Normal things treated like "weird american things"

   Well, it's been assumed that I can't make a cup of tea. After being here nearly 20 years. lol. Know what? They might be right. I hate tea. I make it for people who ask for it, but I probably don't make it as "good" as someone who was born here. Mind you if they wore ear plugs they might think my tea tastes fine. Laughable.

Oh, and can I make a good Sunday dinner? Yeah, I can. That would be lasagne lol. I do try to make the typical sunday roast. sometimes. I just never managed to like yorkshire puds even though my son gobbles them up, bless him. thank god for auntie bessie

I also remember this conversation about guacamole with work colleagues. A few years ago,  hardly anyone from here knew what it even was. Now it's everywhere. But most british people think it's either "posh" or "disgusting". I don't even try and explain. What is the point. if they don't take to it, more for us, right? x

I have the opposite problem where I literally offer a builder or something if they want any tea or coffee and they say tea and expect me to just know how to make it LOL. I've asked them how much milk and if they want sugar and the responses I've gotten don't actually ever tell me how much they want! (they'll say things like "double milk" or something like that and I have no idea what unit of measurement they're on about). I have to tell them "sorry, I'm foreign, you'll have to be more specific about how you want your tea/coffee in terms of milk or you might not end up liking it" haha. I've not really had any complaints, but I'm sure I've definitely f*cked up a few cups of tea and they've just been too polite to tell me LOL

Don't be hard on yourself. Yorkies are HARD. My SIL tells me all the time when I tell her that I have no idea how she makes such amazing Y.P.s that it's come from a LOT of practise and, even still, they sometimes still aren't perfect. They are not an easy part of a meal to make by any means but Aunt Bessies DEFINITELY helps :p We don't have roast every Sunday (I don't honestly know any Brits in my life that do either to be fair) and I CAN make it, I just don't want to because I dread the amount of effort with timings and all that that goes into it (I get stressed just thinking about it and have no clue how my SIL does it!).


I'm not a guac person I'm sorry! But, as you said, even more for you! :p   I know so many people that LOVE it and I just can't get behind it! But I don't really like avocados in general to be fair.

People are so particular about their tea and coffee, I don't even attempt it.

If you come to my house, you are offered lemonade! 

People are so particular about their tea and coffee, I don't even attempt it.

If you come to my house, you are offered lemonade! 

I usually do the "there's the milk, there's the sugar...I've boiled the kettle..you sort it out how you like it." approach LOL

I make tea for my husband when he needs it (a lot of tea was made last week when he had that terrible cold!).  Otherwise, I leave it to someone else.  I don't drink tea, so how am I to know if I am doing it right?  As for my husband last week, he was happy with a hot cup, and he couldn't taste anything, so that tea was obviously perfect. 

My wife seems to like whatever "standard British tea" is, so if I'm making any for anyone else they get that, plus whatever their instructions are. Today someone asked for "really strong with one sugar," so they got "wife tea + less milk + teabag left in longer + teabag squished harder before extraction + sugar". It seemed to go ok.

My wife seems to like whatever "standard British tea" is, so if I'm making any for anyone else they get that, plus whatever their instructions are. Today someone asked for "really strong with one sugar," so they got "wife tea + less milk + teabag left in longer + teabag squished harder before extraction + sugar". It seemed to go ok.

Your tea formula made me chuckle.

If I were to get specific, my husband has cup + 1 heaped teaspoon of sugar + PG tips tea bag + just-boiled water + "some time" + teabag squished against the side and removed + enough milk to replace the displacement of the now-absent teabag + stir and serve.

I'm not sure I should post this, it could get me arrested or my citizenship revoked according to my British husband.

Tea = kettle not quite boiled + tea bag + splash of milk + tea bag removed a few seconds after milk added

I'm told that the adding milk before removing tea bag and hating the taste of tea bag tea so much the bag stays in the cup no longer than 30 seconds are my big fouls.

In fairness, I'm not a big fan of tea.  On the rare occasions I drink make tea it's loose leaf earl grey, which is brewed in a pot for 2 minutes and poured over a strainer into a cup.  No milk, no sugar.  Is is possible to be both a snob about tea and not like tea?

Do I need to give back my UK passport?

I'm not sure I should post this, it could get me arrested or my citizenship revoked according to my British husband.

