Hawaii Courtesy of the Hospital?

The past couple of weeks have been full of knowledge that I honestly could have done without learning.  Things like how crappy it is to have mono, how many IV bags it takes to combat severe dehydration, and that steroids can leech calcium from your bones.  Yep, that's a bunch of information that no one needs to know, unless your a healthcare professional trying to make someone like me feel better.

One healthcare professional had a special secret that not only made me feel better, but almost made it worth spending three days in the hospital...ALMOST.

My first afternoon in the hospital I was charged with drinking as much as possible.  Having a severely swollen and soar throat I found the colder the drink the better, and since eating was pretty difficult, the nurses wanted me to try to drink some juice.  I should say that I'm not really a juice kind of person.  I like juice, but it's not usually my first choice of beverages so when Marilyn, my Patient Care Technician, asked what kind of juice I wanted, I took a few minutes to answer.  Before I could answer Marilyn said, "or would you like the mix?  It's the best."

With that recommendation I agreed, not knowing what "the mix" was.  Marilyn returned in a few minutes with a large glass of pink colored juice.  I took a sip and immediately I felt like I was sitting on a lanai in Hawaii!  It wasn't guava juice, or pineapple, or cherry, but it was tropical and so delicious.  I couldn't believe it!  How could something so amazingly delicious be in the hospital?  When Marilyn looked in on my next and noticed that I had finished off my juice, she asked what I thought.

What did I think?  I thought I was on vacation!  Well, minus the horrible sore throat and IV and the hospital bed and gown, that is.  But it was amazing!  I couldn't believe it.  So I asked Marilyn what he had mixed to make such a delicious concoction. She readily shared the recipe for what I am calling Hawaii in a Glass.  Once I'm back to 100% I plan to try this recipe with either a shot of rum or vodka for a Grown Up Hawaii in a Glass. But until then, I'm sticking with the original recipe:

Hawaii in a Glass
In a large pint glass filled with ice add the following:

1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Apple Juice
1/2 cup Cranberry Juice

Stir and enjoy!

You can make pitchers full.  Just make sure to keep the proportions of the three juices equal.

I'm happy to be home from the hospital and even happier to be able to enjoy Hawaii in a Glass from the comfort of my own living room!

Good Things Come in Small Pillows...

...small pillows of doughy goodness, that is. Yesterday I sampled an amazing Dutch treat - poffertjes. 

Poffertjes are sometimes called miniature Dutch pancakes, by that name is completely misleading, at least in my opinion. Maybe because miniature pancakes conjures up images of silver dollar pancakes which are completely different. 

Pancakes, at least the American version, are round and flat, but substantive, like a sweet, spongy frisbee. In contrast, French crepes are paper thin pancakes that are usually filled with fruit or savories and then folded. On the surface crepes and poffertjes but the Dutch mini pancake can thank crepes and Napolean for its existence. 

Crepes were traditionally made from wheat flour. During the Napolenic wars, however, the Fench Army pretty much took all of the wheat flour for themselves. French monks who presumably couldn't live without their delicious crepes began experimenting with buckwheat and yeast to compensate of the lack of wheat flour. 

Necessity really is the mother of invention or the mere of poffertjes in this case. Some Dutch traders who were traveling thought France and got hungry, dropped in on the monka. The monks trotted out some tasty little pillows of yummy and the traders couldn't get enough. This last part might not be entirely true, but Dutch traders did acquire the recipe from the monks and took it back to Holland with them and adapted it to become modern Dutch poffertjes. 

While normally served with butter and powdered sugar, I borrowe a page from those Dutch traders and did some adapting of my own. I added strawberries and Nutella for an amazingly delicious local meal!

Orange is the New King

I'm been in Amsterdam since Wednesday and with each day the preparations for Queen's Day have progressed.  Surrounded by flags and posters and t-shirts all referring to Queen's Day, I thought I'd learn a little bit about it and why it's such a big deal this year.

Queen's Day is like a a big, nation-wide birthday party for the Queen of the Netherlands.  The Dutch dress up in orange, the royal color (since their last name, not coincidentally, means orange in Dutch) and hit the streets for a fun celebration. Queen's Day is traditionally held on the Queen's Birthday, which makes sense, right?  Well, that was the tradition until the current Queen, Beatrix, took the throne.  Beatrix's birthday is in November, which as it turns out isn't the best time of year for a huge outdoor party.  So Beatrix decided to leave Queen's Day on her mother's birthday, April 30th.

