Song of the day, 30 April 2026

Hopefully this is played tonight.

Chow. For a cat.

A co-worker bestowed a gift upon me earlier this week:

Now I need a cat to eat it.

Song of the day, 28 April 2026

Yesterday I finished reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and have discovered via the internet that it is littered with allusions to the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. I think I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe back in 7th grade so I am a bit rusty on all things Narnia and they went over my head.

How much am I missing having failed to recognize all the Narnia references?

Is this oyster stout fresh?: My Turn - Aidan by Lakefront Brewery

I am finally caught up on my salt & vinegar chips reviews and this post will get me caught up on beer reviews.

Aidan is Lakefront's - what? - 800th entry in their My Turn series? Well, maybe not quite that many but I am happy to see that it continues nonetheless. It has turned out some tasty brews and is the only way to get the venerable Milwaukee brewery to brew a smoke beer. "Smoked" and "rye" on the label drew immediate interest from me and I ogled the 6-pack with a male beer gaze. I mean, these are the two best things you can do to a beer. But what about that "oyster"?

Pulverized oyster shells were used here, not the meaty bits. Chemistry dictates that the calcium carbonate in the shells aids in clarifying beer and the practice dates back to the late 19th century, if AI is to be believed. The calcium carbonate gets proteins and yeast, which can make a beer cloudy, to coagulate and settle to the bottom of a brewing tank where they can easily be separated from the precious clear elixir.

Huh.

So do the shells add any flavor of the ocean? Lakefront says it adds a "subtle mineral quality". Interesting.

If memory serves, Aidan came out over the winter and my can had best by date of 04May2026 so I squeezed this in just under the wire.

My pour produced a big, tan head that had true staying power. The liquid was a deep, dark brown and admitted no light to pass through it. I don't recall the last time I saw a brew as Stygian as this one.

 

I see an oyster stout

And I want it brewed up black

 

Well that makes about as much sense as clarifying a beer that one cannot even see into. Ha ha! Who am I to question the folks at Lakefront?

 

I assume the oyster shells did their thing and clarified the beer but we'll never know. The aroma was roasty with a bit of sweetness that was redolent of haw flakes.

 

Taking a sip I found that it had a nice bit of fizz to it. The body was light-medium which took me by surprise as I figured a 7.1% A.B.V. stout would be on the heavier side. While I sampled it more or less straight out of the refrigerator, I found that the key to mining Aidan's vein of smoky rye deliciousness was to let it warm up.

 

This is something I need to work on with ales. I've gotta practice letting them warm up a bit instead of immediately consuming them in a sipping frenzy like that great white shark nomming on poor Chrissie Watkins.

 

Once I let my glass of Aidan enjoy a little bit of the temperate temps of spring, it took on many wonderful flavors. A general roasty taste was joined by milk chocolate giving a solid stouty base. A little stone fruit, some all-too mild smoke, and a hint of sweetness added to the mix. The rye wasn't spicy to my taste but rather is was earthy. I am beginning to suspect that rye becomes "spicy" in beer via melding with hops in a certain way. When I sup a Roggenbier such as, say, Tippy Toboggan, the rye has a mellow earthiness to it, a grainy flavor less sweet than wheat but not a sharp peppery one or a brisk turpene-like burst. As for the hops, they had a nice herbal aspect to them and let my tongue know they were there but the were not overpowering.

 

The grainy flavors lingered a bit on the finish and, as they faded, some dark roast coffee came into the picture before the herbal hop flavors came in. Bitterness and dryness were both middle of the road and made for a satisfying denouement.

 

Beyond wishing the smokiness had been a bit more prominent, this was one tasty brew. I was surprised that the malts didn't seem to add any bitterness as most American stouts (& porters too) generally have a fuliginous flavor from black malts or whatever kind of deep, black, burnt malts they use. Instead, Aidan had a nice, rounded roasty taste. Was this the result of the types of grains used? Or did the oyster shells have something to do with it? Honestly, I didn't catch that promised "subtle mineral quality". Maybe it was really subtle. Or perhaps that rounded malt quality is also known as a subtle mineral quality. After all, the both have the word "quality" in them.

 

Regardless, Aidan's malty profile was simply delicious. Roastiness, rye, and smoke made for a luscious pas de trois. Plus sweetness was held at bay and the delightfully light and nimble body belied the fairly high booze content.

 

Aidan was a great treat for me and I hope it's not too long before the My Turn series yields another brew with smoky malt in it.

 

Junk food pairing: If you have any Aidan lying around, drink it up for heaven's sake! And pair it with a bag of Mrs. Fisher's Dark potato chips. The extra sugars in the spuds yields more Maillard goodness and allowing you to drown in roasted gluttony.

The Pennywise of Potatoes: Mrs. Fisher's Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

I have been a fan of the Dark potato chips from our neighbors in Rockford, IL, Mrs. Fisher's, for a while now. They just taste extra rich and roasty and I have lamented that I've never found a salt & vinegar chip from them. Until now. Or rather a recent shopping trip at the Woodman's in Sun Prairie.

For as long I have been a fan of their chips I have been a fan of their packaging as it features an anthropormorphic potato who knows a fine milliner dancing with a couple of kids. It's something of a Rorschach test as the look on the spud's face can be interpreted as being gay & mirthful or simply menacing. Personally I see it as the latter because, to my eyes, he looks like he's about ready to throw the children into a cauldron of hot oil and kettle fry them up before salting them down.

And I love the company motto: "VITA SEALD". Who needs that second E? The life essences of potatoes are sealed in each bag. Or the life essences of children? Hmm...

