Baking Cookies in the Car – 26 July 2011

NOT A NORMAL TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY (AGAIN)

This isn’t really a tale of where I went, but another way to document my insanity of something quirky I did.  Sure, it was done on a whim, and there were a number of chuckles about it from my co-workers, but this is interesting enough that it should be remembered.  I’m sure this will be brought out as evidence during the trial which finally commits me to the rubber-walled room.

HOW A FUNNY COMMENT BECOMES A CHALLENGE

Everyone comments when it’s hot they say they could “fry an egg on the street.”  The office park for my work is filled with pavement, so the heat reflects off there all day.  And keeping in mind, this is Texas, so except for a brief two week period, it’s always hot.  But this year, not only had it been hot earlier, but the temperature had been much higher than normal.  We were marking the days off on the calendar as we’d gone through yet another day-in-a-row of being over 100 degrees.  Keep mind there had been hardly any rain, so you could imagine the drought which was happening.

After returning to work from the Fourth of July holiday weekend, someone made the “fry an egg” comment, and I said I wondered if anyone had actually done that.  Inspiration then kicked me in the head.  Why don’t I make a real attempt at seeing how hot it was by doing a fun little science experiment.

I announced that I was going to bake cookies in my car.

Of course, that was met by the usual round of laughs when I say something mildly off-base.  But I’d be serious in my attempt, so I needed to figure out how I was actually going to do this.  I normally would keep my windows open during the day, so my car wouldn’t so freakin’ hot when I get ready to leave.  So for a couple days, I left Argent buttoned up to get an idea of how hot it’d be inside.  With that information in hand, the best way to make cookies is to use batter already made.  Once I’d gotten everything I needed, I was ready to start the experiment.

AND SO IT BEGINS

I bought a tube of Nestle chocolate chip cookie dough (the kind you keep refrigerated in between consuming it directly from the package).  I placed some chunks on a non-stick baking sheet the night before, so they’d be ready for the next morning.  (Always do the prep work when you have the time to do, as it makes your life so much easier.)  So the experiment would commence on 26 July 2011, which incidentally was the 42^nd consecutive days of over 100 degree weather.  Thanks to Douglas Adams, that number was special to me, and I knew not to panic.

Mum taught me when making cookies to roll the dough up into a ball, so the cookies bake into a nice circular form.  Right after I took that picture, I decided to take batter off the foil, and have them directly on the pan.  Figured the heat would be better that was.  The foil was used to cover them only for the journey to work.  As I like to travel with the windows down, I didn’t want road dust and other crap embedded in them.  I actually planned to eat some of these cookies at the end of the work day.

I parked a few spaces down from my normal spot, so I’d be away from any shade cast by the few small trees that dot the area.  Once at the parking lot, the sheet was placed on the front dash in order to get the morning sun heating up the car.  I guess in a strange way, that was “pre-heating the oven.”

I made sure this was done on a day where I didn’t have any hearings, so I could get up and leave my desk to check on these whenever I thought it was appropriate (as opposed to just doing this on break time).  After about an hour (circa 9 am) I went out to check on them.  The batter had started to cook, as evident by the nice perfect spheres loosing shape.  I also noted the back window seemed to be getting more sunlight than the front, so I quickly opened up Argent just to swap the location.

I’d brought my actual camera with me today too in order to document this.  While some pictures were taken with the phone, the better quality ones were obviously with the camera.

I told my Team Lead (Iris) about the experiment, and at first she thought I was kidding.  Since it was nearing 11.00 (the time of my first break), it was a good time to go out and check on them.  With Iris as my witness, she saw the cookies were actually baking.  Their appearance was still a bit doughy, as the inside of my car wasn’t as hot as an oven.  I hoped “lower temperature over long time” would balance out.

I did notice some oil had oozed from the batter, and collected on lower portions of the pan.  I attributed that to the dough slowly warming up as it was being cooked (where this would evaporate off in a 350 degree oven).  From looking at the way that was pooling up, I figured I may not want to actually eat these.  I’d eat the batter right out of the fridge (even though it had raw egg product in it), but I decided it wouldn’t be wise to eat these.  I’m sure it wasn’t hot enough to kill any bacteria which might come from raw eggs warming up.

I ate lunch at my normal 1 pm, and of course showed people what I was doing here.  It was like bringing people to a side-show attraction.  I’m sure the placement of the pan could be better to get more sunlight, but I wanted to keep it level as much as possible.  I still considered this a “first round” of the experiment.  I’d take what I learned from here and apply it to the next rounds.  Placing a thermometer inside would’ve been good to do get an actual temperature reading.

So at 5 pm, the end of my work day came.  You could bake cookies inside a car.  When I opened Argent’s door, I was greeted by the cookie smell.  The scent lingered inside, and it was a pleasant scent.  What a fabulous air freshener I’d come up with.  I turned on the air enough to cool the inside of the vehicle on the drive home, but not enough to dissipate the smell.

I knew I wasn’t going to eat these things, but I’d proven at least the concept worked.  You could bake cookies inside a car.  I set these out on the kitchen table to get some additional shots to document this.  The smell of the cookies still lingered, as did Stoop, who expected he was going to get a treat.  Chocolate chip cookies are not for dogs.  Sorry, buddy.

