Another Week: Number 14

T.S. Elliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” but I have had MSNBC in my ear for the past 20 years and they’re all cruel. Shellackings, special counsels, and impeachments come and go year ’round, whether I’m mowing grass or shoveling snow. Every hour begins with some small new glimmer of hope that eventually gets crushed under realities like, “This is going to take a year at the very least.”

Again this week, Amy and I were mostly apart. I spent much of it doing website work, and the rest still reading selected takes on The Sound and the Fury.

We were together all day Wednesday for a bunch of hospital tasks, but we get along with each other pretty well after 41 years and the outcomes were good.

As I write this on Saturday afternoon, it’s gloomy and cold outside and I want to eat pasta, then sleep until Monday.

Other than that, we ate at a Thai restaurant and our pipsqueak congressman is drunk with power. Those reports are below.

Thai-Namite restaurant in Wauwatosa

We had no lunch on Wednesday and a couple of hours between hospital appointments at Froedtert, so I did a Google Maps search for vegetarian restaurants in the vicinity. It turned up Thai-Namite, a “Thai bistro and sushi bar” at 8725 W. North Ave, on Wauwatosa’s main drag.

The brick building, painted gray and set back from the street on an elevated patio, is easy to miss. The interior has a modern industrial look, with exposed brick, laminated butcher block tables, black wood chairs, and industrial floors — a bit cool and echoey, but clean and functional. The music system was playing at a level barely loud enough to identify Harry Styles and Fleetwood Mac.

Thai-Namite offers sushi, which we enjoy — but this afternoon we were looking for a quick and filling meal with vegetables and rice. Amy is mostly vegetarian, but she happily consents to seafood and the occasional egg.

We started with Fresh Rolls ($5 for two) and Tuna Tartare ($10). The rolls were good, but the tuna was a big hit, finely diced and sauced in a bowl with avocado slices and crispy wontons.

For her main dish, Amy ordered Andaman Karee ($17), “Squid, shrimp, bell pepper, onion, celery and green onion, stir fried with curry powder, egg and coconut milk.” It was tasty but a bit heavy in spicing and texture. She took her unfinished portion home.

I chose the Hawaiian Delight ($14), “Stir fried chicken and shrimp with white onion, pineapple, cucumber, tomato and bell pepper, with sweet and sour sauce.” The chicken, shrimp, and vegetables were all delicious and nicely cooked. The sweet and sour sauce was the standard, too-sweet pink stuff. I should have paid more attention when ordering, but got distracted thinking about Hawaii. I did make all gone.

All in all, Thai-Namite was exactly what we needed — reasonably-priced, healthy-ish food, promptly brought forth by an attentive server. Our total — with two green teas, free refills, and tax — was $55.12. We relaxed and talked, but the whole visit took less than an hour, and we left satisfied and ready for our next thing in no hurry.

Wisconsin congressman Bryan Steil: The hedgehog that roared

Since sliding behind the wheel to replace political older brother Paul Ryan, Rep. Bryan Steil has mostly kept his generic Republican head down. Recently, however, he has begun to catapult himself into the headlines via his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee, the committee previously in charge of mice infestations.

Suddenly this year, when he’s not steamrollering committee hearings with obscure Facebook Live videos about “Papergate,” he’s teaming up with migraine motormouth Jim Jordan to weaponize the power of the U.S. Congress and unlawfully interfere with the work of a New York State grand jury to protect his political ally from the rule of law.

The last thing Wisconsin needs is a junior Marjorie Taylor Greene. We already have our Capitol Hill laughingstock in Sen. Ron Johnson.

Sadly, we are saddled with Fake Electors Johnson for another six years in a job he doesn’t even want, thanks to some stupid peanut butter sandwiches.

However, the Constitution provides for new House elections every two years. Last time out, Ann Roe came within 8.9 percent of Steil despite negligible support from the Democratic fundraising infrastructure.

We deserve better in November 2024.

When I was growing up, Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district was an important seat held by Les Aspin, a leader of consequence.

Now it’s a neglected hand-me-down occupied by an upstart squatter who imagines himself a king.