The bag notes that these chips are "thick sliced" (not thickly) and so they were. They were also of a fairly narrow diameter. By and large these chips were lightly colored - yellow - but there were brown bits to be had as well including an occasional brown edge. The surfaces were well-bubbled and featured plenty of large salt crystals which raised my blood pressure just by looking at them. They looked very deer-friendly. A delightful earthy-sweet potato flavor was up front on the nose followed by oil and a touch of vinegar. Usually oil is most prominent so this was a nice change of pace.

The thick cut yielded a nice, big crunch. Those salt crystals kicked up the salinity as expected and there was plenty of vinegar tang to match. Truth in labeling here. As for the potatoes, they provided a rich, earthy-sweet taste that I liked because it was earthy tasting first.

Mrs. Fischer's has another winner here. These are on par with Vitner's as far as the salt & vinegar go. Eating them I thought I was pickling my viscera. The difference is that these are thicker and crunchier than Vitner's. A very fine chip. Highy recommended.

Semi-verdant

It was to be a fairly cool day so I decided to take a walk around Morton Forest this morning. I left the house around 5:30 but it took me a bit less than an hour to get there. The sun had breached the horizon by the time hit the trail but had just risen above the first ridge as I ascended.

Some trees had leaves while others merely had buds. It was semi-verdant, I guess you could say.

The forest was alive with the songs of birds but they largely remained high up in the tree canopies. I could hear the work of woodpeckers everywhere I wandered. While I saw a few as they gracefully swooped through the air, I had no chance of getting them photographed. A robin, however, didn't flee too far in terror.

I followed the "conceptual trail" off of the Brunner(?) field having forgotten that you go down one ridge and ascend the one that the field sits atop of. By the time I got back to my car, my legs and butt were quite sore. I've got to get my hiking legs ready for a trek up north.

Regardless of the aches, it was a great walk and look forward to returning when the trees are in full bloom.

Song of the day, 24 April 2026

Coming soon, 22 April 2026

Seen before a showing of Normal which was a hoot. I did not expect the mayor, played by Henry Winkler, to get blown up. Hehe. I was, however, disappointed at the lack of regional Minnesota accent and dialect. No mention of hotdish at the potluck. Oh well. Still, it's always good to have a Ben Wheatley movie.

 

Oceans Eleven's 25th anniversary is this year so it is returning theaters.

Now, about Lake Five...

Putzing around with Google Maps I discovered that there is a Lake Five out by Hartland. Wisconsin, that is.

Of course this brought a fine IQ song to mind.

Greetings and Good Morning!

The sun had not yet breached the sky when I headed out on a walk this morning. This is two days in a row and I am hoping this is the start of a trend.

The hawks must all have taken up residence in other neighborhoods because there are rabbits everywhere in the neighborhood. Despite a wealth of photo opportunities none were in focus. Here's the best I could do this morning. Same for squirrels.

Did I have a good time? да!

When I read a couple months or so back that Igor & the Red Elvises were coming to town, I immediately thought, "I am going. I don't care if it's on a Monday night, I am going." The thing is, I don't recall why I felt that way. I am beginning to think I saw them at a summer festival here in Madison at one point because I recognized their name and was eager to see them. And so I hoofed it over to The Bur Oak on Monday night.

I was seated up close and the show was nice'n'loud much to my delight. It kicked off with the title track of their 2017 album She Works for KGB which saw bandleader Igor Yuzov solo on his guitar using his fingers as well as a plastic banana and they didn't let up until the set break nearly an hour later. The second tune was a medley that included "Hava Nagila" - I recall that much. "Twist Like Uma Thurman" and "I Wanna See You Bellydance" got people moving.

"Everybody Polka", an original, and a medley of the Peter Gunn theme and "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors were genuine, 24-karat rock and roll. Great stuff. These folks rocked! And they had a lovely lady playing a giant balalaika-bass for that true Russian touch. Kudos to drummer Tatá Batera for keeping a steady beat and sneaking in powerful tom fills whenever she could. Sorry I didn't get a good photo of you.

After the show the lovely balalaika lady was at the merch table. Upon learning that they were unable to process credit cards, I went to an ATM to get cash. I bought a CD and was given one for free for taking the trouble to get cash.

A great show. Hopefully they come back soon.

Perambulations, 22 April 2026

It was a lovely, cool dawn this morning down by the creek. The trees don't look so bare anymore. Life springs forth anew once again.

I saw only 1 bicyclist but many a red-winged blackbird whose chorus provided the soundtrack for my stroll.

The fellas were out chirping up a storm. No doubt the ladies succumbed to the lure of their melodic calls.

The sun is now rising in the northeast and it cast its warming glow on everything.

I wonder how these two houses ended up being set back so far from the street - the 3000 block of Commerical. Were they farm houses that just ended up being spared?

Buds, buds everywhere!

Plus flowers!

Bric-a-brac.

M & J Jamaican Kitch'n: First Impressions

Sadly Rue Bourre is no more but in its place has risen M & J Jamaican Kitch'n.

The interior was colorful and inviting.

Dinner came after grocery shopping rather than the other way around as it should have been. Hence, when co-owner Donnet Joseph greeted my co-shopper and me and regretfully informed us that, since it was late, the not all items on the menu were available, we weren't surprised. Fiar. I had jerk pork, my Jamaican standby.

It was tasty. I gobbled up all the cabbage along with a good helping of the beans and rice. The pork was delicious but the serving was about 50% chunks of fat. Hmm. The jerk sauce at the table had a nice burn to it along with a good allspicey-onion flavor.

A bit disappointing at the fatty chunks but I will definitely return.

Song of the day, 22 April 2026