What is a... roundabout?

Coming from Ireland where roundabouts are a quite common sight at your daily commute I was surprised to see that the US went an entirely different way when it comes to traffic control. Traffic lights are more common here than anywhere else I went so far. Even in Germany it is easier to step over a roundabout from time to time ;-) But in several communities over here you can find them if you look hard enough...

Interesting is how different towns and cities explain those to the public over here. One of the more innovative ways I found in Steamboat Springs... a 'traffic circle' apparently is a little one way street spanning around a little circle... or simply a roundabout :-P

Rocky Mountains Oysters

Well... one story remains from our Rocky mountain trip I didn't mention here yet: Rocky Mountains Oysters. Well... I'll not tell you what those are actually are (just in case you want to try them anytime soon and not to spoil the surprise for you) but to be honest now... so far I thought they are a myth or at least something put together for messing around with tourists ;-)

But they are real! It is a real dish served in real restaurants here and enjoyed by real locals and real (unknowing) tourists! And for what they are they are not too bad at all. I was surprised!

And as you can see... we survived to tell the story! Try them on your next trip to Colorado yourself!

Superbowl

Empty streets, deserted highways, sold out beer sections in liquor stores and potato chip shortages in the local super market... oh yes... these are the best indicators for the Superbowl, the biggest sport event in the world. Well that's at least what people over here think. Let's settle on the biggest American Football tournament in the world ;-)
I was invited to a Superbowl party at my friend Thomas's house and had a great time watching a very exciting match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals which was literally decided in the last minute.
But it is not all about the match... it's the whole show which keeps you entertained for more then three hours... like the half-time show (Bruce Springsteen) and even the commercials. Those are as much entertaining as the match itself and they have even polls voting for the most popular one after the show. Even O' Reilly was discussing the television add and if they would have a bad influence on the youth... speaking about which... in Arizona they had a new Nipplegate when a local 'adult entertainment channel' was sending their content on the same frequency for a couple of seconds... the FCC is investigating...

But altogether a great show even if you normally don't like American Football!

Different Taste 10

Different taste... one of my favorite topics to write about because it combines two things I really enjoy: first of all being advantageous by trying new things and most of the time it involves food as well. A great combination ;-)
This time I speak about cheese which is bit different over here too. Well, you can get French, German and Irish cheese here too but the American version is sometimes... well let's put it this way, surprising! For better understanding you have to know that they have a product called 'I-can't-believe-it-is-not-butter' which is exactly that, not butter. This applies to cheese too. The worst cheese I found so far is the 'yellow fluid 'cheese-wanna-be' which you can pour directly onto your Nachos or burger. Very strange is if you don't need to head it up and it is coming directly out of a dispenser. That case keeps me wondering how many chemicals it takes to keep it in this state in the first place. Under this circumstances you might understand the picture of my favorite frozen pizza brand over here which is advertising 'with 100% REAL cheese'!
What are the other brands using? Unreal cheese? Yellowish fluent wanna-be cheese? I feel that I don't want to hear the answer to this though ;-)

Gingerbread house in January

One of the things I didn't get into my suitcase anymore was the 'Gingerbread House Kit' which I thought would be great fun to build with my family in Germany. Unfortunately the 1.2 kg (2.6 pound) of pure sugar were too heavy for my luggage. A pity... so what to do with such a fantastic kit when I got back to Colorado in January?

Well... I think you understand where I try to get with that. Should I let it going stale on me? Sweets? No way! So I revived the 'Ekki cooks...' post series on this blog especially for this project.

Lucky enough all ingredients were in this set so I didn't have to go crazy with the oven. Not that I am capable of doing that :o)

And as you can see... after two hours of hard decoration work where I felt like one of these guys in our neighborhood decorating their houses for Christmas... just a bit smaller of course ;-) after two hours it was done!

And two days later the house was in my housemates and my bellies!

Tasty! And this year I will build the house BEFORE Christmas. Promise ;-)

Crazy Vending Machines II

Revisiting one of my latest posts about elaborate vending machines at American airports. Remember the Rosetta Stone language course vending machine I was on about recently? I found a posh version of it at the Houston airport (which funny enough is called Georg Bush airport, but that is a different story now). This version of the vending machine came with a real but bored looking person! :-)

Every time I see something like that I really wonder what is the margin for selling this product if they can afford an expensive vending machine or even a real person selling that product. Which brings me to one of my favorite topics... Apple! They had an own wending machine for i-phones, etc at that airport as well!

