Oddity Central |
- The World’s 3 Most Disgusting Egg Dishes
- The Creation Museum – A Controversial Attraction in Kentucky
- Urban Golf – Taking the Game Out of Country Clubs and into the City Streets
- Fascinating Portraits Made Out of Thousands of Tiny Photographs
| The World’s 3 Most Disgusting Egg Dishes Posted: 19 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT
It amazes me how some people will eat anything. Especially if that anything happens to be disgusting-looking. If you are like me and can't even eat eggs that are a wee bit undercooked, I must warn you to read this article with caution. What's coming next is not pretty. We bring you the three most revolting egg dishes in the world. Century Eggs These preserved eggs aren't exactly a century old, but judging by how they look I wouldn't be surprised if they were. The slimy, grayish yolks and the herbal tea colored 'egg-white' makes these snacks quite nauseating to even look at. And yet, the Century Eggs, also known as Preserved Egg or Thousand-Year Egg, is considered a delicacy in China. They are prepared by taking fresh duck, chicken or quail eggs and preserving them for several weeks in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice. The 600-year-old process is said to have been invented when someone came across a few old eggs in a pool of slaked lime. Instead of just tossing them out, they actually tasted the eggs and then made modifications to the recipe. And that's how modern-day century eggs were born.
Photo: Fotoos VanRobin Century Eggs are either cooked or eaten raw as a part of Chinese cuisine.
Photo: Hippolyte Virgin Eggs You might just like Virgin Eggs, if you are enthusiastic about the idea of consuming urine. Because Virgin Eggs are actually soaked in the urine of young boys from the Zhejiang Province of China. They are considered a spring delicacy in that region.
In preparation of these special eggs, young boys are encouraged to 'donate' their urine, which is collected by vendors from elementary schools in various cities. So throughout the virgin egg season, boys are encouraged to pee in plastic buckets placed outside the classroom rather than in the toilet. Thankfully, they're exempted if sick. Eggs are then boiled in all the collected urine, with shells cracked so that the flavor can seep through. It takes about a day for the eggs to be ready. The Chinese love virgin eggs because they have 'the taste of spring'.
Balut Balut is probably the most repulsive of the three dishes, going by its looks. It's slimy, yellow, grey, and something you wouldn't put in your mouth unless you were really the adventurous kind. A balut isn't even an egg really, it's the fertilized embryo of a duck. You can actually see the underdeveloped chick if you look closely. Sends shivers down my spine just seeing that think all curled up in the eggshell…
Photo: Nepenthes However, the people of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have no such adverse reactions to Balut. They enjoy the dish and even consider it to be an aphrodisiac, a hearty snack, rich in proteins. Balut is a part of street food, served with cold beer. Different methods of seasoning include – salt, chili, garlic and vinegar in the Philippines, a pinch of salt, lemon juice, ground pepper and mint leaves in Vietnam, and a garnish of lime juice and ground pepper in Cambodia.
Photo: Marshall Astor To prepare Balut, fertilized duck eggs are kept in the warm sun in baskets, to retain the warmth. After around 9 days, the eggs are held to a light to check on the embryo inside. After another 8 days, the balut is ready to be cooked and sold. Again, preference over the age of the egg varies from region to region. While the Filipinos like their balut 17 days old, whereas the Vietnamese like them 21 days old with the chick actually looking like a baby duck. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about the fact that I will never be able to taste these dishes in my lifetime… The World’s 3 Most Disgusting Egg Dishes was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| The Creation Museum – A Controversial Attraction in Kentucky Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:49 AM PDT
The Creation Museum, located in Portland, Kentucky, is a $27million museum dedicated to the Creationist theory. Creationism, which opposes the concept of evolution, is based on the Christian Genesis story that God created heaven and earth. Spectacular multimedia displays that use Hollywood technology depict the story of Genesis at the Creation Museum. Tens of thousands of people from all over the US pay regular visits to the place dedicated to God and how he created our world. One visitor proclaims, "I finally realized today that God made time. He made the dates, He made the 24 hours, He gave this to us." According to the Creationist theory, the world has not been evolving for millions of years (as stated by the theory of evolution), but was created only 6,000 years ago. Calling scientific experiments and proofs as 'based on a ton of assumptions', the videos played at the museum's auditorium state that it is better to "start with the word of someone who has seen everything from the beginning and told us exactly what happened." That someone, they say, is God. Some of the other attractions at the museum include life-size models of Noah and his Ark, Adam, Eve, and other characters from the Bible. Also on display are a few fragments of Torah scrolls that were supposedly saved from the clutches of Saddam, in Iraq.
