chuckography

"I'm a little teapot...."

"...here is my handle, and here is my spout..."

So this is Sake.

Often called a "rice wine, " it is brewed from fermented rice more in the way beer is made.

 I quickly realized that its ABV can range from 15 to 20 percent.

The Octobachi Asian Gastropub  serves it warm or chilled and you pour it into a small porcelain cup.

Traditionally, the handle-free ceramic flask is more saucer shaped.

As the link explains in Sake 101, the beverage has subtle nuances in flavor and having it with my meal - with rice - could be considered redundant.

The teapot was filled with a LOT.

I was pleased that I was provided with a fork - along with chopsticks - so I didn't have to ask for one.

Shrimp, scallops, carrots and tasty cabbage accompanied the two scoops of rice.

Oh, and more sake.

Hey, those cups are very small.


Today was an entirely different adventure.

A pleasant birthday dinner with my brother Dennis and his wife Jerri.

Every January she becomes "the older woman" for almost a month then his age catches up in February.

We had been to Logan's Roadhouse before and I remembered the menu featured an enlarged picture of their bucket of peanuts.

Actually, our delightful server Linda, brought us appetizers, a rib eye steak-for-two for them and my grilled shrimp and sirloin over wild rice.

You don't order pasta at a steak house.

The place is known for its bread rolls and sides so I dug into my broccoli and mashed potatoes with thick brown gravy.

Another nice part of the meal was the two-sided fireplace.

Like most of the country we have tumbling temperatures and the fire looked warm and cozy from either side.

The conversation came back to the weather quite a bit (it's about 22 degrees as I type this) and I was preparing a kerosene heater I bought many years ago just in case the power went out during this cold spell.

My brother talked about their fireplace at home and the fact he had not bought any "real firewood" yet.

They didn't know it but her birthday present in my car was a heavy packet of hardwood fire logs.

When we got back to their house, I brought it in.

Good timing on the weather.

Happy birthday sis-in-law.

(Click on the photos for more details.)

Remember (as the water company suggests) to keep a faucet dripping inside and outside to avoid freezing pipes.

Throw another log on the fire.

Maybe some warm Sake?

Kanpai!

Labels: 2-sided fireplace, bucket of peanuts, hardwood fire logs, Kanpai, Logan's Roadhouse, Octobachi Asian Gastropub, Sake

posted by chuckography @ 11:55 PM