Song of the day, 26 Juni 2026

Thanks to MadCity Music, I now have the shiny new Jethro Tull box set for Under Wraps.

And, as you can imagine, I've been listening to it quite a bit. Here's the title track live from here in Madison in 1984.

Willow spies something outside

Walk, 26 Juni 2026

Walking out my front door, I immediately saw a bunny on the lawn.

Fried Shack, baby

As noted in my latest salt & vinegar chip review, my ladyfriend and I stopped in the BP on Northport recently to try the food at Fried Shack but found it closed. The chips were something of a consolation.

Well, we dropped in soon after on a day that wasn't Sunday and found the Indian purveyor of fried foods to be open.

We eagerly placed our orders and a bit later, returned to my place to dine. I will note that the gas station gets high marks for junk food from me as they carry Vitner's chip including the Platonic ideal of the salt & vinegar variety.

My lady got the chicken biryani.

It was delicious. Delicately seasoned with a generous serving of bone-in chicken.

I went with the masala fried chicken.

What a fine cultural combination. The breading was crunchy and perfectly done. The chicken was tender and juicy while the masala added a wonderful twist to the staple American food. It blew Kentucky Fried Chicken away in so far as their chicken boasts a seasoning blend comprised of 11 herbs and spices while the masala here likely features the flavors of twice that or more. It had that lovely, mellow softness from the cardamom and the sprightly zing of ginger tempered by the myriad of other seasonings including the floral tones of coriander.

In short, it was excellent. Next I want to try their masala fried catfish.

Also, note the piece of white bread at the bottom of the box, a traditional American accompaniment.

Petrarch Had It All Wrong: The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe

I'd heard of The Bright Ages a few years back in 2021 when the authors appeared on a podcast that I listen to. Then earlier this year I found a copy at a used bookstore and snatched it up.

While it is aimed at the lay reader and I am one, I think I've read enough books on medieval history and listened to enough podcasts to say that I have moved just beyond being a typical lay reader. And so nothing here surprised me. I may have not read a particular fabliaux or about the life of a particular empress but I've learned enough about these and other subjects that they're not new to me nor are they greatly revelatory, by and large.

Authors Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry have, I think, a couple goals here. One is to dispel myths about the so-called Dark Ages, a concept given to us by Petrarch, and to show that they were, in fact, bright. The second follows from the first and is to counter the evildoers of our time who justify their views and actions by placing themselves in a line that extends back to the Middle Ages, to cast their words and deed as a continuation of those medieval figures that they deem righteous.

The book is a series of tableaux that counter one or more widely held misconceptions about the Middle Ages and present a truth more complicated. The first chapter looks at the role of women in medieval Europe. They were not simply these meek creatures ruled over by and beholden to the men in their lives. And so we learn about Galla Placida who ruled the Western Roman Empire on behalf of her minor son from 425 to 437 until he turned 18. Women may not have been 100% equal to men but they did wield power.

In one chapter we learn about Vikings and the myriad of trading routes and partners they had. In the popular imagination they cruised around northern Europe in their longboats and, upon landing, immediately began raping and pillaging. And so it was really neat to learn about Viking in the Caspian Sea region where they traded their ships for camels to haul goods. Since Islamic states charged higher taxes to pagan northerners, these Viking pretended to be Christian.

Of course, in my head I envisioned these blond warriors with horned helmets trucking through the desert on camels. But Viking helmets didn't have horns. D'oh! This section of the book is emblematic of many others which illustrate that Europe wasn't an all white place in the Middle Ages and that people moved around and intermingled all the time. Vikings went to the Caspian Sea and to North America; Muslims made their way into Spain where they preserved many an ancient text; the Mongols went west and extended their empire into Europe, knocking on the gates of Vienna; monks from France went to the steppes with bare feet to convert the Mongols to Christianity. Humanity mingled throughout the Middle Ages.

I really enjoyed the final chapter on medieval cities. We non-historians have this notion that people lived out in rural areas under the feudal system. But many medieval Europeans lived in cities. City air was free and urbanites were sometimes granted freedoms and privileges that their country cousins were not. The book states "Voting was a prominent part of medieval urban life" yet most common conceptions of that time exclude voting and view it as a habit of ancient Greeks that we moderns picked up after a long period of kings issuing orders to their vassals and popes pronouncing ex cathedra.

