This 14th century church in Graun, Italy was submerged by a dam in 1950. More than 160 residents were forced to leave their home to make way for the reservoir. The only evidence that a town existed there is the church tower that sticks out of the water. What once was the villages of Graun and Reschen, now is Reschensee, or Lake Reschen. Very erie.
One wonders if there are people still alive that remember living right there and going to church there, as a child. Do people ever use this as a dive spot?
I was recently discussing idle topics with teenagers. The topic of women jumping out of a cake came up. Surely they didn't know what that was referring to?
They all were familiar with the scenario:
At a decadent party, they wheel out a large cake. The a beautiful woman pops out of it. Everyone is shocked and delighted.
Everyone seems to know of this scenario. As I remember, it was a common gimmick on TV shows when I was a kid. Among all the things in the world we should be interested in or pay attention to, women jumping out of cakes has risen near the top. So much so, that Duffy Lyon, who does sculptures out of butter for the Iowa State Fair, did a sculpture of herself. See the picture above-left. I assume that almost everyone who saw it knew the woman jumping out of a cake scenario, didn't think twice about it.
How did all this woman jumping out of a cake business get started?
Stanford White was a big time architect in New York. He designed a lot of things, like Madison Square Garden. You can read up on him at Wikipedia. The cake story is not exactly clear, and it is strange the Wikipedia article does not cover the "cake" incident. In 1895 a picture taken at a party of his was printed in a New York newspaper. The picture was of a woman jumping out of a cake. After that, cake jumping became all the rage. All it took was one picture, and the rest is history. 11 years later Stanford was murdered by a jealous lover of one of his flings, the trial was a news sensation.
I wonder if he was plagued by the woman jumping out of a cake picture and the legacy it inspired. Was he questioned about it all the time? Was he sick of hearing about it? I can imagine friends nicknaming him "Cake". Sort of like Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson, my favorite Monty Python sketch:
Arthur "Cake" White?
Can anyone provide any more information about the famous origin? Is this just an urban legend? Why can't I find the famous picture that was the spark of it all? A mystery! Please comment....
Geophagy is the act of eating earth - clay or chalk like substances. This is different than the disorder Pica. Geophagy is not considered a disorder, just something people do.
There seems to be 2 reasons people eat clay or dirt, if they do not have a mental disorder like Pica. One reason is that clay in your system can leach out dangerous toxins in food. The other is that some people just crave it!
Eating clay is prevalent in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Southern United States. According to a 1986 article in the New York Times:
To this day, many rural Southern blacks dig clays with the desired sour taste from local pits, often from subsoil in roadbanks, Dr. Vermeer said. ''In Alabama, damage to roadbanks in some places has been so extensive that the highway department has posted signs requesting local residents not to dig into them,'' he noted.
The clay is baked and often mixed with vinegar and salt. In northern cities, some women who crave clay have their favorite types sent by Southern relatives, while others consume Argo starch, which has similar properties, as a substitute.
Some poor whites in the South also eat clay despite strong social pressures not to. Although American physicians tend instinctively to condemn the practice, ''no current evidence indicates that normal consumption of clays in the American South is either beneficial or harmful,'' Dr. Vermeer said. Eating of excessive quantities can cause intestinal blockage.
Potatoes originated from South America. The original varieties contained poisonous toxins and could only be tolerated by the consumer eating the vegetable with clay that leached out the toxins. Even today these types of potatoes can be found in South American markets, and you can buy jars of clay that you are to coat your tongue with before eating the potatoes. Potato affectionados claim the poisonous ones are the best tasting ones.
Pregnant women are known for craving strange food. Coincidentally pregnant women are the largest consumers of clay.
After all the hullabaloo about the apocalypse, Harold Camping, people giving away all their money to prop up a false prophet - I saw a car today with a Family Radio bumper sticker. Family Radio, if you remember, was/is Harold Camping's radio network.
Don't you think this person would be too embarrassed to have this on their car?
OK, now I must let this topic drop - I'll let my "Harold Camping is a goof ball" obsession not obsess me anymore. No more Harold Camping blogs (unless he does something really goofy again, of course!).
I cannot seem to find a Harold Camping Bobblehead for sale anywhere on the internet. You would think the people driving the Family Radio cars and vans around would have a good source for these. Does anyone know where I can get one?
I'm a little late with this one. Fried Kool-Aid was all the rage this summer. Despite it's popularity on the internet, our local fair did not have this for sale. I expected it to be everywhere, just like deep-fried Twinkies were a couple of years ago.
The name "Fried Kool-Aid" conjures up the thought of there being a pot of boiling oil and you throw in a package of Kool-Aid. Then something magical happens and it turns into the tasty treat of my dreams. Something I've never tasted before.
Not quite...
Most of the recipes we found on the web are basically the same. Here is one from friedkoolaidrecipe.com:
Kool-Aid Cookies:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. unsweetened any flavor Kool-Aid (grape, use 1 1/2 tsp.)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 beaten egg
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 c. flour
Cream butter, egg, and sugar; mix well. Then mix all ingredients and mix to first mixture. Place heaping teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.
ICING:
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. soft butter
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. Kool-Aid powder
Mix powdered sugar with Kool-Aid powder with soft butter. Add milk and mix thoroughly, then spread on cool cookies.
We used cherry Kool-Aid. The picture of our experiment is posted above.
The result? .... They were OK. The recipe basically makes a doughnut that is ball shaped. The little bit of Kool-Aid in the product acts just as a light flavoring - nothing more.
So, Fried Kool-Aid is a bit of an over hype. Not really worth all the calories you ingest. But I support the GoofyFood community for trying.
