La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
The American excitement about yesterday’s date, 123123, was lost on most people here in Spain (and Europe and the rest of the world). Here, the day comes before the month which comes before the year which makes much more sense than how it’s done in the USA. So when I mentioned the date to our friends on New Year’s Eve, they at first had no idea what I was talking about. Here, the date was 311223 — nothing interesting about that, but it does make more sense to me.
Anyway, did you know that the American way of writing the date, month-day-year, is known as middle-endianness? It was taken from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726) where the Big-Endians rebelled against the king and broke their boiled eggs at the big end. The king demanded that his subjects, the Little-Endians, break their eggs at the little end. That’s what starts wars.
New Year’s Eve dinner at Elena and Tynan’s last night was excellent. Great food, great company, and San Geraldo actually made it past midnight. We each downed our 12 grapes, one at each clock chime, one for each month of the coming year. So, we didn’t watch the ball drop in Times Square, we watched it drop in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, as the clock chimed in the Royal Post Office. We were completely unaware of the tradition until our first year here, 2011. I love it. And, unlike in 2o11, we always try to have small grapes with no seeds!
Dinner began with a feast of tapas. Isa (Elena’s sister) makes the best croquettes. Then we enjoyed pork, Elena’s is always perfect, and her roast potatoes. The best roast potatoes we’ve ever had. Every time. They’re on my moderation list, so I had two. The big finish, because this is a mixed marriage (Tynan is English, Elena is Spanish), was sticky toffee pudding. Elena’s was better than any I’ve ever tasted. San Geraldo wasn’t familiar with it and didn’t catch the name. “Sticky Pocky Pudding?” he asked. For those of you, like San Geraldo, who are unfamiliar: Sticky toffee pudding is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake, made with finely chopped dates, covered in a toffee sauce. It’s known as sticky date pudding in Australia and New Zealand.
The final profound conversation of the evening came when Tynan (who is the only one who knows why) said, “It’s quite shocking how dark the Peak district can get.” San Geraldo asked, “How what?” We all responded, “Dark.” San Geraldo thought a moment and then asked, “Like light?”
El entusiasmo estadounidense por la fecha de ayer, 123123, pasó desapercibido para la mayoría de la gente aquí en España (y en Europa y en el resto del mundo). Aquí, el día viene antes del mes que viene antes del año, lo que tiene mucho más sentido que como se hace en los EE. UU. Entonces, cuando mencioné la fecha a nuestros amigos en la víspera de Año Nuevo, al principio no tenían idea de lo que estaba hablando. Aquí, la fecha era 311223; no hay nada interesante en eso, pero tiene más sentido para mí.
De todos modos, ¿sabías que la forma estadounidense de escribir la fecha, mes día-año, se conoce como endianidad media, tomada de “Los viajes de Gulliver” de Jonathan Swift (1726), donde los big-endianos se rebelaron contra el rey y rompieron su huevos duros en el extremo grande. El rey exigió que sus súbditos, los little-endianos, rompieran los huevos por el extremo. Eso es lo que inicia las guerras.
La cena de Nochevieja en casa de Elena y Tynan anoche fue excelente. Excelente comida, excelente compañía, y San Geraldo llegó hasta pasada la medianoche. Cada uno de nosotros bebió nuestras 12 uvas, una en cada campanada del reloj, una por cada mes del año siguiente. Entonces, no vimos caer la bola en Times Square, la vimos caer en la Puerta del Sol de Madrid, mientras sonaba el reloj en la Real Oficina de Correos. Desconocíamos por completo la tradición hasta nuestro primer año aquí, 2011. Me encanta. Y, a diferencia de 2o11, ¡siempre intentamos tener uvas pequeñas y sin semillas!
La cena comenzó con un festín de tapas. Isa (hermana de Elena) hace las mejores croquetas. Luego disfrutamos del cerdo, el de Elena siempre es perfecto, y sus patatas asadas. Las mejores patatas asadas que hemos probado. Cada vez. Están en mi lista de moderación, así que tenía dos. El gran final, debido a que se trata de un matrimonio mixto (Tynan es inglés, Elena es española), fue el pudín de caramelo pegajoso. El de Elena fue mejor que cualquiera que haya probado en mi vida. San Geraldo no lo conocía y no entendió el nombre. “¿Pudín pegajoso y pegajoso?” preguntó. Para aquellos de ustedes, como San Geraldo, que no están familiarizados: el pudín de caramelo pegajoso es un postre británico que consiste en un bizcocho húmedo, hecho con dátiles finamente picados y cubierto con una salsa de caramelo. Se le conoce como pudín de dátiles pegajoso en Australia y Nueva Zelanda.
La última y profunda conversación de la noche se produjo cuando Tynan (que es el único que sabe por qué) dijo: “Es bastante impactante lo oscuro que puede llegar a ser el distrito Peak”. San Geraldo preguntó:“¿Cómo qué?” Todos respondimos: “Oscuro”. San Geraldo pensó un momento y luego preguntó: “¿Como la luz?”
Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Haz clic en las miniaturas para ampliar.
• Alexander se rompió la mandíbula hace casi un mes. Su mandíbula estuvo cerrada con alambre durante 3 semanas (incluso durante nuestra cena de Navidad). Así que estaba encantado de poder volver a comer sólidos y está deseando volver a ponerse en su forma habitual de deportista. Se puso un traje y salió a la ciudad después de que terminó nuestra fiesta.
Happy New Year! 1/1/24 is correct both ways.