The last shot of these I took was a nice close up to show while they were still a batter consistency, they’d begun to brown nicely.  I decided when I’d do this again, instead of balling the dough up, I’d cut them in thin slices.  I figured that would allow them to cook more evenly, and thoroughly.  Also, I’d have to figure out a way to “pre-heat” the car, and then place the pan inside.  I’m not sure how I’d do that without loosing the heat building up in the car, or having the batter achieve room temperature (and thus having the oil ooze out again).

Still, it was fun to make the attempt.  Soon I hope there will be a second part of this story which refined what I learned from today.  >grin<

Just as a reminder of how hot is was then, check out these links:

http://texasvox.org/2011/07/21/will-austin-tx-break-a-record-for-100-degree-days/

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/2011-heat-superlatives_2011-07-15

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/record-consecutive-100-degree-days

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/2011-was-austins-hottest-year-on-record-1/nRjPJ/

*** 30 ***

The Rum Experiment – First Six Months of 2011

NOT A NORMAL TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY

I obviously did more than what’s detailed in the entry during the year of 2011.  This isn’t really a tale of where I went (so you can go yourself and enjoy the experience), as much as it chronicle of what I did.  I hope its presentation comes off as funny and witty (as well as informative) as the other entries I’ve done.

I like to think that you can apply what you’ve learned from my experimentation here, and apply it the beverages of your own choice.  You’ll probably find combinations that I didn’t think of, and you can rate them accordingly to your own tastes.  I’m sure you won’t agree with many of my ratings on things (as we all have our likes & dislikes), but I hope I’ve done two things.  One, I hope I’ve find some mixes which should be regarded as “cautionary tales” so you don’t do them yourselves.  And two, I hope I’ve expanded your horizons to combinations you hadn’t considered.

SO HOW DOES SHIT LIKE THIS GET STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

In the briefest sense, for a December holiday someone got me a gift card to a liquor store, and a book about various rum drinks, with the intent that I use the gift card to attempt some of the suggestions in the tome I was given.

The book (Rum Drinks: 50 Caribbean Cocktails, From Cuba Libre to Rum Daisy by Jessica B. Harris) was very informative, as it started with the history of rum making (and the industry that resulted from it), and was followed by recipes which had group under specific headers.  Many of the recipes called for either fresh fruit or items which I don’t normally have on hand.  I like fresh fruit, as I eat it every day, but I’m not going to buy something I don’t normally use, which has a short shelf-life, and I won’t use much of.  An example is a lime, which I don’t use every day.  I find it wasteful to even purchase a single lime just so I can “zest” some of the outer skin for a small handful of mixers.  Being Scottish aside (read: tight-wad when it comes to money), I like to get the most value for what I spend my cash on.  That means buying items I’m going to get the most mileage out of.

There was another, more practical reason, too.  Why many of the recipes looked very good, I was bound by a time factor.  Okay, I’m lazy enough not to want to spend longer making a drink than the time it actually takes for me to drink the drink.  I want something which as few ingredients as possible, so it doesn’t take me too long to make my evening cocktail.  I’ll do the “big mixes” when I’m entertaining some peeps, but when I do my nightly evening cocktail, I want it to be simple.  I like the “Booze plus Mixer equals My Drink” equation.

I then came with the idea on how to best use the gift card (for Austin’s very own Twin Liquors local chain, by the way; shop local where possible).  I’d get a wide variety of rums (as that is my preferred poison), and find a number of different things to combine them with.  Going through the super market, or some other specialty stores I might end up at, continued to yield a number of candidates.  I started with about a dozen mixers, and added others as I went along.

In the end, to have some matter of order to this, I chose five types of rums to get the widest possible varieties.  This began in late January 2011, and by the time the experiment was completed at the end of July, I’d done twenty-five different mixers.  Yes, each flavor of rum was combined with each mixture, so I consumed over a hundred different drinks.  And to add a little bit of strangeness to this, there was also a bottle of tequila which was used in a small number of the concoctions.  That gave me another half-dozen or so variations.  To me, tequila isn’t as versatile as rum is, but if someone wants to try this with the “worm’s brew” (or another fermented beverage), then have it.

THE GROUND RULES

The five rums were these:  Bacardi (the regular, clean kind), Goslings Dark, Bacardi Gold, Captain Morgan Spiced, and Parrot Bay Coconut (plus the aforementioned bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold).  That gave four basic rum types, plus one flavor representation.  There are dozens of “flavored rums,” and I could’ve easily doubled the number of drinks I set myself up to drink that way, but I wanted to keep some manner of control here.

In my geekness, I made an Excel spread sheet to track my progress.  Each alcohol type had a column, and each mixer had a row.  The box where those two axioms intersected would be the date I consumed it, and the rating I gave.  Wanted to keep everything pretty consistent here.  A general rule of thumb was one or two combinations each night.  The dates I drank them weren’t as important as the results.

Each mixer is tried in succession with each of the rums (in the order of the “five plus one” listed above).  Mixer A is tried with Rum A, then Rum B, etc, before moving on to Mixer B, and so forth.  Each drink is made the same way, one-quarter booze (which was a standard “shot,” with the rest being mixer.  Oh, and note no matter how the combination turns out, I’m still drinking it (because not to do so would be alcohol abuse).  >grin<

Below is the five-star rating system notes how well I thought the combination (and my criteria for what defined a star rating):

One Star -- Horrible (“Don’t ever mix again!  Does not go together.”)

