OK, back at the begining of September (9/11!) I first met the seller of the latest FX16 and took a look at it. My initial inspection revealed some things. While clean, it was rougher than the advertised pictures revealed. It was actually a month later, prodded by the insane amount of fun rally-cross was, that I actually bought it. In the month since then there have been more revelations.
Author Archive for taro
Page 60 of 88
A few weeks ago, in the gravel lot next door to the work office, I noticed a new lunch wagon opened up. I popped over to check it out, it was gourmet grill cheese sandwiches, called Melt. At the time I was looking for something to supplement food I had brought from home and this didn’t sound like it would go too well. I figured to try it at a later date. Earlier this week I purposely did not bring home lunch planning to try it, only to find no one at the truck. Heynow, what the heck?! Tried again today. Dunno if this is supposed to add to the hipster vibe or what, it seemed half the clientel were being mod and dare I say looked like they should have fixie friends. The concept feels mainland city, like LA or NY. Continue reading ‘Melting’
I should probably explain the title of my earlier post. Through those convoluted paths that conversations often take, we found ourselves outside that earlier review Mexitlan Grill wondering about the composition of the Japanese word “benpi” and the “ben”. Benpi is constipation in Japanese.
便秘
We figured it was the same “ben” as in “benjou”. I looked it up in the dictionary on my iPhone, and much to our surprise, it came up with the kanji compounds as “convenience” and “secret”. So it turns out the “ben” is also the same as in “benri”. We found this pretty odd. It turns out this same kanji also can mean feces. That makes complete sense, but two have these two very different meanings for the same kanji seemed pretty wierd. I’m used to seeing a word that sounds the same but having different meanings and different kanji, but not this way around. Anyway, now you know!
Update: it’s been closed for a few months now, that didn’t last very long….
Tucked away in that odd cubbyhole space off of 11th avenue behind the strip of shops that holds Big City Diner on Waialae, on our way to Himalayan Kitchen, we saw a new Mexican place show up. A few weeks later, we decided to try it out. Its a small, intersting space. I’m thinking some of it is holdovers from when it was a Japanese restaurant, Bozu. We spent some time hemming and hawwing outside deciding if we wanted to do it, looking at the menu posted didn’t help, it was in microprint that all us old fart hyperopic eyes couldn’t deal with. I went in to grab a printed menu and that sucked us in. As soon as we we headed inside to a table, I had to arch an eyebrow at the bottles of Tabasco on the tables. That already raised a question mark in my brain. Continue reading ‘Convenient Secret? Mexitlan Grill’
Fighting schoolgirl in uniform, how can you go wrong? You figure with the decades that Japan has been producing them they’d have it down pat. Well, I’m sad to say that what is being titled as Mutant Girls Squad and screened at HIFF, it is not true. I thought the original Japanese title, roughly literally translated “Girl Warrior, Legend of the Bloody Iron Mask” was more cool, but perhaps this English title matches this movie better. It had the elements, not one, but three cute fighting girls, blood spatter fountains and guts, weapons sprouting from all manner of body parts, cheesy effects, and yet it didn’t come together. I found it very uneven, jerky pacing, abrupt editing which was intentional, humor often feeling too forced. Perhaps it having three directors had something to do with this. The movie makes obvious reference to others, the iron mask bit and line of dialogue lifted straight from Sukeban Deka, and other pop culture references, some which I got, which gets a chuckle when you get it, but not much more. Continue reading ‘Mutant’
The second exclusive flavor in the SA Harvest variety pack is this Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Pours a medium dark amber with medium head that quickly dissapates. Lingering carbonation is light. Mouth feel still fairly crisp, but a bit more weight. Unfortunately I can’t say much about aroma with my current hampered condition. Not a whole lot of bitterness, none of that lingering in the back of mouth and tongue. I can’t taste the pumpkin, but can detect the faintest hint of the spice. I don’t know if this is in combination with the earlier Hoegarten I had and busy day, but it seems to pack a little punch. Anyway, all in all I’d have to say I enjoy this beer, despite misgivings of thoughts of pumpkin in my beer. I’d give it a 3 out of four boogie woogie monkeys.
Another from the Harvest Collection variety pack is this the Black Lager. Pours a opaque and true to its name, pretty much black. Moderate head that dissapates quickly but the carbonation persits, which contributes to its crisp mouthfeel. I don’t get a strong aroma, but my sinuses prevent that. There is a strong bitter that persists throughout with a bit of roastyness lingering. I’m not sure what to say about this beer. I’m a fan of darks, but this one seems to lack any complexity. While not bad and I’d certainly drink it, it’s not one I savor and go out of my way to find. I guess I’d have to give it a 2 out of 4 dark roasted monkeys.
Well, the Hawaii 5-0 production was at Holy Nativity this friday evening and I can tell you they certainly made fans with many East Honolulu residents. It took me about an hour to get from Kahala Mall to home in Hawaii Kai, could have gone there and back on my bicycle. Had a hectic day at the Makitti opening, time only for a 7-11 sandwich somewhere around 3:30 and then hit the helacious trafic backup at the Kahala Mall merge. Had all kinds of idiots cutting in line, driving along the left lane and into the intersection under the H-1 and then turning right, bypassing the right lane and right turn merge lane. Where’s Tehzaman when you need him. While stuck in traffic I get a trouble call from a site on both my personal phone and the company phone. Ugh, by policy I can ignore my personal phone, they’re not supposed to have that number, but I pull over at Aina Haina to call back on the company phone, only to listen to the phone ring twenty times. I’m in a pretty sour mood, and then the car won’t start despite the secondary ignition bypass switch I installed. Curses, and I don’t have my usual hot wire jumper. Eventually it starts, I reenter the traffic, and make it home. Sheesh. Dinner and a beer sure was good, time for another!
Oh if you’re wondering, the title is a reference to the mysterious signs you see at these productions directing staff where to go.
(0)
You know, I thought they said cats can’t taste carbos and don’t care for it. When I put this empty bottle of Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale down, little shirokuro came over and started licking the bottle enthusiastically. I’m sure alcohol is not good for kitty so didn’t let her have any, but it was amusing to see.
BTW, the beer is actually pretty good. Fabio was dubious since an early experience with a Blue Moon pumpkin beer made him angry. I couldn’t actually taste any pumpkin, but could detect the faintest hint of the spice in the aftertaste.
So both posts of the MaxJax are leveled and bolted down. Proceeded to hook up the electric hydro pump and start filling the resivour for the called for 9 quarts. Somewhere past 7 it overflows and I have a little mini spill. Not too bad, but I realize the 9 quarts must account for the volume in the cylinders and lines too so I plug in the pump and hit the power button. There’s a reassuring whine from the electric pump, no movement, but I can hear gurgling of fluid when I stop the pump. Just needs to get that fluid through everything, and running the pump some more the platforms finally start moving, and do some boingy action. Must be the air in the system. The fluid in resivour indeed has gone down, so I add fluid to top things off. It’s moving slow so I figure I should add the extension arms for some added weight and load to aid in bleeding the air. So I hit the release lever. I’m intent on watching the platforms lower and neglect to notice the growing oil puddle that has formed on the floor around the base of the pump. What I didn’t realize was with the air was taking up volume so too much fluid was returning to the resivour and backing out the fill cap. Oops, doing my own little BP here! Run to frantically scatter newspaper around to soak it up. Continue reading ‘Root’s Speed Shop-We Have Lifto!’
