![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Lexus Recall Part 3
1 November 2016 14:06Lexus called me this morning to let me know the replacement parts had arrived. My car is booked in for Wednesday next week. I wonder if they will leave me a little box of chocolates.
Watching the clouds
29 October 2016 10:47Have a calming afternoon thunderstorm with some hail.
Filmed yesterday at 1f/sec.
Filmed yesterday at 1f/sec.
Lexus Recall Pt 2
24 October 2016 11:39It is confirmed; my CT200h needs a new fuel suction pump cover. Replacement day TBA.
I received a letter from Lexus telling me there is a recall of all CT200h. They want my car tomorrow to inspect a plate in the fuel tank, and then I'll know it it has to go back for replacement or not. I hope not.
Have a calming sunset time lapse, except for a moment at 1:17. Suddenly, wattle bird.
Have a calming sunset time lapse, except for a moment at 1:17. Suddenly, wattle bird.
( Spider Photo )
A jumping spider, about 5mm long, on my Key To Erebor prop replica. I hope she finds a mate so I can see if she's a peacock spider.
A jumping spider, about 5mm long, on my Key To Erebor prop replica. I hope she finds a mate so I can see if she's a peacock spider.
Pours a very dark brown. The head is thick and foamy, and gradually fades away. The beer is opaque in the glass so carbonation is not visible.
First Sip: dark roasted malts, dark chocolate and coffee flavours. There is a mild, lingering bitterness. Mouth-feel is medium, with a dry finish.
This is very nice, but not what I expected. Usually I can't get enough of a stout but this is one I need to be in the mood for. I don't think it would be terribly hard to make is a regular brew, especially on cold winter nights, but I still prefer Sheaf Stout. *half a glass later* I really am enjoying this beer now that it has warmed a little. The malts are becoming stronger and I'm growing used to the dry finish.
Double Stout
Shepherd Neame & Co, Faversham Brewery.
5.2% alc/vol
500ml bottle
Same again sir? Yes, but not right now.
I hit Woolworths early, and found a bunch of cheeses in the "Reduced To Clear" fridge. So I cleared it out.
4 wheels x President brand double brie $3 each (was $8 each)
1 wheel x Flinders Estate Ash Brie $3.50 (was $9)
2 wedges x King Island Blue $3 each (was $6 each)
That's $45 of cheesy goodness for $18.50. These plus the block of Mainland Vintage makes my fridge smell like a dairy.
Phase 2: More beers.
Speaking of dairy, I also picked up a reduced-to-clear 2 litre bottle of Little Big Dairy chocolate milk. (Ingredients: Milk, Chocolate syrup, raw sugar.) Little Big Dairy is a local company who sell at the Farmer's Market. It's very good milk.
4 wheels x President brand double brie $3 each (was $8 each)
1 wheel x Flinders Estate Ash Brie $3.50 (was $9)
2 wedges x King Island Blue $3 each (was $6 each)
That's $45 of cheesy goodness for $18.50. These plus the block of Mainland Vintage makes my fridge smell like a dairy.
Phase 2: More beers.
Speaking of dairy, I also picked up a reduced-to-clear 2 litre bottle of Little Big Dairy chocolate milk. (Ingredients: Milk, Chocolate syrup, raw sugar.) Little Big Dairy is a local company who sell at the Farmer's Market. It's very good milk.
<Pours a deep, clear copper colour with little visible carbonation. The head is small with fine bubbles.
First sip: Mild sweet malts that fade away quickly, with a light but very long lasting hops. There is also a faint fruit flavour, with a fainter nutty taste. Medium mouth-feel, with a nice carbonation tingle on the tongue.
This is a yummy beer. It's your typical English ale, in that it needs to be kept cool but not icy cold, because it gets better as it warms in the glass. And those hops just go on forever without being all WAH HOPS! like some IPAs. There's nothing wrong with lots of hops but I don't think making your beer taste like raw pine resin is a Good Thing. (Looking at you, Urquell) I do appreciate the understated but endless hoppyness of this brew. And it has a nice beer burp.