Two Stars – Below Average (“Didn’t think the mix was the best, but was drinkable.”)

Three Stars – Average (“Not bad or so-so.  Neither good nor bad.”)

Four Stars – Above Average (“Interesting combination.  Give it a try, you might like it.  YMMV.”)

Five Stars – Exceptional (“Well mixed.  A new favorite!”)

As you’ll read below when doing the experiment, a couple “half-stars” were given because I couldn’t make up my mind as to which category to put a concoction in, and there was an instance of “Zero Stars” given to something which was so horrendous I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.  From the “One Stars” (and single “Zero”), I hope you’ll have learned what *not* to drink.

AND SO IT BEGINS….

Whenever you do an experiment, you need a “control” in which to gauge your results against; something you know how it is, so others can be compared to it.  For me, it’s the life-blood I call Dr. Pepper, and the fav regular basic Bacardi.  I like it a lot, and that was the first consumed for the Great Rum Experiment of 2011.  The mixers are listed below in the order I tried them.

I tried to make some notes to myself in the margins of the spread sheet, on the idea that at some point this level of geekness will be developed into some format that others would read (and hopefully enjoy).  During the actual consumption of each the drinks, I posted comments about them on my CrackBook page for the initial “gut reaction.”  I’m keeping the comments more clinical and restrained here.

DR. PEPPER:  DP and Bacardi is my regular, and what I usually get when I’m out and about, so it earned a solid Four Star rating.  I thought the tastes worked well together (much the way Bacardi mixes well with Coke).  Goslings Dark and Bacardi Gold each netted Three Stars, as they were decent.  Four Stars were awarded to both Captain Morgan Spiced and Parrot Bay Coconut, as I very much enjoyed how they turned out.  And then for good measure, I tried DP with the tequila.  My advice to you is don’t.  It was Two Stars, thus not very enjoyable.

SPRITE:  A representation of a “light carbonated beverage,” Sprite generally just sucks to begin with.  The alleged “lemon-lime” flavor isn’t really there to begin with, but it was enough to make every combination not good.  Two Stars across the board.  What a way to start February.

MOJITO MIX:  I don’t recall the specific brand this, but I don’t think that made a difference.  A mojito is classic, minty-tasting rum drunk, but it was never one that’s ever impressed me in the past.  I tried not to let that color my perceptions.  Still, in the end it continued not to impress me, and yielded a solid Two Stars for each of the combinations.

ARIZONA KIWI STRAWBERRY ICE TEA:  Here’s a good example of me just grabbing things at random in the supermarket to try.  Generally speaking, most of the combinations were below average (thus Two Stars), but when mixed with regular Bacardi it was pretty decent (Three Stars).  This is also a good indication while something might give similar results, but was worth trying anyway.

COCONUT WATER:  Yeah, wouldn’t say this was a winner, as it was giving Two Stars to everything.  For some reason I expected it to clash with the coconut rum, but that ended up doing the opposite.  Two forms of coconut greatly enhanced each other, and yielded the first set of Four Stars since the Dr. Pepper mixes.  There was a success I knew I could share with people.  Have at it, folks, and give that one a try!

GINGER ALE:  I used a generic brand for this, as I didn’t think it would make a difference.  While Two Stars were earned by the Goslings, Gold, and Spiced varieties, the others rated Three Stars.  Now you have something else you know you can order at your favorite watering hole.

IBC ROOT BEER:  Figure if I was going to try root beer, I’d start with one of the best (and widely-obtainable) varieties.  This gave me the same results as ginger ale did, with regular Bacardi and Parrot Bay rating Three Stars.  And I tried it with the tequila, which gave Two Stars, so that’s not recommended.  I’m going to guess if other quality brands are used (like Virgil’s, for example), you’ll get the same results (and lower results with more swill brands like A&W).

APPLE CIDER:  I was now into March.  This ended up being a good find across the board, and another one you could add to your “could order at the bar” list.  While both Bacardi’s only rated Two Stars, everything else was Three Stars.  For my northern peeps who cider is way of life in the Autumn months, you now have a way to enhance it.

IBC CREAM SODA:  One good IBC deserves another.  I expected similar results, and was pleasantly surprised.  Sure regular Bacardi and Goslings only gave Two Stars, but Spiced gave Three Stars.  The best mixes were with the Gold and Parrot Bay, as those were so good to earn Four Stars.  Three different ratings across five different types was the best variation I’d gotten so far.  And when I find Four Stars (and two among the same group), it gives me hope that I’ll get something so fabulous that it’ll earn the coveted Five Star rating.

GINGER BEER:  A different animal than ginger ale, as I’ve had more types of ginger beer that I’ve liked than ginger ale.  For this, I used Bundaberg Ginger Beer (from Australia), as opposed to normal Royalty brand (from England).  Two Star ratings were earned by everything, except two items.  The mix with the coconut rum ended up not being bad, which earned Three Stars.  That was a nice change from the combination with resulted from the Goslings.  That one was pretty bad, but I didn’t feel it merited a “one star” rating, and I didn’t like it enough to “curve the grade” up.  When you can’t decide between two numbers next to each other, find the half-way point.  I granted a “One-and-a-Half Star” rating to the Goslings mix due to my waffling over it.  That was still the first “rather bad” concoction I’d come up with (and this was “round ten,” so all together not a bad start).  I was half-way through March by now.

