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Was an amusing sight to see these Naked Mannequins being assembled in a busy sidelane that led to the Bund in Shanghai
Amuse Bouches
Cured salmon with melon and sorrel; raspberry soup; and corn fritter.
Jean-Georges
New York, New York
(September 2, 2013)
the ulterior epicure | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Bonjwing Photography
Sybil (rises up annoyed): “What? No! You’re assuming things now. I’m nowhere near ready to have a baby.”
Elliot (rises up to face her): “Oh, I think you are. Ever since I told you about Mama’s wish for me to have kids you’ve been talking about it non-stop. You keep saying you’re alright waiting until I am ready, ‘cause you already are! Don’t try to deny it!”
Sybil: “Elliot… No, you got the wrong end of the stick.”
Elliot: “Really? Then what the f*ck happened yesterday? Oh yeah, you wanted to get laid without a rubber! I asked you if you brought one, and you…”
Sybil: “What?! I did! I had one! I didn’t try to get pregnant!”
Elliot (sneers amused): “Yeah right… ‘Cause you had so many pockets on your li’l dress to store it in... You were trying to screw me over. I don’t like it when people do that.”
Sybil (gives him an annoyed scowl): “I didn’t!”
Elliot: “You just told me yesterday that you fell in love with me at first sight. Things like that don’t happen, Sybil. You knew nothing about me when we met! I could have been a serial killer or at least a crazy f*cking bank robber…”
Sybil (cuts in rolling her eyes): “At age 15. Of course you could.”
Elliot: “So, you just fell for my looks. (mimics Sybil’s voice) Ooh, that one’s handsome! He’s the future father of my children! Can you imagine what our baby would look like? It would be purdy like a Pudding Pop! Aww, like half chocolate and half vanilla, and it would smell like maple syrup! So f*cking cute! I could eat it up!”
Sybil (annoyed): “I don’t speak like that! That’s more like your style. (miserably) It wasn’t your looks that I fell for. Well, not entirely anyway. Elliot, listen to me…”
Elliot (interrupting): “You also suggested that you’d start taking the pill the other day and I’d give up rubbers. Was that a clever way of trying to get pregnant just by ‘forgetting’ to take the pill? You could easily have done that…”
Sybil (starts waving her hands around shocked): “WHAT?! NO! You’re being paranoid! I had a condom in my stocking! It was right under the garter against my left thigh! You couldn’t possibly have missed that if only you hadn’t been too scared to touch me! I’m not trying to get pregnant! When a girl suggests to you that she’s willing to take care of birth control, it means that she wants to make life easier and sex more enjoyable for you and also that she trusts you not to give her any diseases! I thought you might appreciate that! Take a hint, Elliot!”
The BT Artbox Story
The good old British phone box was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate King
George V's Silver Jubilee.
This year we’ve got a Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 to look forward to, so we decided we needed to do something to celebrate.
That something turned into BT ArtBox. It’s a campaign that thrives on the nation’s artistic talent.
Across London’s streets you’ll find replicas of the Gilbert Scott phone box, transformed by the
imaginations of some of our very best creative minds.
Then later on we’ll be auctioning all the boxes off to raise money for ChildLine’s 25th anniversary.
“The Smile of a Tear”
Artist: Lidia de Pedro and Fee Fee La Fou
Location: Covent Garden, Central Avenue
"The Circus, a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool." (A. Bierce)
United by their fascination with them & inspired by a childhood desire to run away with one, these two artists intend to transform their Art Box into a giant, travelling Circus. Painstakingly painted by hand & covered with beautiful, colourful embellishments they hope their box will inspire, amuse & entertain visitors to the streets of Covent Garden in London.
The artists intended their piece to be a joyous celebration of ChildLine's admirable achievements over the last 25 years.
Reflecting upon their own childhood experiences, they felt the Circus represented the perfect metaphor; a magical world, divorced from reality where extraordinary things can happen. An enchanting place that captures your imagination, before allowing it to run wild & free.
Inspired by the annual service at Clown Church, in Dalston's Holy Trinity, they also wanted to create a fitting monument to the Great Grimaldi, 'the King of Clowns' who spent most of his life trying to make people laugh, which they think is a very noble way to spend your days...
Had the unbelievable opportunity to shoot this gorgeous Amuse widebody s2000 while I was in SF for Wekfest. No one has ever shot this car before so it was awesome to get the privilege to do so. Thanks to Kaan for bringing out this piece of art. Big thanks to Jeremy and Brad for helping me on this one and Jason for showing us an awesome location.
248/365
A tribute to my Flickr Friend - FEELING CROPPY - who do some amazing interpretations of songs and music.
