Off to board in Utah. Hopefully the snow conditions will be much nicer than what Root and Fabio experienced on their initial early-season exploration last time!
Author Archive for risu
Page 31 of 95
Oh, krapp! I slept thru the first hour of the Kohaku! Once again, I sit in front of the TV on New Year’s Day watching the local delayed broadcast of the NHK “Red and White Song Festivalâ€. Let’s get to it forthwith. Hopefully I can catch the beginning in rebroadcast later… Going live!
Never shy about giving themselves a pat on their own shoulder, this year’s theme seems to be revolving around NHK’s morning drama, “Ge Ge Ge no Nyoubou”.
The hunger…
The Ba-Le sandwich I had for lunch wasn’t enough to carry me through to tonight’s late dinner, so I grabbed a snack when I got into McBike. I didn’t want to eat something big and spoil my appetite, so this smaller bar looked like the ticket. At about half the physical size and caloric count as most standard energy bars, this snack-sized bar had the added benefit of being made from recognizable whole grains and fruits – more like a Clif Bar rather than the weird extruded robot food I’ve come to expect inside a PowerBar wrapper. The flavor was mild and easy to take, sort-of like a lower-sugar version of the more common mass-marketed cereal/whole grain bars. The packaging was easy to open, and the bar was gone in about four bites. These would probably be pretty good as ride food, since I have the tendency to eat only half of a standard bar per break. On the negative side though, you’d be generating more trash to keep track of, and the dollar value is a bit lack – it’s about half of a standard bar in content, but not at half the price! That’s the price of convenience and healthy content. Continue reading ‘PowerBar Pure & Simple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Energy Bar’
The last dirt ride of 2010!
Sunday, 05 December 2010
The weather on Sunday was too nice to not ride, so the few of us that were able to ride met out at the Ditch for a little exploration. I saw some new tracks when we were out there several weeks ago during the muddy weekend, so this was a good opportunity to do some exploring. For a while, I had been thinking that it would be nice to cut a gentle new fully-rideable switchback trail from the Ditch up to the plateau so we didn’t have to bust our nuts going up the cardiac climb. When I saw the lines in the rain, I figured someone had beat me to the punch. Continue reading ‘Meander’
Saw a bone-stock Honda Civic EX (well bone-stock except the illegally-dark tinted windows – so dark the driver had to roll down his window to see) with a “Type R” badge. Oh, yeah, I’m sure a Type R has that tailpipe that a roll of quarters would get stuck in, and those steel wheels with plastic covers! Sorry, buddy – you’re not fooling anybody. I do believe what the Phillippines flag sticker is supposed to be telling me though…
(0)What’s up with people today? I saw two drivers on two seperate occasions purposely running the red light – not like gassing it thru a stale yellow and being caught in the intersection on a red: It’s slowing down at a fresh red, seeing that the perpendicular traffic hasn’t started moving yet, and purposely entering the intersection on the red! One was a white Dodge Durango minivan (no, it’s not an SUV – tell me the last time you saw one off-road!) from the left-turn-lane into Nalani’eha from Like Like Southbound, and the other one was a white Honda Civic coupe at the top of the Northbound Ka Uka off-ramp from the H2.
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One of the fun things about travelling around Japan is trying out regional food and beer. While in Iwanai on the Southwest coast of Hokkaido on the Sea of Japan, I had a chance to try this local offering. Considering that the farming belt above the coastal town of Iwanai was where hops were first cultivated in Japan, and this is where Sapporo Breweries sources the hops for their “all Hokkaido” Hokkaido Meibutsu “gold can” lager, I was expecting at some kind of mind-altering hops experience from this beer, particularly since it was labelled a “pilsner”. I was disappointed. Perhaps I should have been expecting something more from the “deep ocean seawater” also called out on the bottle labelling of this rather watery beer. This is another case like the Otaru Bakushu beers where you can start out with premium ingredients and still produce an unremarkable beer. The initial pour and good head excited me, but the first sip fell flat. There was a good carbonation dry bite, but as that faded out, it was replaced with neither a malty richness nor a hoppy bitterness. There was a faint flowery hop aroma if I tried really hard to detect it, but it was otherwise a rather bland beer. I guess I should be glad that it was mild and easily drinkable, as opposed to being strongly flavored in a negative way.  I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Iwanai Ji-biiru Lager’
As a follow-up to the review of the “green letter” Sapporo Classic, I dutifully tested a “blue letter” Classic. Between the two, I can say the 2010 Vintage “green letter” has a stronger malt flavor with a more Pilsener-style bitter. The “blue letter” is more of a traditional Japanese dry pale lager. I am now curious to see if the difference between the “blue letter” Classic and regular Sapporo Black Label is primarily the point of origin. Whereas the two Classic varieties and the “gold can” are brewed at a facility in Hokkaido and are set for retailling only in Hokkaido, the standard Black Label sold nationwide could have been made in any number of regional breweries. Both Classics have a similar color and level of carbonation, but remember, this wasn’t a side-by-side test. Although I said the “green letter” Classic had a more pronounced maltiness, the “blue letter” was not without a solid malt flavor. The Classic will be available beyond the production cutoff of the 2010 Vintage Classic, so it will be available into the forseeable future. Give one a try when you’re on Hokkaido! Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Sapporo Classic lager’
Not like I could go snowboarding today anyway, but seeing as there is 3 to 6cm of snow in town, it must be off-the-hook at Kokusai! I’m so salty about the deletion of the early season weekday buses, that I don’t want to even go look at the webcams until I’m back in The States. I don’t need the aggrivation!
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The dark version of Suntory’s premium Malts lager, this dunkel arrives with the same high quality ingredients and solid taste foundation. If given the choice between all the standard offerings from the major Japanese mega-breweries, I’ll usually reach for a Suntory Malts above all others. The moderate hoppyness and full malt flavor makes it my favorite. This dark version has a slightly different flavor than the regular Malts. The obvious difference is the smoky flavor imparted by the darkly roasted malt, but there is a hint of a sweet note, perhaps from a stronger decoction resulting in a less complete attenuation: I’m not convinced that the sweetness is from something different in the hopping, and the mouthfeel does feel a little thicker than regular Malts.  This dark is an interesting change from the regular Malts, so if you see one, give it a try! Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Suntory Malts Kuro lager’