MARGARITA MIX:  Yeah, after the mojito mix didn’t yield great results, you’d think I was strange to try this one.  C’mon!  You’ve read this far and haven’t figured out I’m strange yet?  Now just for “control” purposes, I rate the tequila poured into this mix as Four Stars, but how would the rum turn out?  Surprisingly, not as bad as I thought.  Sure Goslings and Spiced only gave Two Stars, but it was nice the two Bacardi entries gave Three Stars.  The great find was the Parrot Bay Coconut, whose mix yielded my seventh Four Star rating (four of those being items non-DP combos).  I felt I had created the “Rum-A-Rita”!  Tah dah!  By now I’d gotten a lot of “below average” variations, so it’s nice when a gem is discovered.  That, after all, was one of the purposes of this little experiment.  >grin<

GINGER MIXER:  Okay, I was trolling around World Market one day looking for new candidates when I came across “Old Ballycastle Ginger Micro Batch Cocktail Mixer.”  Shit, with a name like that, it’s worth a try.  And it ended up being worth it.  Three Stars for Goslings, Spiced, and Coconut, Two Stars for the others.  Now to end out the month of March (and because this was a pretty decent showing), I decided to see how well it went with tequila.  Don’t.  Do.  That.  Again.  The first actual One Star rating was earned, and a new nasty drink that will rip up your insides was created.  I don’t think eating the worm would’ve helped any.  But as the focus of this experiment was rum in the first place, this mixer was a good find.

GATORADE FRUIT PUNCH:  No, I wasn’t getting desperate as April started, but attempting to be more creative.  I pretty much drink this flavor of Gatorade exclusively (as it’s what I have when I come back in from doing a dog walk), it I had this on hand.  Makes sense to try it.  While Gatorade is advertised as a “thirst quencher,” the resulting mixtures were not.  Everything netted Two Stars across the board.  That was good enough to know that I probably wouldn’t get any better results with any other flavor.

FUZE BANANA COLADA:  This non-alcoholic beverage tastes so similar to what it’s named, so I was very hopeful for this one.  If this worked as well as a regular Pina Colada mix, then I could have a healthy variation.  (For those who don’t know, Fuze is designed to have vitamins, and other good things, and a pleasant taste, too.)  With each bit of rum I mixed with this, the realization set in that this would not yield good results.  In fact, this yielded no results.  Every combination was horrible.  Yes, it was One Star across the board.  This was the low point of the whole experiment, but something I saw as a necessary evil.  Because I discovered you shouldn’t mix anything with this flavor of Fuze, you don’t have.  If you wish, please do so at your own caution.

FUZE SLENDERIZE TROPICAL PUNCH:  Okay, I wasn’t ready to give on Fuze yet, mainly because I’d gotten three different varieties to try.  Even if they didn’t mix well, as least I had a base which I liked to drink normally.  The reason why this kind is called “Slenderize” is because it’s supposed to be better for you than the average Fuze drinks.  I want to be healthy and drunk at the same time.  This ended up being a rather broad spectrum with the results.  Both Bacardi types and Parrot Bay actually were pretty good, and earned the Three Star ratings.  Goslings didn’t do so well, thus was Two Stars.  But when I mixed the Captain Morgan Spiced rum with this, I created something which tasted like horrible cough syrup.  No, it wasn’t at all pleasant to drink, and resulted the obvious One Star rating.  And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse than that, I decide to mix it with tequila.  No, no, no.  It felt like my insides had been ripped out and stomped on, and I hadn’t even swallowed it yet.  I kept it down, even though I did feel like I wanted to hurl.  I gave this Zero Stars because of the ultimate nastiness this was.  I can say without a doubt, that mix will never happen again by my hand.  I’m not sure if I’d even wish that on my worst enemy.

FUZE STRAWBERRY GUYVA:  I opened the month of May with the last of the Fuze entries.  It’s been very hit or miss with this type of mixture, so I wasn’t sure what I’d end up with.  I kept an open mind, but after trying this across the board, nothing earned anything other than Two Stars.  And after the tequila experience I just had with one Fuze type, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a good idea to try it with this.

APPLE JUICE:  I drink this alot in the morning anyway (instead of orange juice), so it seemed logical to try.  This had great results.  Sure the Gold only got Two Stars, but the rest of the rums blended well enough to give Three Stars.  In some manner, the regular Bacardi could actually have a Four Star rating simply for the reason apple juice is available on airplanes.  The ability to ask for a drink that makes the flight attendant give you an odd look is certainly worth another star.  It has been something I’ve since ordered on trips, especially when it’s too late in the day to consume any caffeine (thus not asking for the rum and Dr. Pepper, which would give me an equally as odd look).