Go check her out !
In the meantime you can listen to this:
Amuse Bouche
Ricotta and Sweet Pea Tarts: The ricotta-sweet pea was very smooth and, to my surprise, had a distinct green pea flavor. What surprised and delighted all of us was that the pastry crust was a sweet pastry crust. I had expected something more like a parmesan/cheese-flavored crust, or savory, at least. The sweet crust worked.
Risotto with Red Wine and Fontina Croquettes: As the server had warned, these croquettes were molten hot on the inside and oozing with a nice gooey warm interior of fontina-bound red wine-cooked risotto. Very good.
Read the review of his dinner at Cru on my blog.
Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In the 1930s, when Churchill was out of political office, Chartwell became the centre of his world. At his dining table, he gathered those who could assist his campaign against German re-armament and the British government's response of appeasement; in his study, he composed speeches and wrote books; in his garden, he built walls, constructed lakes and painted. During the Second World War, Chartwell was largely unused, the Churchills returning after he lost the 1945 election. In 1953, when again prime minister, the house became Churchill's refuge when he suffered a debilitating stroke. In October 1964, he left for the last time, dying at his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, on 24 January 1965.
The origins of the estate reach back to the 14th century; in 1382, the property then called Well-street was owned by William-at-Well. It passed through various owners and in 1836 was auctioned, as a substantial brick-built manor. In 1848, it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, whose grandson sold it to Churchill. The Campbell Colquhouns greatly enlarged the house and the advertisement for its sale at the time of Churchill's purchase described it as an imposing mansion. Between 1922 and 1924, it was rebuilt and extended by the society architect Philip Tilden. From the garden front, the house has extensive views over the Weald of Kent, "the most beautiful and charming" Churchill had ever seen, and the determining factor in his decision to buy the house.
In 1946, when financial constraints forced Churchill to consider selling Chartwell, it was acquired by the National Trust with funds raised by a consortium of Churchill's friends led by Lord Camrose, on condition that the Churchills retained a life-tenancy. After Churchill's death, Lady Churchill surrendered her rights to the house and it was opened to the public by the Trust in 1966. A Grade I listed building, for its historical significance rather than its architectural merit, Chartwell has become among the Trust's most popular properties; 232,000 people visited the house in 2016, the fiftieth anniversary of its opening.
History
Early history to 1922
The earliest recorded mention of the land dates to 1362 when it was sold by a William At-Well.[1] The origin of the name is the Chart Well, a spring to the north of the current house, Chart being an Old English word for rough ground.[2] The site had been built upon at least as early as the 16th century, when the estate was called Well Street.[3] Henry VIII was reputed to have stayed in the house during his courtship of Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle.[4] Elements of the Tudor house are still visible; the Historic England listing for Chartwell notes that 16th- (or possibly 17th-) century brickwork can be seen in some of the external walls.[5] In the 17th and 18th centuries, the house was used as a farmhouse and its ownership was subject to frequent change.[3] On 22 September 1836, the property was auctioned at Cheapside, advertised as "a suitable abode for a genteel family".[6] In 1848 it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, a former MP; the Campbell Colquhouns were a family of Scottish landowners, lawyers and politicians.[7] The original farmhouse was enlarged and modified during their ownership, including the addition of the stepped gables, a Scottish baronial genuflection to the land of their fathers.[8] By the time of the sale to Churchill, it was, in the words of Oliver Garnett, author of the 2008 guidebook to the house, an example of "Victorian architecture at its least attractive, a ponderous red-brick country mansion of tile-hung gables and poky oriel windows".[3] Tilden, in his "highly unreliable"[9] memoirs, True Remembrances, wrote of "creating Chartwell out of the drabness of Victorian umbrageousness".[10]
Churchill at Chartwell
1922 to 1939
Chartwell – Clementine Churchill's "magnificent aerial bower" to the left
