6 ms·

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some kinda just waved and moved on, but most stopped to talk. What's interesting is that people who had lived in that neighborhood nearly 20 years together had never talked, and met for the first time as both stopped to chat at nearly the same time. Then we started with small gifts, usually food because my wife cooks exotic things for people to try. Now we get random gifts, usually food or fruits or some flower or plant. Now we have little get togethers inviting each other, text to ask if need anything from the store, etc. And all it took was being willing to sit outside for a couple hours each night and say hi.

Yhippa 3y ago
This is so wholesome and has generally worked for us. I have one thing to add if you can pull it off: get a dog, and walk the dog around then neighborhood. I've met so many cool people that way.
cj 3y ago
This worked for me, too (except I’m usually the one walking by rather than the one waving people over to chat). If you don’t like small talk, a great way to interact with neighbors is to offer your help, e.g. if you see someone doing work outside, gardening, etc… offer to lend a hand!
aj_g 3y ago
Beautiful. Does it ever feel challenging in any way, like you're fighting against a social norm?
- silisili 3y ago
  A little, but not terribly much. Maybe it's an age thing, I'm not that old (around 40), but I don't feel weird talking to people I don't know - I quite enjoy it. In fact, I felt rather sad since the rise of smartphones, because a lot of places I use to get small talk(barber, airport, etc), everyone is busy or feigning being busy. But when people are just out enjoying the air, they are more free to chat. The biggest thing to put aside are first impressions/biases - ie, treating people that you wouldn't normally think you'd be friends with the same. As a lot of my neighborhood are older than we are, that was a lot of people. In a way it's like coworkers, you can't pick them, but some end up being great friends. It also helped to have a really outgoing child. She'd go riding her bike around the neighborhood, and a few people stopped by because "the little girl on the bike said I should come meet you guys." I will say it was easier, to me, to do so when first moving in. I personally would feel weird if I'd lived somewhere a long time and never bothered to meet anyone, then started acting more social out of nowhere. But that's probably just in my head.
slothtrop 3y ago
Started doing this to a limited extent. For years I'd have never dreamed of doing this, as I did not want to feel obliged to casual acquaintances, i.e. I feared expectation of friendship that I did not want to reciprocate. Turns out most people are just happy to leave things casual. I don't mind small talk. Related to why I've had limited friendships. I've wanted fewer, high quality ones as overshooting my social needs is uncomfortable, and I'm a creature of habit. Used to overcorrect towards solitude and that backfires, but I've had friendships in the past where I dreaded having to meet.
Fervicus 3y ago
I am curious. Which country do you live in?
- silisili 3y ago
  Southwestern USA. Which is kinda funny as my wife hates it and wants to move because gardening here is really hard-to-impossible, but she doesn't want to give up our great neighborhood, so we're at an impasse.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Gardening should be possible in the southwest, but you may have to utilize greenhouses or whatever the opposite of one is. Much of the "desert" will bloom if you pour enough water on it (and drip irrigation does wonders). But you can't do a "midwest" style garden.
    - silisili 3y ago
      Right, and we're used to that style of gardening (and tropical, we've lived all over). Here the main problems are that the soil is completely garbage, it never rains, and there's too much sun. She's had limited success planting things in large bags full of garden soil, watering every day, and building a system of shades from the afternoon sun - it's just a big hassle compared to gardening in a lot of the eastern side of the US.
      - bombcar 3y ago
        Yep. The first can be repaired, the second compensated for, but the third is the killer. You either have to vastly move the growing season (growing in winter seems strange) or you have to learn new tricks that don't "feel right" like growing things up against a building to get shade half the day. Composting can be a great way to improve the soil, but it takes years to really get going. But if you're going to be there for years ... And maybe you could even get "donations" from neighbors! I know one person who setup compost jars for her neighbors to get more compostables.
bombcar 3y ago
It's sad that modern American yards are so unfriendly to sitting in your front yard, but that can be easily fixed, even within the boundaries of over-zealous HOAs or towns. Just make a cute little "gate" (it doesn't even need the gate) with flowers at the end of the walkway near the sidewalk, and add in a table and some chairs (or move them out when you go to sit). Being at the sidewalk vs being 20-40 feet away on a porch makes a huge difference.
- achileas 3y ago
  This isn't really the case outside of far-flung suburbs and rural areas. Where I live, setbacks of more than 6 feet or so are rare, and front porches and stoops right off the heavily used sidewalks are the norm. We do "porch hangs" with our in-building neighbors, our kids and the kids in the neighboring buildings do sidewalk chalk together, we hang out at the local parks together, bring over friends from nearby neighborhoods, and talk with other parents and stuff. Being a parent in a child-friendly neighborhood helps a ton with finding a community. Before we had a kid, we'd do things like welcome new neighbors with treats from our favorite bakery and our phone number if they needed anything, being generous with our time and things, etc.