Thing 1: It really does get better as it warms
Thing 2: Vintage Cheddar
Thing 3: IPA and Vintage Cheddar while watching the Bathurst 1000 car race = a good afternoon.
India Pale Ale
Shepherd Neame & Co, Faversham Brewery.
6.1% alc/vol
500ml bottle
Same again. sir? Oh yes!
I said right at the start of this that I would try All The Beers, even Fosters. Let's get it over with.
Pours a clear pale golden colour with a medium head. Lots of carbonation visible.
First sip: A mix of sweet and grainy malts, with a very mild hops bitterness that seems to wash away quickly. No real after-taste. Medium to thin mouth feel, with medium carbonation on the tongue.
To be fair, this isn't the usual Fosters Lager. Apparently Carlton United went back to the original Fosters recipe of 1888 to produce this. They should never have left it, because Classic Lager is better than Fosters Lager. Better, in the way a poke in the eye with a blunt stick is better than a poke in the eye with a slightly sharper blunt stick. So let's say something positive about this beer:
It's ... a beer. And I will finish the glass instead of pouring it down the sink.
And...
...
No, that's about it.
Fosters Classic Lager
Carlton United Brewery
4% alc/vol
330ml bottle.
Same again, sir? No.
Pours a clear pale golden colour with a medium head. Lots of carbonation visible.
First sip: A mix of sweet and grainy malts, with a very mild hops bitterness that seems to wash away quickly. No real after-taste. Medium to thin mouth feel, with medium carbonation on the tongue.
To be fair, this isn't the usual Fosters Lager. Apparently Carlton United went back to the original Fosters recipe of 1888 to produce this. They should never have left it, because Classic Lager is better than Fosters Lager. Better, in the way a poke in the eye with a blunt stick is better than a poke in the eye with a slightly sharper blunt stick. So let's say something positive about this beer:
It's ... a beer. And I will finish the glass instead of pouring it down the sink.
And...
...
No, that's about it.
Fosters Classic Lager
Carlton United Brewery
4% alc/vol
330ml bottle.
Same again, sir? No.
New GoPro Bits
22 September 2016 16:28I picked up a new GoPro suction mount and skeleton case. The mount will let me mount the camera on glass, and the skeleton case lets me plug the GoPro into the car's power outlet. These will let me take long time lapses in the car without the battery going flat.
I's goan ter be a perfeshional video blog taker.
I's goan ter be a perfeshional video blog taker.
Pours a crystal clear. light straw colour. The head is medium sized and thick. A lot of carbonation visible in the glass.
First sip: A lot of grain malt and... something else? It's a bit sour but not citrus. Some hops up front but does not linger. Actually, nothing seems to linger, all the flavours wash away. Mouth feel is light and a bit watery, with a light carbonation tingle on the tongue.
This is highly drinkable and goes down easily, but it's not interesting. I'd hardly call it a pilsner - more like a lager. Which is a shame because Coopers makes really nice lagers much better than this. As a pils, this is so thin a mild cheese easily overwhelms it. Very disappointing.
62 Pilsner
Coopers Brewery, South Australia
5% alc/vol
355ml bottle
Same again, sir? Meh.
Camera mount
15 September 2016 11:21While checking the measurements on the dash around the Lexus' GPS, I realized the camera would be too low. It would film mostly trees and sky, with most of the road blocked by the bonnet and a wiper arm.
Bugger. The camera mount I'd planned won't work.
Time for Plan B: head to the camera shop and order in a suction mount. Not what I wanted to do, but it would give a better film.
Bugger. The camera mount I'd planned won't work.
Time for Plan B: head to the camera shop and order in a suction mount. Not what I wanted to do, but it would give a better film.
Pours a copper colour with a large, foamy white head. No carbonation visible in the glass.