One of the disturbing things in the book that I felt had relevance to today was the all-too often terrible plight of the Jews. The Christians of the First Crusade killed Jews on their way to Jerusalem and in the city once it was taken; Jews were run out of France in the early 14th century; piles of manuscripts of the Talmud were burned in Paris in 1241; they were forced to convert at the tip of sword or else. And on and on.

I think the book's discussion of horrible treatment of the Jews (the book discussed Jews in more terms than their persecution, it should be noted) resonated with me as I heard last month that, Francesca Hong, a candidate for governor of my fair state, was gleefully looking forward to chatting with Hasan Piker, an internet celebrity or commentator or something internet, who has said some terrible things such as:

"...any 'Zionist entity' should be 'treated in the same way as a rabid neo-Nazi, and you shouldn’t even let someone be the local dog catcher if they’ve ever exhibited any positive feelings about the State of Israel.'"

Last year Kanye West was seen in public wearing a Swastika shirt. And I recall the numerous reports of Jewish students being harassed on American college campuses in the wake of the events of 7 October. And on and on. When I was young virulent anti-Semitism was largely practiced by assholes who lived out in the boonies and accumulated large caches of guns or marched in Skokie and now it has a certain, albeit limited, mainstream acceptance.

Lastly I want to mention that the book delves into how the Middle Ages were, well, bright. Just look at the 13th century stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle!

And here's a reconstruction of a standing stone from the tenth century with carvings. The stones were painted back in the day.

We see surviving medieval objects in cold brown and grey but they were bright and colorful back in the so-called Dark Ages. Medieval churches were often colorfully painted and brilliant mosaics were not uncommon.

The Bright Ages dispels common myths and implores readers to take the Middle Ages on its own terms and see commonalities with our own time, to view the people of that time as being much like us despite their foibles and failings. They may have had weird beliefs and held to superstitions we have discarded but they loved their children, enjoyed a good meal, and their leaders were just as conniving and corrupt as our own. This is not an exhaustive retelling of history but a sampler that will hopefully impel readers to investigate this fascinating period further.

Chow

I've been eating a fair amount of soup lately as the temps haven't been deadly. Here's pho from Hot 'n Spicy. I've had it a couple times recently and appreciate the numerous basil leaves they give you. I've noticed that their jalapeno slices tend to be of a large diameter.

I took a friend's daughter there for dinner recently and she remarked that her dish had the perfect amount of spicy heat. Contrariwise, my ladyfriend ordered Pad Woon Sen there at medium heat and it burned her mouth up real good. "Well, I can't complain about it as I knew the place is called Hot 'n Spicy when I walked in," she admitted.

That place has quickly become a favorite.

When I couldn't indulge in pho, I went with wonton soup. This is a generous helping of the stuff from a Chinese joint at Global Market's food hall the name of which I cannot recall. Tasty but I wouldn't have minded more - much more - baby bok choy.

While it hasn't been 90 degrees out, I have nonetheless been trying to avoid cooking inside which means grilling outside. Here's chicken with Thai cucumber salad that I made.

Pork chops seasoned with that Cherry Bomb seasoning that I've mentioned previously.

My ladyfriend assembled chicken kabobs one evening and I cooked them up fine.

Walleye with green beans. I would like to get one of those tray hoolies so I don't have to wrap fishes up in foil for grilling.

I finally busted out the BBQ rub I bought in Albuquerque.

The chops turned out well. A little heat but nothing deadly. Instead just good red chili flavor.

Tangent: I was in a store recently and saw Hatch chili something or other and I immediately had a flashback to Albuquerque.

Spring rolls from Hot & Spicy. Mmm...

Lastly, the pollo soup from La Pollera Colombiana on East Wash. Simple yet delicious. Plenty of chicken along with potatoes and carrots. Good basic food. The staff there that night were quite friendly and our server was happy to let my ladyfriend ply her limited Spanish on her. Also of note was the football game on the TVs. When Brazil scored, the announcer yelled "GOOOOOAL!!" for about 15 seconds. Twice. Great food, great people, great atmosphere.

