5 posts from January 2007

Sometimes I do rash things.  In this case I was watching the "No Reservations" show on the Travel Channel.  Anthony Bourdain, the host, was up in the Pacific northwest, Portland and Seattle mainly, and near the end of he show he visited Salumi, a deli and Italian salami store.  The store is run by Armondino Batali, who happens to be Mario Batali's father.  Armondino retired from his job and went to Italy to learn how to make traditional Italian salami.

So I watch the show and think, "Gee, it would be great to try some of those traditional salamis, I wonder if I can order them online."  Sure enough, you can.  They are $15/lb plus shipping via Fed Ex 2nd day air.  I ordered them without really thinking about how much shipping would be.

It turns out shipping 3 pounds from Seattle to Chicago is $26.  I didn't think shipping would be anywhere near that much.  So the total for the 2 salamis I ordered was $64.  Thank goodness they are incredibly good.

Here are a few pictures:

The Finnochiona is amazing, the fennel gives it a great flavor.  The Winter Salumi is more "normal" and also very good.

How do you pass the time during a flight?  What do you bring in your carry-on?

The only standard thing is I get a car magazine to read on the plane.  The airport is the only time I buy magazines at a newsstand.

Lately, I've been bringing an ipod full of podcasts as well.  It also helps pass the time.  More interesting than music for the most part.  Audiobooks are nice, but they are usually too long for the flights I'm on.

The McDonalds in Long Lake, Minnesota, has a strange admission relating to their food.

Click the link to see...

Hat Tip - Consumerist.

This picture is priceless:

The phone was taken from Flickr.

Hat tip, Merlin Mann.

Jonnell is gone for the week, so I can watch whatever I want on TV.  Last night I watched a DVD I bought a year ago, but had never gotten around to viewing. 

It is "The Train", and it stars Burt Lancaster as a Frenchman working in a Paris train yard in the waining days of World War II.

The basic plot is the Germans are going to take all of Paris' art treasures back to Germany in a special train as they are leaving Paris.  Lancaster's character is a weary agent in the French resistance who tries to save the paintings.

The movie was great, I didn't recognize any of the actors other than Lancaster, but they were all very good.  The movie also showed the grim fate for many people working in the resistance.  John Frankenheimer directed, which usually is a sign the movie will be good.  This is also based on a true story.

Generally "The Train" could be considered the polar opposite of another 1960s WWII movie I like, "Kelly's Heroes", which told a silly story about heist during a similar point in the war.

If you want to see a gritty very realistic movie about life in wartime Paris, this is a great example.