Posted by Sunday starts for County Championship matches and Twenty20 matches on a Friday night. It ain’t all bad.
The latter could even become ‘a thing’, as detailed here. Shall we try and make it a thing? What should it involve? Perhaps we could try and source beer brewed in the counties playing the televised match each week. Or we could try and prepare a delicacy native to the region – throdkin for Lancashire, balti for Warwickshire and a food closely associated with Northamptonshire’s opposition for Northamptonshire.
We’ve a faint suspicion this is going to turn into one of those posts where you all start listing things in the comments. That’s fine. Knock yourselves out.
Warwickshire aren’t going to be Warwickshire in T20 anymore. They’re the Birmingham Bears.
Seriously.
At least it’s alliterative.
It’s also stupid
They should be the Brum Beaus.
Or they could follow ELO and call themselves the Birmingham Blues, with the added benefit of knowing what colour strip to play in.
“The precise origins of the Balti style of cooking are uncertain; some believe it to have been invented in Birmingham, England while others believe it originated in the northern Pakistani region of Baltistan in Kashmir from where it spread to Britain.” — Wikipedia.
Interesting. “Is this cuisine British or Pakistani?” is a question I never thought was possible to ask.
We suppose its heritage is pretty obvious, even if it’s not so easy to pinpoint the exact patch of earth which was beneath the inventor’s feet at the moment of creation.
What are you talking about? At the moment of creation, there was no earth, only radiation and velociraptors.
Are we referring to a divine being as the Inventor, these days? That seems a bit prosaic.
The Builder.
Postmodern linguistics.
I think we should entertain the possibility that so-called Balti-style cooking might have originated in several places unbeknown to the originators.
Whereas throdkin could only possibly have emerged in one place – the Fylde coast.
Meanwhile the Wikipedia entry for Balti has been utterly flamed in a brush box for not explaining the dish – was that one of you fellas? I thought the whole point about Balti was the metal dish in which the curry is cooked/served, not the curry itself which could be pretty much any style. And I think the article says that.
It is always useful on these occasions to have an old school pal who has written an authoritative book on the history of Southern Asian food in the UK. I have such an old pal and I hope to see him in a couple of weeks time. I shall report back with news of the Balti’s real origin, if there is any authority to be had on this topic. I suspect not.
The best Brummie curries are pretty heavenly.
i’m originally from birmingham, and last lived there in the early ’90s – when i was a regular visitor to one of the balti houses on the ladypool road, right in the “triangle”. sam’s right enough: these experiences pretty much converted me to curry (before that i didn’t like hot spices at all), and i can still remember the smells and tastes of what i ate there far better than i can the food in plenty of other curry houses, sampled far more recently… anyway – getting away from these proustian diversions! – i was always told back then that the term “balti” referred to the metal dish itself, and had never even heard of baltistan until a few minutes ago (i assumed it was a wind-up until i checked it out).
as ged says, you can have pretty much any curry dish served balti style – at least that was my understanding of it. that said, various “balti sauces” are available in jars these days, which would (in principle) imply otherwise. the only distinctive common feature i remember about my erstwhile regular haunt is that whatever one ordered, it seemed to come with liberal shavings of fresh coriander – but this may have been peculiar to that restaurant, or indeed to that chef. up until tonight, i have never questioned what i was previously told…
[not that anyone else will give a monkey’s, but having just read that last bit back i feel obliged to add the words “…on this subject”. christ, i’ve spent the last decade or two questioning more or less every damn thing; it’s long since become ingrained habit…]
I’ve been to Birmingham. Only once on a night out my recollections mean they should be the Birmingham (spearmint) rhinos.
I’m from Middlesex I cannot think of anything associated with the county, it isn’t even a county I’ve been told. The Middlesex Russell grants?
Several hospitals, a University, real estate to the value of most entire nations, the best county cricket club in the world…
It’s not even really a place. The Middlesex West Londons.
Aren’t Championship attendances almost guaranteed to be three men and a dog now? Rather than the five men and a dog they are now…
No, Sunday to Wednesday beats Tuesday to Friday which was fairly common.
Also, at least we know it’s Sunday to Wednesday now.
A thing I wrote on this subject. Sort of.
http://learningisfunblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/new-name-same-old-game/
I notice that the Fylde is part of a larger area once known as the Amounderness. Clearly, throdkin could have originated nowhere else.
Here’s another thing. The Bears are not happy.
http://learningisfunblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/warwickshire-fans-launch-name-change-campaign/
At least when they go to franchises your city will still have a team. Think of the poor sods who support Worcs who’ll also see their side amalgamated into Birmingham.