tfries

I was busy last week building a shed.  It's an 8x10 shed with a gable roof.  I'm not a carpenter and at 66yo things take longer than before.  It will probably take another two weeks to finish.  Here are pictures of the progress from last week. Currently most of the siding is up. Next will be to build the roof trusses. I had to take a break today because of rain.

Well no one has posted anything for this week, so I'll post this photo of a scrub jay enjoying a grasshopper for a snack.

These are Pinot Noir grapes from our vineyard getting close to being fully ripe.

A couple of flower shots. 

A couple random shots from this week.

Our nearest town has an annual Scandinavian Festival which is a four day event.  Each day highlights one of the Scandinavian countries, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Birds make interesting subjects.

I bought an a6700 with the 70-350 zoom last week and have been practicing with shots around the house.  Yesterday we took a road trip to the Oregon Sea Lion Caves.

Test

We took taxi from airport to downtown Hilton last week.  It was $22.

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to report that I made this recipe for my wife yesterday for Mothers Day.  It turned out fantastic and is really easy to make. I used 3 lobster tails that we got at Costco.  They were Cold Water tails, $25/lb.

I was in NYC this week visiting my daughter who lives there. This was my first trip there. Here are a few of the pictures from my trip.

A very large street mural taken from the Highline walkway.

A Tiffany glass piece in the Metropolitan Museum.

Lady Liberty's tablet.

The new World Trade Center, almost chameleon like in how it reflects the clouds.

My English Shepherd helping me out in our vineyard this morning.

This is the Container Mall in Christchurch NZ. Shops and restaurants built up from shipping containers.

Sunset cruise Maui, 4/26/16

Vulture having a snack this morning in our field.

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

We were on the Solstice a couple weeks ago for the Transpacific cruise and spent time every night at the Molecular Bar. At the start of the cruise the bartenders were Loida and Darko. Due to an unfortunate circumstance, Loida had to go home mid cruise. There were two pages of drinks, one was from the previous menus and the other was listed as Loida's Favorites. From the second page, we liked the Velvet Revolver the best.

As the cruise progressed, there were about 10-12 of us who were there every night.

Darko said that the switch over to World Class will be sometime in May. We have made a few of the World Class cocktails at home using the recipes that have been posted and have been underwhelmed. Going to miss the Molecular Bar :(

Sydney Harbour at close to sunset. 4/6/16

Taken from the Sydney OPT the night before boarding the Solstice for our cruise from Sydney to Honolulu.

I had to go to Christchurch New Zealand last September for work and had a free weekend while I was there. I took a day and drove to Akaroa. While the weather was pretty crummy, I did take a few snaps of the local birds.

Hope it is not a success as we enjoy the free sushi at the oceanview each evening!

Us too. It has become sort of a cruise ritual for us to bring a plate of the Oceanview sushi and a glass of wine back to our stateroom while getting ready for dinner. NY Deli just would not be the same.

This is so nice to hear! That is the way that we strive to treat each other. I hope that this positiveness continues as we leave Sunday for Sydney to board the Solstice on 9 April for the trip to Hawaii.

Our Iris's are blooming. These blooms do not last long.

Tom

One of the cocktails (Bulleit Infusion) is small amount of liquid in the glass on purpose. It uses a device called the Porthole that infuses the drink with different flavors (often fruit, herbs, spices etc.). The drink is generally poured one ounce at a time as the flavor changes over time. You end up with about six small pours. The first one ounce pour is very boozy and each subsequent pour the flavor becomes more infused - by the last one ounce pour it is a completely different tasting drink. Really fun device; I had it for the first time a few years ago at at bar called The Aviary in Chicago. While $18 sounds expensive for a cocktail, the Porthole device is very expensive itself and it is very labor intensive to make the drinks - beverages at The Aviary typically are in the low $20's that use the Porthole. It would be nice if they were using a whiskey a little higher end than Bulleit at this price point, but among whiskeys that can often be purchased for less than $30/fifth (750ml) Bulleit is among the best IMHO.

While I wish you were correct on this, looking at the recipe for the cocktail posted I think the drink you will get will be:

2 oz of the infused Rye

1/2 oz Sauvignon Blanc

1/2 oz Simple Syrup

1/2 oz Carpano Antica

Dash bitters

for a 3.5 oz cocktail

I feel that they will spread out the infusion of the Porthole to several drinks. BTW, I'm thinking that I need to pick up a Porthole, thanks for posting the information on this :)