10 Ways to Recycle Beer

The other day, the topic of our lesson turned to recycling in Germany. I mentioned that Germany was one of the first countries to recycle vehicles.

Then, there was the moment of surprise, when I mentioned some of us Germans even recycle our expired or half-drunk bottles of beer. Well, this does not happen too often around our home… Just enter Maria’s Beer Balcony in the search engine, click on images, and you will know why.

Franconian beer

But when there is half a bottle of beer left over, we can use it for the following:

Beauty:

  • To give your hair more volume, after shampooing, rinse it with beer.
  • Use it like hair spray – put it in dispenser and spray your hair with it. No worries, once it’s dry, you won’t smell like beer.

Household:

  • Polish your wood furniture with a small linen towel soaked in beer.

Gardening:

  • A bowl of beer in your garden, will keep your snails at bay. To keep ants and bugs off your terrace or balcony, also fill a small dish with beer and add some sugar. In this case, you can also use alcohol-free beer.
  • It makes a great fertilizer. Mix beer and water at 1:2 and add it to your plants. Best for green plants only.

Cooking:

  • Add some beer to any kind of gravy or broth.
  • Some brush the BBQ meat with beer before putting it on the grill.
  • Marinade your BBQ meat in beer.

Indoor plants:

  • Big-leafed indoor plants such as the rubber plant collect dust. Wipe it off with a beer-soaked cotton ball.

Home remedy:

* Catching a cold? Drink some warm beer before going to bed. For a better result, add some sugar to it. This will help kill bacteria and induce sleep.

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From a nutritional viewpoint, beer ranks highly in the food and beverage chart. It is also vegetarian.

Miss Pimple and her Beauty Parlor

Yesterday evening, we passed this store sign in a small village. Had me chuckle a bit, since the shop owner’s name seems to be in close relationship to her business.

As an instructor of German, I’d like to share these two words with you.

The family name Pickel means pimple in English and she runs a Kosmetik Institut (beauty parlor).

Miss Pimple, I’d like a facial, please.

Education in Travel

What looks like very pleasant to our eyes and inviting to our taste buds is actually meant for canine pleasures. Found this pet shop with a wide selection of canine delicacies for all occasions.

Dog food Japanese style

We surely miss all these jidou hanbaiki 自動販売機(じどうはんばいき) – Japan has the highest number of vending machines per capita around the world, averaging one machine for every 23 people. There are vending machines for hot and cold beverages, cigarettes, ice cubes, eggs, vegetables, umbrellas, beer, rice wine, instant noodles, and much more. It seems every street corner has at least one. There are close to 6 million machines throughout the country, generating a huge amount of sales.

In 2008, a smart card called taspo was implemented in tobacco vending machines to restrict sales of cigarettes. From such machines, cigarette purchases may only be made by taspo card holders, which is issued to adult applicants (in Japan,  this is 20 years of age). The card is held up to a sensor after money is inserted into the machine. Some beer vending machines also require age verification.

Vending machines in Japan

At the Fukuoka Airport, I saw a tobacco vending machine customer holding up his wallet to the sensor. He did not even have to take out his card. This looked very futuristic to me.

Japan spends  a lot of money on its conveniences, but still neglects to hire proof-readers/translators when putting information onto print.

Translation Japanese - English

The simple beauty of a stone basin and floating flower heads, as seen in Japan, inspired me to take out my Imari bowl and snap off some pansy heads from the flower box on the balcony.

Stone basin with flower heads

 

American Beauty Ad from the 1950s

Going through a bunch of paperwork – yes, autumn is best for that, forget spring cleaning – I found some interesting ads in some 1950s magazines.

Women’s Home Companion ran this advertisement in its March 1955 issue.

Well, this photo provoked immediate images of bound feet in China, of women pressed into corsets, and the like. Then I thought it was a hilarious – a facial bra (note the two straps!).

Nowadays, we can DIY –  roll your tongue back, keep it there for a couple of seconds, then relax. Do this 20 times every day. You, too, will have thrilling new loveliness!

Note: The ad above the photo from The National Humane Society asks the reader to Help Prevent Cruelty.

This beauty aid sold for 2 U.S. Dollars back in 1955.

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