- _gfwu 3y ago
  I agree. In my opinion, it's another manifestation of individualism promoted by the capitalist system in the US - in urban design, in this case. Another commenter pointed out how they only see their neighbour when they both walk to or from their car at the same time. It sounds sad to me, but some might prefer it that way.
  - throwuwu 3y ago
    It’s mostly just fashion, no need to read into it so much with your own personal biases. Although it can serve a purpose if your house is on a busy road. It’s quieter the further you are from traffic.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Setbacks are often required but there’s quite a bit you can do even with that. Front yard barbecues are great!
nostromo 3y ago
I'm prepared for this to be an unpopular opinion, but I'm glad my neighbors don't do this. I know my neighbors well enough. We check each other's mail when they're away and will help out in other ways. But I have lots of friends to keep up with outside of my neighborhood -- people I have a lot in common with -- my neighbors, not so much. If they wanted to talk with me each time I saw them coming or going, I would likely start actively avoiding them so I could get on my way.
- strikelaserclaw 3y ago
  i'm sure you can just say hi and move on.
- shakow 3y ago
  Then just wave and move on, GP and his wife will not sequestrate you to make you mingle.
- irrational 3y ago
  You would love my next door neighbors. They moved in the same week we did 2 years ago. We saw them when they first drove up and enters their garage (middle age couple). Since then, nobody has ever seen them. They never have lights on in their house at night. They never answer their door. They never open their garage and drive away. They never have packages or anything else delivered. They only way we know they are still alive is their trash bins go out and are taken back in every week (though nobody has ever seen them do it) and in the winter you can see the white smoke/condensation from their utility vents.
  - uninformed 3y ago
    Where does the trash come from?
    - GuardianCaveman 3y ago
      Brought in through underground tunnels .
    - 3y ago
lannisterstark 3y ago
>My neighborhood I have a question. What kind of place do you live in? Is it houses that are apart by some distance -lawns/treelines separating y'all etc-, is it houses that are built next to each other, is it duplexes/townhomes etc?
- silisili 3y ago
  Excellent question. I live in a neighborhood where each house has 1 acre of land, so a couple hundred feet between houses? Maybe 100-150 houses in the neighborhood. Perfectly flat, few to no big trees or shrubs that would obscure a house - it's in a desert, after all. What's funny is I picked it because I was tired of having bad neighbors in my previous city. I told my wife this way, I can have bad neighbors, but at least they'll be bad neighbors way over there (pointing). Nearly everyone I've met in this neighborhood said that they picked it for the same reason. And they are the best neighbors I've ever had. So...try to find a neighborhood full of people who want to be away from neighbors?
  - quicklime 3y ago
    In a typical evening, how many neighbors walk by? I used to live in a suburb with literally 10x the density, and the only time I ever saw my immediate neighbors was if we both happened to be walking from our front doors to our cars at the same time.
    - silisili 3y ago
      As it gets very hot here, people generally only go out for walks at two times of day, which makes it easier - early morning, and evening. In a typical evening, we'd probably see 10-15 people go by. Most walking a dog or pushing a stroller around. We don't have sidewalks here - there's so little traffic everyone just walks in the street.
- pedantsamaritan 3y ago
  This question alludes to thoughts about front-yard design space. As houses get closer together, residents still want both connection and privacy. A raised area (porch, patio, etc), frequently provides this. With a raised porch that goes right to the sidewalk, a resident could move their chair close to the edge to talk to pedestrians or move chair away from sidewalk toward house for less talking. The playborhood people did a similar thing to GP: "Mike also made another simple-but-radical move: In a neighborhood in which front yards are for admiration only, Mike installed a picnic table, close to the sidewalk, where he and his family often sat, so that people walking by would have to talk to them." https://archive.is/uLa77#selection-749.0-749.254 https://archive.is/uLa77#selection-749.0-749.254
brendev 3y ago
I've got a similar situation here in Baltimore. The community I'm a part of here is like nothing I've ever experienced. We actually have a neighborhood telegram chat of ~70 people where we post about neighborhood events, parties, etc. My wife and I have a great circle of friends within this community and it led us to buy a house a few years back(before the market got all wild). We just had our first kid, and there's plenty of other newborns popping up so I'm looking forward to seeing them all grow up together!
- HaZeust 3y ago
  Is this Baltimore County or City? Up in Milford Mill, I wish I could say this was the case for my neighborhood.
gervwyk 3y ago
Such a sweet idea! Really looking for ways to grow community in our neighborhood aswell.
AndrewKemendo 3y ago