Maybe I am getting to old or I am not hip anymore... more likely both... but I still find the idea of buying a several hundred Dollar product of a vending machine somewhere at an airport amusing... I guess I am easily amused at least ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving

It's that time of the year again when we gather around to meet the family, have lots of food and drinks... no I am not speaking about Christmas, that's next month. This month we have: turkey day, aka Thanksgiving! This traditional American holiday is not very well known in Europe... or as for Germany celebrated at a different date. Over here it is right up there with Christmas. And Christmas came early for me this year as well... after several month of waiting for my stimulus check (yes... its the one from early this year, thanks Mr. Bush!) I finally got it the day before Thanksgiving! I guess bureaucracy is the same everywhere ;-) But that gives me the opportunity to have a fantastic festive dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Crazy Vending Machines

Well... since I am over here I spotted several crazy vending machines... one of my first posts was about a Sony vending machine where you could by MP3 players and cell phone. The funniest one so far was the lobster vending machine where you could grab a living lobster and get it cooked while you wait. But the most specialized one is the Rosetta Stone vending machine at the Las Vegas airport. Who is deciding at the airport that it would be better to learn the language of your target destination? I agree there might be connection but as soon as you talk about a price tag of $499 I am not so sure if I would use a vending machine at an airport to make this purchase. Anyhow... I still got a blast out of that machine anyway by running the demo for the German class... it was just like home... just like home :-)

Election showdown

Well... finally we don't have to watch all those TV adds anymore, don't have to run into campaign supporters in shopping malls and have to answer phone calls of phone robots. And the winner is... Barack Obama! Even though it looked like a quite close call last week... at the election night everything moved very quickly towards Obama. Already at 8 o'clock it looked quite bad for McCain.

At that time McCain already had to win most of the swing states as Obama won the most important high density states in the east. But still an interesting night with lots of news network entertainment around that. Most of the stations had again their sports-like view of the swing states where they were drawing strategies on the map... and CNN had even live holograms from all over the country where people were shown in 3D at the studio. Interesting how different these broadcasts are from those in Europe :-)

And in the end I was able to vote too! Just kidding... I just found one 'I voted' sticker on the sidewalk. For a moment I was tempted to get myself a free Starbucks coffee or a free ice cone at Ben & Jerrie's for voters. Oh well... I'll have free pretzels at the upcoming general election in Germany instead ;-)

But in the end I am very happy that I was here while history was in the making. Congratulations to Obama and good luck for his first term. It'll be a though one with all the problems right now which certainly will restrict him from implementing his programs simply because of the lack of money. But I am confident that after several years of stagnation America will move in the right directing now. So much from Ekki's election studio and now back to normality :-)

Election countdown

Things are heading up over here... only 2 more days to election day and both campaigns are using the last remaining hours smearing each other. My European readers will ask now if the race is not decided yet looking at the latest polls. But the strange system over here with the electoral vote making it possible winning even with loosing by the number of voters. This divides the country in save banks for each party and the battleground states where the voters are not decided yet. Either way 100% of the votes will go to one winner in that states that's why it is not over yet.

And there is also the so-called Bradley effect which makes the race even more interesting. Apparently the political correctness over here is spoiling the result of polls in elections like that. So even though the polls are showing Obama's lead right now, nothing is decided till Tuesday. That's why everyone is still keeping campaigning I guess...

...and writing books. While there are several books about Sarah Palin describing her raise from a Hokey Mom to fighting the establishment (I really didn't see that, oh well) I couldn't find any book about McCain. Maybe they were sold out???

Also I found a book about Obama... in the children section!!! I thought that was a bit strange... so if you want to read your children a bed time story, why not about a politicans?! That makes sense to me now... politics, put you to sleep since 1776 ;-)

Drive-in flu shots

Well... last year I wrote about it here on my blog, this year I have photos to proof it: the drive-in flu shot clinic ;-)
Once again my health insurance promoted a massive vaccination event on several locations throughout Denver. Their goal is to pass their flu shots to as many members as possible in only two days. And what better way then using the McDonnald proven drive in method.


So basically you are driving with your car off the highway on the hospitals parking-lot where policemen are leading you to one of those vaccination stations.
There your first stop is the nurse who asks you about basic health issues and the second stop with a doctor gives you the actual flu shot through the open window. Even though it might sounds strange getting a flu shot in a car park... it is more then convenient. And 10 mins later I was on my way again... without leaving the car! Brilliant ;-)

Election campaign

Well... it is really interesting to see the US election campaign first hand. The first major difference between the general elections I saw in Europe is the media coverage. Like many things over here the election campaign and its coverage is big business. And local broadcast stations use this opportunity to present the news as entertaining as possible. For example Fox and CNN are having a 'election center' where they have daily commentaries about how the voters could lean to... that means that like in American Football you have anchormen drawing lines on a computer map while they explain the influence of certain comments on certain regions in America. And how this could effect the general opinion in a state which has effects on states surrounding them and so on. Strategy session for politic fanatics I would summarize it ;-)

Another difference is the culture of bumper stickers which is also new for me. Suddenly you have lots of cars in front of you who are advertising either for Obama or McCain. Really strange is that you also have lots of people driving with anti-advertisement for the other candidate.

A quite interesting campaign so far and I am sure there is more to come!

Election campaign 2008

As regular readers of my blog already know I was covering the pre-elections of the democrats and republicans in great detail. And I can promise you that I will do the same for the 'real' election campaign which looks already quite different to general elections I know from Europe...

Like this Obama Christmas tree (decoration) I found in a local shopping mall. I am really looking forward to the next weeks... and to Christmas of course ;-)

Democrats Convention

The Democrats Convention is in town to elect Obama as their presidential candidate on Thursday. Even though the outcome is quite clear, more then 50,000 people traveled to Denver to enjoy the show. The local football stadium where Obama will hold his speech holds 70,000 people and was sold out in 10 mins!