The founder of the museum, Australian Ken Han, has a degree in applied science. This is highly surprising, but I suppose the word of God has been more powerful than scientific principles in his case. "If you don't believe in God, you are without excuse," he quotes from the Bible. He also says that it is very "obvious that there is a designer behind life." What is not surprising is the fact that Ken Han's museum has met with a lot of criticism around the world. Many say that it is not a museum in the true spirit at all, but merely a 'propaganda place'. The creationists, however, are unfazed by all the debate and criticism. Ken Han is a popular local figure, signing autographs and running a radio station that spreads the Creationist theory.
I'm not sure about who is right and who is wrong here, but the irony behind a picture of an empty space in the museum with this sign did make me smile: "This Space is Still Evolving." You have to admit, that’s pretty funny. Check the video at the bottom, for a tour of the Creation Museum and more insights on this place.
If you’re a fan of unique religion-themed tourist attractions, you might want to check out The Holy Land Experience, an Orlando theme park where you can experience people and locations from the Bible, first hand.
The Creation Museum – A Controversial Attraction in Kentucky was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Urban Golf – Taking the Game Out of Country Clubs and into the City Streets Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:24 AM PDT
There's something very satisfying about hitting a ball into a hole with a golf club. And for those who don't have access to great golf clubs or even mini golf courses in the neighborhood, and also for those who would like to avoid the formal nature of the sport, there's always Urban Golf. This slightly altered version of golf can be played, well, absolutely anywhere you please. Urban golf gets its name from the very urban landscape that it has been adapted for. In other words, it's simply golf played in a city environment – potholed streets and black asphalt, building sites and car parks, with the city's everyday life creating obstacles. The excitement of the game comes from the fact that each day poses a new obstacle, a new course, and new challenges. Lampposts serve as trees, buildings as wooded areas and drains, bunkers. Interestingly, the concept of urban golf has been around since 1992, when Torsten Schilling began playing golf in areas surrounding his office in Berlin. Today the sport has evolved into a real movement, with many supporters and members around the world.
Photo: Golf-Mediteranee The game has undergone a few modifications to suit the street environment. For instance, hitting a ball from the pavement is difficult, so players are allowed to place it on a small mat each time. Of course, holes can't be dug into the ground, so targets such as bins are used. Hitting the bin is the golf equivalent of having holed it. Water hydrant holes may also come into use in the future. The ball itself is different, since traditional golf balls are too hard and pose a safety risk. Urban golf balls are made of leather and stuffed with goose feathers. The advantage of these balls is that they don’t damage anything they hit and also they sit in the middle of the road, rather than rolling into gutters. Sounds like an awesome way to enjoy a good game of golf without having to look for a golf course or adhere to any rules or dress codes. Urban golf involves no fees or committees, and the only rule it follows is 'safety first'!
Urban Golf – Taking the Game Out of Country Clubs and into the City Streets was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Fascinating Portraits Made Out of Thousands of Tiny Photographs Posted: 19 Apr 2012 01:21 AM PDT
Inspired by the fact that every person has multiple facets that combined form his or her personality, Swiss artist Anna Halm Schudel creates original portraits by piecing together thousands of small photographs. The mosaic portraits of Anna Halm Schudel assemble in a similar way to puzzles. After choosing the subject of her artwork, the artist goes online and looks for photos of the past or present celebrity and starts reworking the digital images in a very complex process. She usually works with just a section of each image, making sure the formats and tones match the general line of the portrait she envisioned. Each of the small photos used as mosaic pieces measures just one square centimeter and only become visible when the viewer approaches to take a closer look at the work of art. At first glance, people see another portrait of Barack Obama, Scarlet Johannsson or Marilyn Monroe, but soon, the big surprise behind the giant pixilation is revealed.
These incredible mosaic portraits remind me of The Big Picture, a unique artwork I wrote about four years ago. It was also a photo mosaic, only it was made up of around 110,000 photographs. If I’m not mistaken, it still holds the record for the world’s largest photo mosaic.
Fascinating Portraits Made Out of Thousands of Tiny Photographs was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
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