Yes this exactly. I threw a block party last year and the community loved it and most were like "you know we haven't had one in years." A year later and we've found lost dogs, gotten people employed and I have some of the best and strongest relationships in years - and my kids have a ton of others to hang with of all ages (7-15) When in hard times, build Communities not bunkers
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
thepasswordis 3y ago
Based and grill-pilled. We've been doing the same. I recently have gotten into brisket smoking, and for the last few weekends, my wife and kids have been out in the yard every Saturday all day smoking meats. At night we offer some to everybody who walks by. It's really been nice.
- rubicon33 3y ago
  Ah hell yea, smoked meats. Are you a fellow enjoyer of Sweet Baby Rays too?
  - thepasswordis 3y ago
    I keep a bottle in the fridge just in case Mark comes over.
AlbertCory 3y ago
A cute friendly dog works wonders too.
- bluejellybean 3y ago
  I did just this a few days ago, it's incredible how many people will come up and ask to pet your dog. Some will keep moving quickly, others will talk about their own animals, and some will drop little hints about themselves to further a conversation. Aside from everything fun about a companion, it's really is a fantastic feeling to be able to see someones eyes light up, you're brightening up their day!
alach11 3y ago
When my wife and I bought our house last year, we made bags of cookies and visited every neighbor to introduce ourselves. This has paid dividends. In our neighborhood we now have friends we see weekly, people to call upon if we're out of town and need someone to check on the house, and use of two neighbors' pools!
imranq 3y ago
Brilliant idea - I think I'll try this in my neighborhood and at work where people seem to be walking alone all the time
conductr 3y ago
I host two events. In fall, I’m the pancake breakfast guy and then in spring I’m the crawfish boil guy. I just put flyers on people’s doors before each event. I just think it’s fun and missed the sense of neighborhood community I had as a kid, had my “be the change you want” moment. My kid on the other hand gets a kick out of having everyone know his name and being a hyper local celebrity lol.
- silisili 3y ago
  My kid would love you for the pancakes, and my wife for the crawfish boil. Any tips/recipes for the boil? Assuming it's that cajun buttery stuff - I have to drive an hour to get some, and would love to be able to make it as good at home.
  - conductr 3y ago
    It’s not hard. Just takes a little practice, right/good equipment, and good ingredients. My main tip is get them live. Get them purged and cleaned if possible. Otherwise just another simple skill to learn but definitely don’t want poopy crawfish. I find people devour the potatoes and corn. Then about 4 lbs of crawfish per person (some people will eat none and some will eat 10 lbs so hard to estimate). You can probably get the decent starter recipe online as it’s pretty basic and you’ll just start with a premix of spices. I wouldn’t recommend DIY approach for a bit on spices. Do a couple practice runs to build muscle memory and adjust how spicy(hot) you like it. I grew up around it but even still I had to watch some YouTube videos to spark my memory of what the adults were actually doing. So just invest some time there as well. Good luck with the boils! Edit: to add, I also have to drive a bit. It was partially the genesis for this as I realized I somehow crossed this border where I was no longer near the gulf coast but inland and although I’m in same state it’s actually quite a different culture where I am versus closer to the coast.
readonthegoapp 3y ago
awesome. reminds me of The Balcony Movie (saw on Mubi). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e58xwcNzjb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e58xwcNzjb0 ...and, this is kind of the idea behind this -- for apartment-dwellers. https://myapartmentfamily.com/ https://myapartmentfamily.com/
pkphilip 3y ago
This is just brilliant! It makes all the difference in a neighbourhood to have folks who seem to genuinely be friendly and caring staying very close by. My wife and I try to do this in neighbourhoods where we stay without being intrusive or too chatty. Works wonders.
OJFord 3y ago
It's funny, in a lot of mainland Europe (i.e. not UK, also not non-rural France IME) that's completely normal. People would rather sit at the front (even if they don't have a garden/balcony/anything at the front, just sit on the doorstep or chair in the street) with a coffee/smoke and chat to neighbours or nearest shopkeeper. In the UK I think it's probably more common not even to use your private back garden with your own family, because the neighbours are using theirs this evening!
- jvidalv 3y ago
  In small towns in Spain is very common, when the weather is good people just sit outside their houses with a chair, and im talking about houses without garden whatsoever, they just sit on the street, of-course its secondary streets where there are almost no cars. Normally people stops to chat, and the more closer neighbors also come to sit.
- poslathian 3y ago
  Reddit.com/r/fuckcars Reddit.com/r/suburbanhell It’s not the sad isolating culture leading to cars it’s the reverse. Who wants to sit outside with cars driving nearby?
  - achileas 3y ago
    I'm in Boston, which is very walkable but have lived on major arteries and busy neighborhood roads. We still hang out on our porch with our neighbors all the time, as do lots of people here. It has nothing to do with vehicular traffic.
- martopix 3y ago
  In my experience actually Americans are a lot more up for smalltalk with strangers than we are here in Europe.
kwanbix 3y ago
Imagine doing that on a city such as NY.

