Where I grew up, the difference between dinner and supper was defined by whether you were a rancher or lived in town.

The rural folk ate breakfast, dinner and supper. The town folk ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. In both cases dinner was the big meal of the day.

(And you could tell the difference at school, too. Ranch kids brought their food to school in a "dinner pail" while townies carried a "lunchbox.")

To answer at least one question, the difference between supper and dinner comes from our British cousins. When I lived in London several years ago, supper referred to a simple meal. Dad got home from work, Mum served up a a bit of cod or mince (hamburger) with peas and chips (French fries,) followed by pud and everyone settled back to watch the Telly. Dinner was a more elaborate meal such as Sunday dinner (usually served around 1:00 PM after the pubs closed.) It might comprise a Sunday joint (prime rib or lamb) along with several kinds of veg and a trifle or fruit pie for dessert.Entertaining guests could also turn supper into dinner -- as could going out to a fine restaurant. There was also high tea which tended to be an earlier, even simpler version of supper (despite the name,) particularly convenient for families with young kids.

I dated a hot onion tart once...it just didn't work out. SHe was more about Vidalia, I was more Bermuda...

I think the sake is a give-away... something in Japan, perhaps? The menu wording seems to indicate a "loose" translation, to say the least. And it certainly looks like a sumptuous spread.

Could it be from the recent meeting Fearless Leader recently attended?

It's the G8 menu! Do I win a pound of Intelligensia coffee?! :)

The Weltschmerz 2008 was held in Beijing this year, in advance of the Olympics later this summer.

I normally go to the Weltschmerz every year but couldn't this year. Its always a fun time.

most of the stuff on that menu sounds nasty...why is so much stuff jellied?

In answer to your question about what wine goes with the July Special Meal. I think it's obvious: Boone's Farm 2007.

Nice grab bag of comments for a grab bag of a post. Who would have thought dinner vs. supper would get that much play? Mr. Gray might want to check out "pud" in American slang before his next dinner/supper party.

Seriously, what wine goes with pretty well seasoned brains or veal neck? As for seasonings, the book says that although the French use garlick in cooking tis best left for medicine here.

COME ON! No more guesses on our spirited mascots? Some company paid big money to have them as it's official representatives. You've seen SIX different versions. They are delightfully en fuego, seem to have electrons or radioactive isotopes circling them, can conjure magic chamber pots, are self-satisfied, can sneeze and/or vomit with their eyes closed, and have the ability of flight.

Way to go, Susan. Are yu still WNAJ?

Welp, since the printed menu is English English (as opposed to American English), perhaps it's the day's fare at the Savoy or some other elegant London eatery?

The "July Special Menu" is 18th-century English. The foods resemble tavern fare in, say, Williamsburg, Annapolis, or Philadelphia in the mid -to late1700's.

Owlie, I think you should check out your horoscope for today!

http://www.elnuevoherald.com/walter_mercado/

Yes, it's in Spanish, but everybody has access to babelfish. Besides, Walter Mercado is like the Sigfried and Roy of the stars rolled into one big gay package (not that there's anything wrong with that.). I'm not saying he's gay, but if not, then someone should tell his tailor:

http://jornale.com.br/blogoool/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/walter.jpg
I don't even know what kind of garment is covering his chest, there are no post-medieval words for it.

http://guanabee.com/walter.mercado.4.13.08.jpg
Remind you of someone who might do Batman harm?

I know I sound nuts, but I really like his horoscopes.

What makes the printed menu English English? Wouldn't "corn" be "maize" if it was English English? I think it's more Engrish. Savoury with a u is in the M-W dictionary, but I wouldn't put the u there.

Radioactive isotopes? I thought that was a hoola hoop.

I know for a fact that it is NOT meant to signify radioactivity, but that could be a common miscontruation (is that a word?). Hoola hoop? Interesting. Nothing more joyful than a hoola hoop.

The happy flaming banana- could be a mascot for an energy company then? I'm thinking Scandinavian or Slavic..maybe even Russia's Gazprom?

Energy company? Naw, this is a food blog. It's for a food. I never said it was a good symbol.

Mmmm - foam!