Churchill first saw Chartwell in July 1921, shortly before the house and estate were to be auctioned.[11] He returned the same month with his wife Clementine, who was initially attracted to the property, although her enthusiasm cooled during subsequent visits.[12] In September 1922, when the house had failed to sell at auction, he was offered it for £5,500. He paid £5,000, after his first offer of £4,800, made because "the house will have to be very largely rebuilt, and the presence of dry rot is a very serious adverse factor", was rejected.[13] The seller was Captain Archibald John Campbell Colquhoun, who had inherited the house in June 1922 on the death of his brother.[14] Campbell Colquhoun had been a contemporary of Churchill's at Harrow School in the 1880s. On completion of the sale in September 1922, Churchill wrote to him; "I am very glad indeed to have become the possessor of "Chartwell".[5] I have been searching for two years for a home in the country and the site is the most beautiful and charming I have ever seen".[14] The sale was concluded on 11 November 1922.[15]
The previous 15 months had been personally and professionally calamitous. In June 1921, Churchill's mother had died, followed three months later by his youngest child, Marigold.[15] In late 1922, he fell ill with appendicitis and at the end of the year lost his Scottish parliamentary seat at Dundee.[16]
Philip Tilden, Churchill's architect, began work on the house in 1922 and the Churchills rented a farmhouse near Westerham, Churchill frequently visiting the site to observe progress.[17] The two-year building programme, the ever-rising costs, which escalated from the initial estimate of £7,000 to over £18,000, and a series of construction difficulties, particularly relating to damp, soured relations between architect and client,[18] and by 1924 Churchill and Tilden were barely on speaking terms.[19][a][b] Legal arguments, conducted through their respective lawyers, continued until 1927.[22] Clementine's anxieties about the costs, both of building and subsequently living at Chartwell also continued. In September 1923 Churchill wrote to her, "My beloved, I beg you not to worry about money, or to feel insecure. Chartwell is to be our home (and) we must endeavour to live there for many years."[23] Churchill finally moved into the house in April 1924; a letter dated 17 April to Clementine begins, "This is the first letter I have ever written from this place, and it is right that it should be to you".[24]
In February 1926, Churchill's political colleague Sir Samuel Hoare described a visit in a letter to the press baron Lord Beaverbrook; "I have never seen Winston before in the role of landed proprietor, ... the engineering works on which he is engaged consist of making a series of ponds in a valley and Winston appeared to be a great deal more interested in them than in anything else in the world".[25] As Hoare's presence indicated, Churchill's holidays were very rarely pure vacations. Roy Jenkins, in his study, The Chancellors, contrasted Churchill's approach to holidaying with that of his then boss, Stanley Baldwin. "Churchill went to Chartwell or elsewhere to lengthen the stride of his political work, but not greatly to reduce its quantity; far from shutting himself off, he persuaded as many as possible of his colleagues and henchmen to visit him, to receive his ever-generous hospitality."[26] In January 1928, James Lees-Milne stayed as a guest of Churchill's son Randolph. He described an evening after dinner; "We remained at that round table till after midnight. Mr Churchill spent a blissful two hours demonstrating with decanters and wine glasses how the Battle of Jutland was fought. He got worked up like a schoolboy, making barking noises in imitation of gunfire, and blowing cigar smoke across the battle scene in imitation of gun smoke".[27] On 26 September 1927, Churchill composed the first of his Chartwell Bulletins, which were lengthy letters to Clementine, written to her while she was abroad. In the bulletins, Churchill described in great detail the ongoing works on the house and the gardens, and aspects of his life there. The 26 September letter opens with a report of Churchill's deepening interest in painting; "Sickert arrived on Friday night and we worked very hard at various paintings ... I am really thrilled ... I see my way to paint far better pictures than I ever thought possible before".[28]
Churchill described his life at Chartwell in the later 1930s in the first volume of his history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm. "I had much to amuse me. I built ... two cottages, ... and walls and made ... a large swimming pool which ... could be heated to supplement our fickle sunshine. Thus I ... dwelt at peace within my habitation".[29] Bill Deakin, one of Churchill's research assistants, recalled his working routine. "He would start the day at eight o'clock in bed, reading. Then he started with his mail. His lunchtime conversation was quite magnificent, ...absolutely free for all. After lunch, if he had guests he would take them round the garden. At seven he would bathe and change for dinner. At midnight, when the guests left, then he would start work ... to three or four in the morning. The secret was his phenomenal power to concentrate."[30][c] In his study of Churchill as author, the historian Peter Clarke described Chartwell as "Winston's word factory". Wikipedia
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The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
Mom & I went on a five day driving trip through Eastern, Oregon.
