Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, May 9, 2021
through
Saturday, May 15, 2021
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It’s Saturday, May 15,, 2021
Welcome to the 1100th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Saint Matthias
Workshop of Simone Martini - https://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/european_paintings/saint_matthias_workshop_of_simone_martini//objectview.aspx?OID=110002131&collID=11&dd1=11
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2.0 Commentary
Tuesday was travel day.
Some highlights:
My friend Ann, who first gave me the idea for a reserved uber, was right about it.
My daughter Kat who encouraged that decision was also right.
The 4.30am reserved-uber arrived five minutes early.
Auspicious beginnings.
My fours hours at the airport (I dreaded the idea of missing my flight so arranged to get there early, to compensate for any automobile commute problems.)
TSA clearance is really important. Am going after my Real ID license as soon as I get home.
I learned a lot about travelling with my laptop.
Severe weather in Dallas led to a rerouting of our plane into Kansas City followed by my disembarkation and rebooking from Kansas to Philly to Boston.
At Kansas City I had time for a burger and a double gin and tonic.
Everything about that meal, including the timing, was perfect.
At the Philadelphia Airport, I ran into Ashley’s husband. She was a dear friend I knew from my daily pre-pandemic visits to the Blue Bottle café in Boston. Stuart Randall is his name. A great couple.
Boarding the last connection to Boston, I was feeling warm and cozy.
Plus, I had been upgraded to First Class.
The flight home was perfect, arriving @ 10.00pm.
I was first off and was able to hoof it ahead of the crowd to the luggage area to put a tracer on my luggage, still flying to Dallas.
The luggage arrived next morning exactly on time.
That officially ended the trip.
Otherwise, trip home uneventful.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com
This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
We had our final class.
Fun.
Term is over.
Going to miss it.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Brevity is the soul of wit.
~William Shakespeare
Act II, Scene II, Hamlet (1603)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from dear friend, Ann H:
Looks like it was an amazing trip and glad you figured out the preordering uber app.
xooxo
Blog meister responds: Get by with a little help from my friends. Thank you, my dear.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Dinner Wednesday night was a locally raised pork chop (off a pork chops tree) slow roasted for 1 hour per pound @ 200*.
I also fried a habanero and three cubanelle peppers.
After the roasting of the chop, I turned up the heat and fried the chop in the oil in which I fried the peppers.
Terrific.
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Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles (written c. AD 80–90), chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death.
His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended into heaven, and it was also made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.
There is no mention of a Matthias among the lists of disciples or followers of Jesus in the three synoptic gospels, but according to Acts, he had been with Jesus from his baptism by John until his Ascension.
In the days following, Peter proposed that the assembled disciples, who numbered about 120, nominate two men to replace Judas. They chose Joseph called Barsabas (whose surname was Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all [men], shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." [Acts 1:24–25] Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
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It’s Friday, May 14,, 2021
Welcome to the 1099th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Chinatown
businesses line Jackson Street, with the Bay Bridge in the background.
Christian Mehlführer, User:Chmehl - Own work
China Town in San Francisco, California. In the background you can see the Bay Bridge.
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2.0 Commentary
Last Monday, my last day in San Francisco, I spent my morning and early afternoon in Chinatown.
This is Washington Street in Chinatown with Transamerica Pyramid in the background
Howard61313 - Own work
Washington Street looking east from Chinatown, San Francisco, California.
Here is a gallery of some of my own images, four storefronts, a tiled wall, and a shot of the Transamerica needle.
After waiting 53 minutes in Boston for a taxi or uber, (an uber came before the taxi phones were open), I was planning on taking an uber after dinner [about 9.00pm] and spending the night at the airport.
My daughter convinced me to trust a prearranged uber, so, before going out to dinner, I arranged an uber pickup for 4.30am plus a wakeup call for 4.00am.
And I packed.
When I got back to the hotel I watched a lot of television and I slept a bit (3 hours).
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. Our last class of this term is Thursday, the 13th. It has been stimulating. And like exercise at Planet Fitness, our minds need stimulation as well.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
~William Shakespeare
Act II, Scene II, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from friend Colleen G:
Hi Dom,
That visit to Sorrel was you in your element! So glad you had what appeared the meal of a lifetime there!
