Art of the (Lego) Brick

We saw this exhibition in San Diego. Truly fantastic. I loved the Easter Island Moai.

How Worcestershire sauce is made

Anchovies!

Traveling to Namibia and Japan

A couple of you are out exploring the world.

F1Outsider is in Namibia. I'm going to interview him when he returns.

That Namibian sky is as gorgeous as I always imagined. #namibia #nightskyphotography #natgeoyourshot #natgeospace #thisisafrica

A photo posted by ThatNeivaDude (@thatneivadude) on Oct 1, 2016 at 12:09am PDT

HouseOfCadillac is in Japan right now, and I will be asking him about his trip as well.

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

My lunch companion likes to take repositioning cruises. Recently, she took a Celebrity cruise ship from Shanghai to Alaska. It made a stop at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. She said it was dirty and depressing, but this video makes it look pretty okay.

Pitchfork fondue

I had lunch with a colleague today. She's from North Dakota and she told me about their delicacy-- the pitchfork fondue. Basically, you dip a raw steak into a vat of hot peanut oil.

Rosberg Hamilton points chart

With Rosberg 23 points ahead right now, he has a decent chance of winning the championship. Of course, if anyone can come from behind, it's Hamilton. This chart shows the points competition between Rosberg (blue) and Hamilton (green) from Races 1 through 16 this season.

I looked up flights to Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season. The championship could be decided then. Etihad flies non-stop from SFO to Abu Dhabi. It's a 16 hour flight. And it looks like the flight path almost touches the North Pole.

California Highway Patrol PR video

The CHP just released this touchy feely video showing its genial and heroic officers.

Last week, this happened to a poor CHP officer caught in a crowd of ne'er-do-wells.

Why is the CHP so unpopular? Because of incidents like this against a mentally ill woman.

For the record, every CHP officer I've dealt with has been nice and professional.

Ice T lemonade ad

Hilarious!

Eating the Globe: Armenia

Finally, an exquisite meal!

We've been eating out every meal since Thursday morning in San Diego, and we've had bad luck. Every highly rated restaurant on Yelp has been underwhelming and overpriced. They all rate 5.5 out of 10.

For example,:
Snooze AM Eatery: Faux retro diner with great ingredients, but lackluster execution and service.
Lou & Mickey's: A steakhouse owned by a seafood distributor. I got the surf and turf and neither was above average.
Saiko Sushi: Supposedly the best sushi in town. Uninspired and gimicky.
Roy's: Smelly and dingy interior. They're just coasting.

I was not holding my breath when we went to Pushkin, a Russian-Armenian joint run by an Armenian. But the food was excellent. The lamb shashlik had plenty of fat to give it a perfect flavor. My only gripe was that it was a bit too salty. I was dying of thirst in the middle of the night. The lamb came with a roasted cold salad of eggplants, tomatoes, and onions and a separate salad of lettuce, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and radishes. The lamb also came with harissa hot sauce. I got a pint of Aleksandropol lager. It tasted like generic Russian beer.

In searching for this place, I was surprised to find that San Diego also has Uzbek, Georgian, and Ukrainian eateries.

I can't wait to get home. So sick of eating out.

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

Eating the Globe: Turkey

I'm in San Diego for a conference and decided to step out for lunch. I've been to The Kebab Shop before. A few years ago, while I was down here for the Corolla reveal, I ate there with Alan, Alan's bro-in-law Gil, and Jalopnik Raphael.

I got the doner kebab with lamb and beef. I also got a side of saffron rice. The only item of note is that the wrap tasted just like Chinese spring onion pancake.

In terms of carspotting, I saw two Toyota Hiaces from Tijuana. I also saw some sort of Chinese-looking micro-hatch on Coronado Island.

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