This Pils from Hokkaido Beer Pirkawakka brewery in Chitose, South of Sapporo, has the distinct bitter flavor common to the variety. The aroma is richly malty. There is a mild flowery aroma from the hopping, but no sweet taste. If you enjoy a good bitter Pils, then you will like this one. It is the most bitter Japanese jibiiru I have tasted to date. The color is a medium amber. The initial flavor is clean and malty, and the finish crisp. The malt and bitter both fade evenly in the aftertaste. The carbonation is moderate. Although richly flavored, this is an easily drinkable, refreshing Pils. This is the best Pils from Japan that I have tried! It is not unlike a Lowenbrau or Wernesgruner with more flavor. If you like your Pils a little less bitter, try the Otaru Beer Pilsner jibiiru. Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – Hokkaido Beer Pirkawakka Pilsner Jibiiru’
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Saw a semi-homeless Taurus wagon today with a SD Inuyasha sticker on the rear windscreen above diecuts that read: “It’s not what man thinks, but what God says that matters”. You realize that the little character you think is so cute/macho/dreamy/etc. IS AN EFFING DEMON, right? You realize that this “annie may” character was created from ideas from a non-Christian culture, and the mere suggestion of his existence is tantamount to blasphemy in your religion, right? How does that sit in your stomach now? From the junk level inside the car, this is not a young person – probably one of the scary, obsessive, older fangirls that creep me out when I go to anime conventions. Probably Costco-sized too… Yeah, I went there.
(0)I thought back-up sensors on a Mini Cooper was bad. Today at Costco HK I saw a new Mazda CX-7 with FRONT sensors! If you can’t see what’s effing in front of you, YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BE DRIVING!
(0)Forget “TGIF”! I’m thinking “TBIIAS” (Too Bad It Isn’t Already Saturday). Yes, my glass is half empty.
(0)Ckucke, Kevyn, and I met at the bottom of the hill a little early. JT cancelled out at the last moment, and at roll-out time, Root called to say he was going to be late. I told him to just get ready and come anyway: We would start and he could catch up with us. We were going really easy at the start, and kept a decent pace all the way up. I was within the small pack, but not pushing to beyond a touch of burn. The time was good at the one-lane bridge, so I put on the power and embraced the burn to the top. I managed to come in under 40-minutes. While we waited at the top for Root to catch up, Ckucke both astounded and disgusted us with his completely sweat-saturated Underarmor helmet liner. It glistened heavy with wetness and dripped! Root rolled up about fifteen minutes after us, and we went down the Tantalus Drive side. Per CKH’s direction, I led everyone down the “follow me†detour. Nothing quite like cyclocrossing in the dark! I did an unnecessary panic dismount at the switchback and flubbed the dismount and run at the log. Maybe I’ll clean it next time… We took it easy heading downhill, so the time was nothing special.
D = 17.60 km (10.94-miles), Vavr = 19.6 km/h (12.2-mph), Vmax = 72.8 km/h (45.2-mph), T = 54-minutes (39-minutes up, 15-minutes down)
We got a promotional coupon book from Z Pizza at work last week. Today, we checked out their online menu (which was disturbingly bereft of prices) and gave them a call. The prices were in line with similar restaurants, and they had delivery, so we put together an order and waited for it to arrive. The food arrived quickly, but soon after, the delivery girl returned – the prep crew had forgotten one of our sandwiches, so she brought it by, along with a couple freebee pizza slices. Nice! The free stuff aside, it was nice seeing a place that was actually responsible! I got a meatball sub, $7.50 USD plus tax. It was toasted on foil, cut in half, then the halves separately wrapped. Opening up one half, I gave it a taste. The bread was crusty and firm. The filling was a bit cold, but that’s probably my fault for waiting too long. The meatballs were large and plentiful. There was a nice spicy marinara sauce, and thick pieces of melted mozzarella. In general, the flavor was good, but muted on the “meat†side. There was adequate meat, but insufficient flavor from it. Oh… and as the cheese cooled, it became firmly stuck to the thin foil, causing a minor pain in the you-know-what to remove it (hint: thicker foil or reusable silicone toasting sheet). Continue reading ‘Z Pizza Meatball Sub’
I had the meatloaf from Tsukenjo’s today. I was disappointed. The quantity was large, but the general quality was marginal. There weren’t a lot of fillers in the meat itself, but there also wasn’t a whole lot of flavor other than salt and beef tallow. Even the abundant brown gravy didn’t save it. The entrée gets a C. The “tossed salad†was chopped cabbage with one fleck of watercress and French dressing. Whee. The salad gets a D. The rice was bony and dried up along the edges of the scoops. Rice gets a C-. Give this one a pass and try something else like the roast pork.
Of all the meatloaf plates I’ve had in the Kakaako area, by and far the best is Cooke Street Diner’s “Mama’s Meatloafâ€. This is seriously a maboroshi dish – it is not a regular menu item, and if they feel like making it, they often sell out by noon. The ingredient quality and care of preparation on this meatloaf is outstanding. Second best is the one from the lunch wagon on Ilaniwai between Cooke and Kamani. This one is sometimes a little dry, but the flavor is very good.
Is it Spring or Summer? Even with the heat outside, it was better taking a spin on the ‘cross than remaining inside. I could see some rain out in the bay by Coconut Island, but it never worked its way over to bring cool relief to the land.
D = 17.89 km (11.12-miles), Vavr = 22.9 km/h (14.2-mph), Vmax = 43.5 km/h (27.0-mph), T = 47-minutes
Took my mom to dinner at Haleiwa Joe’s at Haiku Gardens for an early Mother’s Day dinner.  I started with a Gordon Biersch Marzen draught – it arrived lukewarm. Mom had the $29 Filet which was properly cooked according to her request – on the rare side of medium rare. That looked like an A.  I got the $20 salmon with a $3 starter house salad. The salad was 60% iceberg and 40% romaine with three tomato wedges, two thin slices of English cuke, a sprinkle of dessicated carot gratings, and 8mm-wide strips of nori laver. The salad was obviously premade, covered with plastic wrap, and stockpiled in the fridge. The miso-sesame vinaigrette was indistinct and flavorless, not unlike the mystery dressing at the Whistler Village Brewhouse Restaurant that made the salad wet, but didn’t make it taste good. Salad gets a D – skip this one. Salmon was served with seasoned mashed potatoes and cooked julienned carrot and zucchini. The salmon filet was covered with a macadamia nut pesto and fried potato strings. The flavor was good, but the salmon was overcooked and dry. I found a half-dozen pin bones, and the blood line wasn’t cleaned from the filet, leaving a bad tasting region adjacent to it. I’ve had good luck with the salmon before, but this time it gets a C+. Dessert was the “Paradise Pie” which was a giant wedge of Oreo-crusted coffee ice cream pie sprinkled with toasted almond slivers and drizzled with Belgian chocolate sauce. It was good, but the base ice cream quality was pedestrian. It still gets an A though. Desserts are all “share” size. Continue reading ‘Edible Briefs – Haleiwa Joe’s, Kaneohe’