[Bordermarch] Parangaricutirimicuaro vermicelli

[Lathrop, Dave]

Since there's been so much recent discussion on our list concerning Parangaricutirimicuaro vermicelli, I thought I'd clear things up a bit.

The cork strakes used in medieval wheels were thought to have been first used by the Spanish Inquisitive during the Reformation.
One of the major hurdles they had to overcome was the problem of keeping the strakes attached to the felloes.
They arrived at the perfect solution when Cortez returned to Spain from one of his trips to Mexico. He had with him a very large egg!

It seems that while Cortez was scouting the coast of Mexico he spotted a large flightless bird running back and forth between the beach-line and the jungle forest.
The crew he deployed to capture the bird tracked it many miles inland into the jungle before successfully netting the large bird.
Upon return to the ship, the crew's leader reported to Cortez that they had surprised the bird while it was nesting in a shallow cave at the base of a volcano.

Although Cortez took great care to see that his prize bird was given all the best, it did not fare well during the long sea voyage back to Portugal.
The large bird did lay one egg while in captivity; Cortez prized this egg more than anything else!

Cortez gifted the egg to the Queen of Spain, who in turn gave it to the head cook in the kitchen. She insisted he make something extraordinary with the one-of-a-kind egg for the upcoming holiday celebration.
Of course the rest of the story is well known; The head cook decided to scramble the egg, but in the process accidentally invented the omelet.

What is a lesser known fact is that when the cook cracked open the egg some of its egg white spilled into a nearby pot of boiling water. As soon as the egg white hit the hot water it began settling into long skinny strands at the bottom of the pot. When the cook removed the egg strands from the pot he found them to be quite tasty...VOILA! vermicelli was invented.

The cook was about to discard the water that the egg had fallen into but decided instead to test its use as a glue.
He found the egg water had tremendous adhesive properties when it was left to boil down into a thick paste.
When the Inquisitive heard of the new glue they immediately applied some to the cork strakes on their buggy wheels. The egg glue kept the cork in place even under the most extreme conditions.
The Inquisitors were so pleased with the glue they named it Parangaricutirimicuaro vermicelli after the homeland of the big bird and the egg noodle that the cook had invented.

HE Santiago

Don't forget about populace tonight!