Some highlights: Outsider Art Monument: Petersen Rock Garden in Redmond (friendliest peacocks I’ve ever met!). The John Day Fossil Area was amazing – the Painted Hills and Sheep Unit. At the latter we went down a trail called something like “Island back in time” and were mesmerized by the strange chalky green rocky landscape with no life growing from it. We were lucking out with 75 and Sunny in a place that can get 110 this time of year. The new Paleontology Museum is very interesting. I became obsessed with touring cyclists and wished I was on my bike. Even saw a group of 4 punk-style riders, with just boxes and blankets strapped to the back of their bikes. We barely made the last tour at the Kam Wah Chung Museum in John Day not knowing that you can only visit with a guide. This old apothecary/store/house set in what once was a Chinatown was really interesting to me. Then on to Baker City, Oregon which is really a great town – I walked around at Sunset and thought about setting up a portable press shop here for a month. We stayed in the Geiser Grand Hotel, which isn’t as expensive as you’d think, and my oh my were those sheets soft. The next day for the firs half of the we visited the National Oregon Trail Interpretative Center a top Flagstaff Hill, 5 miles outside of town. The museum got a thumbs down from me (too general, busy, not into taxidermy horses), But the center and walking trails are worth it and I loved visiting the actual Oregon trail and seeing the old wagon ruts. Mom and I realized that we could visit Hell’s Canyon afterall. I really wanted to go, but we didn’t want to hit gravel roads. We found there was a road to an overlook that we could take on our way to Joseph. We stopped in Halfway, Oregon and I got a chocolate milkshake. At the overlook in Hells Canyon there is a pretty amazing view of the nation’s deepest Canyon. You can’t see the floor or anything, and you feel far away, but it was still beautiful. In Joseph we didn’t like our stinky overpriced smelling cabin or the fact that everyone and their family seemed to be around the Lake in the Wallowas, but I took advantage of the pool/hot tub and beat my mom in Scrabble even though she made two whole words. In the morning we played mini golf at the resort while a couple long haired boys watched us. Mom loves Mini golf! We were going back and forth on whether we should take the Tram to the top of Mt Henry, we heard it was good, but wondering if we should get a move on. But luckily we decided to go. The weather was great and I couldn’t believe the Swiss Gondola style tram went an entire mile up. We were at over 8000 feet! At the top we were greeted by a gopher and a chipmunk, little did we know that we’d meet many more “friends” on our visit up there. We walked around the trails and had a very chipper time. On the way out of Joseph we stopped at the local county museum – I asked the friendly senior ladies what they liked most in the museum. One lady said the electric curler (a scary monstrosity!) and the other lady said a grade school exhibit from the 1905 Lewis & Clark Fair. I myself was amused by the Moonshine exhibit. I gave the one lady a painting I made of the electric curler and she was so pleased! We then drove through a few small towns and headed towards Pendleton, getting loss in La Grande on the way. Pendleton was so much smaller than I thought (all the round-up/blanket hype), but I enjoyed the murals, and my mom and walked on the riverwalk which was buggy at dusk. We played another game of Scrabble where I almost won, until I made a stupid fatal error on my second to last turn. In the morning (Saturday) we walked around town, but nothing was open and we looked like hick tourists. I guess all the action was on Friday night. Finally a few shops opened, but every one seemed to be selling old stuff – some of it good (the Curio shop!) some bad (beanie babies, and romance novel, now really!) And everyone wanted a lot of money for crap. We headed out of town (backtracking a few miles) to go to the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute which in on the Indian Reservation. Right before we stopped for gas, and waited to be served (can’t pump your own gas in Oregon), but no one came, and then we realized, oh on the reservation you pump your own gas! The museum is past the casino that had a full parking lot. The museum lot only had three cars. I was really impressed with the exhibits and design and learned a lot about five Indian groups from the area. Outside it was heating up, planning on getting up to 100, I walked around displays of different kinds of Indian housing.
We then headed down the Gorge towards Portland and watched the scenery slowly change from beige to green. We crossed the toll bridge at Hood River to Bingen to meet my Sister Sarah and 3 ½ year old nephew Andy who were coming on the 6:20 train. They had a long day starting in Mt. Vernon, Washington. We ate at a really good local Pizza place and were glad there was a play area for Andy who had been confined on a train all day with my sister. Sarah and I each had Keylime pie! We stayed at the Bingen School House hostel. Stuart who runs it was very nice and I liked it very much, though the kitchen/common area needs some help. We had our own family room. Unfortunately in the night there was a lot of commotion/terrible human noises which kept me from going to sleep for some time, in the morning we found out that a man was having a life threatening asthma attack. We had no idea what it was, and I got really spooked out. The guy was okay which is good. We had pre-purchased tickets to go on the Hood River Train excursion, not thinking that Sarah and Andy had spent an entire day before on the train. We couldn’t get out of them, so we went anyway. The train ride is pleasant following a river and behind groves the fruit trees and the talk a little about the area over the intercom, but it’s a little pricey for what it is, of course we were in second class (not the upstairs viewing bubble, and trying to keep a 3 ½ year old entertained). But the destination of Parkdale had a secret museum I didn’t know about – the Hutson Museum with the famed rock supper! I had heard about it but never quite figured out where it was. So at last! The museum was run by the collector’s neice, who showed me a fun video of Jesse who was crazy about rocks and wanted to collect one of each kind. Once back in Hood River, we drove around Mt Hood to Hwy 26 and finally hit a huge rain system, the first really on the whole trip. I had hoped to stop in Sandy so Andy could go on a train ride in this man’s backyard, but he was napping, and it was raining, so next time.
