Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Funny commercials
My dad was into marketing and branding - in fact, taught it. Maybe it is in our genes, because I hate fast forwarding through commercials. I like to watch them and criticize or appreciate and laugh. Here are some one you might like, too. Some are pretty old, but still funny.
Monday, August 11, 2008
List Of The Day: Photobombers Of The Day
List Of The Day: Photobombers Of The Day
Warning - do not do what I did, and look at this while you are on the phone, because the person on the other side will think you have gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs as you laugh like a hyena.
| From Urbandictionary.com 1. | photobombing | |
| Intentionally posing in other people's photos, for a later surprise. Usually people making funny faces in the background, without the knowledge of the main subjects of the photo. Jim is always photobombing, he messed ups some of the best photos from the wedding. | ||
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Isn't old news an oxymoron?
Disclaimer: From now on, this blog will be an off shoot of random links I interesting or amusing, but not informative or necessarily related to what my 0ther blog talks about - i.e. living in Europe. This is simply for anyone's amusement.
I have a weakness for Buffalax type transliterations of foreigns songs into other languages. Indian languages into English, Spanish songs into hindi and english, and so on.
The original ones:
Inspired by the original:
I have a weakness for Buffalax type transliterations of foreigns songs into other languages. Indian languages into English, Spanish songs into hindi and english, and so on.
The original ones:
Inspired by the original:
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Yankees are on the move..to a new site!!
This Yankee not only travels around the world, but around the Internet too!
Check out the new site @ yankeeinnewworld.com!
Check out the new site @ yankeeinnewworld.com!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Travel Tip - Finding a non-Hostile Hostel
So, like I told you, I've done a bit of traveling about Europe - my friend and I spent some time traveling around the Eastern Front about a year or so - I always thought we did it backwards...Doing the Eastern Bloc in the dead of depressing winter and then doing Western Europe this summer, when it is sweltering. However we did get pretty savvy about the whole traveling on a budget - We're only students after all!! We take what we can get...in style. (Did you guys see Blank Check when you were kids? S-T-Y-L-E...STYLE!! ) Here's some tips to having a great and safe Hostel experience:
1.So, first of all, scope out possible Hostels beforehand and book them on the website in advance- This way you dont just show up and not have anywhere to sleep!
Some websites I found helpful
http://www.hostelz.com/
http://www.hostels.com/
http://www.hostelworld.com/
2. Set your pricepoint of how much you are willing to pay. This way, you can make a budget of about how much you can spend on accomodation
3. Know if you want to sleep alone, with your friends only, or would be willing to share a room. Dorms may be crowded, but you're never going to be there other than sleeping, b/c you'll be out seeing the town!! On the otherhand, you might like the privacy of a room with just your friends or just yourself, to quietly relax after a long day of site-seeing (or shopping!)
4. I can not stress this enough - READ THE REVIEWS of the hostel. The reviews by other travelers are invaluable! You can learn about things not listed in the site - like cleanliness, safety,courtesy of the staff, how convenient(or not) the location is and much more!
5. It's easiest, I've found, to pick a hostel either close and easily found from the train/bus station or airport or right in the center of town, just to minimize confusion and the chance of getting lost.
6. Make a list of things you want in a hostel. Our List:
* Free internet access - So you can be the envy of all the ppl you email as you gallavant about!
* Lockers to lock valuables in - Keep your friends close and your stuff closer!! You don't want to spend money of souvenirs just to have them stolen!
*Breakfast included - we had the sly trick of nicking extra stuff, like bread or nutella at breakfast and making it last for lunch or even dinner. We spent wayyy less on food, and were able to shop more or eat out a nice restaurant towards the end of our stay in the city
*Laundry service - or at least a washer/dryer so we can clean clothes along the way
7. Note - just because a hostel is hostel, doesnt mean it cant be really amazingly nice. So dont nix the hostel idea before you've even checked it out! Check out this one we stayed in in Prague:
...And yea, it totally did look like that. No lies in those pictures - It was heavenly!!
8. A Hostel with a bar or lounge area is great for students. In Vienna, having that bar there allowed us to find ppl to go out with, find tips about what is fun/cheap/interesting in the city, get inside tips, and make money off foosball bets with drunk Aussies!
9. A Hostel with a kitchen is also a nice touch. Its another way to save $$ on food, by buying cheaper food locally and cooking yourself. Also, I've found going into grocery stores is a neat way to look at another facet of local life and people, and to giggle at funny product names:
This definitely would not be legal at home!!
I wonder if Carrie knows about these...maybe she wouldn't have missed him so much...(If you're not into Sex and the City...it's a funny name anyway =0 lol)
Mmm...nothing like monkey nuts in the morning...Say what?!!
