After visiting Smuggler's Cove yesterday, I got to drop by Trader Vic's in Emeryville on the way home. Got there shortly after it opened, so there were only a handful of others there. Only had time to try the Mai Tai, but it was quite good. Aside from a couple of Don the Beachcomber's mugs I found in an antique store in Monterey last month, this is essentially the start of my mug collection. Not bad for a couple days.
Dropped off our youngest at college, but at least gave me the opportunity to visit Smuggler's Cove (San Francisco, California). Wasn't sure how my wife would like it (especially working off 4 hours sleep) but we both had a good time. Lucked out with no wait to get in. Excellent drinks! Wife is allergic to pineapple which can be a little limiting, but she easily found some very good options she liked. Found what I think is Jeff Goldblum behind the downstairs bar.
The standard Smuggler's Cove Mai Tai is good, but sometimes I want it just a little less sour and with a tiny bit more complexity. So drawing on the basics from SC and Minimalist Tiki, I made this one last night.
Basically used slightly less lime juice (just under 3/4 oz), increased the orgeat to 1/2 oz (homemade this time), and used a combination of rum. 1/2 oz Appleton Signature, 1/2 Planteray Xaymaca, 1 oz Smith & Cross.
Also my first time using Smith & Cross!
I've been holding off on getting into resin printing for a while, with print size being a key factor. Now that the P1 Max is actually launching, this may be when I finally pull the trigger.
However, by all accounts the Wash & Cure 3 is NOT a good solution for washing and curing prints at this scale. (In ability to just cure or wash, inability to wash one print while curing another, lack of submersion when washing, etc.)
So what are people's recommendations for washing and curing solutions at this scale?
(Assume that all-in-one-box is not a good idea and that at least some prints are going to make use of close to the entire build volume of the P1 Max)
Just got back from a weekend in Monterey for our anniversary. (Wanted to try and visit Emeryville/Alameda area on the way back, but everything is closed on Mondays or doesn't open until dinner time.)
We had a good experience at Hula's. I'd hoped that would be my first mug, but all they had were Mai Tai glasses. But yesterday we decided to check out the antique mall and found a couple of mugs!
Perhaps tiki-adjacent, but a very cool atmosphere. At Pearl Hour in Monterey.
SADE'S DAIQUIRI
paranubes oaxacan rum, don q coconut rum. rose geranium, serendipity organic organic farm cold-pressed strawberry syrup, lime juice
What would the music icon Sade drink? This. A deep delicate melodic daiquiri full of funk, soul, fruits and flowers
Just really getting into tiki and rum, and it appears I've fallen into the rabbit hole. About a month ago I had Bacardi Superior and some bitters. Just got a shipment from K&L today with Worthy Park 109, Rum Fire, and Rhum JM Terroir Volcanique.
This started as a smoked variation on a Painkiller. Then I tried to conceive what a Devil's Reef version of this might be like. I posted an initial spec, but received a great suggestion to try building it around the Golden Ratio. So I adjusted accordingly and made a couple of other small tweaks. Note this uses more than 5 ingredients commonly used in Golden Ratio recipes, so it's more like 5 tiers/categories of ingredients. For example, the smoked coconut cream and lime combine fill a 1 oz "slot" while the Herbstura and cinnamon combine to fill a 0.5 oz "slot".
I'm happy with how this turned out. If you try it, please give me some feedback.
Blend with approx. 8-10 oz of ice and pour into snifter. Add pellet/crushed ice to fill the glass, then add mint, spray with absinthe, and add grated nutmeg garnish. If you use a straw, keep it short to get the full effect of the aromas.
You can certainly make your own smoked pineapple juice by smoking pineapple rings and then juicing. I added cold-pressed pineapple juice and the coconut cream to a short glass and smoked them with a cocktail smoker. I used apple wood, but feel free to experiment. I recommend stirring the coconut into the juice to get it suspended before smoking this way, and carefully swirl it all around with smoker in place to get more of the smoke flavor.
I originally started with Pusser's, but it evolved into this. Once I decided to use Mister Fogg, I started thinking about names. I settled on a reference to "From the Tideless Sea" by William Hope Hodgson.
Can anyone recommend some easy to acquire bitters bottles that "dash" easily?