The Highlanders sowed their seeds where exactly?: Zasiali Górale by Browar Błonie

My introduction to Polish craft brewery Browar Błonie's folklore brews was highly successful. And so when I was at a Polish grocery store in Chicago back in May and saw more of the series I snagged a few of them. At the check out, the Polish lady at the register said in her accented English that these were some very good piwos. That pretty lady has good taste.

This wheat beer's name, Zasiali Górale, apparently translates to "Sowed by Highlanders". Now, when I think of the Polish Highlands, I think of the Carpathian Mountains and gentlemen with big, bushy mustaches, not amber fields of wheat. Perhaps it's a pun or an allusion that is lost on Google Translate and me alike.

The English label only said "Wheat Ale" and I wasn't sure if it was just an ale made from wheat or if it was a Polish take on the hefeweizen with all the funkadelic flavors from the yeast. Going to the brewery's website and finding the description "A light unfiltered top-fermented beer with hints of bananas and cloves" answered that question.

As luck would have it, I had a Weißbier glass to show off this piwo. And as with another recent brew review, the photo here tricksies you. Insted of a gold color, Zasiali Górale is actually of a light yellow hue and hazy. The Weißbier glass proved a nice bit of luck because this beer had lots and lots and lots of bubbles in it and the tall glass meant I could watch them stream upwards like schools of salmon swimming upstream to their spawning destiny. The head was a big dollop of loose, white foam. This was a gorgeous beer.

The aroma smelled of wheat along with a generous dose of bubble gum and a fainter bit of banana. No clove to my nose. There was also a bit of spicy hops to be had as well. All familiar hefeweizen territory.

My first sip revealed a light-medium body with a nice fizziness to it, although I had expected more considering all those bubbles. Like the nose, I tasted wheat and found that bubble gum was the primary flavor from the yeast with a hint of banana lurking underneath. Clove came into my mind but I didn't taste any and my brain didn't just throw some in there simply because the label said so. There was just enough spicy tasting hops for balance but they were not a prominent flavor.

The wheat and bubble gum flavors lingered on the finish until they faded out due, no doubt, to a combination of being washed from my tastebuds and the spicy hops which were not potent, but not impotent either. Just enough for a spicy-green taste to prevail and add a modicum of bitterness.

Zasiali Górale is a fine traditional hefeweizen though I am still flummoxed by the name. The part of Poland that abuts Gremany is near Berlin while the Highlands are separated from Bavaria by whatever Czechoslovakia is these days. I greatly appreciate the bubble gum-banana flavors from the yeast instead of something more clovey.

Junk food pairing: This fine piwo deserves to be paired with fine foods. Grab a bag of rye pretzel crisps and apply a big helping of bacon horseradish dip. You won't regret it.

Red dust on my Jethro Tull tee/Willow's pets turn all greasy: All In (Hot) by Rap Snacks

Man, just read those dope rhymes! I've got that progressive rock flow...

While I was quite disappointed to find Fried Shack closed when we walked into the BP at Northport and Troy Drive, I found a silver lining: two new varieties of salt & vinegar chips. Both came courtesy of Rap Snacks, the self-proclaimed official snack of hip-hop. Each bag had hip-hop star Lil Baby on the front and I had no idea who he is but have since learned that he's a hip-hop artist from Atlanta. (I did, however, recognize the visage of Snoop Dogg on the packaging of other flavors.)

These 2 flavors are of a piece so I am going to review both in one post. They are All In and All In Hot.

The "All In" bit refers to salt & vinegar, BBQ, onion, garlic, and "more" which leads me to believe it's a variation of the "All Dressed" flavor combo from our neighbors to the north which I just now see includes salt & vinegar. This revelation has expanded my chip purview. Are there All Dressed dips that I must now contemplate trying?

First up:

I was a bit disappointed to read the ingredients list and find no vinegar which leads to me wonder how they can get away with this deception. I suppose no one has brought this matter to the attention of the appropriate authorities (who probably are short-staffed and wouldn't look into it) or there was a disclaimer on the bag that I missed.

As it was, the chips had malic and citric acids.

