My Irish Houseguest

I thought y'all would love this. My 20 yr old met a boy in Ireland a while back, and they visit each other regularly. He's here for 8 weeks this time. First trip, she took him to American food porn for a week. He truly was a mess,darting in and out of the restroom and looking quite green

This time, I've been cooking lots, plus we've enjoyed showing him around. He is over six feet and will eat anything:

Guaca Mole- he was thrilled with the favors, ate almost the whole guac, plus a meal.

Irish Rover- two trips and he loved it and finished my daughter's meal as wee. I took him to meet the Reidy family (neighbors) and they bonded.
El Tarasco-- he says Ireland has virtually no Mexican food, so he likes it
Kashmir- we bought an Indian family there and we shared eight dishes. He said that Great Britain has good Indian food, but he had never tasted anything like that. For a lad who hasn't enjoyed much fire and spice, he is a real.

El Mundo- he completely loved it.
Simply Thai- my daughter still works here on occasion, so he doesn't order over a one, generally 1/2 for spice. He really loved it.

Sushi...he just doesn't get it. He did try, though.
Coal's Pizza- he had never had a Neopolitan pizza and loved it.

He really enjoys the Indie places here. He is confused about the way we use microwave for reheating everything. He wants an afternoon tea with milk and some biscuits midday. Last, he says we are all nuts to obsess with the Royal family. He says the Irish can't stand them.

My English son - in- law shared similar opinions regarding Mexican food here (very little in London) while tons of curry restaurants there but tasting different from our Indian offerings.
Took him to Lynn's (long before the bru ha ha) where he looked at the dishes and said Americans eat the way an Englishman drinks. Speaking of drinking they must have gone through a couple cases of Ale 8 One while here.

Dude needs some barbecue before you sent him back.

Actually they did get some mighty fine BBQ courtesy of Rolling Bones on another trip! He STILL talks about how great it was! And the folks, and Kentucky hospitality.

His culinary adventure may have already included this stuff, but if not:

Get this guy some chili! Different kinds - Tex-Mex, Cincy, meaty, beany. And onion rings, also different kinds.

Oh, and please teach him the correct way to eat corn if you've not already, i.e., on the cob. What little corn we've had in Yurp was ruined by removal from the optimal delivery device provided by our most wise Mother Nature. Loses about 90% of the flavor off the cob. If you go to a fair this time of year you can get it cooked on a grill in the husk, then dipped in butter.

Chili, onion rings & corn on the cob. And BBQ properly noted by Steve. Eat your heart out, France!

BTW, tell him I love & will repeat his excellent observation that "Americans eat the way an Englishman drinks". Brother, he hit the nail dead center! Just for historical reference let him know Americans pretty much ate sensible portions 25+ years ago. The restaurant portion arms race set in after that. Around the same time as the health of our population began to plummet. Duh.

Y'all are so funny! My husband picked up some delicious BBQ from a place near Sligo and he wolfed it down. They drove to Denver, but will be here another week pre college return. I really wanted to take him to the fair! Thanks for the corn on the cob,mmmm. I also need to take him to mussel and Burger bar. My daughter is a vegetarian, but it creates no tension.

I made him a bison bolognese sauce with Ky bison and all fresh herbs from the garden. He loved the flavor. Any other suggestions? Oh yes, he liked the "chipper" dish at the Fishery. Fish and chips.

We took Rhys to...ummm..( sigh) White Castle where he declared the "steamed meat" very English. And while we did not eat any fried chicken we did visit Col. Sanders' grave at Cave Hill Cemetery.
I agree with Linda, the state fair would've been great fun but no luck on timing for us. Also we missed the closing Redbirds game of the season. How about a trip to Mammoth Cave? (Trying to think of things not easily seen/ had in GB. )

(Trying to think of things not easily seen/ had in GB. )

Try getting injured or sick. Then he can see what a medical bill looks like. Probably works as well for Carla's Brit guest or Linda's Irish one.

