You Learn Something New Every Day

Photo of said drunken noodles. This was my best effort yet.

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:49:55 +0200

Photo of said drunken noodles. This was my best effort yet.

So I’ve taken up cooking lately mostly because I’m trying to follow a vegan diet 5 or 6 days/week...

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:48:12 +0200

So I’ve taken up cooking lately mostly because I’m trying to follow a vegan diet 5 or 6 days/week (not because I particularly care about animals, but because I’m afraid of turning into a fat-ass) and there’s almost no way to find dishes in a restaurant that carry a combination of non-animal based foods that I can tolerate. What this amounts to is me cooking a lot of Asian food. I guess when it comes to Asian food, all you need is some rice, rice noodles, Sriracha, something spicier than Sriracha, soy sauce, and loads of veggies. It’s almost impossible to find Sriracha in Brussels, but fortunately I live next to the Asian market which is coincidentally also the only place in town where you can buy Jell-O and peanut butter. So I got the goods and I took a few attempts at making Thai drunken noodles and got pretty good at it. Then I tried a spicy basil noodle dish that tasted and looked remarkably like the drunken noodles. …and that’s about all I can think of to make. In the non-Asian realm, how the eff am I supposed to get full off of salads and fruits? Tonight I cut up some potatoes and put them in the oven and basically ate fries for dinner. Cool diet.

14 June, 2011 Today I learned that Ghetto Superstar is a...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:50:03 +0200

14 June, 2011

Today I learned that Ghetto Superstar is a remake. Who listens to this song and thinks “You know, this would make a great hip-hop song”?

22 May, 2011 Today I learned that you can’t look at porn...

Sun, 22 May 2011 23:52:30 +0200

22 May, 2011

Today I learned that you can’t look at porn on the internet in UAE. There go my weekend plans…

14 May, 2011 Today I learned from some Germans how to pour the...

Wed, 18 May 2011 21:08:28 +0200

14 May, 2011

Today I learned from some Germans how to pour the perfect pint.

10 May, 2011 Today I learned that Wiener Schnitzel has nothing...

Mon, 16 May 2011 22:38:31 +0200

10 May, 2011

Today I learned that Wiener Schnitzel has nothing to do with wieners.

6 May, 2011 Today I learned that a chick with a fixed gear is a...

Sat, 07 May 2011 04:45:44 +0200

6 May, 2011

Today I learned that a chick with a fixed gear is a hot commodity in Brussels. Hell yeah!

3 May, 2011 Today I learned that it snows in May in Russia...

Tue, 03 May 2011 21:31:00 +0200

3 May, 2011

Today I learned that it snows in May in Russia almost every year.

25 April, 2011 Today I learned that I still have emotions after all. I fucking miss everything...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:37:19 +0200

25 April, 2011

Today I learned that I still have emotions after all. I fucking miss everything :’-(

20 April, 2011 Today I learned that much of the world doesn’t believe September 11th was a...

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:21:36 +0200

20 April, 2011

Today I learned that much of the world doesn’t believe September 11th was a terrorist attack. I wonder if posting this means that I am added to some government watch list.

16 April, 2011 Today I learned that America is pretty much the only country that has cheerleaders. ...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:09:38 +0200

16 April, 2011

Today I learned that America is pretty much the only country that has cheerleaders. I guess I kinda knew that already but I never gave it much thought. A friend from Norway was interested to learn whether the stereotypes of cheerleaders being the most popular girls in school, dating football players, etc are true. I reflected for a moment and concluded that, yes, I guess the stereotypes are generally accurate.

Apparently the clique-iness of high school is quite unique to America as well. Maybe that’s why most everyone I have run into since coming to Belgium is so friendly and inclusive. There is a general attitude here that “You’re Invited” unless told otherwise, whereas in the States I feel the vibe is “You’re Not Invited” until told otherwise.

Seems like a great place to raise a family.

11 April, 2011 Today I learned how to spell my name in Russian: Жанель Ж = J sound н = N...

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:34:04 +0200

11 April, 2011

Today I learned how to spell my name in Russian:

Жанель

Ж = J sound

н = N sound

л = L sound

ь - makes the л soft

Also:

Жанель любит Санкт-Петербург (Janelle loves St Petersburg)

Жанель скоро вернётся в Санкт-Петербург (Janelle soon will be back to St Petersburg)

6 April, 2011 Today I learned that a trip by Trans-Siberian railway from one side of Russia to the...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:30:00 +0200

6 April, 2011

Today I learned that a trip by Trans-Siberian railway from one side of Russia to the other (Moscow to Vladivostok) takes longer than 6 full days.

3 April, 2011 Today I learned about the Principality of Sealand...

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:13:00 +0200

3 April, 2011

Today I learned about the Principality of Sealand - The world’s smallest nation. Indeed, it is not even an island, but simply a man-made platform off the coast of England. Apparently, the origins of the nation are tied to the Mafia as a means of trafficking drugs and bootlegging passports, or some jazz. Here are some of the stats:

Population: 5

Currency: Sealand Dollar (SX$); based on the value of the US Dollar

Capital: HM Fort Roughs (the only city in the nation)

Pretty fascinating stuff. The source for most of this information is a media-arts student who plans to make a documentary about this place, so stay tuned for that.

2 April, 2011 Today I learned that “tampon” has a more diverse meaning in...

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:57:00 +0200

2 April, 2011

Today I learned that “tampon” has a more diverse meaning in french, defined as a stopper, plug, wad, swab and can also mean stamp or buffer. Not knowing this caused some confusion when I noticed the word on several products in the hardware store yesterday.

Examples:

Je vais boucher cette voie d’eau avec un tampon de bois - I’m going to plug this leak with a wooden tampon (stopper).

Il a besoin d’un tampon pour vernir la table - He needs a tampon (pad) to varnish the table.

30 March, 2011 Today I learned that the only thing certain in...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:10:00 +0200

30 March, 2011

Today I learned that the only thing certain in life is not death, nor taxes. Nay! It is gum under the table.

29 March, 2011 Today I learned that they have phở in Brussels! ...

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:11:00 +0200

29 March, 2011

Today I learned that they have phở in Brussels! Pretty phở-king good too.

25 March, 2011 Today I learned a bit about the origins of the Fahrenheit scale. It is...

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:17:58 +0100

25 March, 2011

Today I learned a bit about the origins of the Fahrenheit scale. It is pretty much only used in the US so it’s useless to me now that I live in Europe. You can find this stuff on Wikipedia, but here is a summary:

Most people know that the Celcius scale is based on the boiling/freezing points of water: 0°C = Freezing 100°C = Boiling

Well some German dude named Daniel Fahrenheit decided that better reference points for 0 and 100 degrees would be: 0°F = The stabilization point of a figorific mixture (a mixture of ice, water, and ammonium chloride) 100°F = The normal body temperature of a horse

Logical eh?

So now when some one says, “It’s 18° today!”, I am stuck trying to convert it to Fahrenheit in my head using the following equation: [°F] = [°C] × ⁹⁄₅ + 32

COOL…

A girl I met from the UK said that she lived in the States for 2 years and she never got used to the temperature conversion. At least I know that if it’s higher than 0, it’s above freezing.

3 December, 2010 Today I learned about this rad party trick

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:04:13 +0100

3 December, 2010

Today I learned about this rad party trick