Don't know if it's cheating, but I googled "flaming banana head" - didn't find OMG's little friend, but the results were entertaining.

The fact that you will never be able to find out the identity of my little friends with any search tools points out a fundamental problem with image storage and searching on the internet.

The menu has been widely publicized, so I almost didn't use it, but I was a little lazy yesterday. I think Winkie gave me pink eye.

MYSTERY MENU #1 ANSWER

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4286365.ece

This was the G8 day's menu. Topic: the World Food Crisis. In all fairness I don't think there's a hairy crab shortage. I am reminded of that thing that MD Canon pointed out the other day from the Lego Bible about pouring expensive urns of (nard, tee hee) fragrant oils on Jesus' feet. Why not sell the oil and feed the poor? Jesus' answer: Hey, there's always going to be poor people, but I ain't gonna be here for ever.. Still not getting the Jesusy lesson there.

MYSTERY MENU #2

Here's another interesting menu:

1 - Grace Special Cold Cuts Platter
2 - Abalone & Crab Meats with Shark’s Fin Soup
3 - Baked Lobster with French Butter Sauce
4 - Stir Fried Sea Cucumber & Abalone
5 - Honey Walnut with Prawn
6 - Stewed Duck with Dry Scallops & Black Mushroom
7 - Steamed Whole Fish
8 - Richman Fried Rice
9 - Fresh Fruits
10 Dessert

Ever see the episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent where the plot revolved around a restaurant owner poisoning (murdering?) a restaurant critic with spoiled rare abalone? Watch your back Lizzie.

BTW, NOT a banana.

Regina: yes, I am still without a job :-(
It was fun at first, but now I want a job.

OMG: I knew it!!!! It's a roasting ear, isn't it.

I didn't think that thingy was a banana. I think it is a flame. Is it a flame?

What's a roasting ear? Of corn? No.

Is it a flame? Hmmm......

Well, it does not represent a flame, but rather a product and that flaming nature may be a signifier of that product.

Is it a flame? I'm going to have to rule NO, because his feet are green and I'm not familiar with green-footed flames. But I do believe he is flaming.

EL - When you say "the rest of [OMG's] little friends," are there more somewhere else to look at? Because this is really bugging me.

OMG wrote I do believe he is flaming.

Uh huh. We knew that.

whatever it is, it can't be better than a crazy happy banana thing with a hoola hoop. that's what it will always be to me.

is it some kind of pepper or salsa? the sequence looks kind of like that, and how i feel after some good hot stuff

flame...flaming...could it be a propane mascot thing?
I'm stuck on the energy thing, but you do cook with propane.

HEY, how about a pepper!! a banana pepper that is flaming hot! yeah, I know banana peppers are not hot, but this one could be special!

From the hints, one would have to guess some kind of pepper. But if it's a pepper, it looks upside down to me.

I think I accidentally trashed my last comment. No it is not salsa, a pepper or any relative of Redi-Kilowatt:

If I may muse upon Redi-KW momentarily. Wasn't he the character that encouraged school children to use as much electricity as possible, because Jesus wasn't coming back until all the Earth's resources were gone? Or maybe that was Pontius Clearcut.
1) What restaurant with table cloths has his dirty self on the wall?
2) He's wearing Smurf shoes. Chicklet, maybe he's a Smurf god
3) He's missing the tip of his left thumb. Hammer time?
4) Why a hammer when power tools make so much more sense?
5) He's got a two prong ear socket. Cue Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life":
Well, I'm just a modern guy
Of course, I've had it in the ear before
'Cause of a lust for life
6) I'll bet he also drove a GTO.

OMGW, its a three prong socket in the latest version. Gotta have ground pin for safety with all those kilowatts around.

Here's a perfect way to end your week: Iggy Pop Meets Dinah Shore.

Creepy moment of the day ... Dinah Shore flirting with Iggy Pop in 1977 and calling him "Jimmy".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0EkGiwfS4&feature=related

Two of his band members are Soupy Sales' sons? And a quiet David Bowie playing keyboards? I need SO much more of this.

Performing Sister Midnight shirtless. Surreal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAxkEiKAzw
Calling Sister Midnight
You know I had a dream last night
Mother was in my bed
And I made love to her
Father he gunned for me
Hunted me with his six gun
Calling Sister Midnight
What can I do about my dreams?

