 people, up and back? We spent 45 minutes at the glacier, just sitting and listening, and there were several times when we were utterly alone. We had no trouble with crowds anywhere in western Norway. -
Some more images.
My shoes after hiking to and from the glacier. They’ve been all over - UK, Germany, Armenia, Austria, France, all over the US, and now Norway.
And this last one from our cabin a couple of nights ago - live thatch roof of our outdoor dining room.
Some notes from Northern Europe
in Food and Travel
Posted
Although this snack did just take the boy to his happy place: