Steve, Yeah, the hurricanes are no joke and one of the reasons I'm moving. I only remember my last three rent increases: $75 for 2026, $35 for 2025, and $25 for 2024. The old man was probably the original developer in 1973. I met him the other day. I was walking and he was driving his gold Bentley SUV. I thought he was going to pass me so I stepped back. Instead he got out of his car to talk to the electric company workers. So we walked past each other. He waved at me in a kind of perfunctory way. For my part I smiled and waved at him. I clocked him as the owner years ago. Who else would routinely drive a gold Bentley SUV in this neighborhood?

I don’t know much about the business side of wine, but aren’t the distributors part of the problem? Apart from pushing certain wines, don’t they discriminate against small wineries or somehow make it hard for them to get to market? And as you say, the huge restaurant markup is a big problem.

@Axtremus Thank you!!! Seeing that site, now I remember it! I love your version! I just played your recording for my friend who teaches Chinese in my dept. He started singing! Maybe I'll learn it and have him sing it with me. He said they teach that to the first year Chinese students in the fall semester.

I nearly bought these two sketches last year on first sight. Fool & his money... Went back for them the next week and they'd gone [image: 1771087109816-20230427_101040-resized.jpg] [image: 1771087110273-20230427_101046-resized.jpg]

Made this last night, 2/3 of the 1/2 recipe. Only had half a pound of mushrooms so i added green peas. Delicious, and half a cup of rice was more than enough for the two of us. Would easily have fed four as a side dish. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/85389/gourmet-mushroom-risotto/

Speaking of Madonna, she was probably in the best shape of her career as a dancer and stadium performer at the time this video was made. Link to video I saw a live performance she gave in Italy around this time and it was great. Old person note: some of us are old enough to remember Times Square before it was gentrified. : leaving :

I say I have no arguments to defeat any of his points, sadly.

It seems to me to be decorated the way new high end London apartments are decorated. The aspects that stood out the most to me were: the darkness of it (I don't mean gloom; I just mean darkness); New York apartments don't have this aesthetic,... and, the light fixtures looked to me like the ones you see in new high end London apartments.

[image: 1771002394364-img_0158.jpeg]

I have never seen any of those flavors here. Pity.

I have a daughter intending to relocate to Hokkaido later this year. I'm looking forward to visiting them and learning a tiny bit of the language.

@ShiroKuro If you can’t bear ‘em…

@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?: Last project at Kim’s house Yay!! Congratulations!

Looks great. I generally reject crockpot recipes too, and I also prefer them simpler rather than tricked out with fat.

I heard that story on NPR the other day. Well traveled bird!

I associate croutons more with Caesar salad than soup. Oyster crackers or saltines are what I amend soup with more frequently. Dried bread cubes are most likely to become bread pudding or a strada in our home. Big Al

Nothing. [image: 1770914638379-2111.jpg]

@Bernard said in Musical Interlude — Dick Hyman: Wow. And he plays so much with his eyes closed. I wish had such good blind knowledge of the geography of the keyboard! I noticed that! No dramatic contortions either. Not to mention…isn’t he over 90 years old? Not too shabby.