My desk lamp and dark-colored desk all conspired to make these chips appear darker than the light yellow hue they were. A bit thicker than your average chip, they had a patina of orange or red dust. Brown edges were in abundance and the surfaces had some small bubbling. Sticking my nose in the bag and taking a whiff, it found a healthy paprika aroma - a slightly milder one than Jays Hot Stuff chips - along with oil and a bit of sweetness. I noticed lactose on the ingredients list.

These chips had a nice crispy-crunchiness to them which I'd like to taste in chips more often. Paprika and a smoky BBQ taste led the way. Those acids lent a firm tanginess which went well with what I felt was a little extra salt. As in the aroma, there was a noticeable sweetness but it was kept in check by all of the other more savory flavors. I found the onion and garlic to be rather faint.

While I'd vote for a bit less sweetness, Lil Baby's All In were some very tasty chips. The vinegary tang and the paprika were a great combination.

All In Hot had red to the packaging and cayenne pepper to the seasoning mix. Beyond these things, I didn't notice much of a difference when looking at the bag and the ingredients list.

Visually, the difference here from its milder cousin was more red dust. The chips definitely had a redder hue. The aroma was similar too but I caught a faint smokiness as a hint of the vinegar.

That delectable crispy-crunch was present here. The taste was largely the same as well but with some cayenne heat. They seemed less salty too and the garlic taste was bumped up just a bit. As before, no vinegar here - just malic and citric acids.

Ideally, each would be a little less sweet but, in the end, both of these varieties are very tasty. They had nice, firm tangs which I'd love to have been even tangier but so it goes. The combinations of salt & vinegar, BBQ, onion, garlic, cayenne, potato, oil, and whatever else they threw in just worked. Perhaps not a pure salt & vinegar chip but excellent nonetheless.

The Rap Snacks website shows that they have more salt & vinegar goodness on offer so I guess a return trip to that gas station is required.

Red dust on my Jethro Tull tee

Willow's pets turn all greasy

Lil Baby ain't got nothin' on me

But god damn his chips are tasty

My question exactly: What's the Big Dill? By Half Fast Brewing Co.

When I initially saw this beer in a cooler at MoonRidge Brewery up in Cornell, I was puzzled just like William of Baskerville at the death of Adelmo. Why would they be carrying the brews of another brewery and who was this Half Fast Brewing Company anyway? I then looked that the label and saw that the Half Fast Brewing was, just like MoonRidge, veteran owned. Aha!

Half Fast, the business entity, at least, lists their address as being in Spring Valley, Wisconsin which is west of Menomonie. The can indicated that the beer, however, was brewed in Osseo which I presume meant at Northwoods Brewing which had closed just a few months previously. But perhaps just to the public. Maybe they contract brew now. I mean, how can Walter's just disappear again? Have the Gen Zers of Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties have no sense of tradition? Or maybe, just maybe the beer predated the brewery's closure. After all, there was no canned on/best by date to be found.

Having so much Central and Eastern European blood in me, I have a taste for pickle beer which no doubt seems odd to anyone who doesn't know me and of what stock I come from. Heck, it's even strange to me. Still, I bought a can of Half Fast's What's the Big Dill?, a pickle Gose.

Like all kinds of foods do, What's the Big Dill? fell victim to the dark color of my desk and so it looks gold in the photo but it's really a straw hue. It was clear with a smattering of bubbles. My pour produced a big head of loose, white foam. I was quite surprised by the aroma which was sweet and redolent of pineapple, of all things. I also knew that this just couldn't be good. Maybe not horrible because I don't think of a pineapple smell as being indicative of spoilage or any such thing but maybe someone got their flavoring bottles mixed up.

My tongue was greeted by a nice fizziness and the beer had a light body as expected. Then, inexplicably, came the pineapple. How blatantly odd. Thankfully it wasn't sweet, just a full fruity flavor. This was followed by some pickle taste. I spent a couple minutes pondering the tropical fruit flavor here - I suppose it could have come from a hop - and then it occurred to me that it was ostensibly a Gose. Was there any salinity? Of course on my next sip I tasted a bit so I am unsure if it was there all along but my tastebuds got sidetracked by pineapple or if I only tasted salt because I knew it to be a part of the Gose style and was not fully cognizant of this. Was my tongue playing tricks on me?

