Virtual Saké Tasting

We got to do another virtual tasting last night: this time it was hosted by La Bodega featuring saké from Saké One, down in Oregon. We were joined by Marcus Pakiser & Midori Nakazawa who both took turns talking to us as we sipped our saké.

Midori took us on a tour of the brewery, stepping us through the process turning rice into saké. She did an amazing job considering that she was by herself so had to talk while walking and operating her phone so we could see all the equipment. It was hard to hear her, however. Not only is a brewery a loud place, but she speaks with quite the accent and I could not see her face to read her lips. So I probably only got about half of what she said. Bryan had to do a lot of explaining along the way. Periodically throughout her presentation, Marcus would interrupt to explain something a bit more in-depth, or ask her to repeat herself. I’m not sure exactly where he was: I could see behind him that he was at his home – but I don’t know where “home” is for him.

The saké we got to sample was all from Saké One:

Momokawa Diamond: their flag-ship product, medium-dry and crisp with a balance of soft water notes and fall flavors of apple and pear. Melon, and mild anise on the nose.

Momokawa Organic Junmai:  Notes of refreshing melon and lime combine with delicate pineapple and cola flavors.

Yomi Junmai Ginjo: Refreshing and hedonistic with delicious notes of melon, cherry, red berries, light cream, and subtle mochi. Medium body with purity of flavor and plenty of attitude.

The saké was all good – but we liked the Yomi Junmai Ginjo best.

Virtual Whiskey Tasting, Part 1

Last night Bryan and I went to a Whiskey Tasting event, only this time it was in our living room – via Zoom, of course. It was sponsored by Brown Jug (our local alcohol store) and featured the Clyde May brand of whiskeys. We picked up the sampler set a few days prior from our local Brown Jug, so come Monday Night we were ready to join in.

Except of course Bryan decided at the last minute that he could sign us in on our TV instead of on our computer. That went so well we were only 10 minutes late – but that was just the Sales Rep doing his thing. He hadn’t gotten around to introducing the main speaker yet, so we didn’t really miss a whole lot.

Our main speaker was LC May, grandson of Clyde May. He gave us the background story of his Grandfather and explained the whiskey a bit. I had never heard of Clyde May or his whiskey, but apparently they are a big deal down in Alabama where they got their beginning by running illegal moonshine back in the mid ‘40s. Clyde’s claim to fame is two-fold: one being that he adds just a hint of roasted apple to his whiskey giving it a smoother taste, which is now referred to as Alabama Style Whiskey – and two being that he invented the Clyde 240, a type of copper still that distilled moonshine at a much higher quality. In fact, that Clyde 240 is still being used today!

The three whiskeys featured in the tasting were:

Alabama Style, 85 Proof: "The Original" is aged 4 years in oak barrels and finished with a hint of apple.

This was the first whiskey to be tasted and honestly, we didn’t like it very much. It’s so “smooth” it’s almost plain colored water. Might be good as a mixer to make other drinks out of, but for a straight up shot I would not recommend it.

Straight Bourbon, 92 Proof: Aged 4 to 5 years in new 53 gallon oak barrels and is non-chill filtered. You get dried orchard fruits on the nose and spice on the palate.

This was the second whiskey in line. Neither Bryan nor I care much for a bourbon normally, but this one was pretty darned good. Of course that may have been the fact that the first one was such a let-down – but it really did taste good.

Straight Rye, 94 Proof: Aged a minimum of 3 years, with floral notes, honeysuckle and apricot on the nose and spice and citrus on the palate. Finish is soft and smooth with tannins that bring out black pepper and wood spice.

This third one, however, was by far the best. The Straight Rye was again a surprise to me – a very pleasant one, though. Of the three tasted, this is probably the only one we’d go look for to buy again.

The Finishing Touches

Bryan went in to Anchorage on Friday to put the finishing touches on the house. I was supposed to have gone with him, but had unexpected work (like, my job kind of work) to be done instead – so he had to go by himself. He shot off an email to our property management company letting them know he’d be there working just in case they had any walk-throughs scheduled.

The response we got from them was a complete shock: they said “Thanks for the update. New tenants are moving in tomorrow.” 

What!?! New tenants!?! TOMORROW!?!

I called Bryan as soon as I got the email because I knew that he was still driving and would not read it until he got to the rental unit. He had the exact same response I did.

What!?! New tenants!?! TOMORROW!?!

So, I apparently have the place rented out as of Saturday September 19. We got some more information about them once Bryan got back home. My new tenants are a married couple with one young child, a dog and a cat.

I have to admit I’m a little ticked off at that last item. I clearly stated in the paperwork that tenants were allowed one dog OR one cat. Not one dog AND one cat. I could not have stated it any clearer, and now there’s nothing I can do about it. Yet another instance of people not doing what they said they would. (I mean, of course, the property management company saying “we listen to our clients”.)

