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A book about what goes into the making of sushi has to really be a narrative about the development of twentieth-century global capitalism. --p. xxiv

WHOA, right?

I finally finished reading one of the three books I'm working on at the moment: The Sushi Economy by Sasha Issenberg. I think snaxcident recommended it to me about a year ago.

( I am not an economist for a reason. )

Final Verdict: I think this book is primarily meant to be a teaching text, and I think it's probably extremely useful to MBA students and economy majors. It's certainly readable by a lay person and overall enjoyable, but you have to be willing to sit back and relax about the stuff you don't understand. Maybe other people will understand more than I did. I think my ideal version of this book would have been more about the history of sushi, and thus would have been about a third of the length of the actual book, but that's personal opinion, not objective criticism. In all it's an enjoyable read.

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It's a little bit late, because yesterday was The Longest Day Ever, but I have a Friday Saturday Photo Post for you!

The first one is actually a graphic I designed for tealin, who had an encounter with some very strange spam that she thought could use illustrating.

FOODS OF CHICAGO. Recently I found out about black garlic, which is a form of fermented garlic that's just now making its way to the US. To be honest it's so mild as to be almost useless in most dishes, but if you want to see what black garlic bread looks like, there it is.

This is blue-cheese-mushroom-and-bacon macaroni courtesy of the Southern Mac And Cheese Truck. It tastes about how it looks. :/ On the other hand, the cupcakes that Goddess & Grocer serves in space-age CUPCAKE PODS are delicious.

There's a high-end restaurant north of the loop who recently did an exterior re-stucco-and-paint, and I caught them mid-job the other day. I thought it was kind of neat as faux-urban-decay.

A COW. What more needs be said? (This is actually the bronze cow outside of the Cultural Centre.)

I am super proud of these next two pictures. Chicago has started doing bridge-raises again, so that the sailboats kept upriver all winter can get back to their summer moorings on the lake. This is one of the bridges mid-rise, on a foggy Chicago morning. Also, the summer warmth has brought the taggers out, and one especially philosophical chalk-tagger in particular. What makes it all the more amusing is that the wall they tagged on is an exterior security wall on Graceland Cemetery.

I'm not sure why this billboard at the Sheridan station creeps me out so much. It's a little creepy, right? I think it's the combination of 70's style logo and the use of the term rising, which is a very scifi term to use. It looks like some kind of eerie evil political campaign instead of an innocent attempt to gentrify Berwyn (one of Chicago's northside neighborhoods).

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of the Mansueto library in its nearly-completed glory; now they've taken the fencing down and you can walk right up and in (well, ok, via Regenstein, where you have to get special permit to enter), which is pretty cool.

You're not really supposed to take pictures in the DuSable Museum, but well. I'm twelve, and can't resist.

Outside of the DuSable is a sculpture garden with some abstract but awesome-in-context pieces I really loved.

As spiderine corrected me, the guy I saw on the train was playing the Shell Game, not three-card-monty. Impressive anyway, no?

I didn't take a lot of pics on the camping trip last weekend, but I did get this one of the GIANT ROADSIDE CROSS...and one of a bottle of Death's Door gin.

I really wish I could have done a better job shooting this last one, because it really was an amazing sight. Because there was a path from one part of the campsite to the other, they strung glowsticks along the pathway to help guide us and keep us from wandering off. The effect was lovely, especially just before full dark, but not easily caught on camera.

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I never thought is say this particular phrase, but I'm trapped at the Sausagefest.

I got here just as it started pouring. I'm huddled under the eaves of wrigley field with half a hot dog. I can't get to the el and walking home is deeply unattractive as a proposition.

At least I have a sausage....

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So, I'm home from Sausagefest. I swear it's a real thing.

It's not a far walk from where I live, down by Wrigley Field, so I thought I'd check it out since the weather had, ahaha, cooled off. It started to rain right as I got there, but I still managed between downpours to sample some lovely weiners....

It's a small festival, in its first year, and I think there was a game going on, otherwise I can't see there'd be much draw. There were a couple of crafty-tchochke booths, two beer tents, and about five actual vendors. But I did get to have a Mayor Daley Sausage while huddled against the wall of the stadium -- cheddar, sauteed onions, and dijon mustard. The onions were undercooked and overseasoned, but otherwise it was pretty good. Despite the fact that I am not supposed to eat turkey or chicken, I also tried the Turducken hot dog, which was...strange...and a "mini street dog".

And a beer...and some funnel cake...

Anyway, the beer fortified me and I decided that since I'd have to walk to the train and then home from the train in the rain anyway, I might as well just walk home. I was smart enough to wear a hoodie but not smart enough to bring an umbrella, so I now have a very wet hoodie.

Some days, you have an ADVENTUR. Some days, the ADVENTUR has you.

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Two book reviews in a single day! I'm back down to only one book at a time now, thank god.

So, last weekend when I was out in the wilderness avoiding bears, we had a tornado warning on Sunday night. The campground -- which was composed of cabins and bath-houses on the edge and a mess hall and lodge in the middle -- has specific rules about extreme weather: campers have to remain in their cabins until the all clear, and meals are done in shifts by campsite.

Since I'd already finished reading my last book, I darted into the lodge on my way to the cabin, because I'd seen a few shelves of books there. I grabbed the first thing I saw that looked readable, which turned out to be a book entitled BRUCE LARKIN AIR FORCE CADET.

You can probably imagine what it's about. ( There's this guy, Bruce Larkin... )

Anyway, that is my report on BRUCE LARKIN AIR FORCE CADET. The sad thing is, it was just interesting enough for me to want to read the sequel, now that I know there is one...