from the twisted minds of snm
Next up in the SA variety pack is this black lager. Pours opaque virtually black, medium light head. There is the roast aroma, but not of fresh brewed coffee. Its a bit mustier with a touch of shoyu. Mixed with some hop aroma. The medium bitterness lingers, carbonation lessens some of the medium heavy mouthfeel. Not bad, but I’d like more malt.
2 out 4 coffee monkeys.
I’ve had these bags for a little while now, the board roller this is second season. The Patagonia is well constructed, a soft bag with wheels. Hypolon like material holding up to travel. The webbing handles on three sides are designed nicely that they don’t cut into hand. The two little internal pockets are too small to be of much use. The two hooks interface almost perfectly to the duffel, I didn’t use the duffel for travel before because of lack of wheels, but with it hooked to the board bag it worked well. It becomes more like handling one bag. The print blurbs for the ASO claim its carry on sized, I don’t think so. It’s big enough that without all the video gear, it can fit clothes and gear for the 10 day trip easily. The ASO is constructed with top quality materials. It has stowable backpack straps, but I couldn’t use them on the first trip I used it, because I was already using a backpack as my carryon. I instead used one of straps as a shoulder strap. It worked, but was not ideal and if it were longer would have been pretty unpleasant for me.
Anyway, this combo gets the monkey thumbs up.
4 out 4 anvil shaped monkey objects.
Next SA variety pack is a lager pack. This is their take on a pils. Pours clear light amber, light head. Strong hop aroma, pine. Strong bitter and astringent. This is too much like an IPA for my taste without much else for me to enjoy, no matter how noble it is.
1 out 4 noble monkeys.
I guess finding myself now a homeowner, I’m buying household appliances now. This purchase of a Braun immersion/stick blender was prompted by the need to make whipped cream and not finding the old hand crank mixer we used to have. I also could not locate the electric mixer. Both probably long gone. It appears manual mixers do not exist in stores anymore, there was one at the Kahala cookware store, but it was a horrible made in China affair. If it were an antique it might be kinda cool, as it was constructed like something from centuries ago. So then my search turned to alternatives. I didn’t want to really get a conventional electric mixer as I didn’t see myself using it often, but then looked into stick blenders. After some searching, I settled on this Braun I found in stock at the local Target. It’s a good step above the base cheap models that were more available in the stores. The beauty of immersion blendesr is you can blend and/or mix in whatever container your working with. Aside from the usual blender tip, it came with a whisk and mini food processor attachments, which maxes it multi use. The removable tip design makes cleaning easy too. Continue reading ‘Domestic Tools’
Last month the sister and family came down to visit and take care of services for my dad. Dad wasn’t much for ceremony so we kept things simple. We didn’t do the full Buddhist ceremony, it was done more as a memorial service for both dad and mom. We decided to have their ashes scattered a few days later. Seems to be not too common a request for Jodo, but we eventually worked it out. The Reverend Nakano met us the MLK morning at the end of Sandy Beach. He has an awesome voice and his chanting of sutras was masterful!