As far as I know, the Dinah Shore show was on in the afternoon for housewives. What were they thinking?

The Behind the Music treatment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8optOhhetso

Ground? We don't need no stinkin' ground.

The Little Italy Film "festival" starts tonight. Harumpph. By about 4 PM people will be staking out the best chairs and spreading their blankets on the asphalt in Da Mimmos parking lot and on Stiles Street. It is the best of times, it is the wurst of times. I think some new Italian movie called "Moonstruck" is playing, starring the dude from Valley Girl and the chick from Mask.

Hooray for Little Italy! Seriously, people always ask me if I go to the open air movies. First they don't know that I don't like weather above 76 degreees. Also, I consider it a failure if I don't get more than three blocks from my house on a Friday night. So I like to go to Roland Park and sit in people's back yards and watch movies through their windows, uninvited - OWL MEAT STYLE!

Here's the movie schedule.
http://www.littleitalymaryland.com/little_italy_maryland_restaurant_events.htm

As for other movies that are still playing at the Charles or the Harbor East Landmark theaters, in the interest of funtasm I recommend:
Mongol - Yeah! History, blood and Ghengis Khan! Better than Gladiator.
Gonzo - Hunter Thompson at his best/worst. GReat.
Get Smart - I know, everyone is surprised, but I LOVED it.
The Happpening - So bad that it's good. Seriously, it's like marshmallow peeps bad. Inappropriately laugh out loud bad. Really inappropriate appearance by a Doobie Brothers song.
The Fall - 1920s Hollywood meets Pan's Labyrinth and Pushing Daisies. Magically visual.
The Visitor - America sucks. People that ignore deportation orders rule! And are musical. Nate Fisher Sr. comes back from the grave.
Indiana Whatever - America's favorite AARP grave robber comes back to fight Ruskies and cliches. Fails on second part. Sean Connery decides to die rather than submit to this stunt-porn fluffery. Karen Allen looks good though. Go away Shia LaBoeuf - We praise not the beef!
The Children OF Huang Shi - English idiot saves orphans. And yet the photography of deep interior China makes it easily worthwhile. Plus Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh rule and Radha Mitchell is cute.

First, I am mesmerized by the new characters. #2 is holding/offering something which causes him to lose his circular mojo. #4 is expelling something from his mouth. I don't know what they are, but I would really like to see more of them.

Kudos to R&R Chicklet for the bizarre clips. If you like the uncomfortable comedy of The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm, you might enjoy this very weird combination of Henry Winkler, David Bowie and Dinah Shore. It's creepy watching Ziggy Stardust and The Fonz mutually admire each other on daytime TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1bRIwqv_tM&feature=related

OMG: Are we even close to guessing the identity of this mystery banana-pepper-flame with green feet character? I still think it is a flame...a butane or propane flame.
Oh how you tease!!

What's WNAJ Susan?

Yes, you are getting close. Not you "ihearachallenge" because I said it was a food and unless you are a fire eater (you might be), fire is not food. Random thought: Mandy Moore sure is cute. I have found some close and distant cousins of him for next week! Yeah! I'm also writing a musical about him, well maybe later if I drink too much. I already know that he has unresolved mother issues.

OMGrump, you left out WALL-E. Plenty of food for thought (ahem) there.

Simple. Susan Who Needs A Job.

Ah, Susan, I thought you might be a radio station.

OMT: I've been called worse :-)

Ok, then its a flaming corn dog with green feet?

I've called people worse - tonight. Well, on the positive side you could have thought of the Joni Mitchell song - .You Turn Me On I'm a Radio Not intending to flirt and now I'm going into a hippie coma ... glug glug.

Wow, that was refreshing. I just had to explain to a college graduate that when I said the social scene in Little Italy was incestuous ("That's not very nice Owl Meat"), that I meant metaphorically, not literally. What are they teaching these kidz theze dayz?

More Joni Mitchell, it's too late for pizza:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSZcK48cTiU&feature=related
Coyote ("chasing some dark owl...") . Match that Chicklet for obscurty. I don't think I've ended a Friday night this unironic since Gumby died.

