Troll Trivia of the Week
Primrose is back, and looking forward to some refreshing swimming laps at the pool to help her get through the summer. She has always enjoyed swimming, but one time in her childhood, she caught a nasty infection at the pool. What was it?
1) Measles
2) Whooping Cough
3) Meningitis
Emergency Recipe Raid!!! 
Got back from vacation Friday night and due to a massive heat wave, I got up early yesterday to do the gardening. And there was really an "emergency": TOO MUCH LETTUCE! And the lettuce already started growing vertically!! It was about time to harvest and eat it! But it´s impossible to eat SO MUCH lettuce in a couple of days! So, what shall I do?
The idea: French lettuce soup!
Lettuce SOUP?!
So, let´s give it a try, using this recipe.
Let´s cook the lettuce in butter:
add some chicken broth, some (pseudo-)heavy cream and some flour, puree it:
and: CAN IT!
Trolls verdict: Okay. Not too bad. Not a highlight, but not bad. Three of five stars.
A good way to use up mussgoes, at least. 
For me personally, both lettuce and soup tend to be in the "okay" section, so I don't think a combination of the two would fare much better. 
Originally posted by Harrier88
A good way to use up mussgoes, at least.
For me personally, both lettuce and soup tend to be in the "okay" section, so I don't think a combination of the two would fare much better.The soup itself is okay, a bit boring, but the mussgo lettuce had to be prepared somehow for storage. I canned the soup but when I´m going to eat it, that will be with some bacon, ham and/or egg for sure!
Sling Ball Throw (1 kg) (Coordination)
Bronze: 28.50m
Silver: 33.50m
Gold: 38.50m
Not an Olympic event.
World Record (2kg): 86.92m by Alwin Wagner (GER) on August 21st, 1982.
Harrier's distance: 39.10m
We did it! 
I started out with a few more attempts using the standard "Frisian" technique, where you simply throw the sling ball using an underarm motion. After a few throws that either traveled across the ground or soared into the clouds, I finally found a decent angle, but could only make it to around the 34 meter mark.
Today, we had some other instructors being present, and after I did some attempts using a spinning technique as in the discus or hammer throw, I asked for some pointers - and whether this technique is even worth it. Thing is, this technique is tougher to master and will often have your throws veering to the side, but once you get it down, it would get you much better results. I watched one of those guys do it, and then tried to copy his motion, facing forwards and then doing one full spin in the run-up. I hit a good angle, got a nice and straight throw, and there we go: 39.10 meters, good enough for Gold! 
Now only one lousy Gold still remains...
100 Meter Dash (Speed)
Bronze: 17.6 seconds
Silver: 15.9 seconds
Gold: 14.2 seconds
Olympic Record: 9.63 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2012 London Olympics, August 5th, 2012.
World Record: 9.58 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, August 16th, 2009.
Harrier's time: 14.9 seconds
Close... but we're not there yet. My legs were feeling all weird today anyway, not sure what was wrong with them. My thighs in particular felt pretty stiff. I'm guessing something related to work, I've been carrying some heavy stuff. Or is it the age already?
I did two attempts, one of them early on, and another one at the end, after doing the sling ball throw and all that. Both of them yielded about the same time. I was more tired during the second go, of course, but also did some proper warming up with one of my instructors then. My first attempt was done with no preparation whatsoever.
It's okay - I mostly did it to see where I stand right now. With some less exhausted legs and some proper warm up, I think I should have a real shot at the Gold here. If not, getting 15:00 minutes in the 3,000 meter run should be achievable too.
New progress:
Stamina: Silver (800m Freestyle) - 2 points
Strength: Gold (Medicine Ball Throw) - 3 points
Speed: Silver (25m Freestyle/100m Dash) - 2 points
Coordination: Gold (Sling Ball Throw) - 3 points
10 points in total, 11 points are required for Gold.
We are so close, we can taste it... let's get that last lousy Gold, we can't quit now. In fact, you know what? Let's go for Gold in all four areas, just to drive the point home.
Primrose and I had a lovely meetup, but frankly... I'm a bit tired right now. 
Let's do the recap and the Troll Trivia solution tomorrow. Hey, you guys haven't even guessed yet, have you? Well, now's your chance, if you want to play along:
Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the WeekPrimrose is back, and looking forward to some refreshing swimming laps at the pool to help her get through the summer. She has always enjoyed swimming, but one time in her childhood, she caught a nasty infection at the pool. What was it?
1) Measles
2) Whooping Cough
3) Meningitis
Live Challenge No. 17 - Going for Gold!
