Stuff I Wonder

A guy named Dave is able to memorize hundreds of phone numbers, entire credit card numbers, faces, recipes, decks of cards, and all sorts of stuff. On the other hand, others have a hard time remembering a single phone number, their anniversary, or where they place their keys everyday.

Many people seem to think that they are either born with a good memory or not, and that there’s nothing to do about it. However, for those of us who like to question everything, we realize that those with great memory capabilities aren’t necessarily smarter, more special, or more gifted than the rest of us.

Take for example Dave, the guy we mentioned at the beginning. As a child, Dave was diagnosed with two learning disabilities: ADHD and dyslexia. He struggled in school and constantly got in trouble, but out of frustration, was determined to better in school by bettering his memory. It turns out he did quite well. As a matter of fact, Dave Farrow is now a memory expert.  He holds 2 Guinness World Records in memory techniques, and teaches  classes on Memory Improvement for the U.S Army, Bank of America, and other companies. Here are some tips and tricks that Dave used as a child and some he uses and teaches now. He calls them mnemonics.

What are mnemonics, and how they can be used?

MNEMONICS are simple tricks or devices that can help us memorize and remember stuff. Most of us are actually familiar with them, and have been using them since we were kids. Basic mnemonics  include acronyms, rhymes, acrostics, etc..  Advanced mnemonics, like the ones used by the pros, are very similar to basic ones, but are tweaked in such a way that lets them remember all kinds of impressive stuff.  Here’s a short description of some:

• Acronyms are the most familiar type of mnemonics. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Likewise, we are able to recall what FBI, CIA, IRS, etc stand for.
• Rhymes are also taught since we are in elementary school. Rhymes are also the reason we are able to remember our favorite songs or poems.
• Acrostics are like acronyms, but instead of making a new word, you make a phrase or sentence. For example, the sentence “My Dear Aunt Sally” in math class reminds us that you “Multiply and  Divide before you Add and Subtract.”

Now, these may seem too basic; in fact, people stop using basic mnemonics when they grow up, but why? The fact that they work wonders cannot be denied.  Now, you can build on top of these basic tricks and expand much further. Here are some more advanced mnemonics:

• Linking Method: You link something new to something you already know. For example, let’s say you’re trying to learn a bit of Spanish. The Spanish verb for sleep is “dormir”. If you remember that in college  you sleep in a “dorm”, it will be a lot easier to remember that dormir means to sleep, because you “dormir” in a “dorm”.
• Funny/Shocking Method. If you link something new to something very funny, or shocking into your mind, it will be easier to recall. An example that this works is the fact that we are all able to recall where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001, but we probably don’t remember August 4 of that same year. Try recalling where you put your keys this way:  if you put them on the kitchen table, while placing them down, imagine a huge key the size of a person falling from the sky and making a huge hole in your table. Next time you look for them, you’ll remember where your keys are.
• The Major System is a great way of memorizing long numbers. Basically, you convert numbers into sounds, and then make easy to remember sentences that you associate to that number.  I actually used this one myself to memorize my credit cards and almost all the phone #s in my phone.

There are many other methods, and very simple to use once you learn them; you just have to learn how to use them.  If improving your memory is something that interests you as well, and you’d like to learn how to use advanced methods like the ones above,  I recommend checking out Dave Farrow and/or Harry Lorraine.   They have both actually built upon these and invented a few other simple tricks.

So, making hot wings at home you say? Should I try it? I will get right to the point: ABSOLUTELY!

I was wondering the other day whether it would be worth the trouble making them at home (you know, because there are some things that are just not worth making from scratch, considering the time, money, and end result/flavor, etc.) So, I went ahead and tried it. I ended up trying different recipes, methods, breaded vs unbreaded, frying vs baked, and different sauces.  What I was able to distill from all this edible research astonished me. I had stumbled accross: the easiest way in the world to make the best hot wings in the world. Better than any restaurant I had tried them from.

Yes, as it turns out, making your own hot wings at home is so easy it probably only requires an IQ of 2, and the cooking skills of a newborn, or not even that. Basically, there are only 2 steps to follow; yes, 2 steps, not even 3.

• Step 1: Stick the wings in the oven.
  Yes, I know some of you might be used to have them deep fried. I tried both versions, deep fried and baked, and I was skeptical myself at first. The deep frier version is indeed good but requires more work and ingredients and probably only adds 1 notch of goodness in an overall 110% goodness scale.  Seriously, don’t worry, they’ll still be better than your local restaurant’s and will taste just as sinfully good baked vs fried.

  Also, some of you might be used to breading them, but it only adds another 1 of those flavor notches, and it’s a lot more work and time. Actually the original Buffalo wings from Buffalo, NY were NOT breaded.

  The wings:   I bought just regular old chicken wings from the meat aisle at my local grocery store.  I got the ones that are already cut for you. They cost probably 10 cents more per pound than the uncut ones, and save you from having to use a knife.

  I stuck about 20 wings in the oven for 1 hour at 425 degrees. I didnt even preheat the oven.

• Step 2: Coat them with the wing sauce.
  Now, the sauce is important. The flavor of the sauce is what makes the difference. For this, I found the original sauce used inBuffalo, NY: Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. You can find it in any grocery store.

  Once you get the wings out, you pour the sauce over the wings. The bottle comes with little instructions on how much butter you should mix in with the sauce to get a really awesome taste, but once you’ve got the sauce ready you basically just dip the wings in the sauce and then pour the sauce over the wings until they are good and covered

That’s it. 2 steps.

You can play with the butter/hot sauce mixture, but since I like them really hot I went like 80% sauce and 20% butter.

So, for a recap: for a fraction of the cost and for like 10x better flavor, you can have hot wings at home. But remember, the sauce is what makes the difference. I am in no way affiliated with Frank or his sauce, but I just haven’t found any better wing sauce. If you do, please let me know.