The Bee

If your a fan of satirical publications s such as the Onion or the Merrill Daily Harold you'll like the Babylon Bee.  Like the other two satirical publications most of my consumption of their material is on Face Book.  It lightens the load.  I've reposted a piece from the Bee only once prior.  But this is pretty close to home, so I can't resist.

Go Brewers! 

 

Even More Fall Colors

A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to replacing my device and have been waiting for an opportunity to test the camera on an iPhone 17 Pro.

 

On my drive to Sturgeon Bay earlier last week it was gloomy and overcast. And I thought to myself,  “Geeze, it's too bad it's dark, cloudy and dank. The trees are putting on a real fall show and there's no sunshine to show it off."

 

Driving home after class things had certainly changed. The rains abated, the skies cleared and the sun came out; a bright late afternoon sun lower on the horizon.  So I hopped-off the four lane and did a brief detour to checkout the fall colors at some of my favorite locations in Southern Door.

 

Thursday there was rain all day and awaking Friday there was more of the same.  Nevertheless, I left for Group with fingers-crossed for clear skies and sunshine; hopeful the wind and the rain wouldn’t spoil it.  

 

Sure as shooting by late afternoon the skies cleared, the sun came out; a bright, low on the horizon sun.

 

I left the house around 3:30 to fetch Ruby from the boarding kennel where she had been enjoying a spa visit while we were on a road trip to Minneapolis to see Sting in concert.  After picking her up, natural light conditions were becoming pretty much optimal for some fall color photography.  And more experimentation with my new iPhone 17 Pro.  So as we crossed over the border into Door County we navigated the back roads home and collected these images between 4 and 4:30 PM.

 

Click on any image for a closer look. 

 

 

 

  

 

This weekend might just be peak fall colors here.  Enjoy it while you can wherever you live.

And how about them Brewers.

Restaurant Review

In the event you find yourself hungry anywhere between Chippewa Falls and Wausau, Wisconsin I have a recommendation.

A couple of days ago we were returning from our road trip to Minneapolis to see Sting in concert and hunger called around 12 PM.  Needing gas we took the first Abbotsford exit indicating a BP station in town.  Immediately next door was La Takeria El Nopal. 

We like Mexican fare and our traveling companions do to; so having topped-off the tank we pulled-around the corner, parked the car, went inside and grabbed a table to study a menu.

You select your drinks from the cooler and place your order at the counter.  Seating ourselves the host brought us set-ups, a basket of tortilla chips, salsa along with a bottle each of red and green sauces.  All homemade.

In short order our entrees arrived.  I ordered the special that day - a quesadilla al pastor combining a savory marinated pork with melted cheese between a folded and grilled flour tortilla; served with rice and beans and fresh toppings.  The rice was average and, being a bean snob, I found the frijoles to be lovely.  Overall, an excellent lunch; and I had enough quesadilla leftover to take home for a late night snack watching the Milwaukee Brewers sweep the Dodgers.

Major credit cards accepted, cash discount and tips are cash only ¡Por favor!

If you're in the neighborhood or passing thru, I recommend it. 

Friday Music

Gordon Matthew Sumner was born in 1951 in Wallsend, England and first rose to fame in the late 1970s as the primary songwriter, bassist and lead vocalist for The Police.  The nickname, Sting, arose from the black and yellow striped jersey he frequently wore.

Formed in London in 1977, The Police blended a unique blend of rock, reggae and new wave music producing hits such as Roxanne, Every Breath You Take and Message in a Bottle.  Their 1983 album Synchronicity was a ginormous commercial success and before disbanding in 1984 were one of the largest music success stories on the planet.  They reunited briefly for a reunion tour in 2007 and 2008.

Launching a solo career in 1985 with The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Sting's virtuoso skills infusing jazz, classical and world music influences led to more albums and success over the following decades.

He has won awards and recognitions almost too numerous to count including an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Police.

Beyond music he is known for his humanitarian and environmental advocacy which includes anti-apartheid and anti-poverty efforts, humans rights, sustainable agriculture practices and rainforest preservation.

Well into his seventies he continues to tour and record; including this.

 

This past Wednesday a couple of neighbors joined us on a road trip and overnight to catch Sting in Minneapolis.

