Microblog

Stocked up at the local farmers market while Anton Chekhov and Tennessee Williams examined the human condition.

Tonight we have front row seats for a live Minnesota Orchestra performance. In different times, we’d be at Orchestra Hall.

Voted.

The relative sweetness of the shinshu miso was nicely offset by the bitterness of the Asian broccoli.

Next on my list: learn how to make dashi broth and miso soup. For me, Covid-19 restrictions present opportunities to learn new things. If I can’t go to Japan, I can bring Japan to me.

Crossed thirteen Mississippi bridges on a “The Bridges of Hennepin County” cycle ride with a friend. On this bridge, we pushed our bicycles while avoiding eye contact with the locomotive operator

Received my ballot for the general election. I’ll hand carry the completed ballot to a drop-off point at Hennepin County Government Center.

Spent way too much time thinking about six degrees of freedom: X, Y, Z, pitch, yaw and roll. I feel a song coming on.

Posted Navigating by US Presidents.

Stopped for lunch at Lake Harriet. Bread and Pickle will soon be closing for the season, so all the good beer was gone.

Made kare raisu, Japanese curry, for lunch, one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It can be traced to early British influences over 100 years ago. Now, a Japanese curry chain is opening restaurants in India.

On my cycle ride, stopped to watch barges being pushed through a gap in a rail bridge across the Mississippi near St. Paul. One span of the bridge, built 1915, had swung open. Unusually, the swing span is pivoted towards one end, requiring counterweights.

Lightning crashed overhead while I had a haircut. When the storm let up, I cycled home with a wet stripe down my back.

This week is the end of the line for incandescent bulbs in our home. Until recently the light quality of G4 LEDs was not good enough. Now, $2.00 1.5 watt G4’s have a high color rendering index. We’ll have 100% LED lighting once I replace two halogens lurk

Cycled through an area of northeast Minneapolis that has always been home to new Americans. Today it’s Latin Americans and Somalis. 100 years ago it was Lebanese, Polish, Finnish, German, Slovak, Russian, and Ukrainian immigrants.

I couldn’t go to Japan this month, so brought Japan to us: tonkotsu ramen. I cooked the Hakata-style cloudy/emulsified broth for 26 hours, saving most for another day. To my gaijin taste buds it was pretty good, I was transported.