After exploring Berlin, I moved on towards Amsterdam, and to get there I had to travel via Köln, also known as Cologne.
InterRail 2010 – Part 3: Köln
The Comedy Song Debacle
Six years ago, on my first date with my girlfriend, she asked me a question.
“What kind of music do you listen to?”
This is a really simple question for most people, but not for me.
You see, I am not that into music.
I mean, I do really enjoy music, but I don’t have that many serious musicians that I listen to.
It is mostly comedy bands, and stuff like Miracle of Sound that has a lot of references to popular culture in it.
I am a bigger fan of comedy than I am of music.
My date was
Winnie-the-Doom
Years ago, I was enjoying my regular stroll though my local shopping-mall, when I suddenly saw it.
A Winnie-the-Pooh kiddie ride!
I had never seen it there before.
As I approached it, an ominous feeling crept up my spine. The air was filled with the otherworldly scent of rotten honey, and as we all know, honey doesn’t spoil.
Naturally, I jumped on!
I enjoyed a few moments of unaware bliss before it happened.
It seemed like a rift in the fabric of reality had opened, as the plastic ‘w
illy, nilly silly old bear’ was transformed into a living monstrous beast that was trying to kill me!
McDuck Breast
For this month’s geeky recipe, I decided to make a dish based on Disney’s Scrooge McDuck!
I have previously expressed my love for the Scottish trillionair duck’s comic books here, but what is even better than reading about Donald Duck’s uncle, is eating him!
For when the people have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.
And this is the richest tasting duck in the world!
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For two portions:
The Duck
1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F.
2. Cut a large carrot up in sticks, then dice a few cloves of garlic.
3. Cut small squares in the skin of approximately 400 gram of duck breast, while trying to avoid cutting in the meat.
4. Put salt and pepper on both sides of the duck breast, then fry the skin side in a bit of butter for three minutes, along with the garlic cloves.
5. Place a cooking thermometer in the middle of the breast.
6. Place the breast and the carrot sticks in the oven for about 25 minutes, until the thermometer shows 60°C/140°F.
7. Let the duck rest for ten minutes before you cut it into slices. The temperature should start to close in on 68°C/155°F before you cut it.
‘The Greens’
1. While waiting for the meat to finish, fry up two handfuls of kale. Once the kale has shrunken, add a handful of cashew nuts.
2. During the last ten minutes, while the meat is resting, bake two tomato halves and a few golden physalis berries in the oven at 150°C/300°F.
The Scotch Sauce
1. Add two deciliters of ox stock and a tablespoon of Scotch whiskey to the pan that was used for frying the duck. Bring it to a boil.
2. Stir in a tablespoon of flour, to let the sauce thicken.
3. Taste with salt, pepper and more Scotch.
And there you have it!
A perfect meal for a summer evening!
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Norwegian Patriot
Yesterday was the Norwegian Constitution Day, so I figured I would write a bit about how I feel about Norway.
While not being very vocal about it, I do feel patriotic about Norway.
And to be clear, when I say patriotic, that is what I mean,
not nationalistic
Norwegian Russ Celebration
The Russ Celebration in Norway is in many ways like the American Spring Break, with many partaking in an excess of sex, alcohol and silliness.
It is a weeks long graduation celebration by Norwegian upper secondary schoolers, taking place in May of every year.
The pupils who partake in this celebration are called “russ”. They traditionally wear overalls and hats color-coded to their particular study path, although few still wear the hat.
From most to least common; there are Redruss (general studies), Blueruss (economy and administration), Blackruss (vocational courses) and Greenruss (agricultural courses).
Some other groups have also joined in, with kindergartener wearing pink, lower secondary school students wearing orange, and Christian russ wearing white.
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The Russ Celebration is an old tradition.
There has been some form of russ celebration as far back as the 1700s, and it seems to have started in Danmark, as there were no universities in Norway at the time.
The celebration we now see in Norway started in 1905. The red caps were inspired by the hats worn by German students who had visited Norway the year before.
The tradition slowly and naturally evolved from those starting points.
I could have joined in as a Blackruss at the end of my two years at culinary school, but I decided that it would be smarter to take some supplementary education with a year of general studies, before my two years as a chef’s apprentice.
That gap between the culinary school and my apprenticeship ended up being far longer than I had anticipated, as I spent a year in the military, and then a year of decompression and InterRail travel as a result of that year in the military.
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So in May 2009, after a year of general studies, I was ready to be a Redruss!
Along with my overalls, I had all the other essentials…
I had a russehat, and a russecat..
Brady Haran – South Pole Explorer
Doctor Brady Haran had done many great things before conquering the South Pole.
He had started countless educational YouTube-channels, made the worlds best podcast Hello Internet with his robot pal CGP Grey, received an honorary doctorate and climbed Mount Everest!
The Mystery Die
Not long ago, archeologists in Bergen (Norway) discovered a mystery die from 1276.
It is a normal six-sided die, but the numbers are not the normal 1 to 6.
Check Your Spam!
Most know that they should check their email spam-folder, but if you run a blog you also need to remember to check the spam-folder for your comments.
I just checked the folder for the first time in a month, and there were six comments from regular commenters, and apart from that there were only three actual spam comments.
I gave this post that title mostly so that I will be reminded to check each time I see it 😉
One of these comments was from the blogger petrel41, who invited me to take part in The Real Neat Blog Award.
Here are the questions, and my answers:
1. Where do most visits to your blog come from?
Reddit, and at the moment, one single post on Reddit, as I have over 6000 views on my Thanos post from there.
Reddit can be a good way to reach a big audience, but they will likely only read whatever is linked to before returning to Reddit. And you may have to withstand some snarky comments there, even when the post is generally upvoted.
Better to reach a returning audience. A few of them may return, so it could be worth it.
2. What is your favourite sport?
My Cabin Trip to The Planet Hoth
In 1997 I, my younger sister, my father and my mother all stayed at a cabin in Finse, a small mountain village in Hordaland county, Norway. Also known as Hoth.