A New Look
Posted on 4 May 2008 under Notes | 15 Comments
I have a confession to make.
I’ve been a bit upset in a minorly-torqued-off manner with a couple friends of mine.
But really, they’re such a fine couple of folks I’ve been helping them out a bit even though I’ve been ticked, peeved, and otherwise annoyed.
I just never told them.
Within a couple weeks of changing this blog’s look the last time, the folks over at Michigan Beer Buzz went online. With … er … a modified version of the Cleaker theme I’d picked out and then modified myself for use over here.
Dagnabbit!
Still, as soon as they went online I trumpeted their arrival here on BlogsMonroe, even going so far as writing the following:
And yes, Rob, I’ll certainly point out the use of the same blog theme I’ve used here on Luna Pier Cook, implemented with some beautiful modifications to create a warm and friendly look for Michigan Beer Buzz. I particularly like the beer mug next to the Search box … nice touch! These themes are generally freely available (SteamyKitchen uses an elegant “pro” theme she had paid for) and are highly customizable. It’s always interesting to see how someone has implemented a given theme differently for another topic.
Still, even though I’ve helped them with a couple thing and passed beer-related info to them when possible, I could never figure out how to get rid of the feeling of being annoyed.
I no longer feel annoyed …
Welcome to the new-and-improved Luna Pier Cook!
The theme you’re looking at now is the main character from Yakitate!! Japan, an anime cartoon not yet regularly seen in this country. The image you see was actually provided for this theme by the original animator, so it looks pretty darn good. The plot for Yakitate!! Japan is described quite well on Wikipedia, so I won’t reproduce the whole thing here. However, the following is of interest as to how it reflects on the genre in general:
Although the story has baking as its main theme, the parts that generate the most interest are the outrageous puns in the story. Especially notable are the “reaction” based puns made by the judges, who go to great lengths to prove a single point about the bread that they had tasted. The series in general also pokes fun at the shōnen genre’s tendency to be melodramatic over mundane tasks.
Yup, a punny baker. Sounds like fun!
If you’re interested in watching episode 2 of Yakitate!! Japan here it is, all 25 minutes of it. And please let me know what you think of what I’ve done with the place and if you have any comments or suggestions.
As for all y’all over at Michigan Beer Buzz … y’all owe me a brewsky … 
Enjoy!
Not About Food: The Passing of Wally Bronner
Posted on 2 April 2008 under Notes | No Comments
I just found out Wally Bronner, founder of the massive Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan, passed away yesterday at the tender age of 81.
When Aaron, aka Teen Tech, was just over a year old I was shopping at Bronner’s and had parked the stroller at the end of an aisle. Suddenly the stroller moved forward out of my sight. I flew around that corner to catch whomever was stealing my son … and there was Mr. Bronner, sitting on the floor, chatting with Aaron. Knowing Aaron was in good hands, I went back to shopping. After a while the stroller went back to where it was and Mr. Bronner was gone. It seems to me that, once I went back to Aaron, there was a bit of candy in the stroller …
Just a few years ago my kids and I got to the store rather late in the evening, about 8:30. Knowing the store closed at 9 I told the kids we could browse but, at over 250,000 square feet, any real shopping would have to wait for another visit. The store was almost empty of customers as we walked through all the displays from around the world. About halfway through, Mr. Bronner walked up to say hello. I told the kids who he was and that he owned the store. They all had a nice chat, asking all kinds of impromptu questions. The kids thought it was great that such a man would be at his store that late in the evening, still working, still walking up to people just to chat. As Mr. Bronner walked away one of the kids askd, “Dad, did we just meet a millionaire???”
Mr. Bronner will be sorely missed by all his customers and fans alike. But as he is quoted as saying, he’ll go ahead to heaven “to make sure the decorative touches are in place.”
‘O, Dem? Dats Mai Netwurk’
Posted on 21 March 2008 under Notes | No Comments
One thing I’ve always been a part of, both with my parents and sisters and with Mary, is taking food to families who are going through a difficult time. When someone lands in a hospital it’s not always possible, nor is there strength available, for the rest of the family to cook a decent meal at home.
I just want to thank a couple folks who made something for us over the past week.
One of the more fun dishes we received was an oversized handmade cookie from Mary’s dentist, Dr. Deb Reiner DDS over off Lewis Avenue in Temperance. The cookie, probably 8″ x 14″ and 1/2″ thick, was both slightly crunchy and slightly soft, making for a great dessert for other meals when I started convalesing at home Monday night. Yeah, we heard the joke many times: Deb was just trying to create more business for herself. But seriously, she has a great heart, really cares about us, and we thank her for being such a good friend.
