Shafskoftfest 2013 - St Louis, Mo. May 24-28

I was in Saint Louis, Missouri for our annual shafskoftfest (sheepshead festival and reunion).

One of our first tourism outings (this after quite a bit of card playing and beer drinking) was the St. Louis Arch museum and monument.

The image of Busch Stadium and the image of the top part of the arch were taking by Gerry Berg (left on the image of the four reunioners).

Berg and Dave Kroes (right on the image of the four reunioners) had some combination of claustrophobia, acrophobia and motion sickness on the arch trip (the top of the arch is 630 ft above ground level and it moves a bit in the wind).

The third image is inside the museum of the Westward Expansion (yes, it is a bear in the background)

The fourth image is the four reunioners (Glen Kruser is second from left in the fourth image and second from right in third image) at a bench on the walkway between the parking area and the arch grounds.

The fifth image is Gerry sitting with a statue of what Glen Kruser thought was a jackalope (a mythical animal of American folk culture). The statue is in a courtyard in Washington University.

We also did other things, e.g., went to a Blues Festival in Memorial Park, visited the Busch brewery, walked around Forest Park and Washington University (where the sixth, i.e., next to last image was made) and Delmar Loop (quasi historic shopping and entertainment district).

The next to last image (which is from the internet) is of the Blueberry Hill restaurant. Inside this place is a museum of sorts with pictures taken of dozens of famous people who visited the restaurant as well as dozens of memorabilia of all kinds.

The last image is a deck of cards that we used for a hand or two. It is a tarot deck from Germany and the suits are different and somewhat disorienting when you are also drinking beer. Beth had gotten me the deck from a coworker in Germany when she worked for Kornit.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:41 PM

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Beth Provides Free Consult

Beth was interviewing for a job. It was for a company that had recently started up. They had bean bag furniture and otherwise very sparse digs. Everyone was in their early 20s or so. They couldn't find any suger for the coffee they offered her.

They asked her what she would recommend for their marketing plan.

Beth had studied the company and market a bit before the interview and gave them a 5 minute talk on the various steps to take and what mistakes to avoid and how to tell if it was working.

The people were furiously taking notes seeming to try to record every thing she said.

Apparently, the job interview was just a way to get free marketing advice.

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:47 PM

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Some Kashrut Oddities

I was doing Kosher supervision and a delivery was made that contained some non dairy ersatz mozzarella cheese with the odd symbol on the left. I had never seen that symbol before. I found out it is used by some organization called the "the three line k kosher organization" and it is used by some taco stands in LA and San Diego. However, the three line k company had no website that I could find and no certificate of any kind. So, no use of the product in kosher food.

The vegetable shown is micro bulls blood. It was a 'discounted' trial offer of Keany foods which was delivering some other stuff (carrots, spinich, etc.). The executive chef didn't want to have it washed because he said it might be ruined but I said that it needed to be, at least, hand washed (without soaking). So the chef sent it back to Keany. The stuff cost, at the discount price, $24 for 8 ounces (obviously to be used as a fancy garnish).

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:02 AM

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

my cousin (by marriage) Oskar 1911-2013

Oskar B. Schreiner

Schreiner, Oskar B. age 102, of St. Louis Park, passed away May 5, 2013. He is preceded in death by his wife Lola, daughter Miriam, brother Joseph and sister-in-law Herta Bleicher. Survived by son, Irwin Schreiner. Oskar was a member of the American Marquetry Society [the image is one that Oskar did that is on the Marquetry society web page]. The family wishes to thank the caring staffs at the Deikel Family Alter Care, the Roitenberg Family Assisted Living, its memory care unit and the Sholom Hospice. Graveside service 3 PM Wednesday at CHESED SHEL EMES CEMETERY, 1600 Christie Place, St. Paul. Memorials are preferred to the donor's favorite charity. SHIVA, 7 pm Wednesday at the Roitenberg Residence, 3610 Phillips Parkway, St. Louis Park. Hodroff-Epstein 612-871-1234

from here
(except I added the note about the image)

the sister in law mentioned in the obit was a woman who married into our family.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:03 AM

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

A new Kosher symbol

I was doing kosher supervision again today. One item I saw had a symbol I had never seen before. It was the symbol on the left.

Fortunately the place had wifi and I had my computer and the network password. The kosher certificate had been given in 2012 to the kasrut council of Madrid Spain and was good only for one item, artichoke bottoms. The head of the Washington council of rabbis said it was OK after I briefed him.

This is probably the first manufactured kosher food product to come out of Spain in 600 years or so.

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:57 PM

THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Friday, May 31, 2013