Mammoth Cave is a good idea. If they are into cars, maybe a trip up to Auburn, IN for the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is in order. Serious as a heart attack, this is on another level. Look it up. How about a bourbon trail tour? With respect to the folks who brought whisky distilling over here, we really, really have taken it up a couple of notches over both the Irish & Scots [Carla, for your English SIL, 'Scot-land' is the terra incognita north of Hadrian's Wall. At least one route of safe passage they call the "M6". My wife & I know because we took it from England & back & lived to tell the tale]. On the Bourbon Trail drive you might even happen across some folks selling fresh made sorghum by the roadside. And if he spots a 1968 Mercury Cougar moldering in a barn, he just might buy it to restore. You can do all this & likely never encounter a roundabout. Or while he is here, he can start his own business - then we've got him for life! Mixed bag, America. Most of these experiences are worth trying before going back to the islands.

Have these two guys had grits or sweet tea? We are kind of on the northern borderline of both of those culinary peculiarities & I don't really get either one. Just wondering what they make of them. Or cornbread, now that's a really good regional food. Just eating it outright, dipping it in milk first is just for regional historical re-entactors, like pouring boiling coffee onto a saucer & sipping it off.

What do they make of restaurant tipping? Groceries with staff who bag your purchases (OK, maybe they do that in Ireland, not sure)? Or prices that aren't really the price? Petrol is pretty much the only retail purchase we make here where the price really IS the price. Or the attention we give to a new royal baby or royal wedding more than two centuries after cutting the cord like some creepy ex who follows your every move on Facebook? And we broke up with them! So now we get all sentimental with the UK and frosty with our old friend France, after they supported us during the breakup ["The English abused you. You deserve better"]. Poor France, a classic example of what happens when you badmouth your buddy's ex and then they end up having a better relationship later on.

(First of all apologies to Linda for usurping this thread. I love love love talk of the British Isles.)

Wow! These were all great ideas for my SIL 's next trip. Yes, he did like cornbread but thought our tea here was lacking (sweet or otherwise). A trip to the store for some proper tea was disappointing. A search in the UK international section of the food mart brought comments such as " This is all rubbish! Why are they sending this to the states? We have all this but no one ever eats it. I mean really, CANNED spotted dick!"

They did a trip to Berea because my daughter has friends there. Got a good look at the countryside which we both agreed looked a bit English. He was amazed that we had horse farms I such close proximity to Downtown Louisville and that the area got so rural so rapidly after leaving the city proper.

When I was in London I spent a chunk of my trip asking locals about their health care. Everyone i spoke with thought they had a very serviceable system. No one ( not one) complained about long waits for appointments or any of the other negatives we hear socialized medicine suffers from. They wrote off our ridiculous healthcare policies as just another goofy thing American do. (I love the way a recent attempt in England to reconstruct their current healthcare system to the privatized healthcare that we have was met with MUCH derision and opposition.)

My SIL observed that everything feels so spacious here but at the same time so isolating. Neither of them have plans for ever living in Kentucky again despite the fact my daughter loves her home state. For them, they refuse to be stuck with the dependency and costs of owning an auto. (My daughter hasn't driven a car in almost 7 years. ) Rhys marveled about getting by with no public transportation.

We also made several trips to different "big box" stores where he commented, " So it's true? Do you not make anything in the States? Is everything brought in from China? "

(Lonnie! Your Missus and myself should sit together at the next offline!)

Grits, yes. My daughter goes to SCAD so he was immersed in Southern cuisine on his first visit. She has worked on and off at Simply Thai for 2 years, so she taught him about tipping!

I thought y'all would love this. My 20 yr old met a boy in Ireland a while back, and they visit each other regularly. He's here for 8 weeks this time. First trip, she took him to American food porn for a week. He truly was a mess,darting in and out of the restroom and looking quite green

*snipped by me for brevity and clarity*

What is American food porn?

Thanks in advance!

Let him try Hammerheads. I wonder if they have meat houses like this in Ireland.

American food porn: Taco Bell, Sonic, McDonalds, Arby's. enough to shock a boy's system! He is loving Mexican food.

Yesterday, my daughter took him to her hairdresser. When he got to the shampoo station, he kneeled facing the bowl. We were ROTFLOAO . Such a cute kid!

Drive him by Fort Knox. It's pretty interesting.

Drive him by Fort Knox. It's pretty interesting.

That's right, there's a good view of the Goldfinger Memorial; if he's a 007 fan that's a must! You can't see that anywhere else.