Interpol had missed a trick
This is a fun flashback, isn’t it? Nothing has been seen, thus far, of Lottie and Claire’s time between the end of Bad Machinery and the start of Wicked Things/Solver. Imagine if we could explore this territory a little more. I feel that, alas, it’s an impossible dream.
Food in the Works of John Allison could be a subject for a monograph.
I made Zabaglione after it was mentioned in Solver. Then I reread some of Giant Days and it’s mentioned there too! But I realized that the zabaglione I made was not the same type as the type in the comics. In the comics it’s referring to an espresso drink of some sort, but the recipe I made was for a pudding. Further research is needed.
Also: I haven’t had Brunost in a long time but I don’t like it. I think I probably tried it once when I was five and I don’t know if I’ve ever given it a second chance.
But I think I can guess what the result will be if I ever decide to try it again.
Hated brunost when I first tried it, but it grew on me. Rather regretting that I didn’t buy more at the weekend.
Jack’s recent time-travelling adventures got me to try Eccles Cakes for the first time in my life – turns out I rather like them. I confess also buying some Bonne Maman Creme Caramel after their product placement spot in John’s daily comics this year.
That Bonne Maman creme caramel is primo
Brunost/gjetost is OK in small quantities in a hotel breakfast; the main thing is not to confuse it with gammelost, which is similar in colour but crumblier in texture and also absolutely foul, heading into durian/lytefisk/surströmming levels of disgusting.
Gammelost literally translates as “old cheese”; possibly named by someone who shares your feelings on the taste
“Aged” might sound nicer, but it still means the same as “old”.
And what’s wrong with something or someone being “old”?
I think you’ll find that when it comes to food, even the most well-meaning otherwise non-ageist people would balk at a dish with the main descriptor “old”. And like Mads says about, “aged” would be better and more food-appropriate, but in the context of the original Norwegian, the word very much comes across as “old”, not “aged”.
Singing a Scorpions song was sure to get them im guten mit der Jugend.
Even though the karaoke lyrics suggest The Scorpions’ Wind of Change, the visuals sadly reminded me of The Vengaboys’ Sha La La La La
That is a disturbing combination
Wednesfield girl’s school has very bad uniform! But Claire and Lottie looks so good in the thipical alpine dress and I’m sure the cheese was delicious. I would love to see more of that time. It’s not an impossible dream. If you can dream it, you can do it.
I also second a comic about Lottie and Claire’s Alpine sojourns.
When I sat down to draw this page, this was the second part of three. By the time I finished, it had become the second part of four.
I feel this will help a lot in better establishing Bad Charlotte’s motivations, assuming that’s what’ll happen
If it doesn’t help establish Bad Charlotte’s motivations, I really wasted the last 6 weeks!!
Should’ve better phrased it as “It’ll be easier to establish them now that there’s more time”, ignore the “assuming it will” part
Knowing that one page has lead to another like that gives me hopes. Maybe, one day, a story about that period could be done.
The turophile in me was content with Claire name-dropping yarg.
With brunost I am truly overwhelmed.
Never underestimate the power behind pick-up lines like ‘Let me open the door for you to a new kind of cheese.’ The world is chock-full of unhappy & bitter divorced individuals who were lured down the road to disaster with the promise of exciting new dairy products. Egg Nog alone has been the root cause of 17% of all broken families in Wisconsin.
I mean there was Wen-Tack
This means Wen-Tack is part of Bad Machinery! Update everything! Rewrite all appendices!
I feel like there’s an important clue in these memories somewhere. Probably on the next page, since I can’t see anything particularly clue-ish on this page.
Obviously Lottie incidentally destroyed the relationship or budding criminal career of some vengeful young rich lass there who was roughly her size and shape
Or she could be a former Interpol agent who’s long, diligent work was about to result in the capture of the thieves when Lottie swooped in and caught them, instead, utterly ruining this person’s career.
These are both interesting directions to go, assuming Bad Charlotte is someone we haven’t seen before
The Interpol agent was the purple-haired girl with the checkered tablecloth who captured King Gary and made possible the destruction of the cursed scooter in “The Case of the Modern Men”, who has gotten really tired of Lottie getting the credit for her hard work, while she doesn’t even get a name.
Dang, their dirndl game is on point!
Take me on.
Take on me.
That’s some challenging karaoke with that high note.
It’s about time they asked more about the ski trip! I’m afraid they’re solving skills have gotten rusty. But one must do what one can with what one has.
The way the pink wall fades into an alpine sky, and the snowy resort town slumps down onto the divan!
