12.03.08
Pub Quiz & Curry
In an effort to go more “local”, Caroline and I decided to soak up a little of the local flavor by heading out to a pub that was offering a “Pub Quiz and Curry”. Trivia and Indian food - how could we pass this up?
 First photo of me in a British pub. Not likely to be the last. (Camera phones really are crap, aren’t they?…) |
The pub’s name was distinctly British - Far from the Madding Crowd - and apparently this is an event they hold every Sunday night. As we sat down, we were shocked to see how empty the pub was. Back in the states, every night that a bar had a trivia night, it was always packed. Well, we soon learned just how “tuned in” the locals were to this event. Five minutes before the quiz was to begin, the door opened, and in walked Oxford University.
“Oh man, we’re dead,” I whispered as loud as I could to my wife while I felt all the blood drain from my head. Shoulders slumped and awaiting a trouncing of biblical proportions, I slid up to the bar, and ordered another round and asked about the curry that was being offered for ₤3 ($4.50) with the quiz.
“We have beef and vegetable,” the cute hostess offered.
“Is that two different kinds, or is it all beef and vegetable?” which I thought was a reasonable question… The look I received in return told me that perhaps I was thinking too hard on the subject of cheap curry… “We’ll have 2 beef please.”
As the host of the quiz came to our table to hand us the sheets that we were to write our answers on, we wanted to get a sense of just how badly we were about to get beaten. “Are the questions particularly… ummm… ‘British’?…” I asked of the quiz master. He kindly replied that there was a healthy mix since Americans frequently came to this event. Caroline and I once again had hope.
 Some film scenes are iconic. Others jump-started me into puberty… |
We did OK in the first round, but soon we came to a round that was called “Sport”. Singular. We knew we were in trouble when the question, “Which Brit scored the 4th most premiership goals?” came up. Out of a possible 10 points in that round, we scored 1. Similarly, in the “TV & Film” category, we scored a mere 1 point, and that was only because there was one question about an American movie. (”In the 1983 film ‘Flashdance’, what was the day job of Jennifer Beals’ character?” Answer: “Welder”.)
But since this is still supposed to be a “food blog”, allow me to comment briefly on the curry. It was everything I expected a mass-produced curry that cost ₤3 a bowl to be. Edible, but hardly something to seek out…
But then again, it wasn’t so bad that I won’t be back. Only next time, I’m coming back with some British friends who know something about European football, as well as the characters on some show called “EastEnders”…
P.S. Next post will have to do with me cooking something! I promise! Stay tuned!
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