CRYSTAL LIGHT ENERGY (WILD STRAWBERRY):  Those who know we really well know this is what I refer to as my “pink crack.”  This is a powdered substance when mixed with water creates something with a fraction of the sugar and calories of my beloved Dr. Pepper, and twice the caffeinated content.  This was what I used to wean myself off of DP.  I had to make these clarifying statements at start to explain the extra step required for this round of trials.  The thought of just mixing the powder directly into the rum was interesting (as well, I’m sure, the resulting alcohol-caffeine explosion), but I kept it the normal baseline on how I have my “pink crack” each morning.  A regular batch was mixed with the appropriate amount of water, and then that’s what I combined with the various rum types.  Other than regular Bacardi resulting in a solid Three Star rating, everything else was Two Stars.  Actually, I consider this a positive result.  Now I can mix rum in with my morning “pink crack” and no one at work would notice.

SOBE BANANA COLADA:  One type of pre-made Pina Colada drink deserves another.  For the sake of this experiment it does, even though I thought it rather unlikely it would yield different results.  But since Kai provided this for me, I’d see how this turn out any way.  Not surprisingly, even attempt came out with a One Star rating.  As Yoda says, “Do, or do not.  There is no try.”  I did, Master Yoda, and there is no good.

HAWAIIAN PUNCH FRUIT JUICY RED:  My co-workers enjoyed hearing my regular reports of this, and many had been scouting for other items I might be able to use.  Leslie provided the next two items as birthday gifts to me.  These were not “powdered mixes” but large jugs full of sugar-enhanced flavored water (so I wouldn’t have to take the extra steps like I did with the “pink crack”).  She was excited to hear that all but one of the combinations ended up being pretty decent, and got Three Star ratings.  The only one that didn’t was the Parrot Bay Coconut, which gave an awesome Four Star rating.  Now I could “Go Hawaiian” and Caribbean at the same time, mon.  What a great way to round out the month of May.

HAWAIIAN PUNCH ORANGE OCEAN:  With this being the next one she gave me, Leslie’s expectations had been set high because of that one’s results.  I’m just the drinker and reporter of events, I can’t do anything to enhance the tastes.  Still, Spiced and Parrot Bay were respectable, and each gave Three Stars.  The other candidates sadly only gave Two Stars.  Okay, it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but I can honestly say as least they didn’t suck.

HAWAIIAN PUNCH LEMON BERRY SQUEEZE:  For the last of the birthday beverages she’d given me, Leslie’s enthusiasm for this was reserved, as she had considered it potentially the least likely to produce good results.  Those comments were probably why I saved it for last, and figured this would be a good way to finish out the month of June.  When asked how long I was planning on doing this, my sarcastic response had been “all year” (which was provided I’d have enough items to carry me through.  This was now Round 22, and I felt the pickings for mixers were starting to get slim.  It didn’t matter what calendar date I went to, but I did want to attempt 25 mixers in total.  This ended up being more like the first of the Hawaiian Punch’s as opposed to the second.  Regular Bacardi and Goslings each gave Two Star ratings.  Keep in mind, that’s still considered “drinkable, but not the best.”  Gold and Spiced both provided Three Star results, so pretty tasty.  Oh, but once again Parrot Bay carries the day, and produces a solid (and yummy) Four Star rating.  And when combined with tequila, it gave Two Stars.  Overall, each of the three mixes Leslie gifted me with ended up being pretty well, so I have reason to buy this product again.  Normally I don’t drink “sugar water,” but if it ends up being versatile enough as a mixer, then I’ll oblige.

GRAPE JUICE:  Yeah, I tend to drink this in the morning too (when I’m alternating from apple juice), so it seemed like a good way to start off what was the final month of the Rum Experiment of 2011.  The initial mixes weren’t very promising, as both Bacardi’s and the Goslings only rated Two Stars, so I pretty much expected the remainders to be about the same.  I was nicely surprised when the Captain Morgan Spiced combination yielded Three Stars, and extremely surprised with Parrot Bay earning Four Stars.  Never thought the grape and coconut flavors would go together so well.  One again I found something that I could order on an airplane, and receive odd looks from the flight attendants.  Now for good measure, I tried the grape juice with the tequila and had a completely different experience.  They did not mix well at all, as this rather nasty combination was only worth One Star.

CRYSTAL LIGHT LEMONADE:  This one I had on hand, so it made since to use it.  Being a powdered mix, I did the same prep work like I did for the “pink crack” (mentioned earlier).  Each result was Two Stars, until I reached the coconut rum, which I found good enough to give Four Stars to.  With a bit of trepidation I even tried this with the tequila, which I found respectable to earn Three Stars.

CRYSTAL LIGHT RASPBERRY ICE TEA:  For the final round, I used another one I had on hand, as I was running out of logical mixing choices.  I wasn’t impressed with the results with regular Bacardi and Goslings (thus Two Stars), and the rest were pretty average, so they only earned Three Stars.  Still, it wasn’t a bad way to finish off the final round (and the month of July).

CONCLUSION

Dave is a nut for even thinking about this, much less actually doing it.  Twenty-five rounds over a six month period was a pretty decent showing.  There are two things that astute readers will notice, and I do have to respond to them.

People who know me really well know how I like to drink milk (especially the chocolate variety, and milkshakes in general), and milk is absent from this list.  While back in the 80’s and 90’s there were many milkshakes made with some “alcohol additive,” the density never mingled to my satisfaction.  Okay, it got me drunk, but wasn’t as pleasant as I would’ve wished.  Thus knowing the consistencies of milk and not as thick rum don’t blend very well together, I didn’t even put milk in the running for this experiment.  I may have done some regular Bacardi with some milk before this crazy thing began with, but it wasn’t officially done.  Past experiments have shown that if you’re going to “add” something to milk products, stick with Bailey’s Irish Crème or even Kahlua.

