daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
We went to our friends’ house for a saké tasting party and the photo above shows all the kinds that we tried. I like them all, except for perhaps the amber-colored saké. I really liked the Seaside saké label. It reminds me of the Totoro ending credits. 😁
We’ve been upgrading our car-camping gear recently and one area that we were lacking in was our camp coffee prep. I’ve always pre-ground the beans at home and brought it with us in a plastic bag, but I decided to buy a Hario Mini-Slim Ceramic Coffee Mill so that I can grind the whole beans just before brewing. Freshly ground coffee is so much better than pre-ground!
This mill is hand-operated with a crank and takes about 2 minutes to grind 12 grams of beans, which is a good amount for one cup of coffee. On this mill’s measuring scale, that means filling it to the #1 marker. It definitely requires a little bit of muscle, so if you don’t have strong arms and wrists, a coffee mill such as this might not be a good idea. On the flipside, the extra exertion would be a good way to get your blood flowing in the morning. 😀
I need to mention that the coffee mill comes with a barcode sticker on it that absolutely sucks to remove. It tears and is super gummy, and the mess gets everywhere. Just getting it to the stage where I can use Goo-Gone on it took a while. What a pain in the butt!
Here’s this year’s obligatory Thanksgiving meal photo. Besides turkey, we had oyster dressing, mac n cheese, macaroni salad, au-gratin potatoes, green beans, and cranberry sauce.
The sides were all yummy, but this year’s turkey was pretty lackluster. Turkey is a bland meat anyways and I think I’ve come around to the opinion that I’d rather have a different type of main dish for Thanksgiving. Or even maybe a non-traditional turkey breast recipe is in order. I wouldn’t mind trying that plus something like pork loin or beef tri-tip. Something to think about for next year.
One thing will never change is the oyster dressing. I love it so much!
I returned from 80° F Southern California sun to a chilly 50° F Texas gloom, but tonight’s dinner was the perfect antidote. A pot of delicious Japanese oden. The traditional 辛子 karashi (hot mustard) was perfect with it, but I also kicked it up a notch by adding some fresh (homegrown by my mom) scotch bonnet to the broth in my bowl. 🌶 I was toasty warm after that meal for sure!
We can’t get enough of Mexican food and while we’re visiting Southern California, a visit to La Capilla or Alfredo’s is usually on the agenda. This time we opted for the latter, which serves huge burritos. I had the Burrito Boxito which was excellent. Koa had the Burrito Trio (pictured) which was also fantastic. I really like Alfredo’s because of the delicious food, no wait time, generous portions, and proximity to my parents’ house. So good!
