Fruit Flambé, or, "I Love Fire"

I got to take Presidents' Day off this week, so we took a trip to the Carnegie Science Center. (We got a special deal on a year-long membership to the Pittsburgh museums, but until now hadn't been able to take advantage of it. Mostly due to the museums' visiting hours not being conducive to anyone with an actual work schedule.)

It was packed with children, most likely on vacation themselves. We missed the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood planetarium show, but we were able to attend the "Kitchen Theater" where they do shows on science in the kitchen. This particular show was called "Fruit Flambé." The museum guide asked the kids what they think "flambé" means, and they all excitedly yelled out "FIRE!!!" One of the little boys on the other side of the room exclaimed rather loudly to anyone who might be listening: "I love fire!" (Attention Boy Scouts of America: good luck with this little guy...)

The museum guide started out with a butter-and-sugar solution and described the difference between a mixture and a solution. She mixed in some bananas, and it smelled great, and she said "Well that's the end of our show. Thanks for coming everyone!" The room got deathly silent as the children looked around at each other trying to figure out why they didn't get to see any fire. The guide didn't leave them squirming for too long, though, as she asked everyone "Did I forget something?" The kids all yelled out "You forgot the fire!" "You're right, we haven't done the fire yet." Our little pyromaniac friend on the other side of the room started chanting "FI-RE! FI-RE! FI-RE!" The guide then went into the science explanation of combustion, with little puzzle pieces with the words "Heat," "Oxygen," and "Fuel" written on them.

It was fun, but when she got to "Fuel," she asked "where are we going to get fuel?" One of the little girls called out "Alcohol!" I was expecting the guide to use a blowtorch and toast the sugar or something, but sure enough, she pulled out a bottle of rum and another bottle of brandy. OK, first, how did that little girl know that the guide was going to use alcohol? Second, isn't it kinda sending kids mixed signals when they're being told not to drink alcohol? I know I know, she explained that the alcohol burns off so it's OK to serve this stuff to kids, but still.

"Stiller" Country

We are definitely in "Stiller" country. I actually didn't know what that meant until about two days ago when I asked my friend. We go mall-walking in the mornings and I noticed a sign at a few of the shops stating this is "Stiller Country". I figured it was a misprint but not according to my friend. Apparently true Pittsburgh-ians pronounce it "Stillers" instead of "Steelers". Weird, I know but that's how it is.

In fact, today at church (aside from all the Steelers colors in the congregation) our nursery helper told us that hopefully the Lord will forgive her for missing so much church during "Stiller" football season.

Also, I didn't realize that around here, after you take down the Christmas decorations, it's time to put up the Steeler's decorations. We have several houses on our block that are decked out for Steeler season. One house has yellow spotlights turned on at night with several banners and flags. As we drove to church today, there was a house that had a blow-up football player on their front porch. This is serious business!

They have this thing called the Terrible Towel that many people use as decoration. They sell for $9.00 and I ask, "What do you do with a Terrible Towel that makes it worth nine bucks?" There is an answer for that - you see, it comes with instructions:

So, even though I've never wanted to watch the Super Bowl nor even cared who has participated in it, it's easy to get caught up in all the excitement. (I even bought Lars a Steelers shirt to wear to work on the Friday before the big game.) Maybe next year I'll even put up some decorations after New Year's.