This year is the last Queen's day because Beatrix is taking a page from Pope Benedict's 2013 playbook and retiring.  Technically it's called abdicating, but at the end of the day, Beatrix is ready for some R & R, so her son Willem-Alexander is taking over.  This means the end of Queen Day.  It will be replaced next year by King Day.  And since the heir-apparent's birthday is three days before his mother's, the April party will likely continue for many years to come.

The Two Wheelers Don't Stop

So I fell off the wagon again.  That every part of the every day was really working against me.  Despite learning tons and tons of super interesting stuff about things like psychic moments, Book TV, and the Vitamin Vault in the past few months, I couldn't quite get over the idea that I had once again dropped the "every" ball.  Until today, when I decided that nearly everyday was a goal I could live with.  And now that I've gotten that out of the way it is time to get back to learning!

Today is a bit of a summary from the past few days.  I'm in Amsterdam on a business trip.  I have never been to Amsterdam before and though I've had very little time to explore I can already tell that I'll be back.  It is a beautiful city with great architecture lining a series of beautiful canals.  We took a boat ride when I first arrived where I noticed that many of the houses have a giant hook attached to a large beam that jutts out from the top of the building.  I quickly learned that those hooks were originally put there hundreds of years ago so that residents could hoist their belongings up above rising water in the event of what apparently were frequent floods.  After the past two weeks I think some houses along the Des Plaines river back home should look into this technique!

I also learned that the bicycle reigns supreme here in Amsterdam.  Bicycles are a preferred mode of transportation.  All over the city there are dedicated bike lanes for two wheel afficianados.  I was told that there are approximately 1.5 bicycles per person in the city.  And let me tell you there are strength in numbers.  I have been told countless times to watch out for the bicycles.  Cab drivers, the hotel staff, friendly locals are constantly preaching this mantra of safety.  Believe me, it's good advice since cyclists don't stop.  They may ring their bell and yell at you, but they stop only for red lights...sometimes.  You definitely have to be on your toes walking around the city!

And speaking of reign, tomorrow I'll fill you in on the upcoming Queen's Day which I learned about from my cab driver this morning.  Until tomorrow...or sometime close to tomorrow.

Dancing Fools (12/4)

Yesterday I rediscovered the JibJab website.  If you're not familiar with JibJab (www.jibjab.com) it's a website that allows you to put friends, family, famous people, or yourself into videos - usually silly dance videos set to famous songs.  For example, you can replace Psy's face with your Mom's in the Gangnam Style video, you can place your boss's head on Katy Perry's body in the video for California Gurls, or you can relive the 70s or 80s by starring in a Soul Train or Jazzercise video, just like Olivia Newton John.

How it usually works is that you upload a picture of yourself or someone else.  You then use the easy editing tool to crop the face and animate the mouth.  Finally you cast your video.  It's that easy.

I have two nephews in grade school (4th and 6th grade) and my sister was nice enough to give me new school pictures of them on Thanksgiving.  Thanks to modern technology I was able to upload their pictures and create a holiday JibJab (well, 12 to be exact.  After all, how better to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas than to watch a new silly video each day for 12 days.). 

In making the first video, two mariachis dancing to Feliz Navidad, I learned that the creators of JibJab and my nephews share a dance style.  That style can best be described as awkwardly awesome.  After pondering the coincidence I began to suspect that there might be a gene connected to this style of dance.  Call it the Dancing Fools gene, I hypothesize that it is responsible for the creation of a wealth of dorky dances including the Running Man, the Sprinkler, the Robot, the Pop N Loc, the Worm...(I could go on and on).  In fact, I would guess that this likely double-recessive gene could be found in the DNA make-up of such individuals as Psy, MC Hammer, everyone involved in the Super Bowl Shuffle, and my nephews.

While most people would just laugh at the ridiculousness of the JibJab videos, my nephews watched the first one over and over to try to perfect the super dorky moves.  I would guess that Vanilla Ice and Weird Al would likely do the same.  And come the end of the 12 days of JibJab videos for Christmas, they should have quite the repertoire of awesomely goofy moves.

Keep dancing, boys.  Keep dancing!

Walken Through Life Amazing

I think that if I had been born in the last century and was a Buddhist and had lived several very well-meaning lives that I would have like to have been reincarnated as Christopher Walken.  The veteran actor has long been a favorite of mine, with his spiky hair and uniquely modulated speech.

While IMDB states that Walken "has a reputation for playing mentally unbalanced characters on screen," it was one of his kinder roles that first made me a fan.  Walken played Jacob Witting in the TV Movie "Sarah, Plain and Tall."  Jacob, a farmer in the late 1800's who has lost his wife, places an ad for a wife to help him raise his two small children.  Glenn Close plays Sarah, a spinster from Maine who answers the ad.  It may be hard to imagine Walken as a romantic lead, but he's just that in this quiet, heart-warming story that is as special as it is different from most other Walken roles.