Still on the theme of the Oregon Trail, the next day we headed to Oregon City stopping for a brief hike on Elk Island in Milwaukee. The End of the Oregon Trail Museum was such a hit for little Andy. There were so many hands on things, ladies dressed in pioneers, and even the multimedia “Bound for Oregon” film kept Andy’s attention. But it was the Cedar Man who made stuff out of cedar that Andy liked best until he saw the Trolley, which gives free loop rides around town. The driver lady told some stories, let us out to look at the falls, and then we got out up on the bluff to look at John McLouglin’s home (not open) and ride up and down the Municipal Elevator, and then hopped back on the trolley only to hop off again for local cherries for $1 a pound – and good ones at that. The next day, with a free family pass, we headed to OMSI because I wanted to see my nephew Andy in one of the little chipmunk costumes. Andy loved OMSI he ran around from place to place, but especially liked the sand and water areas, and for a little while loved being a little chipmunk. After that I thought it would be fun to take Andy to Sushi World, so he could see the food go around and round. He loved it, Mom wasn’t so into it, Sarah and I enjoyed it. The day ended with my Birthday party in the Park (in a separate photo set.). I sent the family off to the Beach for two days, and they will stop over for one more night before heading back to Minnesota.
Green apple & wasabi dip n' dots with eel in cucumber-melon water.
Notes: The green apple-wasabi combination I had encountered, in frozen form no less, nearly a year before at the now closed 1 star Michelin Bon Lloc in Stockholm, Sweden. How interesting that this pairing has made it's way around the world to greet me again in Shanghai!
The eel was the really confusing element in this amuse. I can't say that it worked, and I can't say that it failed. Certainly the buttery avocado fit - it's clean flavors complimented the crisp freshness of the cucumber-melon water and the lucid green apple-wasabi dots. I think I'm used to eel served in full-flavored preparations (no doubt to cover eel's often muddy-tasting flesh), like glazed with teriyaki (Japanese) or smoked (northern Europe). Here, the cooked seems to be naked. The other oddity is that in Japanese cuisine, eel is usually served cooked and therefore not taken with wasabi - as it is here. While I'm always enthusiastic for new ways of approaching and eating food, I think what failed to grab me about the eel in this dish is that it ended up disappearing - texturally cloaked by the more compelling firm cubes of luscious avocado and flavorfully masked by the bright lucid green apple and wasabi.
The cucumber-melon water was also slightly sweet and tangy - perhaps sherry vinegar?
Amuse Bouche
Prosciutto with caramelized onions; strawberry soda; and lemon-poppy panna cotta.
Bluestem
Kansas City, Missouri
(June 27, 2012)
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Had the unbelievable opportunity to shoot this gorgeous Amuse widebody s2000 while I was in SF for Wekfest. No one has ever shot this car before so it was awesome to get the privilege to do so. Thanks to Kaan for bringing out this piece of art. Big thanks to Jeremy and Brad for helping me on this one and Jason for showing us an awesome location.
This is a penny arcade peep -show machine at Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach, Washington.
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Marsh’s Free Museum is a roadside stop that lures you in with more than tacky seashell gifts—it also serves as home to famous cult figure and mummified celebrity Jake the Alligator Man.
Stuffed Russian boars and seashells aside, what you truly go to Marsh’s to see is “Jake the Alligator Man,” a mummified half-man half-alligator. Purchased for the costly sum of $750 back in the 60s, Jake has enjoyed quite the celebrity over the years. A cult figure in Northwestern culture that has earned his own bumper sticker and has sold over 30,000 postcards, Jake was featured in the ever-amusing Weekly World News, his dramatic story included an escape from captivity, a murder, and a murkily-detailed birthing of an alligator-baby.
The tales of Jake’s fabulous life don’t end there. Sideshow performances, dancing in nightclubs in drag, cigar smoking in houses of ill-repute—he is even rumored to be “one of our forefathers”, according to a “doctor” quoted in the Weekly World news article.
These days, Jake rests in a glass case, enjoying his throngs of admirers and selling plenty of Alligator Man merchandise. Jake’s keepers like to keep his true origins a mystery, but in all likelihood Jake was a creation of Homer Tate, the man responsible for countless gaffs for the sideshow circuit during its heyday in the early 20th century. The mysterious oddities artist was prolific in the 40s and 50s, and is rumored to be behind many “mysterious oddities” from that era.