But at least I have it rented out – let’s just hope these people are nicer than the others were.

Date Night Out

**edited to include photos, as requested**

I had a bad day yesterday, so Bryan decided to treat me to dinner out! 

It’s a risk given the current circumstances, but the restaurant we went to is doing everything they can to minimize exposure – and we were good citizens and wore our masks up to and after eating. 

We went to Ginger Basil out in Wasilla – have you been there? They are expensive, but the food is really good. And it was just what I needed to cheer me up.

We began with appetizers, ordering their vegetarian Spring Rolls, which were quite large and tasty. Our main course consisted of the Buddha Roll (crabmeat, yamagobo, avocado, cucumber, mango, tamago, wrapped in soypaper) for me and the Sunny Roll (whitefish, tuna, and cucumber topped with sliced lemon, salmon, tobiko and scallions finished with mango and yuzu sauce) for him. Bryan also ordered two nigiri: the Hamachi (yellowtail tuna) and the Maguro (big eye tuna). Accompanying our meal was an order of their House Hot Sake – a very mellow sake that was a good match to our food.

Afterwards, on our way out the door, one of the waitresses stopped and said “Oh what a cute mask! Those Llamas are ADORABLE!” (Thank you, Noel, for making it). 

Bryan good-naturedly complained that no one liked his mask (army green camo) so I said “If a guy comes up to you and says Oh, your mask is ADORABLE! - I don’t think you’d like that quite as much as I did.”

He agreed I had a point.

W. T. F. !!

I just don’t even know what to do with this one.

We told the yard people to clean up the yard and remove all the plants in the back along the fence by the gate.

We then told the yard people to go back and do the job the right way, because the first time they were there they did not.

So what did they do? They removed all of the plants. ALL of them. Including my precious Mock Orange. The one that was taller than my house.

Just… ugh…

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On a more positive note - the property management company had a showing this weekend and the people put a deposit down! Now all they have to do is go through the application process and we just might have it rented already!

Rental Update

Bryan went back in to Anchorage today to do one final round of repairs, picking up all the little things that are left and also checking on the work we hired out to be done. Once he is done (today, hopefully) the rental management company will go in and take pictures so they can advertise the place and get a renter in there.

Yard Work: apparently it takes two attempts to get things done properly. The first time they were there, they did a very shabby job of it so we had to call them back to finish. One of the things I asked them to do was to get rid of the baby birch tree that was growing up right inside my Mock Orange at the front of the house. Instead of removing it, they just tucked it up underneath; apparently hoping I wouldn’t notice! I can’t believe they actually did that - it is such a juvenile thing to do. Second time around they did manage to get their job done properly; Bryan says it looks good.

House Cleaners: another “professional company” hired that was not able to do their job. So very frustrating. We hired them to do a “Move In Ready” cleaning but when we looked at their work, we found cobwebs in pretty much every corner, closets that hadn’t even been touched, toothpaste spatter on the walls in the bathrooms, dried-up soap (or some type of cleaner) on the stove top, among other things. Yet again, we had to call them back to finish what they started – and they still missed an entire closet and did not do a very good job in the laundry room. 

Handyman: Ben did a great job on the place, but did miss putting shelving back in each closet. Considering the amount of work he did do, however, we are very happy with him. The shelving is easy enough to do, so Bryan will add that to his list for today and we’ll call it good. 

Screens: we decided that the screens we had for the bedroom windows were too beat up to keep (not the tenants fault) so we had new ones made by Neighbors Windows and Doors. We are really impressed with them so far - it took them all of two days to make 4 screens using the dimensions we gave them. Of course, we haven't picked them up yet, so don't know what they look like. But I have faith (still, somehow) that they know what they're doing and that the screens will be perfect.

Bryan’s tasks for the day:

• Screen door handle
• Tighten toilet seats
• Replace upstairs toilet seat
• Screw for oven door
• Wipe down laundry room
• Wipe down coat closet
• Hinge stop on downstairs bathroom door
• Caulking on downstairs toilet
• Scrape counter
• Wipe down master bedroom closets
• Replace shelf in master bedroom
• Replace hanging support master bedroom
• Replace light bulb in master bathroom
• Replace shelves in master bathroom
• Replace 1 bathtub drain stops
• Replace handle on shower faucet
• Tighten towel rack
• Replace shelf craft room
• Clean windows
• Install screens

Making Sauerkraut

 Last nights task was to make Sauerkraut! Bryan likes to eat his Moose Hot Dogs with sauerkraut – and since it’s really easy to make, we keep a steady supply on hand.

First you go to the local farmer’s market and select a nice big home-grown head of cabbage. You need at least 5 pounds, so make sure you get one bigger than that so when you cut the core out you are left with enough cabbage to work with.