Happy new year to everyone! I was a Brit, lived there till I left at 24, and still find references to supposedly Brit food I never heard of growing up. I’m glad you explained this sticky toffee thing. I think it must be southern England? That includes Derbyshire and the peak district! Totally foreign country to this staunch Yorkshirewoman! It looks, well, filling! Great party food there.
I found this online>/a>:
“The origins of the Sticky Toffee Pudding are disputed between three regions of the UK
The Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh-on-Ythan, Scotland claim to have first served Sticky Toffee Pudding in 1967. It still appears on the menu to this day and is served with clotted cream ice cream – mmmm!
Hang on a minute say Yorkshire – they claim the landlady at the Gait Inn in Millington invented it in 1907. However you’ll find few people at the pub these days knowing much about it.
The final claim comes from Cumbria. In 1948 Francis Coulson opened the Sharrow Bay Hotel in Ullswater and in 1960 an “icky sticky toffee sponge” appeared on the menu.”
Perhaps it is a “Northern thing” after all… Jx
Jon:
It does appear northern is the consensus, but that’s where the consensus ends.
Anon:
I couldn’t find a definitive answer to the origin of sticky toffee pudding. If you believe the English and not Canadian claims, the consensus seem to be the north. One claim is East Riding of Yorkshire in 1907.
311223 has an immediate sense of evenness to me. I look at licence plates all the time looking for “same number sequences or letter sequences” It all started in high school when my Math teacher crush mentionned “9’s” ~ I blame him for my neediness and OCD
Ron:
I’m always looking for sense in license plates, and I never had a math teacher crush.
Day/month/year makes more sense to me.
What a feast you all had!
Happy New Year!
Jim:
It builds in importance from shortest to longest. Salads for lunch and for dinner yesterday.
In Canada, people write the numerical date in both the American and European way so it can get confusing, lol. Also, we enjoy sticky toffee pudding here too. As a diabetic, I can’t eat it at all since it is very, very sweet. And how did Alexander break his jaw? What a terrible injury — glad he’s back to solid food now.
Debra.
That WOULD get confusing. To avoid confusion, I write them out when I can: 2 January 2024.
I just like saying 123123 so i’m’a stick to that!!!!
Happy New Mitchell!
Bob:
I like it, too. It woke me up when nobody knew what I was talking about.
Happy New Year! What a delight to be with your friends (with good Food, too!)to ring in the year.
Judith Chabot:
Some nights are just perfect from start to finish. This was one. A great family.
FOOD PORN! It all looks lovely…
[Pleased to hear that Alexander can use his mouth again {{dirty snigger}}.]
I can never understand that American “date-mangling” business. As I have said before, the shorthand for the Twin Towers attack “9/11” actually means 9th November over here, so took some working-out when it appeared in headlines.
Happy 2024, Mitchell! Jx
PS Looks like I buggered-up the code on my reply to “Anonymous” above, but unlike Blogger I cannot delete it and post a corrected version… Oops! Jx
Jon:
Isa mentioned 9/11 on New Year’s Eve. She had initially found that very confusing. “What happened on 11th of November?” she wondered.
Wishing you all the best in the New Year and continue to post great photos and your stories of life on the Costa del Sol. Have a good trip to NYC.
I am so glad that Steve Reed brought us together in 2023. So to speak. I really enjoy your posts. Looking forward to more in 2024.
Also- oh my goodness- I think I would trade every dish you showed us just for the roast potatoes.
Ms. Moon
Ms. Moon:
I’m grateful to Steve, as well. He knew I would like you and he was right. I sometimes enjoy potatoes, but I fortunately don’t have a weekness for them. Although Elena’s roast potatoes are easy to get hooked on.
I think the roasted potatoes are the only thing there that I can eat, but I’d gladly take the entire bowl of them.
Kelly:
Potatoes are on my reflux list as are others on that table. I had a little of everything and was very happy. The joke when the potatoes were put on the table was that those were a San Geraldo serving.
Seems like just a few years ago we were all in a tizzy about Y2K and leaving the 1900’s behind us! Happy 2024!
Frank:
Time does fly.
Actually, sticky toffee pudding was introduced to England by Canadian soldiers during World War I. I doubt it had dates in it (those weren’t readily available in Canada at the time), but appropriation of the new toffee pudding sensation from the “colonials” was England’s modus operandi before the sun finally set on its empire.
In any event, sounds like you had a terrific feast at Elena & Tynan’s! Happy New Year to you, Mitch, and to SG, Dudo and Moose — I’m looking forward to another year of your adventures!
Tundra Bunny:
With all the claims to originating sticky toffee pudding, I never came across the Canadian version, but I like to believe that.
I love having you along for the ride!
My first job was at a grocery store named Bi-Lo. I remember a cashier thinking a ID was fake because the German guy had a ID from Germany and the month and day were obviously switched. I had to explain to her why it was legitimate LOL
Adam:
It’s good you were there!
A Happy New Year to you both!!! And apparently it doesn’t take much to amuse and excite us Americans. I read about the hysteria of people rushing to marry just for the date. Ok.
Sigh.
Mistress Borghese:
I hadn’t even thought of that. Of course people would want that date for their wedding. Jeez!
I don’t know about sticky toffee, but I LOVE pudding, so I’m one-third of the way there.
Kirk:
And I love toffee. Now we just need to find someone who love sticky:
What a coicindence! I wrote about the egg issue in my blog entry as well!
Urspo:
A funny coincidence. Great minds think alike… or is it like minds think great?