Wait, summer ale? Yes, I haven’t gotten around to reviewing this until now. You can tell how enthusiastic I am about it. Pours a medium light yellow, fair head, thins out but carbonation stays for a bit. Strong floral bitters, a fairly syrupy mouth feel. Bitter persists in the back of mouth. Can’t say I enjoy this, but it’s not so bad that I don’t finish it. I’m glad summer’s over. 1 out of 4 hopped out monkeys.
Archive for the 'Review' Category
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I’m not sure who “invented†the tactical trouser belt, but Spec.-Ops. Brand was definitely one of the pioneers of the genre. Years back, I wanted a fully non-metallic belt to make airport checkpoints go more quicky, but that was before September 11 and the TSA, as nowadays all belts have to come off. I ended up with a PRC-made 5.11 Tactical Gear TDU belt, which worked perfectly fine, but its country of origin left something to be desired. Spec.-Ops. Brand belts are made in the USA, so I picked up a couple, one in Coyote Brown to go with my MultiCam trousers, and a black one for everyday use. Continue reading ‘Spec.-Ops. Brand Better BDU Belt 1.75‒
I dropped by Chinatown Boardroom on the 2nd for the opening of Fuyuki’s show, NAMI. Fukaya Fuyuki is an artist from Kyoto who creates using traditional brush techniques and a mix of traditional motifs mixed with a hint of the contemporary. His outstanding design sensibilities stem from his background in kimono fabric design and production. This show is his first in the USA, showcasing his paintings done with traditional water-based sumi-e inks on hand-made washi paper made by his friend in Kyushu. I was thoroughly impressed with his work and bought a woodblock print of a rooster from him. The show runs through the 30th of September, so check it out!
Highly Recommended!
We first discovered this at Chimpei ramen, now available at Marukai. Suntory Premium malts in glass bottle. Same crisp bit with a nice touch of flavor and bitter character. Is it better? I’m of the school that prefers bottles over cans, I think it is a more pleasant experience. Does it taste different? I’m not sure, but I think so. And for all those people who worry about it, no Booby Promoting Additive in the plastic liner. Is it worth the $1 more? You’ll have to decide. 3 out of 4 non estrogened monkeys.
Since the place that Root works at did a contract over at the Pastele Shop on School and Gulick, he scored a freebie plate a few months back that I got to sample. The Pastele was really good, and the gandule rice it came with was good too. The tossed greens that came with the plate were fresh and a voluminous, and the dressing was good too. Ckucke was in the area, so he picked us up lunch from there. I gave the Pastele Moco a try. I saw it on the menu and it sounded like an awesome idea. Combine Loco Moco and Pasteles? How could you go wrong? Fabio made it by earlier in the month and had given it his seal of approval. For those who don’t know what a pastele (“pah-tay-lay†– the “s†is silent) is, it the Caribbean/Central American equivalent of the Mexican tamale. This steamed dish arrived in Hawai’i with Puerto Rican immigrants during the sugar plantation days. It uses ground plantain or green bananas in place of the cornmeal since this dish hails from more tropical regions where corn does not grow well. Continue reading ‘The Pastele Shop Pastele Moco’
Open for a bit over half a year, I’ve been there three times now and figured should do a review. It is located on King Street slotted between TCBY and Sushi King and the Post Office. Same location that has seen other small Japanese restaurants. It is an authentically Japanese style izakaya, they have a few other locations in Japan, so the staff is most comfortable with Japanese, although there is at least one who speaks perfect English. And as such, you’ll notice a large percentage of Japanese expats in the customer base. And it’s izakaya style is casual and intimate, many of the regulars and natives will call out orders direct to the counter. I would say the food is contemporary Japanese with a strong Okinawan bent. You’ll find a good amount of Okinawa standards like goya, rafute, soki soba, taco rice and an array of awamori drinks.
 In case you don’t know, taco rice is not a misspelling of tako, it’s an Okinawa thing. Imagine a taco, like a Taco Bell taco, that had it’s tortilla disintegrated and instead ended up on a bed of white rice. Naru’s take on it is served ishiyaki style, a heated stone bowl that makes that wonderful burnt koge layer of rice. And the rice is a bit more like mexican rice style, with the spices and flavorings in the rice, as opposed to the bits on plain white rice that some might call more “traditional”, if one could call the mishmash of pop cuisine that is attributed to GI influence such a thing. I found this rendition to be quite tasty. There are still bits of lettuce in it that become all wilty, but I enjoyed it. Continue reading ‘Izakaya Naru’
I was out in Waipahu at lunchtime the other day, so I stopped by Jollibee to give them a try. Although this is the first USA franchise of a restaurant chain from the Philippines, you won’t find Filipino ethnic fare here: This is a Western-style fast-food place. The three major menu items they have are fried chicken, burgers, and spaghetti. This time around, I opted for the fried chicken, referred to here as “Chicken Joyâ€. The base plate is two pieces of chicken and one side, and from there you can upgrade to two sides, then three pieces of chicken. I got the two-piece with two sides, (#2) with mashed potatoes and buttered corn. The other options were white rice and something else I can’t remember right now. I neglected to indicate the spicy chicken option when I ordered, so I received the standard fried chicken. The service was very fast and the food was plated neatly. In addition to the gravy on the mashed potatoes, there was a little container of extra gravy for the chicken. Including the fountain drink, my meal came to $7.33 USD with sales tax. Continue reading ‘Jollibee Chicken Joy’
Ever since I started snowboarding, I’ve run a carabiner on my belt or pack waist strap for clipping my gloves to when I take them off, so I don’t lose track of them. Aluminum carabiners are reasonably light, but I moved over to the even lighter plastic Fastex Tactical Link when those were introduced. What most carabiners have an issue with though, is a tendency to lie flat along the belt, so one-handed use when clipping gloves to them becomes a bit more challenging. This is particularly noticeable with carabiners with any kind of curve along the spine (back, non-gate side). Enter the Black Diamond Ice Clipper. Like other plastic accessory clip carabiners, this product is non-load-bearing, but unlike a standard carabiner, the spine is flattened sideways, so the tension of the belt or webbing over it holds the gate-side out at a right angle. It will still roll flat if you push it firmly, so you can stow it when it is not in use. Continue reading ‘Black Diamond Ice Clipper’
A recent conversation reminded me about these Sharpie pens I bought a while ago.
“industrial super permanent ink”. So it’s more permanent than permanent. I guess the originals are semi-permanent ink then. That anything like semi-boneless? I use one at work, but can’t tell yet if it works any better, although it looks like they need to use a more permanent ink for the labeling on the pen….
Cass’s Pizzeria is all papered up and shut down. That didn’t last long. I’m not really sure how long it’s been boarded up.  Even though I pass by almost daily, it’s in the morning, so “not open yet” and “shut down for good” don’t look too different. Oh well – Fabio said it wasn’t very good anyway.
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