The other obvious item is the lack of Five Star ratings.  I reserved that for things that were truly exceptional, things which rocked my world.  Many will point out I simply have unrealistic expectations (as one my personality flaws is to see more negative things than positive).  You could tell by my reports of how I thought thing came out, and could easily shift everything one star rating upwards (thus Fours become Fives, “below average” becomes “average,” and what not).  That would work to a certain degree, but if I gave something less than Two Stars, I found it pretty bad to start with (which would tell you what I thought of the Zero Stars).

Even in hindsight, I won’t adjust the ratings (meaning no “grading on a curve”), because somewhere out there is a combination I haven’t found which could result in something which I’d deem worthy of Five Stars.  How many different types of rums are out there (discounting the different flavored rums)?  I conceivably could’ve easily had ten different rums if I added in some of the flavored ones.  That could’ve made this experiment last an entire year.  Perhaps I do that in the future.  >grin<

I had a lot of fun doing this.  Not only was I having new experiences, but the frequent reports I gave my co-workers (and other peeps) allowed me to share it with them (although vicariously).  And even like the travel blogs themselves, while I enjoyed presenting them for people to read, I hope that will also spur people to get out and find interesting things for themselves.  We should never stop learning or exploring, no matter how old we get.  There’s so much out there in world, and it should be enjoyed.

EPILOGUE:

Since the close of the experiment, my rum preference has focused a bit to be pretty exclusively Cruzan.  There have been other brands I’ve tried, each with their own distinctive flavors.  But I’ve come up with specific combinations that I thought I’d share with you too.

Dr. Pepper mixed with black cherry rum creates a nice alcoholic version of Cherry DP.  This works the same way for Coke, too.  Any of the above DP mixes I’m pretty sure will yield similar results when done with Coke (do to its distinctive flavor).  The same can’t be said for Pepsi, because that beverage just sucks to begin with.

And when I mix some coconut and pineapple rum with the Dole Orange-Strawberry-Banana Juice (and splash in some grenadine), I come up with a close approximation of the rum punches I had in Turks & Caicos.  I did try to add in some banana rum to that in an attempt to enhance the taste (and increase the booze content), and I found there was no real benefit to do so.

*** 30 ***

Higgins Armory Museum (Worcester, MA) – June 2011

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

I blame Ghost Hunters for this one.  I’ve watched the show for years, and enjoyed how they investigated (as they went in with the idea of what the reports are have natural, not supernatural, explanations).  While they’re based in Connecticut, they’d go all over the country.  The Ghost Hunters Team has visited places in western New York before, but nothing I ever thought would be worth a trip out to see.  But when they went to this place (the episode first aired the previous April), I knew it was a location I wanted to visit.  Located in Worcester, Massachusetts, I knew this wouldn’t be far of a drive, and would make a perfect day trip.  Today’s destination was the Higgins Armory Museum.

 

The weather was a little bit rainy (no surprise on this trip), and I volunteered to drive.  Mum came up with a route which she assured me would be better than taking Interstate 87 to Albany and picking up the Mass Turnpike.  There’s a reason why I like driving on highways.  Most of the time, I want to maximize my time at my destination, so the quicker I get there the better.  Mum’s choice of route was rural residential roads that brought us east of Albany, where we then picked up the Mass Turnpike.  Okay, that added and extra half-hour to the trip, and I didn’t need to stop for snacks along the way.  Once on the Turnpike, I was able to make decent time to Worcester.

 

 

 

 

The Higgins Armory Museum wasn’t hard to find.  Heading down the main artery in the city, we looked across the skyline to see the large steel, castle-like building with medieval-style flags on top.  Normally I’d say can’t miss that, but I’d been to Worcester in circa 1999 to visit Glen and Amy Stegner when they were living there, and some how I didn’t notice it then.  More likely I actually noticed it, didn’t realize what it was, and Glen didn’t know what the hell I was talking about when I described it (which was no different from when we were room mates in college).

 

 

 

 

At the entrance where there’s a “guest book” for visitors to sign in, I mentioned that I’d seen this place on Ghost Hunters, and that’s why I’d come all the way from Texas to visit.  They mentioned since the airing of that episode, they’d had an influx of new visitors.  Talk about the power of free advertising.  When we paid the admission fee ($10), we first went to a small theatre to watch a short film on the history of the museum.  Steel industrialist John Woodman Higgins had been collecting armor and weapons for years, and when the collection grew too large if of course caused problems with his spouse.  Mr. Higgins then founded the museum in 1931 to display his items in a manner that could be enjoyed by others to.  This four-story building’s footprint in a V-like shape and made of steel and glass, and the design was inspired by European castles.

 

 

The first floor has the gift shop, small café, and “Orientation Gallery” which showed some of the earliest pieces obtained by Mr. Higgins.  The second floor has a “classroom” designed to educate children about medieval armor, and the “Department of Curiosities” which has displays of “mythological creatures” and “strange artifacts.”  This reminded me of the warehouse in the Indiana Jones movies, and seemed a little out-of-place in the building.  Not sure if this was a side fascination of Mr. Higgins, or something which was added later to compliment the children’s section.

