Eating the Globe: Honduras

Fourth time is a charm. Like the country itself, local Honduran restaurants are a mess.

I went to a Honduran place in San Rafael. The sign on the window said that it opened at 10 a.m. It was 10:15 and was closed.

I went to a Honduran place in San Francisco. It was shut down due to asbestos, mold, lead, etc.

I planned on going to a Honduran place in San Jose. But my San Jose friend told me that it was in a dicey neighborhood. He found us another Honduran place in San Jose in a much better neighborhood.

I ordered the tajadas con carne molida. Carne molida is ground beef. It tasted like garlicky meat sauce for spaghetti, with bits of potato. Tajadas are apparently the thinly sliced bed of plantains that form the bottom of the dish (mixed with cabbage). I don't usually like plantains because I don't like sweet stuff in my entrees. But these plantains were very neutral in flavor and just "tasted" like bland starch.

The beer only has a 4% rating.

72 countries down.

Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden
North America: Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga

Swincar E-Spider

Each of those wheels is driven by an in-hub, 1000-watt brushless electric motor that delivers big torque and charges during braking, making four-hour jaunts possible even over mountainous terrain. Steering (to start the lean) happens through a conventional steering wheel that turns front and rear wheels in opposition, and throttle and brakes are controlled either on-yoke or via foot pedals.

H/t again to Peter.

Japanese husband has not spoken to wife in 20+ years

So sad. So weird.

Ferrari 408 inspired the Acura NSX

I saw this tweet this morning:

Best known as the car which inspired the Honda NSX's design. I met the designer of the 408, shortly before he retired. https://t.co/uhWtIv69Ek

— Matteo Licata (@matteo_licata) December 30, 2016

So I looked it up on YouTube just now. I didn't know Alan had a channel!

World's tallest bridge in China

565 meters above the river!

More info here. H/t to Peter.

Terrible frozen food ad

In my quest to Eat the Globe, I may have to resort to going to Eastern European markets and getting frozen foods. This brand is based in San Francisco and makes Ukrainian dumplings. I hope the food is better than the production value of this commercial.

The dying art of Chinese neon sign making in HK

Youtube comment: This was far more interesting than I thought it was going to be!

Carrie Fisher on Craig Ferguson

They complement each other well. So quick witted and dark.

Yosemite VW bus

Interactive map showing (and describing) every current territorial dispute in the world

Thanks, Peter!

Link here.

If Earth had rings like Saturn

Wham! in 1985 China

These are fascinating videos. They even ride in a Hongqi!

Shooting with Tracking Point and Google Glass

I got a Southwest Companion Pass!

I just earned a Companion Pass. That means from now until December 31, 2017, my wife can fly with me everywhere for free. The possibilities are limitless. She can fly with me every single day. It doesn't matter if I pay for my ticket or use my points.

I'm going to put Southwest out of business!

The question is, where do we go? To visit friends and family, we plan to go to Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston, New York, Richmond, Atlanta, and Ft Myers. Have I missed any destinations?

White Christmas in St. Paul, Minnesota

I just spent four days with the in-laws in the Upper Midwest. We usually meet up in Florida for Christmas every year, but with two family members pregnant (and having the exact same due date(!)), we decided to skip Zika Central. We all met in St. Paul, where my brother-in-law and his wife live.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood. Whenever I am in a new place, I wake up fifteen minutes early and stroll around the block. I was not disappointed. I spotted a nice Hyundai Equus with Oregon plates.

My plan this time was to have no plans. I just did what everyone else did. There were no tourist traps for me to check off my list. Someone suggested that we check out the Martin Luther exhibit at the Minnesota Institute of Art. So we did!

The showing had lots of artifacts and detailed descriptions. Here is a plague mask worn by "doctors" during the time of Martin Luther's life.

Chest for indulgences.

The pulpit where Martin Luther delivered his final sermon, three days before he died.

Moveable type!

Portraits of Martin Luther and his wife, who was a nun.

Martin Luther's beer stein.

Improvised weapons used by peasants during revolts. I'm not really up on the chaos within the Holy Roman Empire after Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation.

But apparently, a lot of Catholic art and architecture were destroyed by the new religion.

This was my first white Christmas, ever. It wasn't too cold, but it was very icy. Here is a view out our bedroom window.

We took a walk to St Paul Cathedral (in the distance). It is supposedly the third largest church in North America. I have no idea how they determined that. Membership? Height? Square footage? I do know this is why the neighborhood is called Cathedral Hill.

My wife and mother-in-law have both lived in cold climates. They are pros at walking on ice. I walked slowly and gingerly behind them, imagining my bleeding cracked skull on the slippery ice.

