Puddings?

[ladyofastolat]

Someone at work lent me a bizarre Wii game called Cooking Mama, in which you have to "cook" various world dishes. The game is very clearly Japanese. The first example of national British cuisine is something unhelpfully called a generic "pudding", and it consists of egg, milk, sugar, grand marnier and vanilla. It's put in small pots, then tipped out into a plate, where it keeps its shape, and is yellow, with a brown top. What on earth is this supposed to be? The second British dish is "cream puffs", which, if I remember correctly through the slightly alcoholic haze of last night, contain salt.

As you play, "cooking mama", in a very strong Japanese accent, tells you how you've done. When you do well, she says something that sounds like "good dog." If you do pathetically, she says "don't mind." Your final ratings are either "very good", "good" or "try hard." I like "try hard" as another way of saying "you're hopeless" and plan to use it.

I'm at work today, getting driven mad by the constant beeping of the events team's answer phone. Grr! Still, I've taken Monday as leave, so after today, don't need to be at work until January 2nd. Yay! We're off to The Mainland tomorrow, so if I don't post again, I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas / winter festival of their choice.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

It's pretension, isn't it? The non-U people think "pudding" sounds "common" so deliberately say "dessert", since they think it sounds posher.* However, I'm sure this is the sort of thing that can quickly shift over time, so in some cases, perhaps what started as a pretentious affectation by "common" people actually becomes the "posh" way of saying things.

* Which is a common theme of "Watching the English", too: there are lots of things that the aspiring middle classes or "new money" wouldn't be seen dead doing, since they think they're "common" - but actually the upper classes do do these things.