Pants in the Boot

A buttermilk biscuit is one of humanity’s greatest inventions. But it is somehow different from an English or Scottish (or New Zealand) scone, whether you pronounce it skown or skon. In this episode, we tear biscuits apart, peer inside sausages, and swim in gravy.

I roux the day

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

A few episodes references in this episode:

We wade into the contentious debate of what constitutes a sandwich in this episode, but fortunately get sidetracked into whether a chicken patty is a burger or a sandwich, and then start remembering chip butties fondly, we discuss “the bits” of fries/chips, and Chris informs us about “a fly cuppie and a fine piece.” We avoid getting into a jam about jelly (reserving it for a future episode).

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

For your reference, these links may help:

Welcome to tea or not! A podcast in which we…never mind. This episode, we discuss a cuppa, a fly cup, broken orange pekoe, tea bags, tea with toasted brown rice, and what is absolutely not tea. Bonus content at the end.

pretty fly

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

A flat white isn’t just a boring person who frequents Starbucks, but a drink invented in New Zealand. Fortunately, we have a Kiwi on this episode to talk about that and other coffee we drink out in the best of times (and, in New Zealand, right now) and we make at home. We add sugar and milk to flat white, americano, mocha (pronounced both ways), Nespresso, and cowboy coffee, among other caffeinated topics.

brown water innit

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

Broil, broil, toil, and trouble, cooktop flame and grill bubble! On this episode, panelists talk around the hob about knobs, grill each other over flames, and do not, I repeat, do not put another shrimp on the barbie. Barbecue is meat. Unless it’s a kind of cookout.

We mention our episode on vans, caravans, and RVs, and Chris enlightens us about two UK brands: Aga, a popular kind of fancy grill, and Baby Belling, a popular model of electric cooker.

Hob knobbing

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

In this first episode of the fifth series of Pants in the Boot, our panelists turn on the tap and fill their kettle—or is it a pot, pan, or jug?—with cold, clear water, before boiling it. We debate voltage. Also, Jean reveals her regifting habit.

Tea’d off

Host Glenn Fleishman with Chris Phin, Erika Ensign, James Thomson, Jean MacDonald, and Sarah Hendrica Bickerton.

Oof, it’s been a long day of eating, but it’s finally time for dinner, whether we consume it at 5:30 p.m. with children or midnight in Barcelona. Panelists discuss what they eat on what surface and when, and discover all of them grew up eating their evening meal together with their family. This is the last episode in this meals series. Join us again soon for a new series with new set of culture and words.

Dining out on dining in

Host Glenn Fleishman with Annette Wierstra, Antony Johnston, Chris Phin, Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, and James Thomson.

Here’s one in which our British compadres have Americans (and most Canadians) beat hands down: tea! While our feckless host admits he thought high tea was an invention, English and Scottish panelist explain tea, afternoon tea, and high tea, and ask the butler to bring more scones.

Never mind the hobnobs

Host Glenn Fleishman with Annette Wierstra, Antony Johnston, Chris Phin, Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, and James Thomson.

We’ve finished off a mid-morning snack and elevenses, and it appears to be time for lunch. Our UK, Canadian, and American panelists talk about the sandwich as holy center of lunch, but wouldn’t something deep fried be nice, too? Or a burrito?

“The Holy Lunching Friars of Voondon claimed that just as lunch was at the center of a man’s temporal day, and man’s temporal day could be seen as an analogy for his spiritual life, so lunch should be seen as the centre of a man’s spiritual life, and be held in jolly nice restaurants.”—Douglas Adams,

A little peckish already

Host Glenn Fleishman with Annette Wierstra, Antony Johnston, Chris Phin, Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, and James Thomson.

The most important meal of the day is breakfast. And we seem to agree on that. We might call it “brekkie,” though we usually do not, but it is the least contentiously named meal. Panelists discuss cereal, stacks of things, the breakfast burrito, the American diner, and stay through to brunch, a no longer uniquely American invention.

As mentioned on this episode, you can find Antony “Anthony Johnson” Johnston’s Joe Shelter series here.

Mimosa Es Su Mosa

Host Glenn Fleishman with Annette Wierstra, Antony Johnston, Chris Phin, Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, and James Thomson.