What a fun tastebud adventure. It always shines through when the chef is passionate.
Enjoy the rest of the trip and safe travels:)
Cheers,
Colleen
And then this follow through:
Welcome home Dom!
You came home to beautiful weather--no better way to end a trip.
Cheers,
Colleen
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my dear.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night, my last night in San Fran, I returned to Akira, the Japanese restaurant with no stars.
It was another splendid meal.
This night the chef sent over an assortment of unusual fish, all imported from Japan.
Was it the power of suggestion or was the fish really better?
My guessing is the latter.
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The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia.
It is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Chinese enclaves within San Francisco.
Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America.
Chinatown is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity. There are two hospitals, several parks and squares, numerous churches, a post office, and other infrastructure. Recent immigrants, many of whom are elderly, opt to live in Chinatown because of the availability of affordable housing and their familiarity with the culture. San Francisco's Chinatown is also renowned as a major tourist attraction, drawing more visitors annually than the Golden Gate Bridge.
chinatown dragon gate
San Francisco's Chinatown was the port of entry for early Chinese immigrants from the west side of the Pearl River Delta, speaking mainly Hoisanese and Zhongshanese, in the Guangdong province of southern China from the 1850s to the 1900s. On August 28, 1850, at Portsmouth Square, San Francisco's first mayor, John Geary, officially welcomed 300 "China Boys" to San Francisco.
By 1854, the Alta California, a local newspaper which had previously taken a supportive stance on Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, began attacking them, writing after a recent influx that "if the city continues to fill up with these people, it will be ere long become necessary to make them subject of special legislation".
Early immigrant settled near Portsmouth Square and around Dupont Street (now called Grant Ave).
As the settlement grew in the early 1850s, Chinese shops opened on Sacramento St, which the Guangdong pioneers called "Tang people street" and the settlement became known as "Tang people town", which in Cantonese is Tong Yun Fow.
By the 1870s, the economic center of Chinatown moved from Sacramento St to Dupont St; in 1878, out of 423 Chinese firms in Chinatown, 121 were located on Dupont St, 60 on Sacramento St, 60 on Jackson St, and the remainder elsewhere.
The area was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese persons to inherit and inhabit dwellings within the city. The majority of these Chinese shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and hired workers in San Francisco Chinatown were predominantly Hoisanese and male. For example, in 1851, the reported Chinese population in California was about 12,000 men and less than ten women. Some of the early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the 1849 Gold Rush. Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies seeking a source of labor, most famously as part of the Central Pacific on the Transcontinental Railroad, from 1865–1869.
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It’s Thursday, May 13,, 2021
Welcome to the 1098th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Juana Briones de Miranda
considered the "Founding Mother of San Francisco".
TradingCardsNPS - Doña Juana Briones de Miranda
Caring Healer and 19th Century Businesswoman
Only one photo exists that is believed by her relatives to be Juana Briones.
This Mexican-American businesswoman, healer and landowner lived on the Presidio as a young woman.
Juana made many powerful friends through her generosity and healing skills, allowing her to be one of the few to retain Mexican Land Grants after California statehood. is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
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2.0 Commentary
Last Sunday morning, in San Francisco, I spent an hour and a half at the Golden Gate Park, that’s in addition to the time I spent there the day before. Another lovely moment, including seeing several birds. I may look up their names but probably won’t. Not today. Loved being in the park. Filled with people having good times.
From the park I went to Haight-Ashbury. Although just a shadow of its former self (we are told) I enjoyed being in the area. Basically, a neighborhood is a function of the activities of the residents and visitors. And, despite perhaps a third of the street’s businesses being closed down, there was a detectable elan. And, two-thirds of the businesses were functioning.
I enjoyed the visit.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
From Haight, I ubered to Little Italy. It was enjoyable. But even in its heyday, in a comparison with the 1950s Boston’s North End, it would pale. Two big reasons? San Francisco’s wide streets and wide sidewalks proscribe the crowded conditions the North End featured. That characteristic bricks-and-mortar closeness heightened the intensity of the spirit and excitement of the 40,000 young American-Italians residents crowded into the North End’s closely defined area, a second reason.