Tea = kettle not quite boiled + tea bag + splash of milk + tea bag removed a few seconds after milk added

I'm told that the adding milk before removing tea bag and hating the taste of tea bag tea so much the bag stays in the cup no longer than 30 seconds are my big fouls.

In fairness, I'm not a big fan of tea.  On the rare occasions I drink make tea it's loose leaf earl grey, which is brewed in a pot for 2 minutes and poured over a strainer into a cup.  No milk, no sugar.  Is is possible to be both a snob about tea and not like tea?

Do I need to give back my UK passport?

You should see my coworkers reaction to me throwing tea bags into a litre jug of cold water and liquid Splenda and just letting the tea bags sit in there all day.

Plus, when they boil water in the kettle for tea, it has to be fresh water. It can't be water previously boiled or it ruins the tea.

My husband drinks coffee so no fights at home. Lol

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You should see my coworkers reaction to me throwing tea bags into a litre jug of cold water and liquid Splenda and just letting the tea bags sit in there all day.

I'm sure my mother-in-law's reaction was similar to me doing the same thing.

If you really want to stir British people up, make a cup of tea, but instead of putting milk in it squeeze a slice of lemon into it. The tsking and frowning will nearly overwhelm you.

I'm sure my mother-in-law's reaction was similar to me doing the same thing.

If you really want to stir British people up, make a cup of tea, but instead of putting milk in it squeeze a slice of lemon into it. The tsking and frowning will nearly overwhelm you.

Lol.

I don't like milk in either my coffee or tea but I do love double cream in both. I have some glass milk bottles that I bring my cream in. One day a coworker asked if she could use some of my milk in her tea so I said, "Of course".

She took one sip and said,  "Is that cream?"

Me: Yes.

Her: "I'm sorry. I'm going to have to make another cup. This is just too creamy".

Lol. Ok... sorry about that. I don't like milk in my drinks because its just too thin.

And I get food judged every day at work because that American is eating something weird again.

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I'm sure my mother-in-law's reaction was similar to me doing the same thing.

If you really want to stir British people up, make a cup of tea, but instead of putting milk in it squeeze a slice of lemon into it. The tsking and frowning will nearly overwhelm you.

The lemon thing isn’t frowned upon near me! I know loads of Brits oddly enough who do this so you definitely wouldn’t be odd! Haha


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The lemon thing isn’t frowned upon near me! I know loads of Brits oddly enough who do this so you definitely wouldn’t be odd! Haha


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Weird, I haven't run into one yet. Occasionally I'll get, "Oh, yes. Like the Europeans," but that's about it. 

Weird, I haven't run into one yet. Occasionally I'll get, "Oh, yes. Like the Europeans," but that's about it. 

Oddly, I also know a lot of people that like to do hot water with lemon too quite a bit.

Ok, the thing about leaving the teabag in after you add milk... eeeeeewwwwwww.

Raised by my little old Irish granny here. There is a way to do tea. It does not involve leaving a teabag in after the milk goes in. Because A:) that's just not done; and, B) because then you can't re-use the teabag!  You can usually get two or three cups of tea out of one teabag unless you like your tea reeeeeaaaallllly strong. "Milking the bag" makes it gross for the next cup if the next drinker doesn't like milk in their tea.

Lemon. I had a family member in the military who spent quite a lot of time in the UK. When he'd come home on leave he had lemon in his tea. If he was talking a lot and got distracted, he'd occasionally later reach for the milk and pour it in. It was always fascinating watching him do that, and then take a sip without looking at the cup.... (Hey, I was a little kid. Adults were to be watched like lab rats!)

I imagine I'd make little old British ladies cringe, but quite often I'll just throw a cup of tea with a teabag in it into the microwave to heat it up when I don't need a full kettle or am in a hurry. 

It is my understanding that MILF (milk in first) came about as tea culture began in the upper and burgeoning middle classes. The fine cups could crack if poured full of hot tea (remembering that tea was not brewed in the cup then but in the pot). Thus milk was first put in the cup so that when the hot tea was added the resulting mixture would not be hot enough to crack the fine cup.

The working classes brought about the "in the cup brewing" method, but some of the more aspirational types still chose to put milk in first as they felt it signalled the civility they associated with the "higher" classes. The original pragmatism of not pouring a heated liquid into thin porcelain cups was missed. Like the Pacific cargo cults who worship leftover allied 55 gallon drums, the original meaning has been transformed.