I brlieve Dave reviewed this beer already, but I found it at Safeway today and had to grab a sixer. Pours a bright clear light yellow with no head and weak carbonation. I think it has suffered from ill handling, Daves was much the opposite. I don’t detect a whole lot of initial aroma. Comes across as a dry beer with a fair amount of bitter. Quite drinkable, goes well with food. 3 of 4 elephant loving monkeys.
OK, Dave was suggesting I do a review page of the new anime shows showing up on fansub and streaming and I see he put up one post, so I’ll work on a the new batch. The spring batch of anime started off slow, the first shows I watched were pretty bottom of the barrel drivel. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Spring 2011’
Deja vu. I get the feeling I’ve seen this all before… In the late 90’s, TBS started a long-running afternoon drama, Onsen he Ikou! about a woman in he waning years of her marriageability showing up at the onsen-yado run by her estranged mother. After her wedding plans fall apart, the heroine seeks to reinvent herself by taking on a job as a live-in maid at the inn. Of course, cattiness, tension, deceit, and eventually heartwarming moments ensue. Fast-forward a decade in real-time, take a decade off the age of the protagnist, and you’ve got Hanasaku Iroha. As the “turning-thirty” heroine of Onsen was meant to resonate with the early-afternoon housewife audience demographic, the middle teen protagonist of Hanasaku is designed to appeal to girls about to go through (or are going through) that transition between middle school and high school. Because of this, I’m sure it’s not really going to be a direct ripoff of the drama, but I can’t imagine that there will be any storyline or literary twist that hasn’t been previously explored in 5 seasons of Onsen he Ikou!, or the 2008 reprisal, Onsen he Go!, or even Asakusa Fukumaru Ryokan or the multitudinous seasons of Hotel. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Hanasaku Iroha (JDM/USDM)’
So since learning that pastrami is smoked corned beef, we got together for a Saturday food project that we haven’t done in a while. This process is hot smoking, which should have been easier that the cold smoking that we’ve done previously for smoked salmon and bacon. Should being the operative word. So you see here the contraption that was created out of a water heater box and other large panels of cardboard, wood dowels, cooking racks, and inside a cheap single electric element burner and wok. The pieces of pastrami and other meats we decided top try smoking were placed on the rack in the upper section. On the bottom was placed the burner with wok. The burner was turned on to high and pieces of wood chips loaded into the wok. The burner was to make the chips smolder and smoke and provide enough heat to cure the meat. Alas, the heat inside the box seemed to get too high and the burner thermostat would trip before the internal heat could rise enough. Continue reading ‘Pastramification’
Have had this on tap at Kailua Pub, so it’s a known good brew, but haven’t reviewed it in B.I.G. yet. Pours a clear dark brown with moderate head that dissapates, but manages to persist a little and maintains carbonation. There’s a definite roasty aroma even before you take a sip. There is the bitterness of a dark roast, but it is very even and smooth, I thoroughly enjoy it. Despite its darkness, it’s quite clean drinking, there isn’t a really heavy mouth feel, there’s a little initial heft, but it does not stick around. Great beer for fans of stouts and porters but when you want something a tad lighter. I like.
I don’t know if its because it’s the end of a busy week and it’s super hot and humid out, but this beer is giving me much enjoyment that I’m giving it 4 out of 4 Irishy monkeys.
Not feeling super different, decided to pick up this offering from Red Hook breweries. Pours with a weak quickly dissapating head, although carbonation does persist. Color is a slightly cloudy medium light orange. Moderate tapering bitter with a bit of astringent middle and finish. There is a medium amount of thick mouth feel. A touch of floral. A decent drinking beer, but if it got any more syrupy it would tread dangerously into the realm of american buzz juice malt liquors taste that I dislike. The 5.8% ABV does pack a little bit of buzz. I’d have to go middle of road and give it 2.5 out of 4 capybara avoiding monkeys.
Velcro happened by the Melt wagon near Ward recently, so he sampled their Pastrami sandwich. Here’s what he had to say:
“$8. Â Tasted like a salty cheese and mustard sandwich grilled on a plate that used to have pastrami on it. Â Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I didn’t finish all the bready parts. Â Too salty.”
Root’s original review is here
At the past Rally-X on March 19th, I had a couple issues. One was I pooped out my muffler on one of my early runs. No big deal, open pipe baby! Quite rude. Second issue was the car conked out on another run. 
Got pushed off course and quick look revealed AFM electrical connector had popped loose. It is missing a spring clip wire. Well, nothing some judicious use of duct tape won’t cure! The muffler was a clamp on deal, but two hangers broke/corroded loose and the last one was precariously bent. After the event was done, I McGuyvered a battery cable, bicycle spoke, and some safety wire to hang the muffler back on in an attempt to quiet it down for the drive home. It was still pretty loud. I took a peek and I could see a crack in the pipe, oh well, nothing I could do about that for now, so I drove home brapping all the way.
About a year ago, a small sandwich shop opened on South Street between Halekauila and Queen, just ma’uka of the Motor Imports Toyota service lot. It lingered for maybe a month or two, but then shut down. Velcro went by and said it was good, but after looking at their somewhat daunting assembly-line-instruction menu, I never made it over before they locked their doors. A couple of months ago after some interior renovation, they reopened. Their website appeared to be the same, but the menu was more streamlined. I really don’t know, but it appears that someone took over the shop, keeping the name and genre, but overhauling the business model. Continue reading ‘Edible Briefs – Good Eats TT Sandwich’