Mar

Ireland for the Virtual Traveler

by Joyce McGreevy on March 30, 2020

Two Irish terriers by the sea and virtual visitors from across the miles help a writer in Ireland stay connected during a time of necessary social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Dog days at the edge of Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Staying Connected Across the Miles

It’s springtime, the sun has come out of hiding, and I want you to come visit. Oh, I know—these days, you can only be a virtual visitor. But now, more than ever, we need to stay connected across the miles.

Take a moment to imagine: Put on your favorite old sweater, the one with a hole in the elbow. Lace up your mud-spattered walking shoes. Pack only your five senses.

Oh, for good measure, toss in your sense of delight. Because we’re off to explore one of Ireland’s most beautiful places. Along the way, I’ve a story to tell you.

To reach Ballyshane, drive south, passing smaller and smaller towns, until you come to a certain crossroads. Yes, that one. Now, thread along ever-narrowing roads, knowing the coast of East County Cork awaits you.

A pond in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland is accessible to all virtual travelers as technology helps people stay connected across the miles during a time of necessary social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

A place for reflection at Ballyshane.
© Joyce McGreevy

Have the hedgerows begun thrumming with birds? Then you’re nearly there. Watch for breaks in the wild shrubbery that glimmer with hints of the sea. At last, you see old stone gates, the color of ripening apricots.

Down the long drive you go. You’re here.

You’re actually only 30 minutes from a city. But Ballyshane is a world all its own.

Which reminds me, I promised you a story.

I was already in isolation when it happened. Not that anyone called it “self-isolating” Back Then. I’d simply returned to Ireland, a place that’s long felt like home, to house-sit for a man who was traveling.

Given the remote location, it meant “social distancing.” Not that anyone called it that Back Then.

Walks with an Irish terrier in the woods and the company of virtual visitors from across the miles help a traveler self-isolating in Ireland stay connected during a time of necessary social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

A walk feels liberating now.
© Joyce McGreevy

But who could be lonely? I had the companionship of two Irish terriers, and the land, with its 1800s country house, was companionable in its beauty. Beyond the main house were secluded cottages, among the most popular on Airbnb. Yet I’d been generously granted one all to myself.

A cottage in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland welcomes virtual visitors as people stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing, self-isolation, and virtual travel. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Stone cottage, soft sky.
© Joyce McGreevy

In between the homeowner’s travels, there were elegant yet informal gatherings. Touched to be invited, I met new friends. Because this is Ireland, some of the new friends knew some of my old friends. Even if they hadn’t, I’d never have felt lonely. Because in Ireland, conversation is something one savors along with its now-celebrated cuisine.

Rain clouds over Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland, foreshadow a time when social distancing and self-isolation will become the norm, and virtual travelers will go online to stay connected across the miles. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Storm clouds gather over Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Then it happened.

The “wave” made its way across Europe, and life in Ireland changed utterly. When even the churches closed down, the gravity of the situation sank in.

Suddenly, people around the world were hurrying home or sheltering in place. Word went out: Wherever you happen to be, stay there. Stay safe, don’t travel.

That year, I’d been all over the map. Three months in Italy. Rambles around world cities. Long days in airports, nights in airport hotels. When Earth’s globe suddenly stopped spinning, the roulette wheel of my continuous travels could have landed me anywhere.

To my gratitude, I woke up in Ballyshane.

Come, I’ll show you around.

A garden in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland welcomes all virtual visitors, as loved ones become virtual travelers to stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Gardening feels hopeful now.
© Joyce McGreevy

Here are the gardens: raised beds of rosemary, rhubarb, cardoon, and other organic edibles. The courtyard garden filled with terracotta pots of flowering bulbs. The formal outdoor corridors of box hedge and stone sculpture. The tapestries of tender grasses, daffodils, and bluebells spread under the groves of wind-sculpted trees.

Here come Molly and Rosie, the Irish terriers.

Two Irish terriers in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland help a writer stay grounded during a time of self-isolation, just as virtual visits help friends and family stay connected across the miles despite social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Good morning, good morning, sweet girls!”
© Joyce McGreevy

They’ve come to take us for a walk. We’ll rove across land that fans out along the coast, then clamber down tufted hillsides where the butter-bright gorse frames the silvery canvas of the sea.