I ubered to Union Square where I had a notable coffee at Onesixty-five, a fashionable pâtissier/café. The coffee was great and the pastries looked marvelous. I declined the pastry as I continue o my very strict diet. I’ve been successful so far, reserving my caloric intake to the great dinners I’ve enjoyed.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice.
~William Shakespeare
Act I, Scene III, Hamlet (1603)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Got much needed Internet support from my children, from the use of Uber to restaurant suggestions to places to visit.
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my dears.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
It’s Tuesday.
I’m at the San Jose airport waiting takeoff.
I’ll be traveling all day.
When do I eat?
We have a two-hour stopover at Dallas airport.
I will look for a hamburger and cocktail kind of place.
That will be ideal.
In the next few day’s I am thinking menus and they seem to include white clam sauce, meatballs and gravy, and a rib roast.
Fish was served as part of the menus in each of the six San Francisco dinners, and served exclusively in Akira, my twice-visited Japanese place, so I needn’t add fish to my upcoming meals.
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Doña Juana Briones de Miranda (c.1802 – 1889) was a Californio ranchera, medical practitioner, and merchant, often remembered as the "Founding Mother of San Francisco", for her noted involvement in the early development of the city of San Francisco (then known as Yerba Buena). Later in her life, she also played an important role in developing modern Palo Alto.
Early Life
Juana Briones y Tapia was born in c.1802 at Villa Branciforte near the Mission Santa Cruz.
She was of mixed Spanish and African descent.
Some of her family members had arrived in Alta California with the Gaspar de Portolà and the Juan Bautista de Anza expeditions.
Her father was Marcos Briones, a soldier posted near Monterey, who later moved to the San Francisco Presidio.
In 1820 Juana married a soldier, Apolinario Miranda, and she bore eleven children between 1821 and 1841, eight of whom lived to adulthood: Presentación, Tomás, Narcisa, Refugio, José de Jesús, Manuela and José Dolores Miranda.
They also adopted an orphaned Indian girl.
After establishing a farm at El Polin Springs near the Presidio of San Francisco, she bought land and built a house at Yerba Buena, the area of San Francisco today known as North Beach. A natural entrepreneur, she marketed her milk and produce to the sailors from whaling ships or those who arrived in port for the hide and tallow trade. Briones excelled not only in business and farming: her reputation for hospitality and skills in herbal medicine and midwifery were widely recognized. She trained her nephew, Pablo Briones—who was later known as the Doctor of Bolinas (California)—in medicinal arts, although she never received a formal education and could not read or write.
Rancho
The plaque commemorating the site of the home of Juana Briones de Miranda in Palo Alto.
In 1844 Juana, who already had more than one home, gained a clerical separation from her physically abusive alcoholic husband and dropped his surname.
That same year, she bought from two Native Californians (José Gorgonio and his son José Ramon, from the Mission Santa Clara de Asís) the 4,400-acre (18 km2) Rancho La Purísima Concepción in Santa Clara County, an area overlapping present-day Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills. From the late 1850s through the 1860s she had to fight to retain the title to her land in both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties but succeeded with the help of attorney Henry Wager Halleck. She sold part of the rancho to members of the Murphy family, who came to California with the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party. Other sections she gave to some of her children.
A portion of her rancho home remained until 2011 in the foothills above Palo Alto, California at 4155 Old Adobe Road, two blocks west of the intersection of Arastradero Road and Foothill Expressway. Although most of the house dated from the early twentieth century, two walls in the oldest corner of the home exhibited the original rancho home's construction. These walls were historically significant, as they preserved a rare construction method: infilling a crib of horizontal redwood boards with adobe. This technique provided her dwelling with the excellent insulating characteristics of Adobe while protecting that building material from erosion problems during the rainy season, and destruction by earthquake, two problems with traditional adobe construction. Other than the unusual method of using materials, the original home exhibited the familiar layout of the traditional adobe: a strip of connected rooms with an external corridor. After a long legal battle with preservationists, the house was demolished in June 2011. A section of the original wall was restored and moved to the California Historical Society, San Francisco, which opened an exhibition about Juana Briones in January 2014: "Juana Briones y Su California: Pionera, Fundadora, Curandera," presented in partnership with Stanford University, the Bancroft Library and the Presidio Trust.