The other individual doesn’t even live around here. Judy Ottenstein, the mom of 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein, sent us some of her wonderful Chicken Noodle Soup from her home north of Chicago. I really treasure this true batch of ”Jewish Penicillin’ that warms both the heart and the belly. I eat it slowly, savoring every last bite.
We’re quite thankful for all of our friends no matter where they live. The supportive comments I’ve received, both public and private, are very-much appreciated and I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.
The Nosebleed from Hell, a Fart Broadsides My Heart: Yes, I Know Where My Towel Is
Posted on 18 March 2008 under Notes | 14 Comments
The following post is rather graphic in nature. If you don’t like talk of blood and such, please skip this one.
Where’ve I been? Well, lemme tell ya’ …
Sunday March 9th, I got up first thing in the morning and headed to the loo. Grabbing some toilet paper, I blew my nose.
I am never blowing my nose again for as long as I live.
There was blood everywhere. I was gagging as it ran down my throat. The little bit of toilet paper I had in my hand was far from enough and I panicked as I tried to stop the flow. It wouldn’t stop, only getting worse. I yelled for help, and 9-1-1 was immdiately called.
There were eight people in that bathroom from all over town before the firehouse siren even went off. They couldn’t stop the flow either. One of them commented later that it was spurting, as though an artery had been severed. At one point I felt a pop. There was blood running from my right eye. The EMT who had taken charge looked at it, and told me it had come from the left nostril, through the tear duct into that right eye.
After the ambulance ride to the hospital the next couple days faded in-and-out. I came home once, only to go back in a few hours, bleeding just as badly as earlier. The E.R. docs tried every trick they knew, including a foley catheter jammed through my nose into my throat, the end inflated, the ballooned end pulled back against the sinus, packed and held in-place by inflatable bladders jammed into my left nostril, the inflated catheter clamped off with a 5″ hemostat laying against my left cheek.
I’d lost so much blood I ended up hallucinating for a while.
Through all of it there was a towel in my right hand. I went through dozens of those towels, feeling as though I was in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and someone had asked me if I knew where my towel was.
They escalated me to the O.R. and E.N.T. teams by the next morning.
24 hours later, after three emergency surgeries, and an angio where they tried inserting coils into my nasal arteries (which also failed to work), they finally severed the ethmoidal artery that feeds blood into the left side of my nose from the cranium.
The flow finally stopped, almost 56 hours after it had started.
That was Tuesday evening.
Wednesday afternoon I passed a little gas. Really, not much gas at all.
It was as though someone had flipped a switch. My heart went into atrial fibrillation, my pulse going to 170 almost instantly and my blood pressure bottoming out to 80/50. I spent till yesterday in cardiac ICU. They wanted to shock me into a cardio-conversion using paddles, but because of my nosebleed they ultimately decided it was too risky.
So here I sit, finally at home, towel nearby just-in-case, my heart still in a-fib, three units down on blood, weak and light-headed from losing 24 pounds in that first four days.
Am I alright? I don’t know the answer to that. When people ask I answer, “For now.” What was the cause? No one knows. When the ambulance folks arrived my BP was 213/138 … but there was serious debate whether that was from prior to the bleed or from my panicked state at the time.
One doc removed all the packing from my left nostril on Sunday. I told him I could feel something was still in there. He looked and said “No, there isn’t.”
I change the packing in that nostril three times each day. This morning when I pulled the cotton out to spray the nostil and replace the cotton, something was stuck to it.
Mary stood by with my towel as I took probably a full five minutes to gingerly pull a full six feet of bloody, mucused 1/4″ cloth packing tape from within my left sinus.
Really, don’t do that unless you absolutely have to. It’s still raw up in there. It would help if I didn’t have to breathe.
Sure, I’m ok. For now.
But really, you never know what might happen.
Just make sure you know where your towel is.
We Interrupt This Food Blog for An Accident
Posted on 28 February 2008 under Notes | 15 Comments
Click on the above image for a larger version with more detail.
For various reasons, I was in the front passenger seat in the limousine in the above photo when we impacted the driver’s side of this minivan at the corner of Secor and Erie Roads at about noon today. I wasn’t injured, just banged up, and our one passenger in the back of the limo wasn’t injured either. The driver of the limousine went to a hospital later to be checked out. The driver of the minivan was extracted via Jaws of Life and was transported to another hospital. I have no clue how she is. I was the first one to her, and at that time, seconds after the accident, she couldn’t yet form a word, let alone a sentence.
I’m still a bit shakey with a few seatbelt and joint aches, and am too tired to write much more than this. Details tomorrow …
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