Røde bønner med ris

[muckefuck]

"They're either a gay group, a church group, or both." That was my assessment of the dozen or so clean-cut Asian and Anglo men who had just seated themselves for dim sum at two tables next to cuore_felice34 and me. His guess was that they were members of Asians and Friends Chicago, a suspicion I confirmed when we were getting up to leave. As he answered my friendly inquiry, I noticed a sight Germanic accent in the English of the white-haired man I had approached.

"Sprichst du Deutsch?" I asked him.
"Nein, ich spreche Dänisch. Sprichst du Dänisch?"
"Røde grøde med fløde!"
"Heh?"
"Røde grøde med fløde!"
"Ah! "Røde grøde med fløde!"

"Rote Grütze mit Rahm"--that's all the Danish I know. (And I've got no idea how to say it in English.) Nuphy taught it to me once; it one of those phrases that fluent speakers torture learners with. Not tongue twisters exactly, more like shibboleths, since they contain what are supposedly the most difficult sounds and combinations for foreigners to get right. I'm sure I didn't get it right, but he was amused and delighted all the same, and said he hoped to see me next month at their regularly-scheduled dim sum brunch.

I would've chatted a bit longer, but cuore_felice34 and I needed to walk off the mounds of dumplings we'd just consumed. The best part of taking him to Montrose Point was being the first to introduce him to the Magic Hedge. It's exactly one of those treasures which make Chicago so livable but which you'd never know about unless someone told you. A couple of local homos overheard us admiring the flowering shrubs and asked us if we could ID them. We couldn't, so we went on to have a leisurely discussion of everything else, from troubled buidings to Tibetan refugees to chicken farming.

I was surprised not to see more fishermen out, even if it was still a little brisk along the more exposed areas of shoreline, and pleased at the amount of shade. In a week, we've gone from emerging leafettes to sugar maple leaves three-quarters full size. I mentioned the crabapples and hawthorns before--they're going gangbusters--but this is the first I've noticed the buckeyes in bloom. Horse chestnuts aren't far behind--I've seen their fully-formed miniature spikes out for a couple weeks now.

Comments

[iluq.livejournal.com]

Red pudding with cream or something to that effect.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

If you say "red pudding", it will mean nothing to the average American. You basically have to describe the dish in its entirety.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

And here I was thinking "red grits with cream? ewwww!"

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

dict.leo.org says it's "red fruit jelly"... is that better?

[joliecanard.livejournal.com]

My German man explained what it was and I thought it sounded more like a compote.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

IME, compote doesn't have any added starch, whereas rote Grütze always does. This gives it a consistency and mouth-feel closest to American tapioca pudding.

[wwidsith.livejournal.com]

When I was in Poland I assiduously learnt to pronounce their famous tongue-twister, chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie, which means ‘the cockchafer buzzes in the reeds’. But you'd be surprised how long you have to hang around in marshes before you get a chance to use it on someone..

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Not around here! Must start practicing today...