She died in 1889 by a cow stampede nearby the city of Mayfield (now part of Palo Alto, California). She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Menlo Park, California.
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It’s Wednesday, May 12,, 2021
Welcome to the 1097th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Stow Lake
Stow Lake
The largest of the manmade lakes in Golden Gate Park, offers boat rentals
Brocken Inaglory - Own work
Crepuscular Rays. In the middle left of the image one could also see a different set of the rays coming upward from the lake.
The light source for these rays is the Sun's reflection.
The image was taken at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
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2.0 Commentary
Sorrel is the best restaurant in San Francisco.
On Sunday night, the menu cost $110.00, the wine pairing was $75.00.
None of the other restaurants I visited offered a tasting menu and so didn’t offer wine pairings.
(See #6.0 Dinner below)
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
~William Shakespeare
Act I, Scene I, All's Well That Ends Well (1623)
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
The Menu
The great menu at Sorrel:
The amuse buches [top left] was artful and exciting: a panna cotta sprinkled with a black trumpet flour, and topped with fresh peas, loose and in their shell, and lemon jell.
The first course, Kanpachi (top, 2nd from left; please note i ate a couple of pieces before remembering to take a picture.) (Hawaiian Kanpachi is the premier member of the Amberjack family, prized by Japanese itamae and top chefs everywhere. The species is marked by a dark blue-green upper body with a lavender-tinted belly and elongated fins. When young, the distinctive bands centered over the eyes look similar to the Japanese symbol for the number 8, giving the fish its name “kan pachi” or “center eight”.)
Served as sashimi, it was wonderful.
The fish sat in a cool broth of sorrel and peas and a light vegetable oil with a small scoop of sherbert, the whole covered with a thin slice of colrabi. What imagination.
No other San Francisco restaurant offered such complex courses and so well achieved them.
Next came Cappelletti. (3rd from left) Being around pasta all of my life, it had to be pretty special to impress. It impressed. We have a great picture of it. Four hat-shaped cheese-stuffed pasta pieces, with wild nettle and green garlic in a beurre blanc sauce, with a strand of fiddlehead fern, perfectly crisped.
Next came a Beef Zabuton (Top far right). (The Zabuton steak also known as Denver steal is a primal cut from the chuck. This cut is highly marbled and desired.) Served with a ginger and sour cherry compote, a morel mushroom, and a thick slice of delicious celtuce. (Celtuce, also called stem lettuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, or Chinese lettuce, is a cultivar of lettuce grown primarily for its thick stem or its leaves.)
The listed dessert was Spring Honey, (bottom far left) with a chamomile soft cake, and burnt honey ice cream, but I also was served a sorrel sherbert on a bed of cucumber and sorrel pieces. And the kitchen also sent out a pistachio financier with a sour cherry glaze. (Bottom right.)
While the wine tasting was in general, well-chosen and fairly priced, the only mar on the evening was the poor choice of Champagne: a non-vintage Beaufort, Pinot Noir blend. The color, a deep yellow, was disconcerting. The effervescence was virtually non-existent although there was a noticeable frizzante on the palate. But the tactile was heavy, the taste dull. And it was the first thing I tasted.
So let me balance that by praising a 2009 Gattinara served with the Cappelletti. It was a lot of fun to taste a wine a little past its peak when all of the wonderful qualities of age are apparent, from the brownish tinges to the chocolate aroma.
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Stow Lake surrounds the prominent Strawberry Hill, now an island with an electrically pumped waterfall. The lake was named for W.W. Stow who gave $60,000 for its construction. Strawberry Hills' waterfall was named Huntington Falls after its benefactor Collis P. Huntington. Stow was the first artificial lake constructed in the park and Huntington was the park's first artificial waterfall. The falls are fed by a reservoir located atop Strawberry Hill. Water is pumped into the reservoir from Elk Glen Lake, the South Windmill, wells, and the city's water supply to keep the system of lakes flowing eastward from Stow.