Then you slice it into uniformly thin slices, no thicker than a quarter of an inch. This can be done with a knife as shown here, although our knife was slightly on the dull side. A slicing machine would be best, but we don’t have one of those.

Then you add salt to the pile and let it rest for a good half hour, if not longer.

After the salt has had a chance to work its magic, you pack it tightly into jars. We have one hand-held wooden device specifically made for packing sauerkraut but have found that my wooden rolling pin works just as well. You really squish it in there and pack it tightly – but leave a good inch of headroom at the top. We have special weights that just fit inside a mason jar; these keep the cabbage down below the liquid so that it doesn’t mold. We also have special lids allow all the gas to escape so we don’t blow up the jars (you do not want that in your pantry, trust me on this).

Then set the jars in a pan to catch any liquids that might seep out along with the gasses – and put the whole thing in your cupboards so it can ferment. 6-8 weeks later, you have yummy Sauerkraut for dinner!

Apples! Apples! Apples!

My sister gave me two huge boxes full of sweet juicy apples the other day! I don’t know where she gets them from, but each year they appear on my front porch – and I’m very thankful that they do.

It’s a lot of work, however. Bryan and I spent the entire day Monday processing them. Thank goodness Monday was a holiday – coincidentally, it was Labor Day – so we didn’t have to take a day off work. Mother helped us this year, even. It was fun to spend the day with all three of us together.

Our first task was to peel, core, and slice 12 pounds of apples in order to make two batches of Spiced Apple Pie Filling. Mother and I worked on that together while Bryan got the sugar-cornstarch-cinnamon-nutmeg sauce ready. While that was cooking, he got all the jars and whatnot ready for the canning process. Each batch had to be split into two parts since we only have so many pots & pans – but eventually we got them all done. We can now have these yummy apples on our Sourdough Pancakes each Sunday.

Once we got that mess all cleaned up, we got ready for our next mess: Applesauce! This was a lot easier, since we didn’t have to peel or core the apples first. We simply squished the apple cutter tool onto each apple, tossed it into a pan, and boiled it until it all got soft. That then got run through the food mill to separate all the stems, seeds, peels and other unwanted stuff out. Then the whole mixture goes back to the stove to heat up again so it can be put into the hot jars (we only broke one this year) to be sealed and canned. 

We have so many jars now! I can’t wait to start eating them…

Investments

When this whole COVID-19 thing hit the stock market so bad back in February, my investments took a big hit. I’m just like everybody else in the world, I know – but this was personal.

That first month I lost just under $25,000.00 and then the next month I lost yet another $33,000.00. By the end of March I was down almost $58,000.00!

They always tell you to not panic and just wait it out if you can; given enough time, it will come back. And it did, slowly but surely. By mid-August I was back up to where I had been at the beginning.

Now in the beginning of September I’m actually over $6,000.00 above what I was! Retirement at 65 is right on track.

The Final Tally – Sorta

We’re not completely done yet, but I do have most of the numbers. I probably should wait until I have them all, but I’m rather anxious to get this over and done with so am chomping at the bits, as they say.

• Handyman = $4,433.00
• Carpet Cleaners = $125.00
• Buying Carpet = $1,484.49
• Carpet Installers = $745.90
• Yard Work = $250.00
• House Cleaners = $725.00

The handyman did not do as much fence work as he thought he would, but did end up doing more on the plumbing leak than he originally planned on – so his number is going to shift around a bit when it’s all said and done.

We are extremely unhappy with the yard maintenance work, so Bryan has them going back out there tomorrow to do it again. This time, I hope they do it right – I hate shoddy work. I don’t expect their bill to go up any, but you just never know.

So now the bill stands at $7,762.49 – and we still need to get the fireplace cleaned out and inspected, the furnace cleaned out and inspected, and the deck & front walkway stained.  

To say that I am not happy with my previous tenants would be a colossal understatement.

Black Currants!

Good friends of mine live out in Hope and have a berry patch they let me pick. It’s that time of year finally, so I took a little drive out there this last weekend.

The patch is medium sized and quite overgrown with horsetail and other weeds. It also has a lot of raspberries (two different kinds) in it – but since we have our own here at the house, I did not pick any of them. I just concentrated on the good stuff: Black Currants!

It takes a while to identify the black currant plant out of all that jumble of green – but once you learn to see it, the picking gets easier. Normally I would get down underneath the plants to look up under the leaves, but this patch is so overgrown I could not do that. Instead, I would find the plant and then lift it up to get at the underside.

This year, the black currants were so huge and plentiful – I don’t think I’d ever seen it like that before! In just half an hour of picking, I got probably 12 cups worth. We’ll probably end up making cordial out of them this year.

The End of an Era

 

I took down the shelving in the library today.