Yhippa 3y ago

This is so wholesome and has generally worked for us. I have one thing to add if you can pull it off: get a dog, and walk the dog around then neighborhood. I've met so many cool people that way.

cj 3y ago

This worked for me, too (except I’m usually the one walking by rather than the one waving people over to chat). If you don’t like small talk, a great way to interact with neighbors is to offer your help, e.g. if you see someone doing work outside, gardening, etc… offer to lend a hand!

aj_g 3y ago

Beautiful. Does it ever feel challenging in any way, like you're fighting against a social norm?

silisili 3y ago
A little, but not terribly much. Maybe it's an age thing, I'm not that old (around 40), but I don't feel weird talking to people I don't know - I quite enjoy it. In fact, I felt rather sad since the rise of smartphones, because a lot of places I use to get small talk(barber, airport, etc), everyone is busy or feigning being busy. But when people are just out enjoying the air, they are more free to chat. The biggest thing to put aside are first impressions/biases - ie, treating people that you wouldn't normally think you'd be friends with the same. As a lot of my neighborhood are older than we are, that was a lot of people. In a way it's like coworkers, you can't pick them, but some end up being great friends. It also helped to have a really outgoing child. She'd go riding her bike around the neighborhood, and a few people stopped by because "the little girl on the bike said I should come meet you guys." I will say it was easier, to me, to do so when first moving in. I personally would feel weird if I'd lived somewhere a long time and never bothered to meet anyone, then started acting more social out of nowhere. But that's probably just in my head.

slothtrop 3y ago

Started doing this to a limited extent. For years I'd have never dreamed of doing this, as I did not want to feel obliged to casual acquaintances, i.e. I feared expectation of friendship that I did not want to reciprocate. Turns out most people are just happy to leave things casual. I don't mind small talk. Related to why I've had limited friendships. I've wanted fewer, high quality ones as overshooting my social needs is uncomfortable, and I'm a creature of habit. Used to overcorrect towards solitude and that backfires, but I've had friendships in the past where I dreaded having to meet.