Like Descartes I advance masked, yet tonight seemingly unscathed by the scars of my purposeful undoing I retire kissed by the experience of random poked diskindness and skipping luck. It's okay in America tonight.

OMMF, Gumby died?

Based on my (admittedly limited) experience here, the reports of all deaths are greatly exagerated.

Gumby lives.

Gumby can never die as long as he lives in our hearts. As for why he died, I believe he divinity is apocryphal.

I think Gumby hit on me last night. He was wasted on dirty martinis. He kept saying he needed a new "Pokey". Bad pickup line Scumby!

Owlie, that Joni Mitchell stuff is freaking me out a little.Were you drinking appletinis and watching Gilmore Girls last night?

Random thought OMG ... since you're such a movie freak (seven movies in a week?!?), you should add movie reviews to funtastic Thursday BUT you can only review the food in the movie. Tee hee. Of course The Happening food-wise would have a lot of spoilers in it. You could also review the food you're eating during the movie. ("The Sweet Tarts I found in my pocket were a tangy complement to the murderous ways of Corey Feldman's character in Goonies 10 - The Reckoning")

Hmmm, Chicklet, I would have to keep the food and drink viewing in mind from now on. My retroactive analytic processor isn't so good. I'm usually thinking about other things when viewing, this might interfere with my Zen-like emptiness.

Beware:Spoilers abound
The Happening - while I saw no actual vegetables being eaten, they were plenty angry. There is a very weird scene where they are escaping from the killer plants and their ride says, "You like hot dogs?" and both characters knowing full well that the vegetable kingdom is trying to frag their glutes, give a weird look as if to say, "Nah, I'm ovo-lacto-pesco-pollo kind of not into processed meat." One of many surreal moments. Mark Wahlberg tried to get a guy to open his house by saying "we have a little girl who is hungry". No luck. Then he tried to prove that they were not zombies by singing "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers. What? Then two city kidz get all Upper Darby ghetto on the farmer and he blows their brains out with a shotgun. Message: hungry little girls kills get boys killed. Which I interpret as vegetarianism being not just deadly murderous, but also promoting bad body images for girls due to murder-guilt. Food grade: A+ for complex incoherent fear of everything foodlike and even the desire for food. Oh yeah, an old lady did eventually feed them, but then she went crazy and her garden killed her.
Gonzo - Steady diet of Wild Turkey, mescaline and peyote. Didn't see any real food.
Savage Grace - Julianne Moore lets her son have ice cream for breakfast, has sex with him when he's a teenager and he kills her with a steak knife. Yum. Food grade: C for ironic use of steak knife
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Walker - Some cliche burgers and fries at the cliche 50s teen-filled diner. Food grade: F
The Children of Huang Shi - Starving orphans. Food grade: F
The Visitor - Mother of future deportee makes some decent looking food. Food grade: D+
Get Smart: don't remember any food.
The Fall: don't remember food, but I'll bet there was lots of exotic good food. Potential food grade: B. Extra points for making me think of Pushing Daisies which is like pie porn. Mmmm ... pie.
Mongol - High desert nomad food? D
Roman de Gare - French movie. Automatic B+ for food.

Now I'm hungry.

BTW Dan Rodricks poached you on restaurant changes on his blog. He also ran a review of what the food might be like if you could travel back to 2003. Zoom zoom zoom.
>|8>}

What up Rodricks? You're also promoting a Top Ten Maryland Barbecue listby City Paper writer Henry Hong? Et tu, et tu.

I can't get that upset since Olesker nearly ran me down with his car by gunning down Albemarle Street at about 45 MPH, so the Columnists to Avenge list is full (capacity: one). Plus it's not my fight. I can't speak for Batman though.

As always ... I advance masked.

I count five food/restaurant posts in July alone on Dan Rodrick's blog. Columnist at large versus columnist Large?

If our little buddies were flaming bananas, they would already have a leader:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/403132517_7f61fa5ff1.jpg?v=0

Terrier Mom - hilarious! You nearly made me spray the Maker's I was sipping all over my poor little laptop.

(I hope you don't know that guy.)