It was a Live Challenge, an Aqua Challenge, and an ongoing personal challenge for me all in one go. Remember the DLRG swimming badges that I was going for this year? We already had Bronze and Silver, all that was left was Gold - and that one involved some transport swimming. Finding a partner for that was not so easy, but now that Primrose was visiting and we wanted to go for a swim anyway, I figured we might as well go for the badge while we're at it.
This time, we were not going to my local pool, but to another one that was about a 10 minute drive away, in the nearby town of Pohlheim. This was the venue:
There were some classes of school kids leaving when we first arrived - Primrose referred to them as "a bunch of Bowser Jrs" when we tried to find some dressing rooms in the middle of all this racket. Luckily, though, they were gone by the time we were able to hit the pool.
Challenge time: I was first asked to swim 50 meters breaststroke in under 1:15 minutes. I made it in about 56 seconds, and we decided to just immediately switch to the stamina part, so I had to just keep swimming for half an hour, making at least 800 meters within that time, which must include at least 150 meters of backstroke swimming. I made this one too, and Primrose swam along, crawling in front of me to motivate me to keep the pace. The 50 meter lanes took some time getting used to, I normally swim in 25 meter lanes.
Next challenges: 10 meters distance diving out of a swimming motion, i.e. without a push start. Then three deep dives where you need to retrieve objects from the bottom of the deep end of the pool. This time, I was even asked to remove my goggles for the diving. Once again, Primrose played along, and she even removed her goggles too, even though she wasn't doing the badge. Either way, it was no problem for us. We went on to the transport swimming, where I transported the grindette first on my back, then in front of my body. It was actually pretty fun.
All that was left to do was 25 meters of crawling and then the theory part, where I was quizzed on behavior in case of boating accidents, ice-related emergencies, how to deal with cramps, and other things. One question that caught me on the wrong foot was about what to watch out for when it comes to ebb and flow at the sea. I did not read up on this and honestly didn't expect this question to come up in the first place, considering that we are not even near the ocean, but I was able to guess correctly going on instinct.
That was it - we got the Gold!
Time to celebrate with some well-deserved takeout sushi.
Thank you very much for your support, Primrose. This was your victory too, especially because you swam along and performed the same tasks as me. I consider this a co-op win.
After that, we were able to take it slow, sipping on Caipirinhas and playing the Rio 2016 game featuring Mario & Sonic on my new Wii U.
I would like to have a word about our performance in the soccer event, particularly that one instance... Primrose surely knows what I mean. 
But let's leave it at that for now... 
Hey, what's this?
By submitting this passport with a successfully passed Gold badge in the year of its certification or repetition, the German Sports Badge examination in the area of stamina will be considered passed at Gold level.
The German Sports Badge is known as the Trollympics over here. If you have been following along, you will know that I have only one more Gold to collect in order to qualify for Gold overall - and that stamina is one of the areas where I am currently only at Silver. If the information in that passport is still up to date, this would mean that Gold in the Trollympics is already in the bag for me. Well, that would be convenient for sure. I will check on Monday if this is indeed the case.
But even if it is, I would still like to go for Gold in the 100 meter dash and in the 3,000 meter run, just to prove it to myself.
Oh, and I almost forgot about the Troll Trivia...
Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the WeekPrimrose is back, and looking forward to some refreshing swimming laps at the pool to help her get through the summer. She has always enjoyed swimming, but one time in her childhood, she caught a nasty infection at the pool. What was it?
1) Measles
2) Whooping Cough
3) Meningitis
Solution:
2) Whooping Cough
Also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough. Poor young Primrose was feeling a bit under the weather a day or two after an afternoon at the pool, and first thought it was because of the large amounts of ice cream she had consumed there. When it got worse and she visited a doctor about it, it was confirmed that it was the whooping cough, and that she must have caught it while swimming. Public swimming pools tend to be a "good" place to catch all kinds of diseases, I guess.
It all started with a normal, but persistent cough, which then got worse, and then eventually the other symptoms set in, including the signature "whooping". I think it may have been almost three months until young Prim was fully cured of it. 
Oh well, we are glad that she is safe and healthy now. 
I hope you guys stay healthy too, and continue to have a great weekend and lots of fun with our Troll Challenges.
Oh yeah, remember that one well, because this whooping caugh lead to massive weight gain back then. Couldn´t do sports and mom and grandma were spoiling me with my favorite foods and sweets. I gained a lot of weight! Got healthy again but also got chubby.
