Long Time No Taco

I had the privilege to attend Mutual Trading's trade show, showcasing the latest innovations in Japanese food, liquor, secret ingredients and restaurant hardware - if you ever asked yourself, "with all those robots, how do they not have a machine that makes sushi?" The short answer is: they do . The show fell on Oct. 1st, which they proudly proclaimed was "World  Saké  Day". Honestly, they could have said it was next week, and I would have believed that, but Mutual Trading boasts some credibility, now celebrating their 90th year of importing Japanese staples to Southern California. Miyazaki Beef While my focus was on their liquor pavilion, overall, the organization of the trade show was excellent. Two stages hosted speakers discussing how to sharpen Japanese blades, mainstreaming s aké  consumption in the U.S., and more, while every major food company from Japan offered product demonstrations (read: delicious samples). The sheer number of booths offering...

When we last left our hero, I was about to transfer my first batch of home-brew to a glass carboy for the first time! Did that go smoothly? Did tiny single-cell organisms perform the miracle of converting sugars into alcohol and carbonation? Does anyone get my PUN-ny blog titles?!? All that and more in this next installment of Long Time No Taco: I have been very busy in the kitchen, and a lot has happened! This is an Alot, by "The Oatmeal". Sadly, Alot has not happened. Transferring my peanut butter porter to the glass carboy for secondary fermentation went smoothly. I rarely get to use words like "smoothly" when describing home brewing; something unexpected always seems to crop up. such as 10 days later, when I went to bottle the beer, using my brand new bottle capper... Porter goes is... ...Porter comes out! After transferring the beer back to the ale pail with some maple syrup to help bottle condition (the yeast eats this new sugar source t...

Duality is one of my favorite concepts. I believe it to be a simplification of the multi-faceted nature of existence, but it allows for comparison, contrast, and ultimately, deeper understanding. If you look back at some of my other blog posts, they deal with two main topics: one abstract, and one concrete aspect in my life, how they relate to my past, and one another. Today's post is no different: Much has happened since I moved from NYC to L.A., and I have been terrible at keeping you up to date. The struggle started with the basics of work, shelter, and transportation. Finding an apartment in Koreatown near a public transportation hub with Michelle, we have been slowly decorating and introducing our cats to each other. Work has by far been the trickiest aspect. After a couple months of fruitless job hunting, I realize that the task requires its own special skill set - a clear image of an ideal job, and a dogged effort to pursue that from every available angle without distr...

More accurately: I Need to Start Using a Mash Tun.  Warning: The following contains more beer brewing jargon than the average person will care to learn. That said, you can replace most terms with "beer-thingy" in your head, and be just fine. I became passionate about home brewing after receiving a 1-gallon starter kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop  as a birthday present, a few years ago. This year, I finally made the jump to brewing 5-gallon batches. Left: One-gallon Black IPA, Right: Five-gallon brew-in-a-bag Galaxy hop IPA, Taken 8/23/15 Every home brewer has a different history and approach. My kit being for all-grain brewing, it wasn't until this year that I even saw what an extract looked like. Eventually, I would use both dry and liquid extracts to make a Rye Saison, and a clone of President Obama's White House Honey Porter, but it turns out, most home brewers enter the hobby exclusively using these extracts. Many never make all-grain batches, even after y...