Chicago superblocks

(I'd swear I've written this somewhere before, but I see no evidence of it anywhere.)

I've talked before about superblocks. There's the Barcelona model, of 3x3 blocks with one way loops so cars legally can't go through. (Disadvantage: may be complicated to scale.) I've privately imagined various other configurations, like putting diagonal diverters in so that cars have two-way access but physically can't go through the area, dividing the superblock into four half-diamond quadrants. (Possible disadvantage, access requires entering from the correct side.) ( Read more... )

canned tuna adventure

Recently I've watched a bunch of Youtube videos on canned fish. I learned that canned mussels exist, and have tried them; not bad. Maybe better than clams (fine, bland) and oysters (don't recall, diary say "not very good"). I've seen people talk about canned tuna belly as expensive but good; no one around carries it, though (well, haven't tried Whole Foods yet.)

Tonight I tried Ortiz brand, white tuna in olive oil. Ortiz seems highly thought of in Europe. The first thing I found was that the pull tab broke off right away. Not what I want out of my expensive cans. The second thing I found was that can openers still work even on extremely oval cans, so the food was saved.

As for the fish, eh. Solid white tuna. Skipjack/light tuna still has more interest. (Though really, I haven't bought much tuna in a long time, outside of these recent experiments; salmon and sardines have more flavor and nutrients I'm interested in. More sustainable, too.)