QUARANTINE BLOG # 288

January 12, 2021

You may never heard of the small island nation of Niue which is associated with New Zealand’s currency mints.  Niue is a Pacific Island paradise, one of the smallest countries, and one of the largest raised coral atolls on earth.

The coolest thing about Niue, as it turns out, however, isn’t its shockingly blue pools, unrivaled stargazing experiences, or humpback whale watching season – it’s the fact that the nation offers actual currency featuring Star Wars characters.

The gold Death Star coin has a face value of $250 – and yes, you can spend it at the grocery store or wherever, but you might want to give that a second thought. It costs $2,900 to purchase it.

If you don’t want spend almost 3 grand, you may want to get the five-dollar Darth Vader helmet coin.  It’s only $199.  And it’s real currency – legal tender.

Should you want to purchase one of these or one of the others available in the series, check out the New Zealand mint’s official website.

👉  Our song selection on Tuesday morning’s juke box is “They Long to Be (Close to You),” by the Carpenters.  Karen and Richard Carpenter produced a distinct soft musical style, combining Karen’s contralto vocals with Richard’s harmonizing, arranging and composition skills.  During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded ten albums, along with numerous singles and several television specials.  Karen died in 1983 from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia.

👉  Frosty the Snowman would not approve the following piece.  It is offered with apologies to Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson, who wrote Frosty, and to Gene Autry who first recorded it.

It snowed last night.  At 8:00 a.m., I made a snowman.  8:10 – A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.  So, I made a snow woman.  8:17 – My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman’s voluptuous chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere.

8:20 – The gay couple living nearby threw a fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead.

8:25 – The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.

8:28 – I was called a racist because the snow couple is white.

8:31 – I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.

9:00 – I was on the News as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.

9:29 – Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be arrested.  By noon it all melted.

👉  French fries did not originate in France.  Baked Alaska, Chicken Kiev, Dutch Baby, London Broil, and Jerusalem Artichoke did not come from the places whose name they bear (and Jerusalem Artichoke is a sunflower tuber, not an artichoke).  

But you will be pleased to know, pizza did come from Italy.  

Pizza has a long history.  Flatbreads with toppings were consumed by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks, but the modern birthplace of pizza is southwestern Italy’s Campania region, home to the city of Naples.  Neapolitans required inexpensive food that could be consumed quickly.  Pizza – flatbreads with various toppings, eaten for any meal and sold by street vendors or informal restaurants – met this need.  These early pizzas featured the tasty garnishes beloved today, such as tomatoes, cheese, oil, anchovies and garlic.

Italy’s Queen Margherita and King Umberto I visited Naples in 1889.  Legend has it that the traveling pair became bored with their steady diet of French haute cuisine and asked for an assortment of pizzas.  The variety the queen enjoyed most was called pizza mozzarella, a pie topped with the soft white cheese, red tomatoes and green basil.  Perhaps it was no coincidence that her favorite pie featured the colors of the Italian flag.  From then on, the story goes, that particular topping combination was dubbed pizza Margherita.

My current favorite pizza joint is Old Chicago in Columbia, SC.  An order of Italian garlic roasted cauliflower as an appetizer and then a Meat Me pie featuring Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, andouille sausage, pepperoni, green olive garnish and fresh basil.  But even this current favorite cannot banish the memory of Chef Boyardee’s make-it-at-home pizza topped with sliced hotdogs.  Yum.

👉  My Bible reading yesterday morning took me to Matthew 8:23-27 – Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”   But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

And I remembered a song I first heard performed by the Loch Lynn Evangelical United Brethren Church choir.  Written by Mary Ann Baker following several personal tragedies, “Master the Tempest Is Raging,” magnifies the Christ who still calms the storms of life.

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