Cavalock and The Rehab Coffee Lowdown

A little pre-op lunch treat at Summer Pavilion couple weeks ago with the Baker-at-Home. The meat platter was excellent and there were more than couple of things on the menu that we really wanna try. Will we visit the place again? Maybe, it ain't cheap but worth every cent.

Shades of Rear Window, being bedridden and immobile now means I got time to read (and re-read) a buncha books as well as catch up on tons of Netflix shows (already done with Love, Death and Robots and Polar, now on to Punisher season 2). If you are into award-winning black and white Japanese movies, check out the surreal Woman in the Dunes from 1964 on YouTube. I had to remind myself that this here blog is bout the 'good', 'happy' stuff in my life hence none of that self pity crap.

I had to keep myself busy and I figured taking notes on this book Coffee that I'm reading ought to do it. Now I only read the first couple chapters so far and it's about the global history of coffee. More or less everything you wanted to bout bout the beverage, like some monstrous Wiki page or some thing.

Anyway, it's like the book on Egg that I absolutely enjoyed reading so I went and got myself another book in the series. Some interesting facts I wanted to share from the first two chapters of Coffee.

"The Arabica coffee plant is grown commercially throughout the topics and was the first species of coffee grown for human consumption. Currently it accounts for around two-thirds of world coffee production. 

Robusta suffers from a major defect as it produces poorer quality coffee then Arabica. Robusta also contains twice the caffeine levels of Arabica.

When caffeine is removed from coffee beans, that caffeine extract is actually sold off to third parties.

The two main factors in determining a coffee's flavour are the degree of roast and the speed of roasting. During coffee bean roasting, a 'first crack' is heard as the beans break open under pressure from the gases building up inside them. The beans continue to brown until a second crack occurs as the cell walls collapse and oils are exuded unto the bean's surface. Lighter roasts, developed to a point somewhere between the first and second crack, are believed to bring out the best in most specialty coffees.

After the second crack, the flavours from the roast overpower those from the beans, which is why dark roasts are often used for lesser-quality coffees such as Robusta."

Cavalock and The Ovaries Oddity Order

Not our first time at yakitori joint Tori-Tama over at Robertson Quay, we liked it so much it has become our de facto yakitori restaurant and we were there again last weekend with friends. Now a Japanese friend of the Baker-at-Home reminded her of the off-menu item that one has to specially  request for, preferably in hushed tones, as we soon found out. The reason for the waitress subtlety turning to the one of the chefs was soon revealed when he leaned over our table and whispered, "Ovaries."

Well, it took awhile for the ovaries to arrive. During which the Baker-at-Home did asked me, "where are my ovaries?" True story. She and her friend shared the ovaries while I silently waited for my chicken liver and heart. Them two orange balls dangling the end of the stick are egg yolks that pretty much taste like ... well, egg yolks according to the Baker-at-Home.

What a difference three days make! That's six cans of 500ml Kirin going for a mere $19.90 (that's kinda like duty free price!) last week and three days later, it became $24. It ain't the stock market but that's some freaky price jump.

Cavalock and The Tulang Pineapple Cinder Combo

Here's something you don't see everyday. A Tulang or bone marrow beef pie, all part of last week's special Pie Week menu at Bread Street Kitchen. Let's just say that a Tulang meal isn't exactly me go-to order whenever I'm at Golden Mile Food Complex but this here pie is pretty good. Sizeable chucks of beef soaking in delicious gravy, buttery crust and more than a couple of spoonfuls of juicy bone marrow.

I believe that Pie Week is over. Anyway I also had the Pineapple Cider again. My go-to drink at Bread Street. It's something that tastes a whole lot better than it sounds. Really. 

Managed to do more miniatures painting last week too. One whole Warhammer Underworlds Skaven team. They turned out better than I expected. Extremely detailed figures. The little rats on the figure, on the base and under the base. Enjoyed taking them out for a spin the other night for a game.

Cavalock and The Second Oden Visitation

Guess we liked the food so much, we had to go back for seconds at Yama-Ya. It was dinner this time and I headed first to grab a table as the Baker-at-Home made her way there from work. We had a good spread and got to enjoy the uni-ikura don that wasn't available the last time we were there. Looking forward to trying more oden dishes next time. I heard of another joint at Cuppage Plaza that does pretty oden as well.

So much cool shows to watch on Netflix right now. Watching the second season of Star Trek right now but I'm saving Titans, Punisher Season 2, Umbrella Academy, Polar, yah you can see a patten here, and couple others for later this month when I'll be bed bound. More on that in another post I suppose. Oh yah, am I the only one who feels old every time I spot some millennial or teenager watching Netflix Friends on their phones?

Anyway I got books and ebooks lined up as well. And I downloaded a food delivery app so I hopefully won't starve to death whilst I soak to death in me own urine. Which reminds me, this would an excellent time to start me writing again. Nope, can't paint cos that would require me to be in a siting position for too many hours.

Cavalock and The Home Alone Report

The Baker-at-Home is finally home after almost a week away on an all-girls trip to Taiwan. One of the first lunches we managed to have together this week was at Yama-Ya, a little Japanese joint over at Fortune Centre. It's set by the same Japanese folks behind two other izakayas in the same building. Too bad the ikura don was off the menu that afternoon but we couldn't resist the oden and it was pretty good. The place is cozy and they had that soft jazzy saxophone music on, kinda reminded me of the music almost every cafe we been to in Japan was playing.

Dessert was a short walk away at Kurasu, a Japanese coffee joint. First time there too. Decent coffee but damn crowded during lunchtime. Probably drop by again at a more suitable time. And then again, maybe not.

Anyway, while the Baker-at-Home was away and me home alone, I found the time to finish painting me Warhammer Underworlds team, Magore's Fiends. Just four figures, it's a short skirmish game played over a board and uses cards from a deck to determine your actions. I actually bought the game over a year ago, played a few times then stopped. But got back into the game last month. There were several new figures and expansions released for the game recently and that sort of made the gameplay a little more interesting.