Fervicus 3y ago

I am curious. Which country do you live in?

silisili 3y ago
Southwestern USA. Which is kinda funny as my wife hates it and wants to move because gardening here is really hard-to-impossible, but she doesn't want to give up our great neighborhood, so we're at an impasse.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Gardening should be possible in the southwest, but you may have to utilize greenhouses or whatever the opposite of one is. Much of the "desert" will bloom if you pour enough water on it (and drip irrigation does wonders). But you can't do a "midwest" style garden.
  - silisili 3y ago
    Right, and we're used to that style of gardening (and tropical, we've lived all over). Here the main problems are that the soil is completely garbage, it never rains, and there's too much sun. She's had limited success planting things in large bags full of garden soil, watering every day, and building a system of shades from the afternoon sun - it's just a big hassle compared to gardening in a lot of the eastern side of the US.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Yep. The first can be repaired, the second compensated for, but the third is the killer. You either have to vastly move the growing season (growing in winter seems strange) or you have to learn new tricks that don't "feel right" like growing things up against a building to get shade half the day. Composting can be a great way to improve the soil, but it takes years to really get going. But if you're going to be there for years ... And maybe you could even get "donations" from neighbors! I know one person who setup compost jars for her neighbors to get more compostables.

bombcar 3y ago

It's sad that modern American yards are so unfriendly to sitting in your front yard, but that can be easily fixed, even within the boundaries of over-zealous HOAs or towns. Just make a cute little "gate" (it doesn't even need the gate) with flowers at the end of the walkway near the sidewalk, and add in a table and some chairs (or move them out when you go to sit). Being at the sidewalk vs being 20-40 feet away on a porch makes a huge difference.

achileas 3y ago
This isn't really the case outside of far-flung suburbs and rural areas. Where I live, setbacks of more than 6 feet or so are rare, and front porches and stoops right off the heavily used sidewalks are the norm. We do "porch hangs" with our in-building neighbors, our kids and the kids in the neighboring buildings do sidewalk chalk together, we hang out at the local parks together, bring over friends from nearby neighborhoods, and talk with other parents and stuff. Being a parent in a child-friendly neighborhood helps a ton with finding a community. Before we had a kid, we'd do things like welcome new neighbors with treats from our favorite bakery and our phone number if they needed anything, being generous with our time and things, etc.
_gfwu 3y ago
I agree. In my opinion, it's another manifestation of individualism promoted by the capitalist system in the US - in urban design, in this case. Another commenter pointed out how they only see their neighbour when they both walk to or from their car at the same time. It sounds sad to me, but some might prefer it that way.
- throwuwu 3y ago
  It’s mostly just fashion, no need to read into it so much with your own personal biases. Although it can serve a purpose if your house is on a busy road. It’s quieter the further you are from traffic.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Setbacks are often required but there’s quite a bit you can do even with that. Front yard barbecues are great!

nostromo 3y ago

I'm prepared for this to be an unpopular opinion, but I'm glad my neighbors don't do this. I know my neighbors well enough. We check each other's mail when they're away and will help out in other ways. But I have lots of friends to keep up with outside of my neighborhood -- people I have a lot in common with -- my neighbors, not so much. If they wanted to talk with me each time I saw them coming or going, I would likely start actively avoiding them so I could get on my way.

