Fruishi

Fruishi, I have eliminated one more thing from my "Bucket List".   I went to Epcot at Disney World and had a Fruishi from a Kiosk at the Japan pavilion.

So what is a Fruishi?   It is Sushi without the fish and has fruit in place of the fish.   It was delicious.

 And here are the ingredients from the menu.   No wonder it tasted so good.

It is made in the traditional sushi manner.

On your next trip to Epcot at Disney World be sure to have a Fruishi.   Has anyone heard of any place other than Disney that has Fruishi?   Have a great day.    Lew

Mutoscopes

When I was a very young lad I lived in Albany, New York.   It was a very long time ago.   I rode the trolley cars and the milkman.   Yeah, definitely a really long time ago.   There was a park in Albany called Washington Park.

 There was a lake with a large building called "The Boathouse".   You could rent a rowboat and have a relaxing trip on the lake.   No motor boats, just rowboats.

My dad and my brother in one of the rowboats.   My mom took the picture and I would have been sitting next to my mom

 

 The Boathouse was just cavernous inside, much like Grand Central Station.   There was a penny arcade inside the Boathouse.   They had a number of old Mutoscopes.  (I finally got around to the Muroscopes.  LOL!)

 

Remember these?   There was basically a whole bunch of pictures being flipped past a viewer.

 

My brother would provide me with a few pennies so that I could look at the "moving pictures".

So what brings all of these memories up?    I was at Disney World last week and they have a train station and a train that goes completely around the periphery of the Magic Kingdom.   It is a lot of fun to ride.

The interior of the Disney train station is large and spacious.

 

Much to my surprise there were quite a few Mutoscopes just like the ones in the Boathouse in Albany.   Can you see them?

I couldn't resist looking through the viewer and turning the crank.   They were just as I had remembered except they don't cost a penny.   They are free.

The pink mutoscope and the red one are pictures that I took at Disney World last week.

 

There is so much more to see at Disney besides the thrill roller coaster rides.   The Mutoscopes were a delight for me because it was a "blast from the past".    I wonder if the Mutoscopes are still there in the Boarhouse in Washington Park in Albany, New York.   If not, you can always see them at the train station in Disney World and it won't even cost a penny to see them.   Have a great day wherever you may be.

 

 

 





 

 

 











PURPLE POTATOES

We recently went grocery shopping and saw this bag of mixed colors of potatoes.   They looked really interesting so we got a bag of them.

one day we had the yellow potatoes.  A couple of days later we had the red skin potatoes.   And now it was time for the purple potatoes.   Never ever had purple potatoes before.   I was a little apprehensive how they would taste.

We mashed them and had them with some "dry rub" beef barbecue ribs.   Beef ribs always look so gigantic as compared to pork ribs.   Oh yeah, don't forget the  barbecue baked beans.   Just can't have barbecue ribs without the beans.   And did you notice the glass of ice tea in the upper left corner in the picture below?   Barbecue is like a package deal:  ribs, beans, ice tea, and garlic bread toasted.   Watching a football game on television helps also.

They had a deep purple color.   Really unusual.

How did they taste?   They seem to taste just like regular potatoes.   But maybe a gourmet with discerning tastes might be able to taste a difference.

Anyone besides me have eaten purple potatoes?   How about sweet potato casserole?   I always look forward to Thanksgiving for the sweet potato casserole.   Green bean casserole?   After the third year I was burned out on green bean casserole.   Have a great day.   Lew

Leonardo "Leo" Lillimagi

Leonardo "Leo" Lillimagi.   I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade in Highland, New York.   I had always thought of Highland as a town but actually it is officially classified as a Hamlet.  

 

No, I am not a Hobbit and my name isn't Bilbo Baggins.   But growing up in a Hamlet seems to be rather unique.