Nature’s varied flora help people self-isolating in Ireland stay grounded, and offer virtual travelers a way to stay connected across the miles, during a time of worldwide social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Nature’s quilt at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

We can trot along to the rocky seashore, the girls’ paws picking up the pace the closer we get to the briny scent. Or move stealthily across a field of tall grass, our least step alerting the little birds who forage there. We can watch as they rise in sudden, fluttery clouds.

Speaking of birds, come see the chickens.

Chickens to be fed, fresh eggs to wash, and sharing one’s daily routine with virtual visitors from across the miles helps a traveler self-isolating in Ireland stay grounded during a time of worldwide social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy).

“Hello, ladies. Any eggs this morning?”
© Joyce McGreevy

Ah, there’s my favorite. If you’re feeling down, her bandy-legged gait will make you grin—she seems to wear feathery bloomers and pedal a penny-farthing bicycle.

All day long, there’s satisfying work to do. At evening, it’s quiet. Time to settle in by the fireplace, to log on, contact friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues around the world.

Daffodils at sunset in Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland, suggest how images shared online are helping virtual visitors stay connected across the miles through virtual travel despite worldwide self-isolation and social distancing. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

No filter needed: Sunsets at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

We’re globally, socially distant but imaginatively gathering close together. We talk, laugh, listen, share worries and encouragement. Each virtual visit is an “Oh, I see” moment: In a time of separation and uncertainty, words weave us back together.

It’s late. One more look at the stars, then we’ll say goodnight. But please visit me here in Ireland any time. We are all virtual travelers now, and I’ll visit you, too—in California and Italy; Boston and Istanbul; Seattle and Seoul; New Orleans; New Zealand; wherever you are.

Starlight above an Irish cottage with a satellite dish evokes the way nature and technology support virtual travel, allowing virtual visitors to stay connected across the miles during a time of social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Starlight & satellite: Nature and technology keep us connected.
© Joyce McGreevy

Between us, we’ll piece together the patchwork of our perforated days. Between us, we’ll remake the quilt of our shared human experience, the stories that make us whole. Because now, more than ever, we need to stay connected across the miles.

A coastal view from Ballyshane, County Cork, Ireland offers perspective to virtual visitors as people rely on virtual travel to stay connected across the miles during a time of global social distancing and self-isolation. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Taking the long view at Ballyshane, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Take a virtual tour of the cottages at Ballyshane here and here.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 14 Comments

Art of Travel/Ireland/Nature Discovery

Mar

A Cultural Heritage of Puzzles

by Meredith Mullins on March 23, 2020

Finding solutions to puzzling times
© iStock/Brightstars

Mental Exercise in These Historic Times

As the daily news proclaims, the world is experiencing something completely unique to recent history . . . and deadly serious. There is no doubt that the corona virus is changing our lives.

We are living the meaning of words and phrases such as pandemic, lockdown, social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, self-sequestering, confinement, and sheltering in place.

We are seeing government regulations in the news, as well as lists of ways to work remotely or pass the time if we have been asked to stay at home for isolation purposes.

Social distancing at the weekend Paris market
© Meredith Mullins

We read about people in isolation drinking “quarantinis,” exploring new songs by which to wash their hands, and stepping to their windows or balconies to sing together as a neighborhood or to applaud the front-line health care workers.

Those in isolation are challenging the capacity of the internet with streaming services and social media posts and cleaning their closets a la Marie Kondo (although, I think perhaps lots of things will “spark joy” when you are in isolation for weeks).

A good way to pass the time in self-isolation
© DMT

Challenging the Brain

Even before this global pandemic, I had been thinking about our cultural heritage of entertainment with puzzles—jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, crossword puzzles, number puzzles, visual puzzles—across countries and across cultures.

And now that we have more time to ourselves, the subject seems even more relevant.

It has long been said that working with puzzles helps to keep our brains functioning better for longer. Mental exercise for the brain is useful (as is physical exercise).

Can you guess from these puzzle pieces what artwork will be portrayed?
(Keep reading for the answer.)
© DMT

Puzzles can be family/friend/community activities or an individual challenge. What better way to pass those cold winter nights; rainy days; or, at this scary moment in history, the long hours of “sheltering in place.”