Very convenient way of donating to the church. Just swipe your card.

On the walk back from the church, we had lunch at Moscow On the Hill, a Russian restaurant. It's owned by a Russian doctor who moved to America with her husband and two sons in the mid-1990s. The vodka selection was almost overwhelming. You have a choice of having it served as a shot or in a martini. Going for the unusual, I ordered a dirty martini with Moldovan Exclusiv vodka. It was pretty terrible (and cheap).

The food, however, was fantastic. I had the Moscow cubano sandwich. It had braised pork shoulder, bujenina (Russian garlic roasted pork), gouda cheese, house mustard, and pickles. I debated whether or not to count this as a Cuban meal. I decided not to, as Cuban is not difficult to find in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Merry Christmas

I won't be blogging, but I will be tweeting for the rest of this week.

Japanese Prime Minister merging onto freeway

Madonna Cherish (1989)

After the nuclear apocalypse, nostalgia is all we'll have.

Russian ambassador to Turkey assassinated

2016 cannot get any more bizarre. Any guesses on what the consequences of this killing will be?

Incredible country singer on Mongolia's Got Talent

Countries with fastest internet

Eating the Globe: Bangladesh

Bangladeshi/Bengali was a tough one to find. But there's a place in Fremont called Bongo's. When we got there at 12:15 for lunch, it was empty. But by the time we left, it was packed.

I went with my godson and his father. My godson just finished his first quarter as a freshman at the University of Washington. It's wonderful to see a kid experiencing new things, with the whole world ahead of him.

We started with a chicken egg roll. The wrap was very reminiscent of a Chinese crepe-- chewy and savory. There's a scrambled egg inside along with little chunks of chicken. The sauce tasted like Thousand Island dressing. It was not spicy.

In fact, none of the dishes were very hot. I thought I would be sweating and sniffling. But the spiciest item was my yogurt drink (mishti doi). It tasted of cucumber and some sort of chili pepper.

This was the egg and chicken mughlai paratha. It also tasted Chinese. Inside this fried bread were eggs and chicken. Very savory.

The rice was so-so. It was clumpy.

Roasted chicken on the left. Potatoes and peas (alu posto) on the right.

On the left is the sorshe ilish, a herring-type fish in a mustard sauce. Chicken jhol is on the right.

Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden
North America: Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga

Rogue One

Go see it. It was incredible.

West African leaders talk Gambian president into stepping down

• Banana Republic: Check
• Rolls-Royces: Check
• Tacky presidential palace furniture: Check

Race relations in Singapore

Economist article here.

Cold weather trips past and future

For Christmas, we are going to be in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am excited not only because I'll be seeing my cool in-laws, but because it will be my first white Christmas. This is what it looked like today.

I've raised the prospect of eating lutefisk (dried cod reconstituted with lye) and was promptly shot down. As a compromise, I will be bringing a bottle of Norwegian aquavit as a housewarming gift. I had no idea it needed to cross the Equator twice.

I had been to Minnesota once before, in 2003, when I visited the SPAM museum in Austin (home of Hormel). The whole town smelled like canned meat. Look at these photos, taken with a Canon 3-megapixel camera!

Going to frigid Minnesota also made me try to recall the coldest weather I had ever experienced. Nothing too bad, actually.

The absolute coldest temperature I had ever lived through was 3 degrees F. It was in October 2007 in Fairbanks, coming back from my trip to the Arctic Circle. It wasn't so bad because I was prepared and wearing warm clothing.

It was probably just in the 20s, but my night in a yurt in Karakul Lake in Xinjiang felt the coldest. We were 12,000 feet up, so I was battling altitude sickness as well. We stayed overnight in this poorly insulated, crappy yurt next to the lake. I remember uncomfortably and dizzily walking out at night, into the pitch black, to the outdoor squat pit to piss. I was too disoriented to put on shoes and just walked out in my socks. It was pure misery.

Source of US oil imports

Switching from Uber to Lyft

Why?

• I'm tired of Uber's open disregard for rules, regulations, and laws.
• I always support the underdog.
• Lyft has always exuded a more egalitarian vibe with respect to the driver-passenger relationship.

Are there any Lyft customers out there? What are your thoughts?

Conan drinks and drives in Germany

Drinks:

Drives:

Dubai 1991 versus 2013

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

Does anyone remember this from their childhood?

I was at a networking event yesterday and an attendee mentioned a women's empowerment group called G.L.O.W. A friend who overheard it asked: Doesn't that stand for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? I had completely blocked it out of my mind for almost 30 years.

Swedish sci-fi drawings featuring old cars

Source.