The era of FORMAL NIGHTS is fading rapidly...

On 10/11/2007 8:28 PM Ermalee consulted a Magic 8 Ball and declared:
Br

What say we throw another dozen scorpions on the barbie? Then we'll
top it off with Madagascar Hissing Roaches in aspic or we could
start the whole thing off with some goat's head soup sprinkled with
live African termites. You guys have to get to experience real
exotic cuisine before you think boiled goat is adventurous dining.


Brian, please don't bring any of these delicacies to our Saturday
luncheon! vbg

Ermalee

Oh Ermalee,

You're tempting me! I know a place in New York where you can get
deep fried tarantulas on a stick. But they wouldn't be crunchy by
the time they got to our destination. Nobody should have to eat deep
fried tarantulas that have gone soggy for their first time. It could
totally put them off this snack.

Thanks for resisting the temptation. I may have you down for a rabbit
dinner sometime. g

Ermalee ----looking forward to Saturday

Are you going to catch it yourself? I like Hassenpfeffer, not as much
as Soft Shell Crabs but I like it. To toss things back on topic maybe
you can have a "Candle Light Dinner" a la "Keeping Up Appearances" (PBS)
and make it an Ultra-Semi-Formal Formal affair. :-)

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Thus spake Mary Foster :



Charles wrote:
In article , Becca
wrote:


Goat would be unusual to find on a dining room menu. At the Rotisserie
on a Carnival cruise, they had frog's legs. You do not find that on a
cruise ship very often, in fact, that is the only time I saw it.


I have seen frogs legs a few times on the menu on cruises. Also I have
seen rabbit.

I have seen them and have ordered and enjoyed them. I even ordered and
enjoyed Mountain Oysters. I too tend to go for the dishes I cannot or
do not have at home. I love variety in my life. (grin)
Mary


I've had roo and camel. Kangaroo tastes kind of like a gamey beef.
Camel is just stringy.
--
dillon

Elvis is still dead

"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Mary Foster :



Goat would be unusual to find on a dining room menu. At the Rotisserie
on a Carnival cruise, they had frog's legs. You do not find that on a
cruise ship very often, in fact, that is the only time I saw it.

I've had roo and camel. Kangaroo tastes kind of like a gamey beef.
Camel is just stringy.
--
dillon


I think the boiled goat referred to Clint's unfortunate demise in the hot
tub.....

In article ,
"Uncle Peter" wrote:

"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Mary Foster :



Goat would be unusual to find on a dining room menu. At the Rotisserie
on a Carnival cruise, they had frog's legs. You do not find that on a
cruise ship very often, in fact, that is the only time I saw it.

I've had roo and camel. Kangaroo tastes kind of like a gamey beef.
Camel is just stringy.
--
dillon


I think the boiled goat referred to Clint's unfortunate demise in the hot
tub.....

That would be boiled OLD goat...

Bingo2002 wrote:
Ike wrote:

.....And in those years, when the grand liners of history served only the
affluent, EVERY night was formal night. "Dressing for dinner" was
mandatory in the prime of the Queen and on the superb Cunard ships, and
men who never asked the cost of anything would arrive with luggage that
included several tuxedos or dinner jackets plus a box of their favorite
cigars, as their wives brought an array of splendid gowns. They often
traveled with their servants...


You might be mistaken.... In "those years," the vast majority of
people, millions of them, sailed steerage on those grand liners. Even
on the superb Cunard ships. Dressing for dinner was the folly of the
rich and famous, those people who's sailings were listed in the
society pages of the newspapers. They were the tiniest minority of
passengers on the ships.

What's there to be "mistaken" about? I think we agree...

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:22:11 -0700, Ike
wrote:

Bingo2002 wrote:
Ike wrote:

.....And in those years, when the grand liners of history served only the
affluent, EVERY night was formal night. "Dressing for dinner" was
mandatory in the prime of the Queen and on the superb Cunard ships, and
men who never asked the cost of anything would arrive with luggage that
included several tuxedos or dinner jackets plus a box of their favorite
cigars, as their wives brought an array of splendid gowns. They often
traveled with their servants...


You might be mistaken.... In "those years," the vast majority of
people, millions of them, sailed steerage on those grand liners. Even
on the superb Cunard ships. Dressing for dinner was the folly of the
rich and famous, those people who's sailings were listed in the
society pages of the newspapers. They were the tiniest minority of
passengers on the ships.

What's there to be "mistaken" about? I think we agree...


The practice was not exclusive to shipboard. The rich in those days
nearly always dressed for dinner, even at home.
Thumper

Bingo2002 wrote:
On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:08:13 -0400, Thumper
wrote:

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:22:11 -0700, Ike
wrote:

Bingo2002 wrote:
Ike wrote:

.....And in those years, when the grand liners of history served only the
affluent, EVERY night was formal night. "Dressing for dinner" was
mandatory in the prime of the Queen and on the superb Cunard ships, and
men who never asked the cost of anything would arrive with luggage that
included several tuxedos or dinner jackets plus a box of their favorite
cigars, as their wives brought an array of splendid gowns. They often
traveled with their servants...

You might be mistaken.... In "those years," the vast majority of
people, millions of them, sailed steerage on those grand liners. Even
on the superb Cunard ships. Dressing for dinner was the folly of the
rich and famous, those people who's sailings were listed in the
society pages of the newspapers. They were the tiniest minority of
passengers on the ships.
What's there to be "mistaken" about? I think we agree...