Let’s take a moment to pay tribute to the more common puzzle options: the jigsaw, the crossword, and Sudoku, as well as new trending puzzles.

The good old days of the family puzzle party
© DMT

The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Things Together

Jigsaw puzzles have been around since the mid-1700s. Most historians give origin credit to a British cartographer/engraver (John Spilsbury), who mounted maps on wood and then cut around the countries. He is said to have called his work “dissected maps,” used most often for teaching geography.

Children still learn geography with jigsaw puzzles.
© DMT

Fast forward a few centuries to game companies mass producing puzzles, which became particularly popular during the Great Depression in America as an inexpensive entertainment option and a way to feel success (during hard times) when a difficult puzzle was completed. You could even rent a puzzle or check one out of the library.

Whether in the past, present, or future, the completion of a jigsaw puzzle
always inspires a moment of pride.
© DMT

Still maintaining popularity in the 21^stcentury, puzzles can now be personalized to reflect your own photo, can incorporate 3-D technology, can be presented on computer, and can offer pictorial content limited only by the imagination.

The best news: jigsaw puzzles are cross-cultural. Visual images have no language barriers, and can be enjoyed in countries throughout the world.

The number and size of pieces range from small puzzles with just a few pieces (especially for children), to the largest (more than 50,000 pieces).

Any guesses now?
© DMT

And, for those passionate jigsaw fanatics, strategies and approaches abound. After turning all the pieces face up (a good start to begin to get the “big picture”), puzzlers might sort by color, pattern, content, or type of piece (from zero-knob and four-holed pieces to four-knob and zero-holed pieces . . . and everything in between).

A good beginning. A three-knob/one-hole piece meets a two-hole/two-knob piece.
© DMT

Some jigsaw addicts even like having a puzzle delivered in an unmarked plastic bag with no picture—the ultimate challenge.

Here is Ellen DeGeneres’ take on jigsaw puzzles, as she passes her “sheltering in place” time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B90ToZPBL-7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

If video does not display, watch it here.

Not at a Loss for Words

Crossword puzzles are perhaps the most popular word game in the world. Although word puzzles appeared in the late 18^thcentury in America and Europe, historians credit British journalist Arthur Wynne with a crossword’s first widespread publication in the Sunday edition of the New York World in 1913.

Crosswords forever
© iStock/burakkarademir

The word FUN was already inserted into the “word-cross” puzzle, perhaps a foreshadowing of the popularity to come. Another vague clue in this first appearance (“What this puzzle is”) was also perhaps a signal of things to come. The four-letter answer was: HARD.

The ever-popular crossword puzzle
© Meredith Mullins

The New York Times, now a renowned publication of one of the most challenging contemporary crosswords, denied the attraction of the early puzzles.

It wasn’t until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that the Times Sunday editor thought the nation needed some distraction. On February 15, 1942, the first Sunday crossword appeared in the NY Times; and, by 1950, the paper ran a daily crossword puzzle.

Crossword puzzles are a good mental workout for the brain.
© iStock/Andreas Saldavs

Even though the Times is known worldwide as the pre-eminent crossword puzzle, there are several viable competitors in publications around the world. And, for a double dose of brain activity, try a crossword puzzle in a new language.

Crossword puzzles are a good tool for learning a language.
© Meredith Mullins

Does the Math Add Up?

Sudoku is the ultimate international puzzle. Its origin can be traced from China to Persia to Europe to America to Japan. It bypasses language barriers, as it is number based. It’s accessible to all . . . it just asks for a logical mind.

Although the “magic square” was present in China more than two thousand years ago, a Swiss mathematician (Leonhard Euler) is credited with the first stirrings of what is now Sudoku. At the time (the late 1700s), it was called Latin Squares. It had letters rather than numbers, but the mathematical process was similar.

In 1979, an American (Howard Garnes) created the number puzzle we know today. It was called Number Place and was published by Dell Puzzle Magazines. He made the puzzle interesting by making a grid of nine 3 x 3 magic squares.

The Sudoku format
© Meredith Mullins

Once it became popular in Japan, in part because the Japanese language is not suited to crossword puzzles, the name Number Place was translated to Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru, meaning “numbers must occur only once.”

