Summer if Finally Over


fish tank at freddy's with gross flesh colored frogs

brainstorming and sketch sesh at freddy's.

E-Sports are real, they were playing this electronic sports (video games) tournament on the TV at Buttermilk.

cool looking growlers from Stacy

The Pavilion was gross people say and it's been closed for a few years so it's great to see that the Nitehawk Cinema is closer to opening by the park and its the closest cinema to us.


A more successful version of the Miso Tamanegi onion thing we had in Tokyo.  I'm taking notes and will try again.

Soyeon and Gabe's wedding in Fort Greene

was weird meeting Jen's Mom's sister


bees still going at it on the roof

i see you pecking at the net bro.  Also Helm's Deep has been desecrated, the squirrels have now learned they can chew through the net.  We saw 4 of them hanging out on each other twisting and folding into each other like a horrible infinity ball of squirrel. Everyday for a week I'd put a board over the hole they chewed and then the next day there's be a new hole beside it, and on and on so I gave up and will have to figure out something for next year. 


impromptu using left over jjigae to make some kind of braised chicken thing with butter
finally got this easel from Foo. I'm not foolish enough to say that it's on because I know life is busy and it might be a while til i get to painting.
Tompkins Square Bar, where they have cocktails inspired by famous authors.


Newest brew equipment, the HotRod heat stick from brewhardware.com it's a 1650w heating element constructed into this food grade stick thing that we use to supplement that gas stovetop to heat 7-8 gallons of water for all grain brewing because the stove top can't output enough BTUs of heat and the carbon monoxide detector went off after so many hours last time. I got the option with a GFCI circuit breaker in the plug cuz we don't have one of those outlets in the kitchen. It worked like a charm and even once the water was boiling we were able to turn off the gas and maintain a boil for the hour long hops boil.  So far so good.  Also had to buy 2 more Ale Pails buckets and airlocks in anticipation of a big cider haul at the parents.  Hopefully this will be all the equipment we need to buy for all time.

first brew sesh of the season.  We just did the 2 we always do to start things off, pale ale and session ipa. 2 all grain batches means 2 ten pound sacks of grains steeping for an hr each. We didn't hit our OG (amount of sugar in the water) so maybe insulating the pot as it sits with the heat off for that hour will help us extract more sugars from the grains. It bubbled like crazy in the 80 degree apt for the first 1.5 days then stopped making me think it was a stalled fermentation, especially since it usually goes for 3 days.  It's at 4% alcohol so maybe it really did do the job in 1.5 days and is just 4% instead of 5% cuz of our poor grain efficiency.

The Gobo vine did finally produce one tiny pathetic bitter melon. And now 2 weeks later it hasn't gotten any bigger. Go ahead you can laugh.


I'm Good on Summer You Guys

a brief week off and then back to DC again.

absolutely delish Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato from the rooftop. BLTs a plenty.
finally cleaned up and took a pic of our workspace and also that I got a new computer and monitors two years ago.  A maxed out Mac Mini, NEC PA301W super heavy pro photo retouching monitor, LG 24UDS 4K monitor that I take on trips.

had some brut IPA at Greenpoint Beer and Ale.

our Korean Lady Hermit heirloom peppers finally produced something, Jen's sisters produced tons.

because I'm a no nothing and a dumb@$$ we ended up with very few hops and most dried up on the vine.  It's not so bad cuz the first year you're not supposed to get that much, it's the second year that it starts producing a lot.

For me Jubilat is the jewel of South Slope.  The Polish butcher where European butcher shop culture lives in Brooklyn.  Cheap prices and lots of smoked meats, all run by Polish people who are for the most part friendly


Lechuza self watering planters I got for half price from someone on craigslist, these are some of the nicer ones you can buy commercially.

Ok down to DC to see Stacy and Phil's new baby, Emma

lots of pupusa spots around Arlington, VA


Stone Tower Winery

Look what my grandma gave me. This is a DJ/Producer's dream. Lots of tasty soundbites on this 1958 vinyl set
got hit in the elbow with a pirate sword
safety first.


Bethany Beach 2018

I added 10 more photos to the MO DC post that I forgot so check it out if you care https://misadventuresofjason.blogspot.com/2018/09/mo-dc.html
Bethany Beach Delaware and the house we went to every year for many years as kids.  Josh and Julie have included us in friends and family so we took 8 days in August
Jen called this Twin Peaks

chuffed with myself for having tetris'd both our bikes safely in the back seat of the Black Stallion
The Choy fam came for a few days.

good ol' Viking Golf in Fenwick



The Frog Cafe or whatever its called in Bethany is closed now so we drove to Jimmy's Cafe in Fenwick which did the job.

Sandy Pony Donut truck in South Bethany makes actually great donuts but I found out it's from Chincoteague Island in Virginia, famous for its wild ponies.  Also bizarrely every summer this area has a bunch of European teenagers from what seemed like Eastern Europe that they hire as summer staff so my name ends up as Vincent instead of Jason. My buddy Marco from Madrid that I studied with in Japan said he and his buddies when they were 18 worked in Ocean City, MD for the summer at a hotel and didn't give a sh!t and had tons of fun and afterward drive a van across America before going back to Spain.  Maybe there's some kind of European program with the beach areas to help them staff up.

We rode our bikes to the Big Chill Beach Club which was only a 5 mile ride but in a pretty strong headwind and Jenny was not the most thrilled about that.

She was especially not thrilled that we would have to bike over this highway bridge but it turned out that the beach club was just to the right so we didn't have to cross it.

The Lams including Ronald Lam came for the weekend and Avan was being a little pain the whole time.  Poor Lams including Ronald Lam.
a box of donuts to appease the Yoo sisters.  We left a day early to catch Jen's Parents in DC before her dad had to leave the next day.
Kong Gook Su, soy milk based cold Korean soup


Pupatella in Arlington VA has certification from The Verace Pizza Napoletana Association in Napoli



Zachary's first day of 1st grade

after everyone left and we were all packed up and ready to leave the black stallion wouldn't start which isn't the first time.  Luckily I was able to get their SUV up in the yard and jumpstart it which was my first time jumping a car myself.  It was roasting hot.