First Sip: A lot of lemon citrus up front, with a small taste of malt. The lemon hides the hops - lots of citrus on the back of the tongue that fades to the crisp, dry hop flavours. Medium mouth feel with a mild carbonation tingle on the tongue.
Not what I expected for an amber ale. There is a lot of citrus in this one, but not so much that you can't drink it. It's very refreshing, but not in a beery way, and highly drinkable. It really does go down easily. It's an excellent warm day brew.
A mild cheddar cheese works well with this one - anything stronger would kill the beerness.
Amber Ale
Sail & Anchor Pub Brewery, Fremantle Western Australia
5% alc/vol
345ml bottle
Same again, sir? Yes.
Amazon.com.au
9 September 2016 18:10So Amazon.com.au only sells Kindle books. That's all; no cool electronic stuff, paper books, DVDs, CDs, clothing etc.
I figured new laptop, new NBN connection (24mb/s, nice! Much better than the old 1mb/s connection), why not try this Kindle ap thingy. I'll need something to read if I'm away. So now the Yoga has the Win10 Kindle ap, and I bought the "enhanced" version of The Hobbit - has colour JRRT drawings and a lot more pen&ink drawings - and Lord Of The Rings.
I now need all the Discworld books, and I'll have quite a lot of reading to do.
I figured new laptop, new NBN connection (24mb/s, nice! Much better than the old 1mb/s connection), why not try this Kindle ap thingy. I'll need something to read if I'm away. So now the Yoga has the Win10 Kindle ap, and I bought the "enhanced" version of The Hobbit - has colour JRRT drawings and a lot more pen&ink drawings - and Lord Of The Rings.
I now need all the Discworld books, and I'll have quite a lot of reading to do.
New Laptop
8 September 2016 23:25My poor old Asus Zen is finally failing - the membrane keyboard is not registering most key presses. It has served me well for 5 years, and has been around the world with me quite a few times. It's tiny size and low weight made it a good travel computer.
So I hit Harvey Norman to see about their deals, and walked away with a Lenovo Yoga. 250GB SSD and 16GB RAM, touch-screen, Intel i5 CPU, Win10. It was the last in the store - a demo unit on the shelf - so the guy knocked $200 off the price, and threw in a little protective carry case worth $40.
The screen of the Yoga can flip right over to turn it from a laptop to a touch tab. and the aluminium & carbon fibre build means it is lighter than the Zen while being a little larger.
New travel computer!
So I hit Harvey Norman to see about their deals, and walked away with a Lenovo Yoga. 250GB SSD and 16GB RAM, touch-screen, Intel i5 CPU, Win10. It was the last in the store - a demo unit on the shelf - so the guy knocked $200 off the price, and threw in a little protective carry case worth $40.
The screen of the Yoga can flip right over to turn it from a laptop to a touch tab. and the aluminium & carbon fibre build means it is lighter than the Zen while being a little larger.
New travel computer!
Pours a slightly cloudy, pale gold colour with a small head.
First Sip: Strong bready malts and grapefruit citrus, with a mild hops that linger long after the swallow. Mouth feel is medium with a light carbonation tingle on the tongue. Nice beer burp.
This summer ale goes down very easily, and quite quickly. It's a great hot weather beer, and good to drink any time - even on damp late-autumn days like today. I don't find myself drinking it in sips. I seem to be drinking it in big gulps and enjoying a mouthful of malts and grapefruit flavours. It's nice - almost a yummy ale. I found this bottle in the cheap bin at Dan Murphy's, reduced to $1 per bottle because it's almost at the best before date. That was $1 well spent, I can tell you. It also goes brilliantly with really cheap blue-vein cheese found in the "Reduced To Clear" fridge at Woolworths. ($2, reduced from $8. What's it going to do after the Best Before date? Go moldy?)
Single Fin Summer Ale
Gage Roads Brewing Co., Palmyra Western Australia
4.5% alc/vol
330ml Bottle
Same again, sir? Yes please!