When a retired British judge (Wayne Gould) developed a computer program for producing Sudoku puzzles quickly and introduced the game to UK newspapers, the puzzle’s popularity exploded.

Now, Sudoku is everywhere—in newspapers, magazines, puzzle books, grand championships, TV shows, mobile apps, and, of course, on the Internet.

Presents of Mind: Contemporary Puzzle Challenges

There are hundreds more types of puzzles to keep us busy. Rubik’s Cube, Spelling Bee, Jumble, Tiles, Find the Difference (aka Sept erreurs in French), and SET®, to name a few. With the availability of puzzles free on the Internet, these challenges are there for the taking.

Can you find the things that are different in these pictures?
© iStock/Alexandra Yurkina

In fact, I might have gotten this story written sooner, had I not paused to try my brain at every new kind of puzzle I encountered in my research.

My latest discovery was SET® (found via the New York Times). I have to admit that, now, I’m an addict. I stare at those shapes, patterns, numbers, and colors for hours.

I knew from IQ tests that spatial reasoning was not one of my strengths, so it was no surprise that my brain hurt from going back and forth between the similarities and differences in the forms, patterns, colors, and numbers.

Just like life, you step back, regroup, learn, and develop new strategies. I have already improved after only a few days; and I know, with practice, I will get better.

Oh, I see. That’s really the heart of our cultural heritage.

The added benefit: my brain gets its mental workout—and will hopefully work better for longer. And the time in self-isolation will fly by, with a hope that our cultural tradition of resilience will rise to the challenge.

That moment of pride when you complete a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
What’s next? A 2,000 piece puzzle.
© DMT

We know that our OIC readers live around the world. We wish you health and safety during this challenging time.

For more jeux des sept erreurs, visit Turbulus.

For online Sudoku, visit this Sudoku site.

For free crossword puzzles, go to online crosswords or to the New York Times mini crossword.

To play SET®, go to the New York Times site.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 7 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/USA/Worldwide Sites

Mar

Make Any Meal a Travel Adventure

by Joyce McGreevy on March 16, 2020

A food market in Denmark features in the culinary travel adventure of a writer on the trail of food origin stories. (Image by Joyce McGreevy)

Food Origin Fun with a Dash of Cultural Awareness

So you’ve just canceled that upcoming trip, but you’re still feeling the wanderlust? Don’t be consumed by disappointment—there’s a travel adventure in the food you consume.

Lunch time scenario 1: Lee and his friend Ana meet for lunch. Lee orders a French dip, French fries and a salad with French dressing.

Intrigued, Ana asks Lee, “What did you have for breakfast?”

“French toast,” says Lee. “Why?”

“Wow,” says Ana with crystal-clear cultural awareness. “You sure love American food!”

Brussels sprouts, known as spruitjes in Belgium, are one of many foods associated with specific places, even when actual food history differs. (Image by Pxhere

In Brussels, nobody eats Brussels sprouts, but many people enjoy spruitjes.
Photo by Pxhere

Lunch time scenario 2: On a culinary travel adventure one summer, I realize it’s been years since I’ve had a Reuben sandwich. Although it’s non-kosher (mixing meat and cheese), it’s a staple of many Jewish delicatessens.

As Meredith Mileti writes in Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses:

“I devour the sandwich, a mountain of corned beef between two greasy slabs of marble rye, leaking cheese and Russian dressing all down the front of my sweater. It’s delicious, and I don’t stop eating until I’ve finished the last thick fry, which I use to mop up the remains of the sandwich.”

Ah yes, the front of every sweater, blouse, and pajama top I own might just as well be emblazoned with an image of an airport runway. I order a Reuben anyway, because here I am in the city that invented it. You know, Omaha.

Wait, what?

A Slice of History

Reportedly, the Reuben sandwich was invented during a poker game at Omaha’s Blackstone Hotel circa the 1930s. Hotel proprietor Charles Schimmel then added it to Blackstone’s menu.

Fern Snider, a former employee of the Blackstone, used the recipe to win a national competition in 1956. That’s when the Oxford English Dictionary cites the first published use of the term “Reuben sandwich.”

Several New York-based origin stories also exist, including one from cookbook author and New York Times food journalist Craig Claiborne.