Ok, so the last one isn't real, but wouldn't it be great if it was?
1.So, first of all, scope out possible Hostels beforehand and book them on the website in advance- This way you dont just show up and not have anywhere to sleep!
Some websites I found helpful
http://www.hostelz.com/
http://www.hostels.com/
http://www.hostelworld.com/
2. Set your pricepoint of how much you are willing to pay. This way, you can make a budget of about how much you can spend on accomodation
3. Know if you want to sleep alone, with your friends only, or would be willing to share a room. Dorms may be crowded, but you're never going to be there other than sleeping, b/c you'll be out seeing the town!! On the otherhand, you might like the privacy of a room with just your friends or just yourself, to quietly relax after a long day of site-seeing (or shopping!)
4. I can not stress this enough - READ THE REVIEWS of the hostel. The reviews by other travelers are invaluable! You can learn about things not listed in the site - like cleanliness, safety,courtesy of the staff, how convenient(or not) the location is and much more!
5. It's easiest, I've found, to pick a hostel either close and easily found from the train/bus station or airport or right in the center of town, just to minimize confusion and the chance of getting lost.
6. Make a list of things you want in a hostel. Our List:
* Free internet access - So you can be the envy of all the ppl you email as you gallavant about!
* Lockers to lock valuables in - Keep your friends close and your stuff closer!! You don't want to spend money of souvenirs just to have them stolen!
*Breakfast included - we had the sly trick of nicking extra stuff, like bread or nutella at breakfast and making it last for lunch or even dinner. We spent wayyy less on food, and were able to shop more or eat out a nice restaurant towards the end of our stay in the city
*Laundry service - or at least a washer/dryer so we can clean clothes along the way
7. Note - just because a hostel is hostel, doesnt mean it cant be really amazingly nice. So dont nix the hostel idea before you've even checked it out! Check out this one we stayed in in Prague:
...And yea, it totally did look like that. No lies in those pictures - It was heavenly!!
8. A Hostel with a bar or lounge area is great for students. In Vienna, having that bar there allowed us to find ppl to go out with, find tips about what is fun/cheap/interesting in the city, get inside tips, and make money off foosball bets with drunk Aussies!
9. A Hostel with a kitchen is also a nice touch. Its another way to save $$ on food, by buying cheaper food locally and cooking yourself. Also, I've found going into grocery stores is a neat way to look at another facet of local life and people, and to giggle at funny product names:
This definitely would not be legal at home!!
I wonder if Carrie knows about these...maybe she wouldn't have missed him so much...(If you're not into Sex and the City...it's a funny name anyway =0 lol)
Mmm...nothing like monkey nuts in the morning...Say what?!!
Ok, so the last one isn't real, but wouldn't it be great if it was?
A warm apple (or pumpkin) pie!
Have you ever been homesick and had a craving of something so bad, you just had to have it? Well, last year in 06, my friend from Jersey, I. and I really really really wanted pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving time. Now, in my house growing up, we never did much for Thanksgiving, but every year we watched the Macy's parade, and at night had pumpkin pie. So that year we looked for canned pumpkin, pie crust, condensed milk - and nada. So we gave up.
This past thanksgiving, I was not about to give up in the least - if I had to grow the pumpkin myself I would. So I looked up so many pumpkin pie recipes and combined them and edited them and made substitutions and finally got it right. I made three pumpkin pies in 07 - two of which, I am not sad to say, I ate alllll by myself over the course of a week per pie. There was no sharing of those, no sir!!
***TRICK*** --->I've found that its better to make pie ahead of time, like 5 hours before or even the day before and just warm it up, because the pie comes out more solid with time and is easier to serve as actual pie slices. (Kind of like Lasagna)
So here is the crust recipe (can use for any pie):
1.5 cup all purpose flour (wheat,if you want it healthier)
1/3 cup COLD water
3/4 cup Butter,softened but not liquid (or margarine, which I use)
Mix flour and butter together first by hand, until mostly evenly mixed ,add water bit by bit until dough starts to make small clumps. I tend to roll it out between two pieces of wax paper into a roughly circular shape, about as thick as a pencil. Arrange into pie pan, in a pinch a 9" circular cake pan works about as well.
Filling recipe:
1 Pie pumpkin --- or 3 cups canned pumpkin or cooked and blended fresh pumpkin or butternut squash (DID YOU KNOW - that the canned "pumpkin" they sell in stores for pumpkin pie is many times butter nut squash, because they are easier to handle than pumpkins, but taste the same?)
