i gets excited when i talk about my foods!

sometimes, i play with my food.

food is a very important part of my life, and yet, i frequently settle for buying/eating garbage. in an ideal world—one where tanuki exercised self-control—i'd eat healthy, and i'd eat delicious.

for example, i could be eating this:

tonjiru (豚汁 - pork, veggies & miso soup)

instead of cooking something awesome (see above), i usually follow this unfortunate pattern:

i live with 5 guys. some of them wash their own dishes. some of them don't. as such, the natural state of our kitchen sink is too-full-to-fit-a-cup-under-the-faucet. i'm gonna go ahead and blame my poor eating habits on circumstance.

no, really! i feel justified because when i was living by myself in japan during the summer of 2009, this happened:

mabo tofu (麻婆豆腐)

frequently.

so. as an incentive to eat better, i want to start including food more often in the blog, in a series i will call tanuki food. it may include recipes, pictures, and sound clips of how much i'm enjoying what i'm eating.

seriously.

the hobby that keeps giving

today i became a level 1 brewmeister. my mr. beer home brewing kit arrived in the mail a few days ago, and after buying a few extra ingredients today, i began brewing my first batch.

pictured above: tools and ingredients, from left to right—home brewing guide, mr. beer home brewing kit box, starter kit instructions, one-step sanitizer, a pot, a booster pack (non-malt sugars used to enhance the body and alcohol content of the beer), can of west coast pale ale hme (hopped malt extract) with yeast packet under the lid, 'simply orange' orange juice, measuring cup, spoon, can opener, plate, walmart bottled water, mr. beer 2-gallon fermenter.

for the most part, i just followed the steps as printed in the instructions. the wort took a little extra time to make, though, because i didn't pour the booster in slowly enough so it all clumped together. it took a lot of stirring and some low heat on the stove to remedy that.

and then, of course, i added 2 1/2 cups of orange juice to the wort. this may prove disastrous OR it may prove the special touch needed to make my first home brew the most awesome beer ever.

in some ways i feel that brewing a new variety of beer is like having a baby. i'm already thinking about some names, but i'll wait until it's ready to drink before i finalize the name. i'll just have to sit and wait in anticipation for a few weeks as my 2 gallons of embryonic beer slowly develop and mature.

be patient, little one. you'll have your chance to shine. you may be stuck in a dark, room temperature cupboard now, but someday you'll bring happiness to the world.

oh, and to you out there reading this, if you would like some of the finished product, let me know! i'll have 20 bottles worth, ready to drink in about 3 weeks or so.

and i am taking name suggestions for my brew. ^o^