Leo Lillimagi was a classmate of mine.   He was a fantastic artist who had an incredible talent.   We were both in the 6th grade.   The year was 1954.   One day Leo was sitting behind me.   I noticed that he was sketching something on blank paper.   It was a scene of a Roman army in the midst of a battle.   He showed it to me.   I was so impressed by the picture that I offered to give him 25 cents for it (my lunch money).   He agreed and I went without lunch that day but I had that fantastic sketch.   I kept it for many years but somewhere in time it got lost.   I surely wish that I had it now.   Without a doubt I must have been the first sale of his artwork.      

Leo was powerfully built and was the star of the Highland High School football team.   That is him in the front row holding the football.

Leo graduated from Highland High School in 1960.   This is his graduation picture.

My parents moved to Miami, Florida during my senior year and so I didn't graduate from Highland High School.   I graduated from Coral Gables High School in Miami, Florida instead.   I attended the University of Miami which were the best years of my life.   One day I was walking through a breezeway of the Student Union and who is sitting at a table?   Yep, Leo Lillimagi.   We sat and talked for quite a while.   I thought that it was amazing that two classmates from this small Hamlet in New York would end up at the University of Miami at the same time and meet by chance.   He had gotten a football scholarship to the University of Miami.   Here he is on the left in the third row Number 52.   The picture is from the University of Miami yearbook.

Here is a close-up.

He graduated from the University of Miami.   After 2 1/2 years I transferred to Arizona in Tempe, Arizona where I graduated from Arizona State University.  Leo's graduation picture from the University of Miami.

I felt bad that he had died 2 years ago.   I only found out about it recently.  I wrote this blog because I just didn't want him to go quietly into the night and be forgotten.   If you knew Leo Lillimagi please leave a comment.   I would really be interested to read it.     Lewis Dallas

Here is his obituary from the internet.

March 7, 1941 - May 5, 2016

Formerly of Highland, NY

Leonardo “Leo” Lillimagi passed away May 5, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV. He was 75 years old. Leo was born March 7, 1941 in Tallinn, Estonia to Arthur and Miralda Lillimagi. In 1944, Leo with the family, emigrated to Findland, after six months emigrated to Sweden, then to Norway and finally in 1947 to the United States. He lived in Connecticut, New York City and Kingston. The family finally settled in Highland, NY in 1952.

Leo graduated from Highland High School. He received a football scholarship to the University of Miami. After graduating he held different positions teaching art and coaching football. He taught art at Marlboro School District before settling down in Las Vegas where he taught art for 33 years. He spent many summers at the family farm in Highland.

He is survived by his wife, Deanna Dill Lillimagi; his daughter, Lori Bohem (Gary) of Clintondale, NY; his brother, Arne Lillimage of Highland, NY; a niece, Karen DeMale (Kevin); two nephews, Erik Lillimagi of Brooklyn, NY and Kristian Lillimagi of Concord, CA; grand-nephews, Kyler and Klayton DeMale.

African Mushrooms

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2624ae50430e&pieces=24

So here I was a young lad at 16 years of age.   I was working part-time in a grocery store.   I was working in the produce department.   The managers name was Fred.   A very likable and pleasant guy.   He always had a coffee mug in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth.   He really liked smoking and drinking coffee.   That coffee mug went everywhere in the store with him.   Once I asked him what type he did before working in produce.   He told me that he had worked in a dynamite factory.   I was shocked.   I said, what about smoking?   He said that smoking wasn't allowed anywhere in the dynamite factory but he would smoke in the restroom.   I stood in awe at smoking in a dynamite factory.   I know, I was gullible (and I still am).   Looking back I think that Fred was having some fun fooling a young 16 year old young man.    One other time I asked Fred a question.   There was a strange looking vegetable that I had never seen before in the produce department.

