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January 2010 Archive 31 January - Inspired by Ramen  Reading Matt Gross's scintillating article on ramen - Japanese noodle soup - in today's New York Times made me realize that what I desperately needed was a bowl of ramen. Fortunately, we have the excellent Temari Cafe within easy striking distance on Rockville Pike - it's in the same strip mall as the previously mentioned Kielbasa Factory. I had the tonkatsu (pork broth) ramen, as pictured above. How was it? I'm not a ramen connoisseur like the obsessives mentioned in the NYT article, but I'd have to say it was fabulous. But Temari's katsu curry - Japanese style curry with rice and pork cutlet - is also... well, fabulous. link home 31 January - Back on the Old Quai  And now, a rare quiet moment without traffic on the Quai de la Mégisserie, Paris, home of a street bird market. link home 30 January - More Snow; Some Helmets  These were the conditions in the Circle earlier today. There's now about 4 more inches; I would go out and snap the same scene, to show the dramatic contrast, and all, but I don't wanna. Instead...  ... Let's admire the mode in early aviators' crash helmets circa 1912, via the always fascinating Mostly Forbidden Zone. The helmet at center in the bottom row is most similar to the one that the dummy of our maintenance Man Gus wore when he appeared as the Gunner of a World War I French Voisin VIII bomber at another museum:  ... As narrated previously. "Dummy of Gus" is a bit redundant, isn't it? link home 30 January - The Origin of Cosmo Cat  And now, the thrilling origin of superhero Cosmo Cat, via Apocolyte's World of Comics. Also, a sobering reminder that one should be very careful while handling ordnance. link home 24 January - Lamb Lunch at Accokeek  A new-born lamb, still moist, has a spot of lunch, Accokeek, Maryland, 1987. And there's even something related, tune-wise: Hallalujah to the Lamb, performed by our old favorites, the Double Decker Stringband on their album Giddyap Napoleon, now tragically out of print. But the Double Deckers' latest album, The Rest is Yet to Come, is available and is highly recommended. link home 23 January - Just Me and the Horse  Another foggy morning in Versailles; just me and the horse, not far from the Petit Trianon. I don't think I ever made it to Versailles when it wasn't foggy. Previously Posted Versailles Imagery: Bassin d'Apollon Statues around the Bassin Rainy Evening in Versailles Belvedere Sphinx Bassin d'Apollon, again Tableau Militaire Trianon Even More link home 23 January - Hannibal the Bentley  Hard to miss while taking a walk this afternoon was this beautiful Bentley parked by the town hall. A note on the windshield told me that it's from 1934, and it's for sale - could I ever afford it? Haw, haw - no. Its owner was at the town hall for a meeting of homebrewers of Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP), and a very hospitable bunch of people they were - invited me in and plied me with drink, they did. I found out that the Bentley is named "Hannibal". I was told other interesting things about the car, but after a generous quantity of old ale, I remember very little.  It's a very beautiful car; the nicest car to be seen on Center Street since the Nicklas boys brought their 1964½ Mustang over. Here's a song for the BURPers - Oh, Good Ale, sung by the great Cyril Tawney. I am now going to lie down for a while in a darkened room. link home 23 January - The Missing Magi  An apostle, a deer, and a squad of magi at a statuary factory in College Park, Maryland - a wonderfully contemplative site along Rt. 1, now tragically gone. Wonder what happened to all those magi? link home 22 January - Advances in Bacon; Possible Service Interruption  I haven't joined in the current bacon enthusiasm - I like bacon, of course, but don't go nuts over it. But I will confess to a surge of delight when old Friend of the Museum Eve Zibart presented me with a couple of jars of Bacon Jam, a superb product of the Skillet Street Food company. What's good is a slice of home-baked bread, toasted, buttered, spread with Bacon Jam, and then presented with a hunk of Brie, not too runny. Served up so, it is very, very fabulous. It's also good on waffles. You know, I'm not sure I can think of anything it wouldn't be good on - maybe on curried haggis, I don't know. And now, excuse me - I want to be alone with my Bacon Jam. We often have the tragic occurrence, at the end of the month, when the Museum's web site's measly traffic allocation is exceeded, and the site tragically goes black. We're pleased to announce that the Museum has now sprung for a more sensible service plan, and blackouts will be a thing of the tragic past. However, I'm told that we may have to republish the site - so we may have to go off the air one more time. Our Intern Zoe tells me that it won't be for long, though. Update We did go off the air for a bit last evening, but thanks to the heroic efforts of our intern Zoe, we republished the site pretty smartly. There were some glitches - the MP3 players were particularly balky, but seem to be working now. If you happen across any missing pictures, or anything broken looking, we'd appreciate a quick message at refdesk at janusmuseum dot org. Oh, let's try a tune - as a test and a celebration of the end of end of the month measly bandwidth allowance blackouts. link home 17 January - Hiawatha - Now in Color  Thought I had a color shot of Hiawatha at Forest Glen showing the full glory of his fine yellowness; just found it in the 1999 archives. How brave and fierce and yellow he looks! Here's a fierce tune, Indian March, played by the great Hobart Smith, from the album In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes. link home 17 January - At Jug Bay  Another January afternoon, some years back, on the beautiful shore of Jug Bay on the Patuxent in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Strangely, I don't feel much like hiking about in a swamp - pardon me, a wetland - today. Must be the rain, or the cold, or the slothitude. link home The Flame and the Arrow - The Fan Page - Audio Experiment  The evil Count Ulrich (Frank Allenby) wears a fine proto-pickelhaube in The Flame and the Arrow (1950). Very exciting, featuring