Making a cider that doesn’t taste like stale apple juice is hard. Making a low-alcohol cider like that is even harder. Hogan’s does a great job at that. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find in anything but x12 packs, which doesn’t correlate with how much we love cider.
For the good of me, I can’t remember where I’ve got this beer from.
This trappist beer is interesting, because it’s has an almost umami taste. It’s what’s called a “quad”, so 10.5%, pretty strong by any standard. And comes from Austria, which is a rare place for trappist beers.
Only after visiting Ghent I discovered that one of my favorite beers, Gulden Draak, also comes as an Imperial Stout.
It’s fantastic, as can be expected from Gulden Draak. Makes you lightheaded and slightly sleepy, but that passes quickly.
The taste is smooth, but not as heavy as some of the Imperial Stouts made in the UK.
Today I tried the second pack of jjajang noodles, this time from Samyang.
I’m not sure if they are better than Nongshim, or I just learned to “cook” them (you need to simmer them with sauce until all the water evaporates.
But they were nice, umami, I’d say.
Tried Brew By Numbers Blood Orange Pale Ale and Brew by Numbers Pale Ale Citra Centennial. Nice almost no-alcohol IPAs, that still preserve some taste. Bought a pack of 8, since they stopped making them, it seems.
After Tulip Syrah fell from grace lately, I was looking for alternatives to “Five Stones Nobility 215a Red”, which became our favorite go-to Israeli wine, something in the same price range.
Dalton Reserve Shiraz is not fabulous, but it also doesn’t make you feel sad and tired afterwards. So it’s a decent alternative.
A very solid triple IPA, as expected from BBN. Sweet and fruty, gives a bit of lightheadyness, and no hard feelings whatsoever afterwards.
Today I tasted something so gross I feel I have to write about it: the pork floss Asian cake.
It’s a sponge cake with custard cream, but then it is coated in literally shredded pork meat 😬
It’s salty, and tasted like pork scratchings 🤢
Had to throw the second piece in the trash.
Found someone blogging about making it at home, and I agree with the assessment:
In the end, I didn’t find it very magical of a combination. It is a little strange, I’ll admit. I wouldn’t make it unless you have tried it in a bakery and know you like it.
Strangely enough, I got accustomed to skipping breakfasts. Funny, because we’re taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and all that. I would still drink coffee, and sometimes eat something around 11. But often, I’m alright until 2PM. And sometimes I even feel better without breakfast.
I like stouts. This one is oversweetened, and hits like a pillow. One can, and everything goes quiet for a while.
I think I grabbed it from Waitrose, or maybe M&S.
Tried a couple of beers we brought from Belgium.
Gruut Wit was a disappointment. To me, it had zero smell and zero taste. Just poured it into the sink.
Corsendonk Agnus Tripel was surprisingly gaseous and with a very stubborn “head”, which is uncommon for a tripel. It was nice, but nothing spectacular in terms of taste to compensate for the gases.
As can be expected from a lambic beer, it’s very sour. And also very foamy. Not too sweet though, which is great for a kriek.
Worth trying some other lambic from this brewery. But not this one.
Fantastic breakdown for different Samurai Shodown characters.
And another video for Virtua Fighter 5:
A much welcome alternative to Barbar, another Belgian honey beer.
Stronger than it looks, 8% ABV.
Has a more “burn honey” taste than Barbar, in my opinion, more resembling a honey cake.
Should be available in the UK from BeersOfEurope.
As you’d expect from Brew By Numbers and Imperial Stout. Smooth, a bit like coffee or chocolate, and kicks like a mattress.
Comes in a 250ml can, that lessens the kick somewhat.
Another reason I stopped writing for Russians was that during the first days of the war, Russian MoD was continuously reporting that “there are no casualties”.
Meanwhile Ukrainians were posting photos of Russian soldier corpses, including pilots (rare, easily identifiable), and videos of Russian soldiers taken captive.
I was reposting some of those. Thought it would change the attitude of some of my readers. Cause a cognitive dissonance between what they see and what they’ve been told.
It didn’t.
A year later, I see Ukrainians mourning people they never knew, but I don’t see Russians doing the same.
A very good Imperial Stout. And by “good” I mean it is smooth, and make you calm as a cucumber. A bit oversweetened, to my taste, but hey, it’s an Imperial Stoud available from supermarkets.
Available from Tesco, and maybe Waitrose as well.
I’ve been carrying that thought through the year.
My family always spoke Russian. And I have been writing my blog in Russian for 20 years. But since the war started, it became obsolete.
What’s the point of writing about games in Russian, if most of those that stayed in Russia soon won’t be able to afford playing them?
Then, a lot of the people I spoke with during those 20 years turned into fascists. All that talk of “liberating Ukraine from Nazis” that I started hearing from housewives and amateur photographers that actively dodged army service made me sick. Even sicker made me some Russian speakers from the States, that “trusted only Russian MoD” and started claiming how Kyiv will fall every day now, and that Zelensky has already escaped to Moldova/Spain.
I knew those people were nostalgic about USSR, had half friendly banter with them about it for years, all that “tastiest icecream in the world” kind of stuff. All that talk that “USSR had to invade Finland to protect itself from Hitler”, “USSR had to invade Afganistan to protect itself from the US”, and “did you know jews in Israel even made a medal for Hitler before WW2 started”.
But I always assumed that if a real war started, if somehow USSR would ever come back, they would immediately understand.
It did, it did, and they didn’t. They happily embraced the war and “you should have kept the President we chose for you” narrative.
So, there’s no point in writing in Russian for me anymore. I’m not interested in that audience. So, that’s why for a year now, it’s English for me.
We have not one but three large Asian supermarkets in our neighbourhood that are extremely popular.
So today I tried Nongshim Chapagetti noodles that seem to be very popular. To me they tasted bland and not very special, despite all the praise.
Later I discovered that Koreans indeed consider them bland, and mix them with NeoGuri, which is another type of noodles from Nongshim.
This Christmas we discovered the Stratford Blue Cheese at Waitrose, and it is an absolute delight. Something in between brie and stilton. Available at Tesco and Waitrose.