strikelaserclaw 3y ago
i'm sure you can just say hi and move on.
shakow 3y ago
Then just wave and move on, GP and his wife will not sequestrate you to make you mingle.
irrational 3y ago
You would love my next door neighbors. They moved in the same week we did 2 years ago. We saw them when they first drove up and enters their garage (middle age couple). Since then, nobody has ever seen them. They never have lights on in their house at night. They never answer their door. They never open their garage and drive away. They never have packages or anything else delivered. They only way we know they are still alive is their trash bins go out and are taken back in every week (though nobody has ever seen them do it) and in the winter you can see the white smoke/condensation from their utility vents.
- uninformed 3y ago
  Where does the trash come from?
  - GuardianCaveman 3y ago
    Brought in through underground tunnels .
  - 3y ago

lannisterstark 3y ago

>My neighborhood I have a question. What kind of place do you live in? Is it houses that are apart by some distance -lawns/treelines separating y'all etc-, is it houses that are built next to each other, is it duplexes/townhomes etc?

silisili 3y ago
Excellent question. I live in a neighborhood where each house has 1 acre of land, so a couple hundred feet between houses? Maybe 100-150 houses in the neighborhood. Perfectly flat, few to no big trees or shrubs that would obscure a house - it's in a desert, after all. What's funny is I picked it because I was tired of having bad neighbors in my previous city. I told my wife this way, I can have bad neighbors, but at least they'll be bad neighbors way over there (pointing). Nearly everyone I've met in this neighborhood said that they picked it for the same reason. And they are the best neighbors I've ever had. So...try to find a neighborhood full of people who want to be away from neighbors?
- quicklime 3y ago
  In a typical evening, how many neighbors walk by? I used to live in a suburb with literally 10x the density, and the only time I ever saw my immediate neighbors was if we both happened to be walking from our front doors to our cars at the same time.
  - silisili 3y ago
    As it gets very hot here, people generally only go out for walks at two times of day, which makes it easier - early morning, and evening. In a typical evening, we'd probably see 10-15 people go by. Most walking a dog or pushing a stroller around. We don't have sidewalks here - there's so little traffic everyone just walks in the street.
pedantsamaritan 3y ago
This question alludes to thoughts about front-yard design space. As houses get closer together, residents still want both connection and privacy. A raised area (porch, patio, etc), frequently provides this. With a raised porch that goes right to the sidewalk, a resident could move their chair close to the edge to talk to pedestrians or move chair away from sidewalk toward house for less talking. The playborhood people did a similar thing to GP: "Mike also made another simple-but-radical move: In a neighborhood in which front yards are for admiration only, Mike installed a picnic table, close to the sidewalk, where he and his family often sat, so that people walking by would have to talk to them." https://archive.is/uLa77#selection-749.0-749.254 https://archive.is/uLa77#selection-749.0-749.254

brendev 3y ago

I've got a similar situation here in Baltimore. The community I'm a part of here is like nothing I've ever experienced. We actually have a neighborhood telegram chat of ~70 people where we post about neighborhood events, parties, etc. My wife and I have a great circle of friends within this community and it led us to buy a house a few years back(before the market got all wild). We just had our first kid, and there's plenty of other newborns popping up so I'm looking forward to seeing them all grow up together!

HaZeust 3y ago
Is this Baltimore County or City? Up in Milford Mill, I wish I could say this was the case for my neighborhood.

gervwyk 3y ago

Such a sweet idea! Really looking for ways to grow community in our neighborhood aswell.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago

Yes this exactly. I threw a block party last year and the community loved it and most were like "you know we haven't had one in years." A year later and we've found lost dogs, gotten people employed and I have some of the best and strongest relationships in years - and my kids have a ton of others to hang with of all ages (7-15) When in hard times, build Communities not bunkers

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

thepasswordis 3y ago

Based and grill-pilled. We've been doing the same. I recently have gotten into brisket smoking, and for the last few weekends, my wife and kids have been out in the yard every Saturday all day smoking meats. At night we offer some to everybody who walks by. It's really been nice.

rubicon33 3y ago
Ah hell yea, smoked meats. Are you a fellow enjoyer of Sweet Baby Rays too?
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  I keep a bottle in the fridge just in case Mark comes over.

