japanese class and dinner

 korrina rode her bike over after her volunteer shift this afternoon. she has japanese class on fridays, and worried that she wouldn't be able to make it home to her apartment in queens in time for the streaming session. it was fun to hear her speaking japanese with her fellow students. pluto was very excited when the buzzer rang, and hopped to the door to see who was arriving. he observed the class from the bed for a little while, but then poked his nose into the screen and her notebook.

 she has been enjoying having a work routine again. she's currently doing five days a week, but can do less if unable to make that. she's helping out cooking in the kitchen, for example, making penne pasta with a sauce and chicken breasts on the side. the food goes to homeless new yorkers and to essential workers. she cooks with others and then it's sent upstairs to be plated. they're working out of a downtown restaurant (the cauldron-which, of course, has been closed due to covid19).

 i made escarole soup with chicken meatballs, potatoes and shitake mushrooms (the vegetables being from the green market-muddy farm) and a fresh chicken broth.

this is one of my favorite soups.

breakfast and cats, a new job and a home-brew tasting

it was so nice to have breakfast with morgana this morning, who's home to get a student visa before starting school in october.

we had scrambled eggs and chicken apple sausages, oat cakes and lemon curd.

before i post all the kitten pics, here's dear pluto lounging on the bed.

korrina had the day off and stopped by to see the kittens. we've been keeping them in morgana's room (after they pooped all over chanda's rug). we kept them confined for a few days, but they've now mastered the art of jumping over our room dividers. we keep the bedroom door closed, at least. we haven't integrated them with pluto yet, as they've been on medication for a cold (runny eyes).

 korrina with finn . .

little fir, on the left, and fallon.
 

 fir and fallon look so much alike that it's difficult for me to tell them apart at just a glance. fir is a little smaller and fallon has a chubby belly; fallon's facial hair coloring is slightly darker than fir's; fir is female and fallon is male.

korrina's selfie with finn.

 after hanging out with the kittens all morning, we visited chanda at her new job. she's working at a cafe called merriweather, and really loves her co-workers and boss, who is from australia.

 her boss's name is peter, and he came out to greet us and to say how much they're enjoying having chanda be part of the team. (you can see the cafe's website here.)

 chanda made korrina and i a matcha latte and detox tonic (the latter was for me; it was incredibly refreshing for a warm day and was made up of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, fresh ginger, cinnamon and honey and sparkling water).

 morgana popped in after seeing a friend and had a cappuccino.

 afterwards, korrina and i walked to the bus stop to head up to the japan society, where she is a member and attends japanese language classes. this evening they were having a special home-brew beer tasting event, which we had bought tickets for.


 riding crosstown on the new 14th street bus . .


 at the event . . we heard a lecture about the different breweries and how home-brewing became popular. It was due to a bill signed by president jimmy carter in 1978 that lifted restrictions on home-brewing set during prohibition fifty-six years ago. (you can read more about it here, it's very interesting).

 korrina tasting a matcha flavored beer . .

 it was a well attended event with over thirty brewers represented. i began the tasting by noting down the flavor resemblances on the papers they had given us for each beer, but soon gave up when i ran out of descriptive ideas. i normally love stouts, but found i didn't love the stout brewed with oysters, and preferred the lagers instead.

 we also ate a fair amount of edamame.

 walking home past the chyrsler building . .