Sigh…

I built that shelving over 20 years ago, and have absolutely loved it every since. I have thousands of books, and this shelving displayed them all proudly and beautifully.

But it was time to convert the room back into an actual bedroom so that it could be rented out. So – I spent 5 hours today with a pry bar and a screw driver. The room will get a new coat of paint and new carpet - it will be good as new!

I was exchanging texts with the man who helped me build them the whole time I was taking them down, too. He and I were both reminiscing their birth and lamenting their demise.

While I was working in the library, Bryan worked in the kitchen installing new LED lights and taking out the microwave that no longer works. Our contractor will install a new range hood in its place.

The Cost of Renting Your Property

Two years ago, I moved back to Palmer. Since that time, my house in Anchorage has been rented out. We hired a property management company to deal with the rental issues, but honestly have not been happy with them from the start. Nor are we happy with the tenants who are living in the house. Finally, however, after much grief and heartache, the tenants announced their intent to leave. We took this opportunity to fire the management company and look for a new one.

The process of getting rid of a tenant is a long, drawn out one – especially when they are problem tenants. They left the property in considerably less than perfect condition so we are looking at months of repair work and the possibility of taking them to court. The issues we have with the management company are not helping, either. I cannot wait to be done with them both!

We were able to find a new management company that so far seems to be much better than the old one. We are in the process of going through all the paperwork now, and should have everything signed and finalized within a week or so. They have been very helpful in dealing with the old company, too, and have given us several recommendations on contractors and cleaning crews.

Old management company: Real Property Management Last Frontier

New management company: Buyers Real Estate Property Management 

The first thing we did, 1 day after the tenant turned in their keys, was go in and do a Property Inspection. We spent a good two hours going over everything and taking well over 200 pictures. Then we compiled a report of all the damage and sent that to the old management company.

They then compared it to the report they had generated from their own property inspection and we now have a list of items that the tenant is liable for, a list of items the tenant MIGHT be liable for, and a list of items we’ll repair on our own dime. Bryan’s idea of what the tenant is responsible for does not match the old property management’s list at all, so there is a rather heated argument going on right now trying to reconcile the two.

We then hired a contractor to oversee all the repairs. Ben Persinger, of Persinger Construction, is wonderful. He met with us last night and went over the entire house offering up ideas for repair or replacement, giving us tidbits of his experience in the business, and just generally commiserating with us over the sad state of the property.

We also met with the flooring contractor who came in to give us an estimate on replacing all the carpet upstairs which was completely ruined by the tenants dogs. He is giving us a very good deal on his time & materials, so that is at least one thing I’m happy about in this whole mess.

Next on our list is to find a professional cleaner who can deal with all sorts of messes left behind. They, of course, will have to wait until after we repair everything and get the carpet done – but we do want the downstairs carpet deep cleaned right away so we can determine if it’s salvageable or if it, too, needs to be replace.

Our list of repairs is long and I don’t have exact prices yet so am estimating, but here are just a few of the items to give you an idea:

• Replace back door: $1,800.00
• Repair & repaint walls: $3,000.00
• New carpet upstairs: $2,000.00
• Repair kitchen cabinetry: $500.00
• Replace microwave: $350.00
• Thorough cleaning throughout: $750.00
• Fix garage door: $1,000.00
• Repair garage floor & driveway: $1,000.00
• Repair fence: $2,000.00

Plants and Animals

 Just a few random shots of plants & animals seen on our recent camping trip. 

This first one was a group of about 5 little baby ptarmigan we flushed out of the brush ahead of us. We didn’t see her, but I’m sure Mother wasn’t far away.

 

This flower caught my attention on one of our walks because of its light pink color. That’s unusual for a dogwood (I’m fairly certain that’s a dogwood, but could be wrong).

 

And this little baby tree is infected with a parasite that created these galls in such a weird pattern – it reminded me of an alien wrapped around it’s host.

 

Mushrooms were everywhere up there! I really wish I knew mushrooms better: we could have made several meals out of them.

 

And my final photo was the most amazing – so of course the picture itself is the absolute worst possible. We were camped at the Sourdough Creek Campground, a lovely spot next to a creek (hence the name). It was about 8:00 at night and Bryan & I were sitting at the table after dinner, just quietly reading, when he happened to glance out the window and said “Oh my god!” I looked up = AND SAW A LYNX LOOKING BACK AT ME! It was not 6 feet away from us and just stunningly beautiful. It looked at us and kind of twitched its tail a bit, then calmly continued on its way down the path.

 

We also saw several porcupine and a moose with her baby nearby - but didn't get pictures of them.

S’Mores!

You can’t go camping and NOT have S’Mores!

It had been quite a while for me, however. I had forgotten just how good they taste, and just how sweet they are. Definitely needed a good strong cup of tea to go with them.

We used Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares instead of the Hershey’s.

 

I must say, it was pretty darned tasty!