AlbertCory 3y ago

A cute friendly dog works wonders too.

bluejellybean 3y ago
I did just this a few days ago, it's incredible how many people will come up and ask to pet your dog. Some will keep moving quickly, others will talk about their own animals, and some will drop little hints about themselves to further a conversation. Aside from everything fun about a companion, it's really is a fantastic feeling to be able to see someones eyes light up, you're brightening up their day!

alach11 3y ago

When my wife and I bought our house last year, we made bags of cookies and visited every neighbor to introduce ourselves. This has paid dividends. In our neighborhood we now have friends we see weekly, people to call upon if we're out of town and need someone to check on the house, and use of two neighbors' pools!

imranq 3y ago

Brilliant idea - I think I'll try this in my neighborhood and at work where people seem to be walking alone all the time

conductr 3y ago

I host two events. In fall, I’m the pancake breakfast guy and then in spring I’m the crawfish boil guy. I just put flyers on people’s doors before each event. I just think it’s fun and missed the sense of neighborhood community I had as a kid, had my “be the change you want” moment. My kid on the other hand gets a kick out of having everyone know his name and being a hyper local celebrity lol.

silisili 3y ago
My kid would love you for the pancakes, and my wife for the crawfish boil. Any tips/recipes for the boil? Assuming it's that cajun buttery stuff - I have to drive an hour to get some, and would love to be able to make it as good at home.
- conductr 3y ago
  It’s not hard. Just takes a little practice, right/good equipment, and good ingredients. My main tip is get them live. Get them purged and cleaned if possible. Otherwise just another simple skill to learn but definitely don’t want poopy crawfish. I find people devour the potatoes and corn. Then about 4 lbs of crawfish per person (some people will eat none and some will eat 10 lbs so hard to estimate). You can probably get the decent starter recipe online as it’s pretty basic and you’ll just start with a premix of spices. I wouldn’t recommend DIY approach for a bit on spices. Do a couple practice runs to build muscle memory and adjust how spicy(hot) you like it. I grew up around it but even still I had to watch some YouTube videos to spark my memory of what the adults were actually doing. So just invest some time there as well. Good luck with the boils! Edit: to add, I also have to drive a bit. It was partially the genesis for this as I realized I somehow crossed this border where I was no longer near the gulf coast but inland and although I’m in same state it’s actually quite a different culture where I am versus closer to the coast.

readonthegoapp 3y ago

awesome. reminds me of The Balcony Movie (saw on Mubi). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e58xwcNzjb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e58xwcNzjb0 ...and, this is kind of the idea behind this -- for apartment-dwellers. https://myapartmentfamily.com/ https://myapartmentfamily.com/

pkphilip 3y ago

This is just brilliant! It makes all the difference in a neighbourhood to have folks who seem to genuinely be friendly and caring staying very close by. My wife and I try to do this in neighbourhoods where we stay without being intrusive or too chatty. Works wonders.

OJFord 3y ago

It's funny, in a lot of mainland Europe (i.e. not UK, also not non-rural France IME) that's completely normal. People would rather sit at the front (even if they don't have a garden/balcony/anything at the front, just sit on the doorstep or chair in the street) with a coffee/smoke and chat to neighbours or nearest shopkeeper. In the UK I think it's probably more common not even to use your private back garden with your own family, because the neighbours are using theirs this evening!

jvidalv 3y ago
In small towns in Spain is very common, when the weather is good people just sit outside their houses with a chair, and im talking about houses without garden whatsoever, they just sit on the street, of-course its secondary streets where there are almost no cars. Normally people stops to chat, and the more closer neighbors also come to sit.
poslathian 3y ago
Reddit.com/r/fuckcars Reddit.com/r/suburbanhell It’s not the sad isolating culture leading to cars it’s the reverse. Who wants to sit outside with cars driving nearby?
- achileas 3y ago
  I'm in Boston, which is very walkable but have lived on major arteries and busy neighborhood roads. We still hang out on our porch with our neighbors all the time, as do lots of people here. It has nothing to do with vehicular traffic.
martopix 3y ago
In my experience actually Americans are a lot more up for smalltalk with strangers than we are here in Europe.

kwanbix 3y ago

Imagine doing that on a city such as NY.