Beyond Gold
So we took down the Gold swimming badge with combined efforts. This was the ultimate standard swimming badge, I am now a fully qualified swimmer according to the DLRG. Does this mean that we are done now? No way! ♠_p: This was only the beginning, now things may start to get interesting.
The next step would be to get ready to use my newly trained swimming skills to save others instead of competing for my own sake, and enter lifeguard training. I will contact the DLRG about this later, I had already briefly discussed this by email before I got started with the regular badges. For lifeguards, there are also three badges to collect in Bronze, Silver and Gold, but with much tougher requirements, naturally. The theory parts will also involve standardized national questionnaires rather than simple oral examinations.
Also, the badges themselves just look cooler, don't you think?
I will almost certainly meet my limits at one point if I try to go for all three of those badges, but I would like to see how far I can go. First things first, I will inquire when and where these courses will take place, because for those badges, you will have to sign up for proper classes, as far as I know, you can't just drop by at the pool and ask the attendant to let you do the exam. The way I understood my last email conversation, there should be some courses for this at my place next November, but maybe there will be others at another location that might be feasible. Ideally, I would find a way to let Primrose join in too, because she has already expressed an interest in joining me. I am not sure if this is possible, but let's see. It would surely be fun.
There is also a snorkeling badge, which requires the Bronze lifeguard badge to let you enter into training. I would definitely be interested in that one too. It is supposed to be a preparation for scuba diving as well, I believe. Maybe we might eventually get there too, though I'm not familiar with any badges about that.
Apart from that, there is also a competitive swimming club at the town where Prim and I went for the Gold badge exam two days ago. I would be interested in that one too, entering some proper swimming training where people can watch out for what I am doing wrong and give me some pointers to improve my technique, and ultimately my times. They have several groups based on your performance level, I believe, so not all of them are actually entering competitions, but if I have what it takes, I would definitely be interested. That way, I could finally compete for trophies and medals instead of badges, which seems more appropriate - since when am I a boy scout or a Pokémon trainer?
I noticed a trophy cabinet in the foyer of the indoor pool last Friday. It was pretty well-filled already. Wouldn't it be cool if I could contribute to adding a few more of those to their collection?
We will see... there are many opportunities, I don't know how far we will be taking this, but as you can see, this was only the beginning.
Troll Trivia of the Week
Mid to late 90's: Little Harrier and some of his team mates from the local soccer club meet up in his backyard for a penalty shoot-out. It's Harrier's turn to shoot, he steps up, prepares for an exaggerated, dramatically long run-up, and...
1) breaks a window with his shot
2) steps into cat poop
3) falls into rainwater reservoir
Cat poop is almost unnoticeable unless it is a lynx, but it is funny, so I'll go with ...
#1
100 Meter Dash (Speed)
Bronze: 17.6 seconds
Silver: 15.9 seconds
Gold: 14.2 seconds
Olympic Record: 9.63 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2012 London Olympics, August 5th, 2012.
World Record: 9.58 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, August 16th, 2009.
Harrier's time: 14.9 seconds
No improvement to last week, unfortunately.
I mentioned last Monday that my legs felt quite stiff as I was doing my attempt. This wasn't the case today, and I also did some warming up, so I was hoping that I could do better, but it wasn't meant to be this time.
Rather than doing another attempt, I instead went for a mid/long distance run:
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina)
Bronze: 19:50 minutes
Silver: 17:20 minutes
Gold: 15:00 minutes
Not an Olympic event.
World Record: 7:20.67 minutes by Daniel Komen (KEN) at Rieti, September 1st, 1996.
Harrier's time: 18:01 minutes
I was going for Gold, and my instructors knew it, since I have Silver already secured in the 800 meter freestyle swimming. My first few laps were on pace, but when I was starting to slow down on the 3rd or 4th lap, one of my instructors started running in front of me to help me keep a Gold pace. I tried to keep up, but I couldn't. Side stitches started to set in, and only got worse as I was pushing myself harder.
I noticed myself losing even more speed, and when my instructor told me that I am forty seconds behind pace, I tried to speed up one last time, but then could only puff out "ain't gonna make it...". He realized that I was exhausted too and told me to let it go and stop tormenting myself. I still wanted to at least finish the run, though I could now keep going at a less strenuous pace, now that Gold was dead anyway, and the other ranks would be pointless.
On the final one or two laps, I was able to get my speed back up to Gold pace, but couldn't get past a final time of a little over 18 minutes, which would only be good enough for Bronze. A pretty disappointing day at the Trollympics in general today. Looks like my overall level of fitness still leaves quite a bit to be desired, apart from some basic upper body strength, maybe.