Brunost representation in my favourite webcomic; I’ve never been more proud to be Norwegian
Are you not a little dismayed at seeing it confused with German then?
I have just made it part of a ski breakfast buffet, I had it in Bergen, but thanks as ever for pointing out that I am fallible/useless. I’ll always have Mads to make me feel like a grade A piece of cheese.
And the hampers are now on back order.
“Tasting notes: Aged for nearly five decades. A particularly sharp yet sweet and complex cheese, with a satisfying, lingering finish that inevitably leaves the diner wanting more.”
As we lurch towards Easter, is there a change in the preferred seasonal offering? A favoured high-quality three-figure egg that our ‘steemed author should be offered in this trying time? I need to update my personal shopper, you see.
Jonathan you understand how close we are to a Faberge event here, with your comments about object permanence you might just have averted it.
tbh Jonathan it isn’t easy to read about cheese AND steamed author this close to lunch. You’re making my stomach growl.
No, no, it’s fine. It might not be widely known, but in terms of being thirsty for any kind of recognition, as a people, we truly are the Brazilians of the Arctic Circle. Also, I’m sure what might seem like a misstep on John’s part is actually just another case of his immaculate world building. I have no idea why the Germans of the SGRiverse have decided to appropriate Norwegian… cuisine as their own, but I’m sure it plays a crucial part in the plot of this series (and probably series to come).
Or Lottie’s speaking German because it’s the only mainland European language she knows.
I don’t think j’accuse is German.
German could seem more Scandinavian than Fronch to Lottie’s sensibilities. Je ne sais pas, but that’s my American impression anyway (and tho I would wager on English being a more likely common tongue, that seems secondary here).
So maybe German’s the only non-English Germanic language she knows, so she speaks to Norwegians, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, etc. in that language. Or she just knows a few phrases in French, but not enough to really talk to someone? I can’t remember whether her ability, or lack of same, to speak French was addressed in The Case of the Modern Men, when she was actually interacting with a couple of French people.
I assumed that they are in Switzerland, and so she’s speaking German because it’s a local language. No implication of the origin of the cheese in the scene.
I sometimes wonder how many of the regulars here have a sense of perspective. Or object permanence. Or if they’ve ever been outside.
I went outside last Saturday. It was 4°F and I bent the blade of my shovel hacking my way through the rock-hard plow ridge at the end of the driveway, and it started snowing again before I was done. Other reviews talk about “touching grass”, but there was no grass, only snow and ice. Did not enjoy, will not outside again.
What a treat! I’m actually fine with only knowing about the ski trip through Lottie and Claire’s retellings. Much like discovering new cheese, I think part of the thrill is not always exactly knowing how it’s made.
I’ve got some very bad news for you…
So, this is what the mysterious extra part to the story is?
John, I’ll never truly say “no” to a new story from you!
Interpol probably put Chief Inspector Koichi Zenigata on the case. His reputation for solving things isn’t great.
His record against anyone but Lupin is actually stellar, so much so that he got his own miniseries!
Yeah it’s not that he’s incompetent, it’s that Lupin is just THAT competent. Feed like this is someone a lot of people overlook.
Good points. Although actually his job is pretty easy. Just watch for wacky crimes and assume Lupin did it. Then the problem is just catching him.
Wait a minute! This explains everything!
So Doppelgröte is Lupin III? He… could probably get away with it, as mad skilled as he is with disguises. The “only” problem is that he wouldn’t have had to strain for Lottie’s voice when delivering the comestibles for Scrabble night.
It’s official. We need a Lupin III cameo!
Wee Claire’s pigtails! We need more
All this intrigue and a new cheese too! It’s like a cosmic Saturday!
Brunost? Outside of Norway? How? More importantly: Why?
Because Norwegians make up an important part of the clientele?
I have never considered the idea of Norwegians traveling for skiing. Although they *might* travel for after-skiing, I guess
Yes, the continental after-ski is probably the main attraction.
Would Norwegians be the kind of people who would go elsewhere to ski and, in the après-ski, tell everyone how much better it is in Norway?
I would imagine that in Norway, like anywhere, there are people who will go skiing in an expensive Alpine resort just because they can afford to, and because they think it’s so much cooler than boring old Norway.
They’re in Bergen.
Oops, ignore that.
I do seem to remember a very good film set in the alps with a Scandinavian family on a ski trip . . .
Ah yes, Force Majeure.
Are they, though? According to Lottie, this ski holiday is in the Alps.
I just saw an orange MG4 with the number plate BORB, which of course made me think of Humphrey http://www.gocomics.com/bad-machinery/2016/04/14