HAVE YOU DINED AT RIGO?

Vladimir Putin this weekend supposedly escaped an assassination attempt. This is the bridge where explosives were placed. Then again, maybe not, but it was the one he regularly traverses.

Remember, tomorrow is that bridge day that leads to July 4 on Tuesday, which is Independence Day, and a Federal holiday for all in the USA. Monday is a day off also for people in West Virginia.

For tennis fans, Wimbledon has already begun and will continue until Sunday, July 16, on grass courts, of which there are 18.

First began in 1877, all male.
Men still dominate, as the singles champ wins around $3 million, with $1.5 million for the female winner.

128 entrants in both male and female brackets. Actually, it's more than that, for there will be 15 titles when you add age categories, wheelchair competition, etc.
Novak Djokovic is favored at -150 (in other words, bet $150 to win $100, or has a 60% chance of prevailing). He has won this tournament the past few years.

#1 seed Carlos Alcaraz is at +350 (right, 22%).
Daniil Mevedev is at +1600 (6%).
#8 Taylor Fritz is the highest-ranked American at at 3% chance of winning.

Anyone know these favorites on the woman side?

Iga Swiatek (right, 29%)
Elena Rybakina (18%)
Aryna Sabalenka (17%)
#5 choice is American Coco Guaff at 7%.

Did you know that the four tennis championships are the U.S., French and Australian, all called Opens, with the fourth only known as Wimbledon. Different for golf, as the UK golf championship is only called The Open.
And, incidentally, this year The Open will be played at Royal Liverpool from July 20-23.

Just went to Rigo, a relatively new restaurant in Honolulu on Kapahulu Avenue. If you live here or plan to visit, I can highly recommend their cuisine.

Opened in 2019 where Genki Sushi previously sat, and long ago a bank, for the large vault is still there. The site had been vacant for a whole year. Japanese owners from Huge owns 30 restaurants, mostly in Tokyo, and 10 more Rigo's there. The cuisine is Spanish/Italian/Japanese fusion, prepared in an open kitchen showroom.

Rigo won a 2020 Hale 'Aina Award for Best New Restaurant in Hawaii. Is open daily from 11AM to 8PM, but the lunch menu is restricted, for they don't turn the Josper oven then. From left to right: manager Jimmy Otake, chef Masa Yoda and Atushi Iwasa.

Joining us were Leighton and Steve, who are both attorneys and classmates at Iolani. Leighton managed Blue Revolution Hawaii and Steve lives at 15 Craigside.

The decor was impressive.

You can see the kitchen where there is a Stefano Ferrara oven, with Chef Yoda, and the only Josper oven and grill from Spain.

We ordered some tapas, and also individually had a dish or two.

I had an excellent butter/shoyu spaghetti.

The pasta immediately above is their noted chilled Hokkaido scallop spaghetti. But we had it hot. I should mention that the wines are affordably priced. We had a Louis Jadot Rosé.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

Search This Blog