About the swimming badge and whether it automatically qualifies me for Gold in the area of stamina, I showed the passport to my instructors and they they were not familiar with this rule. They consulted their rule book at the end of our session, however, and it seems like this is the case, so I will just bring a copy of my swimming passport next week, and we should have Gold in the books for stamina - and therefore Gold in the Trollympics overall too. I would still like to go for the four Golds, so let's keep practicing.
Primrose! We need an emergency exercise program! Short distance and long distance running!
New progress (not fully confirmed yet):
Stamina: Gold? (DLRG Swimming Gold Badge) - 3 points?
Strength: Gold (Medicine Ball Throw) - 3 points
Speed: Silver (25m Freestyle/100m Dash) - 2 points
Coordination: Gold (Sling Ball Throw) - 3 points
11 points (?) in total, 11 points are required for Gold.
Full "Medal Table"
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): Bronze
800 Meter Freestyle (Stamina): Silver
Medicine Ball Throw (Strength): Gold
Standing Long Jump (Strength): Silver
100 Meter Dash (Speed): Silver
25 Meter Freestyle (Speed): Silver
Long Jump (Coordination): Bronze
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): Gold
There will be only one more Trollympics meetup next Monday, then we will have a short summer break, with the next meetup after that taking place in late August. I think my plan will be to do some more 100 meter dash attempts next Monday, hopefully securing the Gold, and then focusing on increasing my stamina during the break, so I can maybe have another shot at the 3,000 meter run in late August.
Slow trolling week... well, it was pretty busy, with lots of sporty activities and six work days. Next week should be a lot more relaxed.
Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the WeekMid to late 90's: Little Harrier and some of his team mates from the local soccer club meet up in his backyard for a penalty shoot-out. It's Harrier's turn to shoot, he steps up, prepares for an exaggerated, dramatically long run-up, and...
1) breaks a window with his shot
2) steps into cat poop
3) falls into rainwater reservoir
Solution:
3) falls into rainwater reservoir
This is what it looks like today. It is housing plants now, but back then, it was used as a little reservoir to collect rainwater, because we had a lot more flowers around that part when my grandparents were still around to take care of the garden.
On the day when we met up for that penalty shoot-out - I'm guessing it was around 1996 or 1997 - we set up a makeshift goal using two objects on the ground and took turns to take shots at it while one of our opponents would play goalie. We were a bunch of people, and one of my teammates brought his big sis too, so I don't remember if we played it "tournament style" or if it was just a free for all where we randomly take turns. Or maybe we made teams.
What I do remember, though, is that after a while, some of us started taking absurdly long run-ups for dramatic effect. I don't even know if I was the one who started it, but I was definitely doing it myself at one point. So I kept walking backwards with a determined look on my face, across the concrete path past the flower beds, all the way to the other side of the backyard... and eventually, right in front of that rainwater reservoir too. And because I was still walking backwards, I had no idea that it was there - I thought I was walking much further to the side and would soon go past the shed that you can see in the picture. So I tripped over the edge of the reservoir and fell in with a mighty splash.
The other kids had a good laugh, and I had to admit that it was pretty funny too. I was eager to keep playing, but my mother found out about my accident and wisely decided that I needed a hot shower and some dry new clothes now. So this was the end of the little penalty shoot-out for me. My teammates and the other guests had to go on without me.
By the way, cat poop on the ground actually was a bit of an issue in later years when we were playing. My neighbor's cat was a bit of a troll sometimes - as cats tend to be. I only remember one instance of a broken window through some freak accident. Usually, we were facing away from the house when we were playing soccer.
Originally posted by Harrier88
It's the 4th of July, which would be an excellent moment for a classic American barbecue with some good ol' fashioned burgers for the whole family...
...except we're a Troll-family.
We're off to Russia, probably one of the most controversial stops on our World Tour, but not one that should be missing. The Trolls make an effort to keep this blog politics-free anyway... though we couldn't resist preparing this burger in time for July 4th.
Hey, did you know that the building with the famous onion domes on the left side of the picture is not the Kremlin, but Saint Basil's Cathedral? It's a common misconception. The Kremlin is the other building on the right, the one with the clock tower.Anyway, for our burgers, we start preparing some kotleti/katleti style patties. Most recipes for katleti (Russian meatballs) that I found involve some kind of poultry meat, often together with pork, but for my burgers, I went for the classic beef and pork combo - it's the easiest to get.
I also included some panko breadcrumbs, an egg, chopped onions, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powser, and about a tablespoon of mayonnaise.
For the sauce, we're going for something a little fancier than plain mayonnaise... we will be adding a small jar of caviar.