But I’d keep that to yourself if you’re in Nebraska on March 14. That’s when people in Omaha celebrate National Reuben Sandwich Day. The food fest became official there in 2013.

Oh, I see: Food histories are like mystery novels, except that you can eat the clues, red herrings and all.

In a Pickle

Granted, it doesn’t take gourmet detective Poirot to reveal that a Reuben’s Swiss cheese and Russian dressing are neither Swiss nor Russian—just a case of “Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with Kraft Foods.”

But even the Reuben’s sauerkraut, well-documented in German culture, has ties to another culture: Mongolia. One reason Genghis Khan galloped from Asia to Meissen, Germany is that his nomadic horsemen packed the perfect lunch for those 4,000-mile commutes. Fermented food: Don’t leave the yurt without it.

Mongolian horsemen features in the culinary travel adventure of a writer on the trail of food origin stories. (Image by Erdenebayar/Pixabay)

From Mongolia to Germany to a Chicago hot dog, pickled cabbage has come a long way.
Photo by Erdenebayar/Pixabay

A Mystery that Takes the Cake

In 1963, when President Lyndon Johnson hosted a luncheon for German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, the dessert chef served German chocolate cake. One wonders what Erhard thought of this three-layer confection of buttermilk, pecans, and not-exactly Teutonic coconut. No German bakery had ever produced one.

So why “German”?

In 1852, an English American chocolate mill worker named Samuel German developed a baking chocolate sweet enough to eat as a bar. Mr. German sold his recipe to Mr. Walter Baker of Baker’s Chocolate Company in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The resulting product, still on grocery shelves today, was Baker’s German’s Chocolate.

A mere 105 years later, a recipe for German’s Chocolate Cake appeared in The Dallas Morning News. According to National Public Radio, sales of Baker’s German’s chocolate “shot up 73 percent that year, 1957.” Somewhere along the way, folks forgot the apostrophe in German’s. Yes, they fudged the spelling and “German Chocolate” took the cake.

A vintage ad for Baker’s chocolate features in the culinary travel adventure of a writer on the trail of food origin stories. (Public domain image)

I like ads that emphasize the nutritional importance of eating chocolate.
Public domain photo

You Say Croissant, I Say Kipferl

So many foods associated with one place began in another that tracking them down becomes a culinary adventure.

The croissant, that iconic French bread, might never have happened without an Austrian entrepreneur. According to food historian Jim Chevallier, author of August Zang and the French Croissant, the word for croissant did not even exist in 1838. That’s when Zang launched the first Viennese bread bakery in Paris, at 92 Rue Richelieu.

Zang, whose breads included the crescent-shaped kipferl, filled his patented steam oven with moist hay to add “a lustrous sheen.” Customers took notice. So did French bakers. A trend was born.

A Danish features in the culinary travel adventure of a writer on the trail of food origin stories. (Image by Pxhere)

Surely the Danish came from Denmark. No, Austrian bakers invented that, too.
Photo by Pxhere

A Moveable Feast of Food Origins

In the annals of food history, one culture whets the appetite of others:

San Francisco launched “Italian soda.”
New York, not Nome, popularized Baked Alaska.
Dutch Baby has nothing to do with the Netherlands—ask Seattleites.
Indian-style vindaloo has ties to Portugal
Tijuana, Mexico is the birthplace of Caesar Salad.
And a Greek Canadian invented Hawaiian Pizza.

As for the pommes frites that preceded fries, they really are French, right? Belgian food historians say, “Au contraire!” Others credit Pedro Cieza, “teenage conquistador turned historian” of Spain. “Hold on!” say others, “It all began with the ancient Incas.”

Yes, the food on your plate is a gastronomical map of the world. Once you bring cultural awareness to the table, it’s all a culinary travel adventure.

A rice dish in Athens, Greece, and a bowl decorated with names of world cities featuresin the culinary travel adventure of a writer on the trail of food origin stories. (Image by Joyce McGreevy)

• Team Omaha or Team New York? To read more about origins of the Reuben, see the Blackstone story here and food critic Craig Claiborne’s nod to its New York origin story here.

• Get the skinny on a puffy bread. Order August Zang and the French Croissant here.