swashbuckling acrobatics by Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat as a sort of practice run for the classic The Crimson Pirate of 1952. Oh, Cravat later played the gremlin on the aircraft wing in the Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. I know that all the kids are on the Facebook, nowadays; so this news from our intern Zoe may be of interest - the Janus Museum now has a fan page on the Facebook. So - if you're on the Facebook, and find the Janus Museum or these pages of interest, you might like being a fan of the Museum on the Facebook. I don't understand any of it, myself. Over the years, we've tried to feature music in different ways here - anyone remember Janus Museum Radio? Here's our latest attempt, so easy to implement that I can do it myself. Whether it actually works or not... It's a fine sprightly elegant tune, a Villanos by Francisco Guerau played by Juan Carlos Rivera, from a superb album, Zarambeques: Música Española de los Siglos XVII y XVIII. link home 16 January - Gerald, a Soldier of Fortune/House Cat  This is Gerald, soldier of fortune/house cat - snappy dresser and lapsed Catholic with tuna stink. Can he speak enough French to get by? From a superb series by Ryan Abegglen. link home 9 January - Hiawatha  Hiawatha, over on the grounds of the old National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Maryland. Hiawatha is painted bright yellow. His feathers, bolted to his forehead, occasionally loosen and hide his face. He stands next to the Theta Mission House. Previous Forest Glen Snaps: Caryatids Cat and Caryatid Caryatid, Silva, Czech Hedgehogs link home 9 January - The Winter War  Cold and windy today, but we decided that a short catwalk was in order. Above, the battle of the drifts - Natasha (right) prepares to ambush Nutmeg. There was a brief though spirited chase, then we went in for espresso and to watch Balram Shri Krishna again. link home 9 January - Versailles Atmospherics  Very foggy - a real pea-souper, or a soupe aux pois as the French say, early one morning down at the Bassin d’Apollon, Versailles, back in November, 1987. Previously Posted Versailles Snaps: Statues around the Bassin Rainy Evening in Versailles Belvedere Sphinx Bassin d'Apollon Tableau Militaire Trianon A Bunch More link home 8 January - Elegy Photographed in a City Graveyard  The quick are supported by the dead as the gardener of the Etting Cemetery takes a break during mowing ops, April 1987. The Etting Cemetery, Etting Street, Baltimore, dates back to 1799. Previously on Etting Street, an arabber wagon. link home 8 January - The Black Sheep of the Flock  Kind of sad, really - a black sheep, all by itself, at Stowe. Previously at Stowe, the Congreve Monument. link home 5 January - Broadway Cat from the Collection  Here's a fine cabinet card portrait of a fine, though unnamed cat from the James A. Bostwick studio at Broadway and 34th Street, circa 1875. link home 5 January - Call of the Wild Poodle  I had a look at the previous entry for the Wild Potomac Poodle, referenced a few days ago in connection with the Wild Highland Spaniel and the Curried Haggis, and decided that a new scan was in order; so here it is, above. It takes me back to that day in 1983 - I was wandering the Virginia bluffs above the Potomac - suddenly, the magnificent creature crested the bluff, saw me, and struck a pose - as if he was channeling the Monarch of the Glen. I was struck dumb by the poodle's magnificence, but managed to snap an exposure. Then his master came into view, whistled, and the poodle tamely heeled and off they went. I still marvel at my luck - few are privileged to glimpse the rare elusive dangerous Wild Potomac Poodle, and survive. Also - White Poodle Frightened by a Storm by Ianthe A. Gergel. link home 3 January - Nostalgie in the Luxembourg Gardens  And now, a walk in the Luxembourg Gardens with Dog Paddington, 1987. Paddington was a very fine fellow who lived in a nice apartment across the street from the Panthéon with his humans, Gary and Irene Edwards, who are also very fine. Not far from the Luxembourg was, I recall, a bar that specialized in Belgian beers, and featured Gueuze Lambic from the cask, which was also very fine - very fine, indeed. link home 1 January - Near Comus  Oh, one more shot of Sugarloaf Mountain from this afternoon's expedition - taken near Comus, Maryland, off Comus Road, not far from the Comus Inn. link home 1 January - The Lost Opportunity, with Curry  Wild Highland Spaniel I snapped this shot below Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, as a sort of companion piece to my Wild Potomac Poodle. A few minutes later, I walked back into town, cold and hungry. I stopped at a chippy and had the following conversation with the friendly proprietor, a South Asian gentleman, Indian or Pakistani or Bangladeshi: Me: Good Day. Order of chips, please.This was years ago, and I was a less adventurous eater than I am now - nowadays, I'd have bought one, photographed it, tweeted about it, started a Yelp thread and a Deep-Fried Curried Haggis Appreciation Group on Facebook. And eaten the damn thing, too. When will I get the chance to eat a deep-fried curried haggis again? Will ye no' come back again? link home 1 January - Monadnock and Pickelhaube  Sugarloaf Mountain from Beallsville Road From One Hundred Famous Views of Sugarloaf On New Year's Day, for some reason, I occasionally post a picture of Sugarloaf Mountain, Central Maryland's mighty monadnock. Today is also the blog's seventh anniversary, which makes me feel very tired, which totally has nothing to do with the quantity of méthode Champenoise de Moldova I consumed last night. In related news, the condition of Fellows' Common Room this morning is startingly squalid, and the maintenance man is nowhere to be found, so who does one suppose will have to swill it out? Previous Sugarloaf Posts: The Hornbostel Institute Great Monadnock Expedition New Year's 2009 New Year's 2006 From Old Hundred Road From Mt. Ephraim Road From Thurston Road Summiting Sugarloaf, November 2007  And now, a cat in a pickelhaube and a fine Wilhelmine mustache by the great Louis Wain. It's available here as an inkjet - sorry, I mean a giclee print. Many thanks to old friend T.J. Gill for finding it. link home |
