Monthly Archive for April, 2008

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Burger of Peril

Published on April 17, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

Where's my crispy fried onions?The bun has a crevice in it... huh, huh, huhToday I tried the regular version of the Burger King Steakhouse Burger for lunch.  Like the “Stacked” version I tried last week, it’s the patty from the Angus burger.  This one had 2-slices of American cheese, A-1 Steak sauce, crispy fried onions, lettuce bits and tomato.  It was assembled on the same cornmeal-dusted “premium bakery-style bun”.  The crispy fried onions were under-represented on the specimen I was given.  The large size value meal is around $7.50 USD, and comes in at 1390 kcal (burger = 950, large o-rings = 440, large unsweetened iced tea = 0)  – that’s 20 kcal less than the “Stacked” version.  This one was much better than the “Stacked” one.  Gone were the impressions of saltiness and dryness.  The  food value was good for the price.

4 out of 4 grinning monkeys

3.5 out of 4 cardiac arrests

Recommended (you just might live a couple minutes longer if you choose this over the Stacked one)

Thunderstorms? Kuso!

Published on April 17, 2008 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Tan hazeGreat.  This is going on the second week of no riding.  There is a cold front North of Kauai that supposedly will bring thundershowers to Kauai today.  I hope the Kona winds that brought the tan haze back to Oahu yesterday will keep the front away, but knowing the way things tend to go, I am guessing that there will be bad weather again this weekend and therefore no trail action.  Curses!

Mentality

Published on April 17, 2008 in rant by risu. Closed Tags: .

HopelessDescribing the kind of person who repeatedly parks his private vehicle in a hospital loading zone is unnecessary – his actions speak loudly enough to define his personality and moral fiber.  Even then, his choice of vehicle brand and the hey, look at me religion-as-fashion/advertising die-cuts underscore this point even more. 

Post – 2007 USDM Hope Headset

Published on April 17, 2008 in bike and Review by risu. Closed

We just got a new Hope headset into the shop last week. It is different from the original UK Hope threadless headset. Gone are the multiple o-ring seals of the “Pre-2007” headset. This one has simple cups, angular contact bearings and dual colletted races. The bearings are not press-fit into the aluminum cups – instead, they just drop in. Hope is relying on the conical inner surfaces to keep the bearings tight when end-loaded. Both the crown race and upper bearing steerer collar are aluminum split-collets. This is good from the centering/freeplay/end-loading aspect. It would be nice if the crown race was stainless steel though, since it will take a lot of impact and shear loads – not sure how long aluminum will last in this application. The colletted crown race will make installation extremely easy – only a cup press will be required. Continue reading ‘Post – 2007 USDM Hope Headset’

Search For Squeezo (Squeezel?) Part 1

Published on April 16, 2008 in Culture, Food and Travel by derek. Closed

So anyone thats a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations must be familiar with the Vietnam episode where the guide takes him to a remote village and says about the dish of the day, “I think in your language you call it Squeezo.” Theres been a lot of chatter about Squeezo/Squeezel, but it got forgotten until I recently had a conversation with someone about Kopi Luwak, the expensive coffee that comes from Southeast Asia, famous because its pre-digested by Civets (that is, its eaten as a berry, then crapped out and collected as a bean). After looking over that Wikipedia article about Kopi Luwak, Dave wondered aloud if the Civet was the elusive Squeezo, as the Civet is a common food item in that region. Reminding him that the stew had pokey quills of doom, it launched The Search fo Squeezo…

Rats with Wings

Published on April 14, 2008 in rant by risu. Closed

A little Barred Dove managed to get into the warehouse at work today… well, we found him today – he might have been inside all weekend for all I know. Doves and their kin are all incredibly stupid birds, so turning off the lights and opening the roll-up door did nothing to persuade him to go outside. He just sat up in the diagonal bracing near the ceiling and made these pathetic cries.  If left to his own devices, he would stay up high until he died of starvation or dehydration.  The concept of going down is completely alien to their tiny minds. Continue reading ‘Rats with Wings’

Team AA

Published on April 11, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

img_1153.JPGSaturday, I’d gotten the 4AGZE starter motor to replace and relocate the balky starter.  Relocating the starter requires changing out the bellhousing splash plate. Somehow I was able to install the transmission myself.

img_1148.JPGimg_1149.JPGHere you see the old plate, the hole for the starter on the front/exhaust side of the engine. The new plate you see the hole on the other side. It’s a little hard to see, but the starter is now buried in there to the left, under the intake side.

img_1151.JPG Continue reading ‘Team AA’

ANger of Bhutan

Published on April 9, 2008 in Food by taro. Closed

dscf1163.JPGNope no Free Tidbits this past saturday. Fabio’s “cultural exchange” items of pepper seeds from Bhutan had come to fruition and we had a few of these pods of mystery this Saturday at Wayland’s. From Fabio’s tales, it seems those Bhutanese eat hot peppers like a salad. I was actually surprised at how large these were. Generally speaking, smaller peppers tend to be hotter. So maybe these aren’t that hot? In appearance they seem pretty similar to jalapeno. Magic BC spiceSo the thought is we’ll cook something tonight utilizing the peppers, a thai curry and the chana masala from the magic powder pack we bought in BC. Gotta QC the goods, make sure it’s not too sweet, not to rancid, you know? So one of the peppers is cut open and slivered. We each take a tiny piece and taste test them. Hoo baby! These guys are hot! Face the painNot habanero hot, but they’ve got more than a decent punch to them! It’s gonna be a good one tonight! Continue reading ‘ANger of Bhutan’

Burger of Doom

Published on April 9, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

Burger of DoomJust had a Burger King Stacked Steakhouse Burger for lunch.  It’s the Angus burger meat plus bacon, 2-slices of American cheese, A-1 Steak sauce, crispy fried onions, and a “baked potato topping” which was essentially mashed potatoes with chives smeared on the underside of the top bun.  All this is served on a “premium bakery-style bun”, which was just a cornmeal-dusted bun instead of a sesame-seed bun.  The non-“stacked” version doesn’t have the potato and bacon, but instead has lettuce and tomato.  When I walked in and saw it on the menu, I thought, “that looks really unhealthy – I’ll get it!”  The large size value meal is around $8 USD, and comes in at 1410 kcal (burger = 970, large o-rings = 440, large unsweetened iced tea = 0).  Not bad, but the meat was on the dry side, and the burger overall was salty.  I could do without the bland, pasty potato stuff, so maybe I can get the regular Steakhouse burger and add bacon next time.  The “Stacked” version, being without lettuce and tomato, was definitely on the dry side overall.

3.5 out of 4 grinning monkeys

4 out of 4 cardiac arrests

Recommended (if you don’t plan on living forever) 

Latte-iro Sora

Published on April 9, 2008 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

This morning the vog was so thick, there was a opaque wall of haze in Kalihi valley coming down Like Like.  The Waianae mountains were barely visible from the airport, and even up close at HMC-West, the details were blurry.  Rain all day: I guess no bike riding.  This week makes up for all the good weather last week.  I don’t imagine the weather improving for the weekend either.

Sunset will probably look really nice today…