Clarifications and Requests

Ok two things I clearly have to clarify for you. First- growlers. Many of you have asked me WTF I am talking about when I mention them. They are fun magical things that make me happy, even on Sunday. Which these days is kind of hard to do.

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Per Wikipedia: A growler is a U.S. half gallon (1,890 ml/66.5 imp fl oz) glass jug used to transport draft beer in Australia, the United States and Canada. They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs as a means to sell take-out beer. Some breweries also offer a one-litre or one-quart version. Growlers are also used by homebrewers as an alternative to kegs or smaller bottles for carbonating and storing their beer.

Growlers are generally made of glass and have either a screw-on cap or a hinged porcelain gasket cap, which can provide freshness for a week or more. A properly sealed growler will hold carbonation indefinitely and will store beer like any other sanitized bottle. Some growler caps are equipped with valves to allow replacement of CO2 lost while racking. The modern glass growler was first introduced by Charlie and Ernie Otto of Otto Brother’s Brewing Company in 1989.

The term likely dates back to the late 19th century when fresh beer was carried from the local pub to one’s home by means of a small galvanized pail. It is claimed the sound that the CO2 made when it escaped from the lid as the beer sloshed around sounded like a growl.

I had never heard of such a thing until moving to Indiana. Because as I’ve posted before, growlers are the only way to purchase and take-out alcohol on Sunday in Indiana. And only breweries that brew on-site can distribute and fill them. I’ve posted about growlers here, here and here. And if you google image search the words growler and Indiana a picture of me hugging one comes up. I’ll live forever, I tell you!

So… now you know.

Many of you also asked about Tevas after my last post where my sisters and I were single-handedly supporting the Teva company circa early 90’s.

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Also per Wikipedia: Mark Thatcher was the inventor of Teva sandals. While working as a rafting guide in 1982 he noticed the lack of proper shoes for river activities. Sneakers would become heavy when wet and would take days to dry and thongs would slide off feet very easily.

Thatcher fashioned a thong-style sandal with nylon ankle strapping, thus creating the first sport sandal. Thatcher patented his invention, found a manufacturer and began selling the “amphibious utility sandals” by himself, selling only 200 pairs the first year. Although it was an effective piece of watersports footwear, it proved less effective for regular sports as the first Teva users often complained of blisters between the first and second toe caused by the thong-style strapping system. However, the following year a sudden high demand of Teva sandals arose as young Americans found the sandal highly fashionable.

It was then when a partnership was made between Thatcher and Deckers Corp. Deckers eventually got exclusive rights to Tevas including patent #4,793,075 for the basic design (granted 1988) and a trademark for the brand name. The sandal was redesigned, creating the Universal Strapping System. The first model was called “Hurricane” and it is the basic design of all Teva sandals.

They came with different patterns on the Velcro strappy things and I’m pretty sure parents in the 90’s loved them just as much as parents love Crocs now. And they’re just as hideous. I mean I get it if you’re a white-water rafter. But you don’t need to wear Tevas to the mall.

I hope those clarifications clear up my top two inquiries for you all!

Also, some requests!

1) iPhone or iPad buddies– please download the free app Words With Friends because all the people it pits me against are horribly brilliant and know crazy words. Basically, it’s Scrabble. But I suck. The two of you guys I’ve played are twitter buddies @bsmblog and @HappyHrWife and I’m not doing so well. I am barely beating you Laura, but we’re not far into it yet. And I’m losing the rest of my games. Badly. I did not know that tectum, hao, ween, and qua were words. Scary. I am not good at this. So if you’re also not good at this and think that the fact that you throw down a word with more than three tiles is awesome, please add the app and then invite me to a game! My username is, what else, kjpugs.

2) Dessert Recipes are NEEDED! B and I have decided to stay in on Valentine’s Day (breaking our three year tradition with a local restaurant, ::sob::) and clearly, he’ll be cooking. Which is rad! But I figured I should make dessert! The only issue is that he’ll be using the oven. Any ideas on a decadent dessert (NOT with fruit… I think that’s gross in dessert, sorry) that I could at least make partially in advance? Link me up ladies!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!