Rowboats and pedalboats can be rented at the boathouse. Much of the western portion of San Francisco can be seen from the top of this hill. The reservoir at its top also supplies a network of high-pressure water mains that exclusively supply specialized fire hydrants throughout the city. The lake itself also serves as a reservoir from which water is pumped to irrigate the rest of the park should other pumps stop operating. In the past the Hill was also topped by Sweeny Observatory, but the building was ruined by the 1906 earthquake and plans to replace it were not approved by park commissioners.
Two bridges connect the inner island to the surrounding mainland: the Roman Bridge and the Stone (or Rustic) Bridge. The Stone Bridge is a prominent background feature in the 1915 American silent comedy short Wished on Mabel, starring Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
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It’s Tuesday, May 11,, 2021
Welcome to the 1096th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Golden Gate Park
Aerial photograph of the Golden Gate Park with the skyline of San Francisco in the background taken from DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone.
Golden Gate Park is home to ten lakes within the more than 1,000 acres of land designated to one of the most popular places to visit in San Francisco. Throughout the year, there are plenty of sights to see and an array of activities taking place at the lakes, including model boat regattas, waterfalls, pedal boat rentals, and intriguing displays of wildlife. A prepared visitor is one that comes with a camera in hand – ready to take a snapshot of one of life’s many precious moments. From mesmerizing ripples in the water to native bird air antics, you never know what you’ll encounter at the lakes of Golden Gate Park.
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2.0 Commentary
I fell into a terrific routine.
Wake at 5.00am.
Prepare my morning work.
Walk out at 6.00am (12min each way) to Peet’s where I buy a coffee and croissant.
Return to the lovely lobby and have breakfast and do early morning work.
The weather has turned fine and combined with the quiet of the early morning makes the walk out lovely.
Really lovely.
With great meals on the other end of the day, just have to fill in the center spots.
As for Saturday,
The mistake I made was walking from the Kabuki to the Golden Gate Park.
It did provide me with the opportunity to crash the campus of the University of SF on my way to the park.
At Golden Gate Park I opted out of more hills beckoning from the park’s interior .
I found a great perimeter path that stayed relatively level.
I spent a couple of lovely hours, although eight thousand other people also had the same idea.
It was fun.
At the DeYoung Museum, the Picasso/Calder exhibit had been sold out online and a nasty person eminded me of how unfair my request was.
I ubered back to the hotel.
In the afternoon I had a decent cappuccino at an outside tble and then went to the SFMOMA.
Some of the pix I wanted to share re: Phillip Guston didn’t make it but here are several that did
(A founding figure in the mid-century New York School movement, which established New York as the new center of the global art world, Guston's work appeared in the famed Ninth Street Show and in the avant-garde art journal It is. A Magazine for Abstract Art. By the 1960s, Guston had renounced abstract expressionism,}
So sorry about the photographs.
I’ll get better.
Then I walked to the Angler, a starred Guide Michelin restaurant.
What a great restaurant, making it three for four.
Here are some pix.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
For dinner I had baby artichokes. Simple, attractive, and delicious.
A grilled scallop. Likewise.
A potato with a cheese sauce The potato was baked so that the tasty exterior crusted and needed an authoritative smack to crack. Inside, the potato was creamy and unctious. And that was before the light, delicate, cheese sauce.
The fish was a whole sea bream and it was as good as fish gets, served with a light hollandaise-type sauce and ambered sea salt.
And dessert. Their renowned soft-serve sundae: a flavorless ice cream with candied
coconut nibs. The sauce was an amber roasted caramel. OMG!
Well deserving of the star.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
There is a charm about the forbidden that
makes it unspeakably desirable.
~Mark Twain
Chapter XXIV. Ceylon and India, Mark Twain's Notebook (1935, posthumous)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from my friend, Gary B:
That moss display at Al’s Place is one of the coolest hostess station decorations I’ve seen. I saved that picture.
I hope your San Francisco trip is going well!
Gary Bartos
Founder
Echobatix, LLC
Empowerment and Beyond
Assistive technology for the blind, the DeafBlind, and those with low vision
Blog meister responds: After some bumps in the road, going extremely well. Thank you, my friend.
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Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres (412 ha) of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development of Golden Gate Park.
Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape to but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York City, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles (4.8 km) long east to west, and about half a mile (0.8 km) north to south. With 24 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most-visited city park in the United States after Central Park and the Lincoln Memorial.