1 cup sugar - may need more if using canned, not sure b/c I've only done it from scratch
1 cups of cooking cream (heavy or light cream), or some like buttermilk
2 tsp ground cinnamon
10 cloves,ground down to powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
4 eggs
salt to taste
For this you need a pie pumpkin, which are those small pumpkins about the size of a tin can. Take a large serrated knife, cut out the top and scoop out all the insides. Keep the seeds to roast if you want. Then cut the pumpkin into eighths, and put in pot of water at a rolling boil. (Using a non stick pot is highly useful)/ Let them boil, until the pulp turns dark orange and is mostly soft. Make sure pumpkin is covered with water at all times.
Blend all of the above in the blender until smooth and pour in pie crust. It is liquid now, but it will harden in the oven. ( I know, it bugged me too).
Bake at 200*C for 10-15 min, then turn heat down to 175*C for 45min or until you can stick in a butter knife in center and it comes out clean. ENJOY!!!
FOR APPLE PIE...The american classic.
Make the crust like above, but make it double, one for the bottom crust and one to cover the top.
Filling:
3-4 Large apples (More if they're smaller - its always better to cut too many than too little, you just want to be able to fill the crust)
- peel, core, and cut them into cubes
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon (though I really tend to add more - I Like Cinnamon!)
3-4 ground cloves (optional)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
Mix last 5 items together in large bowl and add apple peices - Mix until apple pieces are evenly coated with mixture. Pour into pie crust. Put small dots of butter/margarine around the surface and then top it w/ the 2nd crust. Score slits into the top crust for air to escape.
Bake at 210*c for 40- 60 min or until juice begins to bubble through slits and crust is golden brown(Bake on middle or lower oven rack, so as to prevent too much browning of top crust)
Hope you like it!!
This past thanksgiving, I was not about to give up in the least - if I had to grow the pumpkin myself I would. So I looked up so many pumpkin pie recipes and combined them and edited them and made substitutions and finally got it right. I made three pumpkin pies in 07 - two of which, I am not sad to say, I ate alllll by myself over the course of a week per pie. There was no sharing of those, no sir!!
***TRICK*** --->I've found that its better to make pie ahead of time, like 5 hours before or even the day before and just warm it up, because the pie comes out more solid with time and is easier to serve as actual pie slices. (Kind of like Lasagna)
So here is the crust recipe (can use for any pie):
1.5 cup all purpose flour (wheat,if you want it healthier)
1/3 cup COLD water
3/4 cup Butter,softened but not liquid (or margarine, which I use)
Mix flour and butter together first by hand, until mostly evenly mixed ,add water bit by bit until dough starts to make small clumps. I tend to roll it out between two pieces of wax paper into a roughly circular shape, about as thick as a pencil. Arrange into pie pan, in a pinch a 9" circular cake pan works about as well.
Filling recipe:
1 Pie pumpkin --- or 3 cups canned pumpkin or cooked and blended fresh pumpkin or butternut squash (DID YOU KNOW - that the canned "pumpkin" they sell in stores for pumpkin pie is many times butter nut squash, because they are easier to handle than pumpkins, but taste the same?)
1 cup sugar - may need more if using canned, not sure b/c I've only done it from scratch
1 cups of cooking cream (heavy or light cream), or some like buttermilk
2 tsp ground cinnamon
10 cloves,ground down to powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
4 eggs
salt to taste
For this you need a pie pumpkin, which are those small pumpkins about the size of a tin can. Take a large serrated knife, cut out the top and scoop out all the insides. Keep the seeds to roast if you want. Then cut the pumpkin into eighths, and put in pot of water at a rolling boil. (Using a non stick pot is highly useful)/ Let them boil, until the pulp turns dark orange and is mostly soft. Make sure pumpkin is covered with water at all times.
Blend all of the above in the blender until smooth and pour in pie crust. It is liquid now, but it will harden in the oven. ( I know, it bugged me too).
Bake at 200*C for 10-15 min, then turn heat down to 175*C for 45min or until you can stick in a butter knife in center and it comes out clean. ENJOY!!!
FOR APPLE PIE...The american classic.
Make the crust like above, but make it double, one for the bottom crust and one to cover the top.
Filling:
3-4 Large apples (More if they're smaller - its always better to cut too many than too little, you just want to be able to fill the crust)
- peel, core, and cut them into cubes
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon (though I really tend to add more - I Like Cinnamon!)
3-4 ground cloves (optional)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
Mix last 5 items together in large bowl and add apple peices - Mix until apple pieces are evenly coated with mixture. Pour into pie crust. Put small dots of butter/margarine around the surface and then top it w/ the 2nd crust. Score slits into the top crust for air to escape.
Bake at 210*c for 40- 60 min or until juice begins to bubble through slits and crust is golden brown(Bake on middle or lower oven rack, so as to prevent too much browning of top crust)
Hope you like it!!
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