The practice was not exclusive to shipboard. The rich in those days
nearly always dressed for dinner, even at home.
Thumper

And the vast majority, the 10's of millions of people who sailed on
these ships, did not dress to impress. So I get kinda antsy when I
hear talk about "formal night" being one of the grand old traditions
of the sea, of the great age of the ocean liners. It's fiction. Some
people did indeed dress in fancy clothes, but most made do with what
they had.

We're comparing apples to oranges. During the era when
passengers used ships ("ocean liners") to go somewhere,
there indeed would be more than one class and only the
uppermost class wore the finery. Those in steerage didn't.

Today, cruise ships usually end up where they started.
Passengers travel on them for the pleasure of the ride.
The closest there is to "steerage" is an inside
stateroom, but there's no difference in the dining room.

The question I raised had to do with today's interest in
"formal nights"...

Ike

Bingo2002 wrote:
And the vast majority, the 10's of millions of people who sailed on
these ships, did not dress to impress. So I get kinda antsy when I
hear talk about "formal night" being one of the grand old traditions
of the sea, of the great age of the ocean liners. It's fiction. Some
people did indeed dress in fancy clothes, but most made do with what
they had.

Back in "those days," people also dressed more formally for about
everything. Look at old photos even dating from the depression era.
Men generally wore coats even to do manual labor. Back then, you'd
never think of going to a restaurant for dinner without dressing up-
even the middle class, and the upper class dressed formally for most
group activities.

Now, that kind of dress is more "nostalgia" for people than a reflection
of dining in a fine restaurant. Back then, formal attire was frequently
used both ashore and certainly aboard a ship, where the dressing itself
was a diversion and for the wealthy- a chance to show off jewels and
their best clothes.

In most shoreside cities, someone dressed in a tux or gown would be as
out of place in virtually all restaurants as would someone dressed in
rags would be aboard a ship. IMHO,formal attire aboard a ship is an
affectation some folks enjoy, so power to them. However, it's also an
anachronism and not one I prefer to continue. I will dress nicely, as I
would if attending a similar dinner in a nice restaurant in a city, but
to heck with the tux, formal shoes and general silliness.

Nonny

--
---Nonnymus---
No matter how large your boat,
the person you are talking with will
have a close friend with a larger one.
---Observation by my son

On 10/22/2007 11:37 PM Nonnymus plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and
said:
Bingo2002 wrote:
And the vast majority, the 10's of millions of people who sailed on
these ships, did not dress to impress. So I get kinda antsy when I
hear talk about "formal night" being one of the grand old traditions
of the sea, of the great age of the ocean liners. It's fiction. Some
people did indeed dress in fancy clothes, but most made do with what
they had.

Back in "those days," people also dressed more formally for about
everything. Look at old photos even dating from the depression era.
Men generally wore coats even to do manual labor. Back then, you'd
never think of going to a restaurant for dinner without dressing up-
even the middle class, and the upper class dressed formally for most
group activities.

Now, that kind of dress is more "nostalgia" for people than a
reflection of dining in a fine restaurant. Back then, formal attire
was frequently used both ashore and certainly aboard a ship, where the
dressing itself was a diversion and for the wealthy- a chance to show
off jewels and their best clothes.

In most shoreside cities, someone dressed in a tux or gown would be as
out of place in virtually all restaurants as would someone dressed in
rags would be aboard a ship. IMHO,formal attire aboard a ship is an
affectation some folks enjoy, so power to them. However, it's also an
anachronism and not one I prefer to continue. I will dress nicely, as
I would if attending a similar dinner in a nice restaurant in a city,
but to heck with the tux, formal shoes and general silliness.

Nonny

This has got me thinking. I wonder what the African passengers on slave
ships wore on "Formal Nights". ;-)

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Nonnymus wrote:

Bingo2002 wrote:

And the vast majority, the 10's of millions of people who sailed on
these ships, did not dress to impress. So I get kinda antsy when I
hear talk about "formal night" being one of the grand old traditions
of the sea, of the great age of the ocean liners. It's fiction. Some
people did indeed dress in fancy clothes, but most made do with what
they had.


Back in "those days," people also dressed more formally for about
everything. Look at old photos even dating from the depression era. Men
generally wore coats even to do manual labor. Back then, you'd never
think of going to a restaurant for dinner without dressing up- even the
middle class, and the upper class dressed formally for most group
activities.

Now, that kind of dress is more "nostalgia" for people than a reflection
of dining in a fine restaurant. Back then, formal attire was frequently
used both ashore and certainly aboard a ship, where the dressing itself
was a diversion and for the wealthy- a chance to show off jewels and
their best clothes.

In most shoreside cities, someone dressed in a tux or gown would be as
out of place in virtually all restaurants as would someone dressed in
rags would be aboard a ship. IMHO,formal attire aboard a ship is an
affectation some folks enjoy, so power to them. However, it's also an
anachronism and not one I prefer to continue. I will dress nicely, as I
would if attending a similar dinner in a nice restaurant in a city, but
to heck with the tux, formal shoes and general silliness.

Nonny

Dear Nonny,
Right on. The Penguin Suits are fine for
those who want them, but when I am on a cruise I
prefer to dress comfortably as I would at a nice
restaurant here in Southern California
I dress not like some of the "stars" in
their cheap trash chic but, clean, untorn, pressed
clothing with polished shoes, etc. By the way, I
am sure that my grandparents when they sailed over
here from the "Old Country," did not have many
jewels, fancy clothes, etc. in their cardboard
suitcases.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (Home of the $300+ torn jeans)