Golden Gate Park is home to ten lakes
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It’s Monday, May 10,, 2021
Welcome to the 1095th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Monk Testing Wine
by Antonio Casanova y Estorach (c. 1886)
Antonio Salvador Casanova y Estorach - Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 06.336.1.jpg
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2.0 Commentary
Friday I visited Daiso and bought 4 pairs of sunglasses for $6.00.
That’s total. $1.50 cents each.
Am returning to get 4 more if I can fit them in my suitcase. Also bought an oven mitt and a small bag perfect for a book and my eyeglasses. And 4 bowls ($2.00 ea). And
In the afternoon, with my cousins and aunt, I visited Settui winery for a tasting.
Despite the less than wonderful quality of the wine, we had a good time.
We followed the winery tasting with dinner at La Toque, a one-star restaurant.
We were five and ordered three appetizers, followed by three pastas, of tasting size rather than what might be considered half orders, followed by three ‘main’ courses. We each took a small portion of each plate and so got to taste nine different courses, plus an ‘amuses bouches’, plus a small bag of take-home sweets including a cookie and a jelly, and, we did order a single dessert, each taking a bite.
Everything we ate we loved, including (or especially) the whole wheat sourdough bread and butter.
We had such a good time I didn’t take photos except for this one of the appetizers: a carpaccio platter, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and a green salad.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1090 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
I should finish it today.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Nothing is made in vain,
but the fly came near it.
~Mark Twain
More Maxims of Mark by Merle Johnson (1927)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Yesterday we published some musing by David.
Here is a response by good friend Jim P.
Musings in reply:
Interesting points David, thank you.
Your nudge is a bit enigmatic, but I will try to reply.
I think there are always truth claims, no matter who is writing. But I’m intrigued especially by your last sentence. On what factual grounds do we know that the ‘facts of history’ that we grew up with are misleading? Is it because ‘we’ know the real truth that these others have been distorting? And who is the ‘we’ here?? Who are the they?
Do you think it is possible to write the past so that ‘we’ tell or know the “truth” instead of advancing “a myopic agenda?” Would this at last non-myopic truth be the true, absolute, universal truth that finally exposes the lies of all other so-called truths? How would we know that? God and Hegel all over again??
I have never read Saramago’s novel, but I will this summer. I still think that on the ‘history’ of Jesus, D.F. Strauss said all there needed to be said: the rest is myth. 😊
End of musing,
Jim
Blog meister responds: Two keen minds at work. Love it.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Three meals so far. Al’s Place which doesn’t deserve the star it has.
Akira’s, which deserves a star it doesn’t have.
And La Toque, which deserves the star it has. If only they would learn to say, Dinner and not Dining Experience.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onwards. Modern, professional wine tasters (such as sommeliers or buyers for retailers) use a constantly evolving specialized terminology which is used to describe the range of perceived flavors, aromas and general characteristics of a wine. More informal, recreational tasting may use similar terminology, usually involving a much less analytical process for a more general, personal appreciation.
Results that have surfaced through scientific blind wine tasting suggest the unreliability of wine tasting in both experts and consumers, such as inconsistency in identifying wines based on region and price.
Tasting stages
appearance
"in glass" the aroma of the wine
"in mouth" sensations
"finish" (aftertaste)
– are combined in order to establish the following properties of a wine:
complexity and character
potential (suitability for aging or drinking)
possible faults
A wine's overall quality assessment, based on this examination, follows further careful description and comparison with recognized standards, both with respect to other wines in its price range and according to known factors pertaining to the region or vintage; if it is typical of the region or diverges in style; if it uses certain wine-making techniques, such as barrel fermentation or malolactic fermentation, or any other remarkable or unusual characteristics.
Whereas wines are regularly tasted in isolation, a wine's quality assessment is more objective when performed alongside several other wines, in what are known as tasting "flights". Wines may be deliberately selected for their vintage ("horizontal" tasting) or proceed from a single winery ("vertical" tasting), to better compare vineyard and vintages, respectively. Alternatively, in order to promote an unbiased analysis, bottles and even glasses may be disguised in a "blind" tasting, to rule out any prejudicial awareness of either vintage or winery.