I asked him what it was.   He told me that it was an African mushroom.   Yeah, I believed him.   Later that day a woman came in and asked if we had any artichokes for sale.   I told her that we didn't.   She said, Oh, there are the artichokes pointing her finger toward the African mushrooms.    I said, no, those are African mushrooms.   She said once again that they were artichokes but I kept insisting that they were African mushrooms.   She left without buying one of the African mushrooms (artichokes).   Some doubt started to creep into my head about Fred.   Was he telling me the truth and they were African mushrooms or were they really artichokes and he was he having fun fooling me.   I decided that he was having fun fooling me and that they were really artichokes.   And to this day whenever I see artichokes in a grocery store the memory of Fred and African mushrooms comes to mind and I always chuckle a little to myself about it.   African mushrooms, indeed.   And when I did this jigsaw puzzle in the link above I thought once again about Fred the produce manage.   The link above will take you to a 25 piece version of the puzzle so it will be easy to do.   Enjoy.   Lew

Jigsaw Puzzles

There is an online crossword site whose puzzles I like doing.   They have a vast selection.

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/

They have different shapes in pieces.   I am a traditionalist myself.   I like the standard shape for puzzle pieces.   You can see the what the shape of the puzzle piece is going to be in the lower right hand corner of the picture below.   If you like going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney then you will really like doing this puzzle.

I accidentally selected a puzzle to do and hadn't looked at the shape of the puzzle pieces.  What a complicated shape to the piece.   It was extremely difficult.

Want to add another layer of difficulty?   How about having to rotate the pieces to get them to fit.   To indicate that they put the piece at an angle.

Once again I wasn't paying enough attention the shape of the puzzle pieces and I did a puzzle with standard shape pieces that had to be rotated.   Definitely added another degree of difficulty.

If you haven't done too many jigsaw puzzles start at a low number of pieces like 25 to 50.   It will be much more enjoyable for you.   Each puzzle gives you a large selection of the number of pieces by moving your cursor over "PLAY AS" when you select a puzzle.  

By the way, the pictures above are screen shots of thumbnail, that is why they look so blurry.   Here is a screen shot of the completed pirate ship puzzle.

Have some fun with the jigsaw puzzles.   I do one puzzle each day.   I enjoy them.   Have a great day.   Lew

Casey's Corner Disney World

Hot dogs.   I love hot dogs.    When I go to Disney World's Magic Kingdom I invariably eat lunch at a counter-service restaurant called Casey's Corner. 

 I assume that it got its name from the old poem Casey at the Bat.  

A great poem that was required reading in High School (or maybe it was Junior High).   The cast members (employees) all wear the old style of baseball uniforms.  

And what is traditional to eat at baseball games?   Yep, hot dogs.    So I get it:  Casey's Corner  a Casey at the Bat a Baseball a Hot Dogs.   No hamburgers.   No meatball subs.   Just hot dogs.   All kinds of hot dogs.

I like the chili cheese dog best.

They also have foot long hot dogs.   I once got a foot long chili  cheese dog at Casey's.

The two little things of ketchup are for my french fries and not the hot dog.   I tried ketchup on a hot dog once and found the taste to be terrible.   I am strictly mustard for a plain hot dog.   The chili cheese dog already has a really good chili topping.   But the foot long was enormous and just too big for me.   Plus the french fries.   I couldn't eat the french fries and so I fed them to the birds and ducks.   Last week I went to Magic Kingdom and once again I had a chili cheese dog (standard size) with french fries.   They have indoor dining but that fills up pretty quickly.

They have outside dining which is where I sat to eat my hot dog.

I sat next to the wrought iron fence.   And along came a duck.   A female mallard looking at me eagerly wanting some food.   What could I do, there went my french fries which she enjoyed immensely.

On my next visit I will be getting their specialty hot dog for October which is the loaded mashed potato hot dog.   The toppings are garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, cheddar, bacon, scallion sour cream, and green onion.   This will definitely be a gastronomic adventure.

Disney always keeps coming up with new things which is why I keep coming back.   And what's next?   Maybe the two foot long hot dog that Casey's Corner had for a limited time.   Looks like something from the Man vs Food television show.   LOL.

Have a great day.   Lew