Travelog for: King Tut

Hello subjects, I am your Pharoah, King Tutankhamun, but you may call me Tut.



As you may know, I passed away at an early age and did not get to see much of the world while I was alive, so now that I have been discovered by Howard Carter, I would like to travel and see all sorts of exotic places.  I am particularly interested in meeting other royalty and visiting ancient monuments (well, ancient by today's standards).  One day I would also like to visit my native Egypt, to see what it is like today.  I used to love sports like chariot-racing, so I would like to see and experience modern sports.  Lastly, I recently heard about these new-fangled 'amusement parks' and want to experience at least one of those.  Please let Abby know if you would like to host me!

I was curious to know what has been discovered about my empire in recent years, so I asked Abby if she had any information.  She said Egyptology was not her focus, but she had a couple books for me to look at.



This page is dedicated to me.



This book had lots of terminology and backround information on different customs, gods and pharoahs.  I already knew most of this stuff, but it was a good read.





There were also some articles in Abby's Archaeology Magazines.









Abby said that if I wanted to learn about other cultures or anthropology in general, she had lots of books.

Today we are trying out a cake recipe that Olgamaus gave to Abby.

First, we had to harvest some rubarb.





Wow, that was hard work.  Those stalks are HUGE!

Then, we chopped up the rhubarb.





Next, we mixed together butter, sugar and vanilla.  Everybody took a turn.



Then eggs were added.



Then flour and baking powder.



Now the cream



There, that looks about finished.



Into the pan



Put the rhubarb on top



And into the oven!



While that was baking, we whipped up some meringue.



Mmm, that's looking really good.



Put the meringue on top, and then back into the oven.



Oh wow, this looks delicious!



Then, with the leftover egg yolks (the whites were used in the meringue), Abby made everyone a ToyVoyager-sized scrambled eggs!



Unfortunately we can't try the cake until everybody gets home from work.  Stay tuned!

An update on the cake:

IT WAS DELICIOUS!  Thank you for the recipe, Olgamaus!

Today Abby took me along to see a Shakespearean play at Bard on the Beach.  Apparently he wrote plays a couple thousand years after my time.



We were here to see Othello.





All of the actors



Abby said she wanted me to meet someone very special.  It was QueenElizabethI, who was visiting home to watch some Shakespeare, her favourite entertainment.  My first taste of other royalty!

King Tut is on his way to his first host.  Good luck on your journey!

Hello Abby,

Today I arrived at Steph's home.  It's very nice.  She was surpised at my size as she thought I was slightly bigger by looking at my photos. I was greeted by Emil and became ecstatic to see a donkey.  When I reined, we used donkeys to carry loads, to plow seeds in fields, and to carry people.  They weren't TOO important though, hence why you do not see donkeys in our art.  I had to promise Emil that I would not use him for such things.  He did not seem to like the idea of being used for like that for some odd reason.


We also posed with the wonderful postcard Abby sent along for Steph.  She liked it VERY much and wanted to put a "Thank you" in this blog.


I hope to have many fun adventures here, and I am sure I will.
King Tut

Today, I explored Steph's house and came across four sacred and respected beasts (at least, they were in my time  ).  I am speaking about cats.

The first feline I met was named Gracie, who was fast asleep at the time.  She was very beautiful.


I also spoke with the very wise Opie.  We had many things to say to one another.  I asked him if he thought he may be a descendant from one of my felines, but he was not sure.


Kobe was the next feline I came across.  He was extremely large and made an excellent pillow for a king.


The final feline was named Patch.  I would have taken a photo next to her, but she tried to devour me.  Luckily, Steph stepped in and no damage was done to me. 


I also met a canine, and a large one at that.  They call his breed a Great Dane and I was told that he weights around 190 pounds.  That is a lot more than I.


I ventured outside and found these strange statues called 'gnomes' in Steph's yard.  I wonder if these are of important people..


Well, Abby, I need my sleep as all good rulers do.  I will be back with more soon.

Today, I got to pop my very first bag of popcorn in the microwave.  I'm not very good with the technology of this century, meaning that Emil had to help me.  It was only a single serving bag, but it was surely enough for two tiny TVs to share. 
Let me tell you, popcorn is delicious.  It was not around before I was placed in my tomb, but I am glad that it is now.


Once we popped our bag, we sat ourselves down in front of the television (yet, another "new" technology) and watched a show called Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.  It tells five eerie stories in one show and allows you to decide if each one is real or completely made up by writers.  At the end of each show, it tells you which ones were true or false.  Emil and I were rather good at this show; we usually got three or more right.



After watching one of the stories about a wrestler, I was fascinated about wrestling.  I was never allowed to engage in such an act before.  Emil agreed, and we began. 
I managed to climb on to his back and though that I was going to win for sure.


However, I did not expect Emil to buck me off..


He climbed up on top of me to claim the victory.  I was not hurt, Abby, so do not worry yourself.  I was also a good sport about losing.  It was all a game.


Hope to see something incredible soon.  Steph is not sure when she will be able to go anywhere with us due to work, but she will try.