Looking for something that dashes equivalent to a bottle of Angostura. I've got these from Amazon (https://a.co/d/06S3FHWF) but a dash with these is a much smaller amount. I can go with dropper bottles if necessary, but I like the speed and ease of a bottle like Angostura.
Recently started getting into tiki cocktails and rum, and my wife got me a little cocktail smoker not long ago, so I thought I'd experiment a bit. Found a few posts about smoking a painkiller in various ways, so that seemed the logical starting point. Ended up trying 3 different methods of smoking it, with a couple of other minor tweaks. Mistakenly forgot the coconut cream on the first one, and tweaked the rums on the third.
First attempt I smoked the ice, full length of making the drink. It turned out very smoky, probably helped by the lack of coconut. Second attempt was similar, but I used less ice and smoked about half the time. Didn't get any smoke until about halfway through, which makes sense as that's probably when I reached that ice. Third attempt I smoked the pineapple juice while I poured the rest (all I had was Dole's, so this will require further experimentation with better juice).
Overall I was happiest with the last version (probably didn't hurt I already had a couple in me by that point). Here's what I used:
3 oz smoked pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
1 oz Pusser's Blue Label
1 oz Myers dark rum
0.5 oz Planteray OFTD
1 oz coconut cream
0.5 oz pineapple molasses syrup
0.75 oz cinnamon syrup
Just getting into tiki and rum in general. Drawn initially by Devil's Reef in Tacoma, which I finally got to visit last year. Been to a couple of other tiki bars and recently began delving further. Got the Smuggler's Cove book (will need to visit soon) and have been learning bits here and there. Got a few rums and tried a few recipes. Got a couple more rums... Tried a couple of recipes...
After picking up a few more items this week, I decided to try my hand at the namesake Devil Reef, followed by a guesstimation at their Barbados Dark Rum Punch. Happy with how the pineapple molasses syrup and the Devil Reef came out. Think I need to try a different sweetener in the punch, bit it was sufficiently drinkable.
I've also got a few empty boxes lying around for those that are interested. Shipping from California.
Edit: I've got several interested already. If any back out I'll update.
So I'm seeing these special editions they're dropping. I actually like the look of them overall so far. They seem to have a bit more character, which I think is somewhat missing in the latest models.
But my big question is this: Are any of these editions going to offer All4 in the Cooper (2-door or 4-door)? I really don't understand why All4 is suddenly only available in the Countryman, and I've been hoping to see it come back to the Cooper. At least with the JCW or some other edition.
Changing things up with this one. Two main ideas I wanted to explore. First was a more "classic" looking analog style. The second was the idea of Fear symbols inspired by ancient Celtic symbols and styles.
Learned a fair bit designing this one. It includes selectable color themes to subtly change the look. One element I'm really proud of is the "Fear window". It starts empty at midnight, and a daily Fear symbol rotates into view - quickly at first then slowing as it approaches it's peak around noon - then it rotates out by the end of the day.
Since it was playing Protocol Mysteries that got me into my current rabbit hole in the first place, I had to make an OIAR watch face. And given the warm reception my TMA watch face got, I had to post it.
On top of the overall OIAR concept, I leaned into two major themes from the first 2 seasons of Protocol - computers and alchemy. It generates and displays a new OIAR case number each day, displayed below the date. The center of the OIAR logo changes with the moon phase.
Recently got my first smart watch. Only found a couple of Magnus watch faces out there, and they were just a standard face with a logo added. So I've started learning how to create watch faces myself. Here's what I've got so far.
Integrated some watcher and web elements, custom icons and digits, and a fun little touch for unread notifications.
Recently got a Pixel 4, and I'm dabbling with creating some custom watch faces. Started with Facer, then tried WatchMaker Studio. Both were fairly simple for 90% of what I'm trying to do, but there are two things I'm trying to do that do not seem possible with either. (Not sure if its a compatibility issue with Wear OS 6 or stuff hidden behind a paywall. Most searches I've tried consistently pointed me to posts from years ago, well before the current OS version.)
My current watch face (which I downloaded) allows me to set a couple of locations on the face I can tap to launch an app. It also has a dot which appears when I have a pending notification.
What is currently the best face design software that will allow me to replicate these two features?