Vertical and horizontal tasting
Vertical and horizontal wine tastings are wine tasting events that are arranged to highlight differences between similar wines.
In a vertical tasting, different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted. This emphasizes differences between various vintages.
In a horizontal tasting, the wines are all from the same vintage but are from different wineries. Keeping wine variety or type and wine region the same helps emphasize differences in winery styles.
Tasting flights
Tasting flight is a term used by wine tasters to describe a selection of wines, usually between three and eight glasses, but sometimes as many as fifty, presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison.[citation needed]
Tasting notes
A tasting note refers to a taster's written testimony about the aroma, taste identification, acidity, structure, texture, and balance of a wine. Online wine communities like Bottlenotes allow members to maintain their tasting notes online and for the reference of others.[citation needed]
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It’s Sunday, May 9, 2021
Welcome to the 1094th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotriip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Osechi
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2.0 Commentary
Nice things happened on Thursday, planned and unplanned.
Planned was my visit to the Japanese Tea Garden.
What an extraordinary place to catch your breath.
Here are some pictures that I took. from there.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day.
Have been doing it for more than 1090 days.
This week is featuring photos from my trip to San Fran.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. I will finish it in San Francisco.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Man was made at the end of the week’s work,
when God was tired.
~Mark Twain
Chapter XXXIII. Back in America, Mark Twain's Notebook (1935, posthumous)
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from friend David R from the Sacco and Vanzetti group
Dear Dom,
I had a revelation this morning and thought you might appreciate it. Keep up the good work on the S-V plaque!
Musings of the Day
The following nudge has nothing to do with the Sacco-Vanzetti case per-se, but was inspired by my recent reading of The Gospel According To Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago.
It is a novelist’s perspective on the many gospels about the story of Jesus, all claiming to tell the truth. Jose Saramago makes no such claim.
This morning I had my own revelation. All the historians who have written great studies of the Sacco-Vanzetti case, including historians in general, have one thing in common. They all claim directly, or indirectly that their book is the truth. And they prove it by basing their book on all the historians who have written about the case in the past – all of whom claim their’s is the truth.
The non-historian who writes about any subject, makes no claim to telling the truth. Whatever truths come to light are discovered by the readers, who are blessed with the freedom to discover their own truth, not pre-determined by historical “fact.”
Today in America and the world around us we discover on a daily basis, that the “facts of history” we grew up with and believed in, are deeply misleading and were written more to advance a myopic agenda, than to tell the “truth.”
End of nudge.
David R.
David Rothauser, filmmaker, writer. teacher, actor
Memory Productions
90 Boylston Street #1, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
1-617-332-5014
Blog meister responds: I’m always surprised at the breadth of interests shown by our friends.
That’s impressive, David.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night was a find!
I was in the dumps that my meal at Mr. Jiu’s, a one-star restaurant, didn’t happen.
I scoured the restaurants in Japantown and was disappointed how few of them featured sashimi on their menus.
The young concierge suggested a place a little way out from Japantown.
Akira.
What a find!
The chef is a genius.
His plates were amazing.
And I had a smiling, happy waitress.
I was in my glory.
Here are some pictures.
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11.0 Thumbnail Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese: washoku) is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes; there is an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. Side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Seafood is common, often grilled, but also served raw as sashimi or in sushi. Seafood and vegetables are also deep-fried in a light batter, as tempura. Apart from rice, a staple includes noodles, such as soba and udon. Japan also has many simmered dishes such as fish products in broth called oden, or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga.
Historically influenced by Chinese cuisine, Japanese cuisine has also opened up to influence from Western cuisines in the modern era. Dishes inspired by foreign food—in particular Chinese food—like ramen and gyōza, as well as foods like spaghetti, curry, and hamburgers have become adopted with variants for Japanese tastes and ingredients. Traditionally, the Japanese shunned meat because of Buddhism, but with the modernization of Japan in the 1880s, meat-based dishes such as tonkatsu and yakiniku have become common. In addition, Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi, has become popular throughout the world.
In 2011, Japan overtook France to become the country with the most 3-starred Michelin restaurants; as of 2018, the capital Tokyo has maintained the title of the city with the most 3-starred restaurants in the world.
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