 

The sellout audience included baby boomers like ourselves and a surprising number of people our children's age and younger.  The performance was one of the better concerts I've attended in my life and included many favorites from The Police and Sting's solo career; all performed with heart and soul.

 

I'd place this performance up there among the top ten of my lifetime based solely on its solid production value and embrace of decades of fan classics.

And when we got there; holy crap.

Across the street there was this.

Between the four of us there was general agreement we need to pay closer attention to Minneapolis' scheduled lineup in their Theater District.  It might be worth another road trip.

And I'm really liking the capabilities of my iPhone 14 Pro. 

More Fall Colors

Not much more to add except some photos.

Colors are just about peak and that iPhone 17 Pro has some decent camera capabilities.

Click on images for a closer look.

 

Fall Colors

On my drive to Sturgeon Bay yesterday is was gloomy and overcast.  And I thought to myself, Geeze, it's too bad it's dark, cloudy and dank.  The trees are putting on a real fall show and it's disappointing there's no sunshine to show it off.

 

Driving home after class things had certainly changed.  The rains abated, the skies cleared and the sun showed.  A nice late afternoon sun lower on the horizon.  

 

I hopped-off the four lane and did a brief detour to checkout the fall colors at some of my favorite locations in Southern Door. 

 

If anyone believes the changing of our seasons four times a year isn’t inspiring they can fight me.

 

Last week I replaced my phone with an upgrade and have been waiting for an opportunity to test the camera on an iPhone 17 Pro.

 

Click on any individual photo for a closer look. 

 

 

American Culinary Dominance

 

I remember Chung King making it to our table on a regular basis growing-up.  It's not as good as real Chinese food served in a restaurant; nevertheless, it was fast and easy fare and added variety to the family dinner ritual.  

My recollection is that mom fried bite-size pieces of fresh chicken added the vegetables and sauce from the can and served it up with boiled minute rice and a side of crunchy Chinese rice noodles.  Yum.

As good as it was in my childhood memories I wouldn't do it today; unless, it was disaster food consumed in a bunker.  If I'm making Chinese for me and the missus the only thing out of a can is baby corn, water chestnuts and crispy, crunchy Chinese rice noodles.  Everything else if fresh, from scratch. 

Remarkably, it was an Italian-American guy named Jeno Paulucci who founded the Chung King brand when he borrowed $2500 to grow bean sprouts in Minnesota which he canned with chopped celery and sauce as a convenience food for post-WWII American families.  Paulucci was innovative in solving the mushy vegetable challenge.  He packaged the meat and sauce in one can and the veggies in a second, taped them together allowing the consumer to combine them later. 

From a purely cultural perspective it was entrepreneurs like Paulucci who popularized Westernized Chinese-American food like egg rolls, chow mein, chop suey and soy sauce; all of which left a huge imprint on the taste-palate of American consumers.  Who doesn't like Chinese food?  Heck, there is a Chinese buffet in nearby Sturgeon Bay. 

Fast Fact: Wisconsin is home to the highest-producing and largest naturally-brewed soy sauce facility in the entire world.  Take that, China!  

Anyway, Paulucci sold the Chung King brand to tobacco conglomerate R.J. Reynolds in 1966 for $63 million.  He later went on to found Jeno's Pizza Rolls, which later became Totino's Pizza Rolls. 

After changing hands a couple of times, Chung King was sold to Singaporean Yeo Hiap Seng in 1989 and eventually acquired by ConAgra's Hunt-Wesson in 1995.  ConAgra already owned Chung King's chief competitor La Choy and consequently shut-down production immediately.  By 1996 Chung King had disappeared from supermarket shelves  leaving La Choy as the sole survivor of the era of Chinese-American grocery items. 

The missus and I have a fondness for Chinese stir fry and make almost once a month on principle.  If you type "stir fry" in the search tool in the upper left hand corner of the blog's home page you will be redirected to several tutorial posts on the subject.

Meanwhile, if you like the subject of ethnic food in American popular culture the documentary - The Search for General Tso is a delightful tale about the origins and ubiquity of Chinese American food through sweet and spicy chicken.  You can find it on Netflix.  And don't forget the fortune cookies....