Skip to main content

A GOOD WEEKEND

Nothing much happening with the pandemic, politics and weather, so I'll just summarize what I have been doing this weekend, which is mostly watching television.  Plus that insect invasion just now beginning.  Oh, Happy Mother's, Lost Sock Memorial, Moscato, Butterscotch Brownie and Sleepover Day.

While the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team is said to have won three NCAA championships, the last one was more than a third of a century ago.  The big deal this weekend is that the men's team won its first national championship.  They had previously prevailed in 2002, but that was taken back because of an irregularity which is allowed today.

I started yesterday with a uniquely gourmet volleyball tailgate (meaning eating a meal while watching any sporting event on TV) no one on Planet Earth or anywhere in the 14 billion year history of our Universe has ever before had.  I first decided that my Kentucky Derby Mint Julep was not authentic enough, so I went out and purchased a bottle each of Old Forrester and Woodford Reserve bourbon.  Then I read that there is an official Mexican Mint Julep also served at the Derby.  But I still wanted to upgrade the traditional julep to improve the taste.

I picked the first three calamansi of the season from my lanai tree (there are around 35 more in various stages of ripening), and three lime wedges.  I decided that the syrup asked for in the standard julep could be improved with some Grand Marnier.  However, I left out the Mezcal and Rose's Lime Juice because that would be too much like a Margarita.  I added equal parts of Old Forester and Woodward Reserve, plus each in tiny glasses to compare the two.  The Woodward is smoother.

Then what would be an ideal volleyball cuisine combination?  I now focus on healthy ingredients to maintain a lower weight, so bought a large container of baby spinach (the magnesium will help me sleep better) and arugula (it said already washed three times, but I added two more), plus Hamachi Kama (yellow-tail collar), the best tasting part of most fish, and added a small piece of Mahimahi.


The dressing too had to be extraordinary, so I used white wine and truffle balsamic vinegars with wasabi oil and yuzu (Japanese citrus) hot sauce:


Thus a special fish salad with, potato chips, Gourmet Mint Julep, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester and beer:


Have fun trying to find the ingredients to also have this exceptional and healthy sporting tailgate meal.  The grilled Hamachi collar is best eaten with your fingers.

But I wanted to celebrate the volleyball victory, so I followed with a spot of Louis XIII cognac.


I also later got hungry and splurged on an apple strudel warmed in butter, with a glass of milk.


Then the VB game was wonderful, with an expected close game actually dominated by Hawaii.  Beating BYU for the NCAA national Championship made the victory especially poetic.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association tournament this weekend was played in Pattaya, Thailand, where three Thai placed 1, 2 and among those at #3.  That new lurking Tiger on the Prowl Patty Tavatanakit ended up in the third spot.  She is 21 years old.  #2 was a newcomer, Atthaya Thitikul, only 18 years old, who hits a drive right up there with Patty.  That article if you clicked indicated that she hits a ball further than Tiger Woods.  When Atthaya was only 14 years old she became the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf tournament.  One of these two will win another women's major this year. (Tavatanakit already won the Honda Inspiration last month).  

#1 was old reliable Ariya Jutarnugarn, who at an age of 25 has already won LPGA Player of the Year, in 2016 and 2018.  She has an older sister Moriya who is 26 and in 2013 was the LPGA Rookie of the year.  Go Thailand.
Seth Borenstein of the AP had a recent article titled, Nature at its craziest:  Trillions of cicadas about to emerge:
  • There are two cycles (13 and 17 years) and three species.
  • The emergence this year is the largest.
  • In 15 states from Indiana to Georgia to New York, this Brood 10 cicadas are now appearing in Tennessee and North Carolina.
  • They come out at dusk to avoid being eaten.
  • Imagine a life when you are in quarantine underground for 17 years while surviving by sucking the sap from tree roots, then appearing to have sex and die in four to six weeks.
Dekanta (cs@dekanta.com ) wants you to buy a bottle of Japanese whisky for your mother...or grandmother.



- 
-
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more