The third floor has high-arched ceilings with displays of armor, and various weapons, each with an information card describing what it is and its century of origin.  The two wings of the hall are lines with flags on each of the pillars.  The fourth floor is more of a balcony which overlooks the third (and is on same level of the flags).

 

This was like a visual version of those “arms & equipment guides” in those fantasy role-playing games I used to play.  Seeing some of the items here would answer the questions of what the difference between a “mace” and a “morning star” was (something which RPGers argued about a lot in the days before the internet).  The morning star was a long pole with a bunch of metal spikes on the end, and mace was more of a shorter club (without the spikes).  The “ball and chain” commonly used in fantasy movies mistakenly called a mace is actually a flail.

Some of the other representations were of tournaments, like jousting or just two knights in single combat.  While armor was heavy, you could see its placement allowed a free-range of movement.  Knights weren’t turtles that couldn’t get back up because of the weight of what they wore.  You could also see what allowed the freedom of movement also created gaps where lucky shots could maim or cause mortal wounds (like the areas around the arm pits, for example).

 

The wooden square for these two knights was the medieval equivalent of a boxing ring.  It kept the combatants near each other, which allowed them to bash each other easier.  Being that close makes thrusting attacks for difficult, thus it created a less chance for fatalities.  Lords wanted their knights to spar to enhance their skill, but they didn’t want to keep training new knights.

Jousting had a similar idea in mind as there’s a fence which keeps each of the knights on their own side.  It also kept the horses from crossing each other’s paths, which could cause serious damage to the animals.  Horses had expensive upkeep and took time to train, while there was always some squire that wanted to prove his worth to a lady-in-waiting, and was willing to get beat up to do it.  It’s not to say there were accidents were someone died from a given blow, or a combatant played dirty intending to cause injury, but the nobility did try to minimize these occurrences.

 

It’s not just European weapons on display here, but arms from around the globe.  The regalia of the Japanese samurai are one of the most common non-European styles of armor most Westerners know, but it also had suits from Persia and India as well.  Likewise, how most people are familiar with the weapons of the samurai (katanna long sword, and the shorter wakizashi), you’d think there were only so many ways one could fold metal to make bladed weapons.

 

 

These two swords from India were ones I hadn’t seen before, and must’ve been very interesting to wield in combat.  The one in the foreground was a “nandaka,” also known as a “sword of Vishnu,” and the other was a “zulfiqar,” also called the “split-bladed sword” (for obvious reasons).  Both date from the 1600s, and they weighed about two and three pounds, respectively.  Like armor, weapons had to be strong, but they couldn’t be so heavy that they couldn’t be used.

Two of my personal favorite bladed weapons are the katar (the “punching dagger” from India), and the kukri (the curved Nepalese knife).  There was a display of different styles of katar’s, but not a kukri in sight.  While I was glad it was more than European stuff, I didn’t expect this place to have every weapon ever made.  Seeing the Indian swords showed that as much as I know about the subject, there was still more to learn.  The next display case I found caused me to do a double-take.  First I thought I was looking at weapons that only a Klingon would wield.

 

 

These vicious-looking weapons weren’t fiction, but just a small sample of the blades from the Congo region of Central Africa.  While crafted to be useful in dispatching enemies, they were also useful in intimidating opponents, as well as being symbols of family status.  I was rather impressed by this, as these were both functional and eye-catching.

Other displays in the museum showed the names of each of the pieces of full plate armor, and a series of shots to show how easily (and relatively quickly) these items could be put.  One thing which was nice about the building was the architectural features.  While the Great Hall consisted of stone work to mimic a castle, the stairwell was laced with decorative steel vines.

 

 

I had every intention of bringing my copy of Where When How with me for any possible photo opportunities, but left it in the car.  Once I’d realized it, there was no reason to run back to get it.  There were a few places I could’ve gotten pictures, I think I just enjoyed the museum more without having to worry about it.  Before we left, we stopped in the entry area to get a shot of the dog-suit of armor.

 

 

 

We did our standard questioning, and received a tip for a lunch location.  Not too far from our location was O’Connor’s Restaurant & Bar.  This had the feel of a traditional Irish pub, with the elegance of a fine dinning.  It had a full menu, and the meal we had was very awesome.  I grabbed a copy for Shawn & Veronica, as I thought this was a place they’d enjoy.

 

 

 

As we headed back towards New York, we’d considered taking the scenic route back along the Mohawk Trail (which was the route we’d take to visit Earl at Amherst), but it had started to rain.  While the overcast nature would be an obstruction to the view, the potentially slick conditions wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do try on the Hair-Pin Turn.  I guess that section of Massachusetts would be one I’d take a stab at on a future trip.  We did end up taking a roundabout route from the Mass Turnpike north to Pittsfield, and then to North Adams.

 

From there it was some winding route where I turned where Mum told me to do so which took us past Williams College, and The Clark Museum (which we’d visited back on the April 2008), and then into Vermont.  We worked our way to Manchester, where we drove past Hildene (which was a place I remember visiting in Humanities class, back in senior high).  Hildene was the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln (the only son of President Lincoln).  This was some place of a historical nature that I’d have to come back on a later trip so I could re-appreciate the history.