This morning, Emil and I decided we would relax around the house.  We heard a very peculiar noise outside the door and we knew we needed to see what it was.  We opened the door only to find Wieka.  He had flown in from Germany, a place I have yet to visit myself.


Wieka wanted a group shot of us to show his mentor back at home.  I could not refuse and make someone else unhappy.

This morning,  we woke up quite early due to the carpet company.  They were coming over to lie down some brand new carpet.  We had decided we should assist. Many of these tools looked like tools that had been used back during my time in my home country of Egypt.  My, how things have changed.


This is what the carpet looked like as the men placed it on the floor, but did not attach it.


This is the hall way with only the padding on the floor.  They had yet to place the carpet on top of it yet.  Looks a bit odd, huh?


Steph also recieved another surprise.  The pool company called to inform her that they would be able to put her pool liner in today.  We did not want to get in their way, so we took photos from inside the window.


While the pool workers went to get another load of water, we thought it would make for an excellent opportunity to look at the pool.  This is what it looks like almost filled.  I have never seen a pool like this before.


When we returned to the house, we found that the carpet men were finished with their job.  Once we assisted in moving the furniture back, this is how the living room looked.



Looks very nice, does it not?

Well, Abby, I should be going to bed.  It is quite late and I've had a busy day.

King Tut

Today, we had to say goodbye to Emil.  It was quite hard to say goodbye, but it had to be done.  He is continuing his travels in Scotland, and I wish him well.  Hope he learns much about the rich history it has to offer.


Good luck, Emil!

Hello Abby,
It has been decently warm here in Missouri, all though everyone else tends to think that it is hot.  I guess having lived in a country where the average weather for the month of August is 112 °F, there really isn't anything too bad about 88 °F.
It cooled down a lot in the evening. Wieka and I decided we could go on a walk tonight.  We found a nice little pond with a bunch of fish in it.


As well as these lovely flowers.


When we arrived back home, Steph told us that we needed to make a dessert for an upcoming BBQ her family was holding tomorrow.  We dug through her box of recipes and found one that looked very delicious.  Brownie Cheesecake.  I have baked once before with you, Abby, so I was very pleased to have the opportunity to do this again.

First, we put the brownie mix into a bowl.  Due to not having time to make homemade brownies for this, we had to settle with a box kit.


Then, we followed the directions on the box to make the brownies. We put in 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, a 1/4 cup of water, and cracked three eggs.


We used the hand mixer to speed up the time on mixing, otherwise the two of us may have been here all night! 


Because there are two whisks on the hand mixer, Wieka and I were allowed to lick them.  I have never had uncooked brownie, let alone a cooked one, and this was quite the treat!


Wieka got a little messy with his, however, and managed to get some of the batter on his right wing. I tried to help him and clean up the best that I could, but it didn't come out very well.


Once we finished trying to clean up, it was back to the brownie!  We poured it all into a 13x9 pan and spread it out to make sure it was even, then placed it into the oven to bake for 15 minutes on 350°F.



While the brownie baked, it was time to prepare the cheesecake.  We put in four 8oz. packages of cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 3 eggs, and 1/2 cup of sour cream.  Here is a photo of us adding in the sour cream, since we almost forgot all about it. 


We used the hand mixer again (after we cleaned it, of course) and mixed all the ingredients together. This was our cheesecake!


Once the timer went off for the brownie, we poured the cheesecake mixture over it.  Now, it's ready to go in for 35 minutes.



It was a long 35 minutes, but once it was done, it was really starting to look good.  The cheesecake has chocolate topping, but we cannot put that on until the whole thing cools down in the morning.  For now, we'll just put it in the refrigerator.


Well, Abby, tomorrow will be a busy day for me.  I will write all about it, of course!

King Tut

This morning, we got up early so we could prepare for this BBQ. We had to finish off our brownie cheesecake, so we did that first.


We got out three pieces of Baker's chocolate and placed them into a bowl.  Then, we melted them using the microwave.




Wieka and I then drizzled the melted chocolate all over the brownie cheesecake. It was then complete.


We waited, and waited for guests to arrive.  One couple showed up a few hours early, due to their long drive.  They brought along a crock pot filled with Rotel Cheese Dip and a bag of tortilla chips to dip in it.  It was very delicious.


There was also some of Steph's mother's taco salad.  She takes lettuce, shredded cheese, taco meat, Catalina salad dressing, and Frito's chips and mixes them all together.  This was also very good, too.


Here is the entire feast spread out on the table.  It included pork steaks, hamburgers, bratwurst, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, taco salad, macaroni and cheese, and a taco dip that another woman brought as well.


Well, Abby, I'm sorry this update is so short, but I am just very full and tired from all the festivities.  Steph said that we might get to go out soon and see some more places. I cannot contain my excitement.

King Tut

Tonight, Abby, I saw the most glorious thing. A rainbow.  It wasn't a very strong one, though.  It is supposed to continue to rain here the rest of the week, so I hope to see another one.