Walking through downtown Denver yesterday night was an adventure too. A good friend of mine and I wearing shirts and suits got caught up in between violent protesters on one side and riot police on the other. I never saw something like that in Denver... adds a real big city feeling to it ;-)

But why I was wearing a suit downtown Denver you'll find out in my next post!

Different Taste 9

Usually I am writing about unhealthy things in this sections like sodas and sweets ... this time I surprised even myself with a fruit! Flying Saucer peaches! I never saw something like that in Europe... maybe because they are carrying the 'made in the US' logo... like the whole UFO hysteria started in the late 40s over here too.





But unlike the speculation about crashed space ships and green men from Mars these fruits are more then real... they are sweet and tasty. And very handy too as the stone in the center of the fruit is very small and very easy to extract. So even ET with his clumsy fingers could enjoy this peach without 'calling home' for help ;-)

Don't be silly 2

And again another case of 'do you really think somebody is stupid enough to do that'. And the simple answer is (like for all posts of this topic: YES) because somebody seems to be afraid of getting sued over that. The US is the country of the free, unfortunately that includes the lawyers too as it seems :o)
But what do we have here now? A sticker I found in the hotel room safe at my last trip to DC, stating that there is a suffocation risk when using this safe. First of all I was simply amazed that this sticker wasn't bigger, with a picture of what not to put in there and only written in English! Maybe that was my chance of getting rich and I blow it! Something along this lines... honey, can you pass me our small dog? I put it in a REALLY save place! How was I suppose to know that this safe is not made for animals? There was no warning in German! And now you owe me $10 million... please ;-)

Renaissance Festival

When you ever have been to a historical festival in Europe you might understand what I would expect to see on a 'Renaissance Festival'. For example on medieval market in my hometown back in Germany everybody tries to present the trades and craftsmanship of that time as accurate as possible. Or the Baroque festival is a place where everyone is running around with funny wigs and fancy dresses listening to the music of its time.


To make a long story short... the Larkspur 'Renaissance Festival' is nothing like that :-) At first you notice the medieval castles and knight joust and you think... ahhh... it is a renaissance AND medieval festival. But then you keep on wandering through this really nice decorated middle ages type-of-city they have constructed just outside of the town of Larkspur when you are runing into...


some belly dancers, elves, cave women (I am not kidding) and pirates. And then you realize that the terminology 'Renaissance' is not as literally taken over here as in Europe.
Over here it is more like a 'fantasy festival' which is lots of fun too. And very nice is that everybody in the audience seems to get into that too! At least half of the visitors are dressing up for that so the line between actors, employees and visitors is disappearing.


Even if you forget to bring your own costume don't worry! There is a costume renting place in front of the theme park where you can get your proper armor and sword for the day.

And if you like this place so much that you want to make it a special day... why not getting married in their very own wedding chapel?!

The only thing I am wondering about is if you get a group discount when you bring your relatives with you... and what my mother would say if I send her an invitation to my wedding at this place ;-)

Happy 4th of July

There are lots of different things to do on the 4th of July holiday... and this year I thought of doing something really traditional after watching a Rapids soccer match for last years Independence Day. My good friend Christine, her little baby girl Jasmina and I went for a picnic in Westminster's city park. We had a lovely day with lots of sunshine, sandwiches and lovely cheese cake lollipops!



But not all of us made it to the firework display... even though Jasmina was quite excited by all the people in the city park it was a long day for her too :o) But she was awake for the grand finale.

A happy 4th to all of you!

Pow-wow in Morrison

In several of my previous posts I was talking about the different festivals over here like the Paddy's day parade, Cinco de Mayo, Oktoberfest and Rodeos just to name a few. A very nice tradition I saw today in Morrison just a few miles out of Denver... an Indian pow-wow which is more less the native American version of a carnival.

Interesting enough this is something like a dance and song singing contest where different native American families (and groups) are meeting up and fighting in different competitions; some of them with very funny names like the 'chicken dance' which has nothing to do with what we in Europe would connect with it (well, you remember the 80s 'chicken song' with its specific funny dance... something like the Macarena just more silly I guess)


But this tradition is great fun to see and listen to. All the different costumes and dances, the different songs and rhythms... and of course the different food! A very nice tradition to have in a such fast moving country like the US.

Primaries update 2

Wow... who had guessed that the primaries are continuing like that? It is only one more month to go and still non of the candidates has the required numbers of delegates to get elected at the Democrats convention here in Denver in August!
In the meantime both campaigns are producing large numbers of T-shirts, banners, badges and all that... keeping the tumbling American economy going ;-)

What might seems quite confusing and a bit annoying for European eye (can you not decide now for crying out loud)... for the American media it seems to be something like a 10 month long football match to report about... even though most of my American friends seem to be sick of all that too.

In my humble opinion there is only one winner of all these ongoing Democrats primaries... McCain from the Republicans. While Hillary and Obama are fighting to the blood for their nomination McCain can enjoy traveling the country and is getting his position strengthened for the "real" election... oh well... but what do I know? I am not even allowed to vote here anyway... thankfully :o)