I was using a part of this recipe for reference when it comes to the sauce.
To build our burger, we start with some lettuce and the katleti-style patty.
Then with add some onions and spread the caviar-sauce on the top bun...
...and our Russia-inspired burger is ready.
Very good!
I really should have added at least a teaspoon or so of vodka to the sauce, I believe. That's what I originally had in mind too, but I forgot as I was making it. I guess I'm not as much of a drunkard as I used to be - or maybe dinner prep was just too stressful.
Originally, I also had the idea of including a USSR-inspired burger in this series that would have preceded the Russian one. It would have featured plain whole wheat rolls, fake meat patties, cabbage, and no sauce at all. Also, the pictures would have been grayscale, probably with some other "old photograph" style touches. I also once considered an "Ancient Israel"-inspired burger, possibly around Easter time, using pita bread and several ingredients that were mentioned in the Bible as fillings. In the end, though, I decided to stick to the present day.
Ranking those burgers doesn't get any easier... 10th place?
1st Switzerland
2nd Cyprus
3rd Israel
4th Greece
5th Mongolia
6th Denmark
7th Korea
8th Spain
9th Germany
10th Russia
11th Alsace
12th Italy
13th Texas
14th California
15th Mexico
16th Morocco
17th Brazil
18th Arabia
19th Turkey
20th England
21st France
22nd Colombia
23rd Cuba
24th Canada
25th Hungary
26th The Netherlands
To bad you don't like the Dutch burgers. I'm not fan of burgers at all. Maybe this is the reason our burgers are bad in general 
Originally posted by SDK1987
To bad you don't like the Dutch burgers. I'm not fan of burgers at all. Maybe this is the reason our burgers are bad in general
So far, there hasn't been a burger version on the list that I disliked, but one of them had to be last.
The Dutch version even had potential, but I messed up the Hollandaise sauce on that one and made it way too buttery. With better execution, it could have had a spot in the top half of the field, as I wrote in my review for that one.The Turkish version was another burger on my list that could have been much better, possibly earning a top spot, but it was dragged down by the unfitting pita bread that I used as an experiment. The Hungary version also could have done better, I should have cooked the bell peppers and maybe could have turned them into a proper sauce.
Originally, I wanted to eventually revisit the versions that I felt didn't live up to their potential, but I think I will just let them stay as they are and move on to other versions instead. I wanted to get back to the series soon anyway, I already have some vague ideas for new burgers, but nothing concrete yet. I also plan to wrap up the series later this year, possibly in Fall, with one big finale. I have plans for a follow-up series already.
Who knows, maybe we will eventually come across a burger version that I genuinely dislike - the reaction cartoons for those had been prepared since day one.
The super busy slow trolling week comes to an end, and Primrose will surely be glad that she has only one more week of July left, with very mild weather to be expected. Quite chilly weather, even.
Our regular sports program will soon enter a break too, and tomorrow, I will at the very least have my final shot at the Trollympics before the break that would last until the end of August. It is quite possible that we will wrap it up entirely after tomorrow, it will also depend on my results.
The only thing I'm aiming for now will be Gold in the 100 meter dash, which would earn me my missing Gold in a speed event and therefore finish the Trollympics with a perfect 4 out of 4 Golds. My swimming passport has been scanned and shall be submitted tomorrow, I still trust that this will qualify me for Gold in a stamina event, which would otherwise also be stuck at Silver.
I could take another shot at the 3,000 meter run after the break... but honestly, I think we can let things rest if I do get the Gold in the 100 meter dash. There is not much point in pushing myself for spare Golds for the heck of it if I already have 4 out of 4 - with only 3 out of 4 being required, no less. If I fail to get Gold in the 100m... then maybe I will try again in late August, but I don't think it would make much of a difference anyway. Besides, I would really like to wrap this up, at least the 100 meter dash thing.
0.7 seconds are still to lose in order to make the Gold. I will have some extra pasta tomorrow, fingers crossed that I will finally get the extra speed boost I need to crack those 14.2 seconds.
Other than that, I have some ideas for new burgers later next week - now that the sports schedule is coming to a close.
Troll Trivia of the Week
In July 2012, Harrier was working hard to finish a term paper for his university course on time, about multiculturalism in New York City. When it was finally time to submit it, Harrier...
1) woke up in a city that doesn't sleep
2) found he's king of the hill, top of the heap
3) had to make a brand new start of it
Good to know the Dutch hamburger had potentional. I prefer hamburgers from the supermarket.
They are better if you compare it with KFC or MC Donalds hamburgers I think.
