Author Archive for taro

Page 17 of 88

Gaba 

Published on July 16, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

 was at client call and discovered this, Omusubi GABA, in this tucked away shopping complex on the edge of Waikiki called Eaton Square. I’ve always noticed the entryway and the BBQ place visible from Hobron Lane. Never went in until now. You go into a pretty nice inner courtyard with interesting water features and koi pond.

This shop specializes in musubi made with GABA rice. Rice that has been germinated which causes enzymes to activate and increases levels of nutrients and softens the texture. It’s a small, bright space that might remind one of a Bakery with product lines up carefully on shelves for you to select. They are also carefully labeled detailing ingredients and even country of origin. Continue reading ‘Gaba ‘

J Fish

Published on July 9, 2016 in Food by taro. Closed

P1060570P1060571Don Quixote lately has been bringing in some different fresh fish from Japan. I wanted to buy a budai (uhu) but they were all a bit too large for just myself and my dad. This Itoyori looked good and sounded like a good candidate for steamed black bean Chinese style. It’s a neat pink with bright yellow stripes and a thread that extends off its tail. Happy to report it came out well.

Beer Is Good – Sam Adams Got To Gose

Published on July 8, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

P1060574Last from the summer seasonal Sam Adams pack. Their rendition of a gose, which after some research is an ancient German style beer. Characterized by being sour, salty and inclusion of coriander. Pours clear yellow with small head. Aroma, uh… I can’t really say. This is a very nondescript beer. I’m thankfull that it is not very sour, I’m not a fan of that in beer. It’s got a light mouthfeel, and nary a buzz.

I guess beer makers are in search of the next IPA and searching for styles not heard of before to try, and even include stuff like cucmber in it. Yes, it says on the label this has cucumber. This beer is inoffensive, but it’s also unmemorable.

2 out 4 gosey monkeys.

Beer Is Good – Blue Moon Belgian Table Pils

Published on July 6, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

P1060573Blue Moon seasonal, a “Belgian style pilsner”. Pours clear medium amber with small head. Moderate hops aroma, subtle citrus. Aside from the initial Pils flavor, there isn’t a whole lot more going on. Mouthfeel is pretty light.

I guess this is a “session” pils and I guess its successful at that. On the flip side, it doesn’t leave much of an impression. It’s not terrible at all, I’d have to give it a middle rating of 2.5 out of 4 pils monkeys.

Dang Subaru

Published on July 4, 2016 in car and rant by taro. Closed

WTF, Sunday heading

 to dinner at Velcro’s, went to flip down the visor as I was heading into the late afternoon sun. Blam it dropped down into my face. Da fawk! A couple months ago, the passenger visor detent mechanism failed, now this! People on online forums have actually reported this failure before.

Crap, another $70 visit to Toyota parts. Oh yeah, the part is embossed with Subaru logo on back, so I blame them!

Beer Is Good – Sierra Nevada Stout

Published on July 4, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

P1060572What, they put out something on the shelf other than an IPA, and it’s a dark?! Sierra Nevada Stout. Pours opaque black with strong head. Hop blended with smoky aroma. Moderate bitter lasts through, a little sweet creeps in, then the bitter tapers but hangs around. A medium heavy mouth feel.

Despite the pain from a centipede bite on my toe about an hour and half ago, I’m enjoying this beer. Heck, I may have had this before, but I haven’t seen it on shelf so long that I don’t recall if I have had it.

Solid 3 out 4 centipede stomping monkeys.

More Midnite Madness

Published on July 2, 2016 in car by taro. Closed

It’s 2AM now, just finished cleaning up. After dinner spent the night pulling out the 20 valve engine from the rally FX. Decided I’m going to go ahead with rebuild even though I figured out the oil burning smell was from axle seal leaking trans oil onto the exhaust pipe. I’ve got rebuild parts on order from Australia. It went pretty smoothly this time. I pulled the engine and transaxle out as assembly and separated them after. It was much easier even though I don’t have the lift leveler/tilt thing yet. Taking out is easier than putting in, I should have the leveler by the time I put this back in. Anyway, I got it out but not stripped down quite enough to take it to the machine shop. I was hoping to take it tomorrow but looks like not likely, Ted’s is open only half day Saturday.

Pizza redemption

Published on July 1, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

  recently opened at Koko marina Sophie’s pizzeria. After my experience with Pieology in Aina Haina been hankering for some decent pizza. Was a bit dubious as this has a somewhat similar Subway style counter ordering. It isn’t unlimited choice for single price though. They have a neat Italian dough squishing machine that produces the thin crust for the pizza. Takes the skill out of it, but also ensures consistency. 

I went with traditional crust with house sauce, ricotta cheese, sundried tomato, spinach & Italian meatballs. Tossed into yet another Italian device, stone oven with spinning base. In a few minutes, delivered to my table was a 10″ pizza with a proper crisp crust, flavor not overpowering, and not feeling like a bloated sodium fest.

At a similar price point, if you were going quantity over quality then they lose, but if you want a good pizza that you can finish and not feel bogged down the rest of the day, Sophie’s wins hands down.

Solid 3 out 4 Italian pie monkeys. 

To the Scavenging

Published on June 25, 2016 in car by taro. Closed

So the status of the FX is it ran well enough for me to take 4th place over entire field at the last rallycross. It did occasionally bog down and cut completely out at idle a couple times. Charge & brake light came on once, classic sign of bad alternator. Starting was getting harder on each successive run too. It also was smelling like a two stroke on the drive home.

P1060569Had some time since to check things out. First off the ECU was giving an igniter error. Oil was down about a quarter quart. Did a compression test which showed all cylinder pretty close, which is good, but pressure was around 160psi if I sat on the starter more than recommended. That’s low for this engine, people have reported up to 200. Looks like a rebuild is in order. Continue reading ‘To the Scavenging’

Beer Is Good – Sam Adams Belgian Session

Published on June 24, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

P1060568From summer variety pack, pours clear medium amber with medium head. Interesting initial aroma and flavor of fruit and spice. Citrus notes and mild hops bitter in the middle that tapers pretty quickly. While there’s some mouthfeel, it finishes clean with some grain flavor just peeking in.

I am quite enjoying this beer!

3+ out of 4 sessioning monkeys.