Regardless, the beer was lacking in the sour department. Pickles implies being pickled in vinegar and I just tasted nothing tangy/sour.

That odd pineapple-pickle combo lingered on the finish before the hops gently laid them to rest with a wave of dryness and a bit of bitterness.

This was one weird beer. It was also just not good. While the light body is par for the Gose course, the flavors, especially the pickle, were very mellow and the whole beer just came across as a watery mess. Where's the tanginess? Why is the dill pickle flavor so paltry? I'll likely try another Half Fast if given the opportunity but this one won't get a repeat.

Junk food pairing: With a paucity of pickle and Half Fast's proximity to Minnesota, pair What's the Big Dill? with a bag of  Old Dutch's Spicy Dill Pickle chips to boost the pickle quotient and get a little zip to boot.

Some recent & random photos

I witnessed a cardinal couple going at it with a crow. They were on the power lines out back and they were loud. It was a real shouting match - like an avian episode of Jerry Springer.

Some nice architectural ornamentation in Jefferson Park, Chicago.

It was foggy the other morning.

A look inside Madison's public market at one of their pop-up events.

Chicago River from La Salle Street bridge.

And, finally, here's Willow checking out a moth that had landed on the window screen.

Every log of wood has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it

Last weekend I was pleased to discover that my bicycle's tires could still hold air as I inflated them for the first time in many a moon. While I'd taken a ride last summer, I believe, it had been a while since I rode with any sort of frequency and I was looking to get back into the swing of things. My first venture on two wheels of 2026 would be to the Harry Whitehorse International Wood Sculpture Festival over at San Damiano in Monona. I'd attended back in 2024 and now realize that I never wrote about my visit.

Harry Whitehorse was born up in Black River Falls in 1927. He served in the Navy during World War II and settled in the Madison area afterwards. He ran an auto body shop in Monona and pursued his passion for creating art, including wood sculpture.

The festival involves artists from around the globe each being given a ginormous log and transforming it into a sculpture over the course of several days on the shores of Lake Monona. This year they came from such faraway places as Poland, Puerto Rico, Germany, Argentina, Green Bay, and Madison. The theme for 2026 is dancing and I am keen to see what these artists come up with.

Here are some scenes from the opening day of sculpting. Chainsaws were the order of the day as the artists were doing the rough shaping of the logs. The finer, more detailed work would come later.

The sculptors had eye protection but we observers didn't. More than once a breeze off the lake blew the sawdust into my face.

I was surprised to see a face emerging already on this log.

It was a lovely day out with plenty of sun and not too hot. There were craft vendors and food trucks.

As I did back in 2024, I bought some cards by Christopher Sweet, a Ho-Chunk artist from Baraboo.

Here the artist from Germany contemplates how best to discover and uncover the statue in the log.

I was told that this was this fellow's first time sculpting from wood of this size. Until now he'd done only small-scale stuff. Oh, he's from Green Bay.

Some of the sculptures from the 2024 festival were put on display at Olbrich Gardens, Garver Feed Mill, and perhaps elsewhere. I'm not sure if these are permanent displays or not. One of the pieces from a couple years back was on display Saturday at the park.

And here's one that I spied at Garver back in the spring.

I hope that they get put on display around town and become fixtures like Sid Boyum's works are.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I head over to Working Draft Beer to sample their rauch hefeweizen. I also had a small pour (I was biking) of their English summer ale.

It was very tasty and reminded me of the Wainwright Gold I had in the UK last year. And here is that lovely beer which I had with my Sunday roast at The Old Crown in Birmingham. It's an inn that supposedly dates back to 1368 and I had two wonderful meals there in the warm, medievalish atmosphere.

The folks at Working Draft did a really nice job in capturing that light, doughy malt taste that predominated in the beers I had over there. Not a 100% exact match but really gosh darn close. Thank you Clint and company.

Having been refreshed by the power of delicious beer, I met a friend at the garden plot that she co-works with a friend of hers.

Swiss chard, basil, tomatoes, and more. I went home with a bundles of fresh dill. Mmm...

I hope to make a return trip to San Damiano this weekend to see the sculptures in their final form.