 

The “back roads journey” of “Mum directing me this way” continued as we passed some small Vermont towns I vaguely recalled being in, and then to back into New York near Salem.  Once we reached Argyle, we’d completed the circle begun earlier in the day.  The drive through the countryside was pretty interesting, and it was a decent way to end out the day.

 

 

More information can be found on the places we visited at:

Higgins Armory:  www.higgins.org

O’Connor’s:  www.oconnorsrestaurant.com

Hildene:  www.hildene.org

 

*** 30 ***

Crown Point, NY – June 2011

CROWN POINT:  Monday, 13 June 2011

Since there was still time left in the day, we went on a little road trip.  Dad had a suggested destination in mind which didn’t have a closing time.  Sounded like a good adventure to me.  We headed east back to where we’d normally pick up Interstate 87 to bring us south back to the Glens Falls region, but passed over the highway.  It was just a short drive towards Lake Champlain to the Crown Point State Historic Site.  I first recall visiting Crown Point in the mid-1980s on my very first Boy Scout Camporee (where there were many troops from the surrounding area present).  There weren’t many ruins to check out then, just a couple monuments.  Still, I thought it would be nice to see how much of the area I remembered.

Dad’s purpose for visiting here was to check on the progress of the bridge over Champlain into Vermont.  If I’m remembering what I was told correctly, there were structural defects discovered the previous year and the bridge was closed due to safety reasons.  As this was a major link across the lake, the loss of the bridge created a major inconvenience.  (Commuters would either have to go a bit north to the toll ferry at Essex, or further south of here to the ferry at Ticonderoga.  Either route would add at least a half-hour to travel time.)  I don’t recall if the bridge actually collapsed or if it was torn down before it could, but now months later the replacement bridge was quickly being constructed.

As this bridge had previously been free, the ferry which was constantly running to handle the traffic flow was also free.  Somehow the ferry was making money off of this, so I don’t know if they were being paid by either New York State or Vermont (or both), or by some other means.  Still, it was interesting to see a dozen cars get loaded up, have a ten minute ride over, and then the ferry would come back to this side with another load.

We parked at the entrance to the historical site, which I recognized as being a few feet from where Argyle’s Boy Scout troop had our tents on my first camporee.  There wasn’t a parking lot then, so our tents had been about twenty or thirty feet from the road.  It was a different time in the 80s, as no one thought much of that then, because we were smart enough not to play in the road (as opposed to the newer generations).

One thing which was new (to me, at least) where large informational signs showing the history of the area in the 1600s (after it’s discovery by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1609), the wars of the 1700s (French and Indian War, and the American Revolution being two of the most notable), the use of the lake as a means of commerce in the 1800s, and how preservation of the site began in the 1900s for recreation and tourism.  For the casual visitor stopping by to read the signs, it’s very interesting to see how things changed over four-hundred years of history.

One of the things we decided to check out while we were here was the Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse.  The light house, made from grey limestone, was built in 1858 on this section, as this portion of the lake narrowed greatly.  With a height of over 80 feet, it was a useful navigational tool.

I’m sure it was also used to look for “Champ,” the monster that allegedly lives in the lake.  Very similar to the beastie reputed to live in Loch Ness in Scotland, reports of Champ predate the arrival of the European explorers.  I’ve very sure the Native Americans saw something in these deep and murky waters, but (just like Loch Ness) it’s extremely unlikely that’s any type of plesiosaur critter.  Lake Champlain is about 125 miles long, and about 400 feet deep.  While a critter could conceivably take the Richelieu River north to Quebec, and pick up the St. Lawrence River to each the Atlantic, it’s unlikely that an aquatic creature would be adapted to both fresh and salt water.  One would think someone would’ve spotted Champ heading past Quebec on a trip to ocean.  As much as I want to believe in Champ’s existence as a cryptozoological creature, he’s probably a sturgeon or a large eel.

The monument was rededicated to Samuel de Champlain in 1959, where a likeness of the explorer was constructed on the side of the lighthouse facing the lake which bears his name.  Past the lighthouse, stairs go down to a covered dock which give a nice view of the lake.

When I was here with the Scouts, the water level was about a foot below the cement floor of the T-shaped dock.  Today, it was only a couple inches below.  Dad liked how standing on the dock gave him a better view of the nearby bridge construction project.  Mum noted that during the recent flooding, the floor of the dock was submerged.  She pointed out the light-colored portion of the pillars which showed how high the water level had been.  The discoloration had a height of about eighteen inches.

There wasn’t much else in historical site to see, as it’s mostly a campground.  But for me, standing on the dock, looking out over the water with the green trees on the shores was a treasured sight.  From my position, there was very few man-made structures in my view, so this gives an idea of what Lake Champlain looked like over four-hundred years when it was first seen by Europeans.

More information can be found on the places we visited at:

Crown Point State Historic Site:  http://www.nysparks.com/historic-sites/34/details.aspx

Champlain Monument and Lighthouse:  http://www.historiclakes.org/crown_pt/champlainlight.htm

Lake Champlain:  http://www.lakechamplainregion.com/recreation/heritage

“Champ”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_(legend)

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