After seeing "Sarah, Plain and Tall" I was definitely on the Walken bandwagon, but I really became a fan after seeing him in "A View to a Kill" and then seeing him dance in the video for Fat Boy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."  This week I was excited to find Walken back in the spotlight as he promotes his latest film "A Late Quartet."  Yesterday while reading an article about Walken I learned something I would have never guessed.

Christopher Walken was once a lion tamer!

I knew he could sing, I knew he could dance, I knew he could act, I knew he was box office gold (minus Gigli - a regrettable error in my opinion), but a lion tamer?!?

Well it is entirely true.  In the September 10, 2012 issue of Vanity Fair Julie Miller interviews Walken.  When asked about being a lion tamer Walken replies,

It was a touring circus that was owned by a man named Terrell Jacobs. It was just one big tent, and he was a lion tamer. He didn’t have any kids, but the bit was that I would dress up as his son in an identical outfit. When he would finish his act, there would be one lion left, and I used to go in and have this lion do tricks. It was a female named Sheba, and she was very sweet. Like a dog, really. I would wave the whip, and she would run and sit up and roll over and do things.

As if all of his other accomplishments weren't enough Christopher Walken can legitimately claim to have been a lion tamer, making him even cooler than I had previously thought.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he adds rocket scientist to that resume.

In honor of such a, well, neat person, here's his brilliant dance to "Weapon of Choice."

A Bundle of Joy, A Musical Masterpiece, and a Cherpumple - Now That's a New Frame of Reference

Sometimes you need a new frame of reference.  When I reset my blog a few weeks back I was feeling excited and motivated...and then life got in the way.  Not completely, but for a few days, which once again snowballed into an overwhelming feeling of panic that I had dropped this personal ball that I am trying so hard to effortlessly juggle. 

Anyone who has ever seen me try to juggle is now laughing a huge, tear-producing, belly-shaking laugh.  Completely justified, I might add.

So fearing failure a second time I avoided this page like I avoided reading Twilight - successfully and difiantly.  But unlike reading Twilight, I am actually interested in and enjoying writing this blog.  So I reset my frame of reference.  Who said it has to be 365 consecutive days?!?  It's my blog.  I can write it on my terms without being crippled by guilt and failure on those days when the world just has too many things for me to handle.

So with a much lighter heart, I am back to share my learnings from most days...or maybe some days...or a few days...  I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest it's time to get down to business.  (short pause as I sing a few bars from "Business Time" by Flight of the Conchords - and no, that's not the business I'm about to get down to, in case your mind just went there)

So I have actually learned a lot over the past few weeks, but I'll just share a few highlights.  I learned of the birth of my new niece Maddie, who is cute as a button (if you had a shirt with super cute baby buttons on it).  I am so happy for my borther and sister-in-law and Maddie's new siblings who are all thrilled with their precious new arrival, as they should be.  I cannot wait to meet her.

I also learned that the first four notes of Beethoven's 5th symphony was inspired by the call of a yellowhammer bird.  This I learned from an awesome new book called "The First Four Notes" by Matthew Guerrieri.  You should really check it out.  It's facinating even for non or casual muscians like myself.  It's available at bookstores everywhere and on-line, but since I think it's so great I'm adding a link to find it on Barnes and Noble. (Full disclosure, I know the author and he's wicked cool, so read his book!)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-first-four-notes-matthew-guerrieri/1111383231


I also learned how to make a cherpumple.  According to creator Charles Phoenix it's the turducken of desserts.  To celebrate my sister's birthday I endevoured to make a cherpumple.  This is accomplished by baking a full apple pie into a spice cake and then layering on it a full pumpkin pie that's been baked into a yellow cake, and topping that with a full cherry pie baked into a white cake.  The three cakes are then held together with cream cheese frosting.  Having a hard time picturing it?  Lucky for you I have photographic evidence of my masterpiece:

Amazing, right?  It actually weighed about 20 pounds and provided much humor at the end of my family's Thanksgiving dinner.  Should you decide to track the recipe down on the web and try this at home, please note one other important thing that I learned: fruit pies have a lot of moisture in them so it takes a long time for the cake batter to bake around them.  While the box may call for 30-35 minutes, plan for closer to 75-90 minutes.  This is a dessert that you really need to commit to!

And much like the cherpumple, I am committed to sharing my learnings here. So look foward to more bizarre, interesting, or just plain ordinary (but new to me) learnings in the future.  Just maybe not every day!