The Sound of Silence

Two of my loyal readers (out of 6 people, perhaps?) have complained that I have been eerily silent on this blog.

There's a good reason for that, too.  I really don't have much to say.  I'll give it a try though.

The year is slowly winding down here and I've been in the mood for two winter comfort foods: rich, whole grain breads and beer.  As I type this, I'm working on two loaves of bread for the coming week: a sourdough rye, with 68% coarse rye flour and 32% whole wheat.  The other bread is a bread made from grains left over from beer brewing (today's grains are from a stout made about a month ago) and rye and wheat.  If they come out half way decent, I'll post some pics of them.

As for the beer, the stash is building and we're almost done the brews needed for the winter season.  After the last brew, I hope to start clearing some space in the apartment by passing along the brew gear to a buddy.  We've got a couple of potentially stellar beers in the pipeline for Christmas and I'm keeping my fingers cross that they come out alright.  I'm also setting my sights on brewing in Vermont and will probably be placing some orders for gear over the next couple of months.  It won't be cheap to get started, but while I have the money I want to make sure I get a decent set-up that's ready to rock and roll upon arrival.

Changing topics: My mother arrives in Japan on the 27th of next month.  We're looking forward to her visit, although we aren't sure exactly what we're going to do.  Last year we went to Tokyo and it was fun, but it felt like it took a large chunk out of the visit and made it go by faster than it normally does.  We're thinking this year might be a good year to just hang around this area, cook and eat insane amounts of food and drink more than our fair share of alcoholic beverages  (I'm actually thinking to execute a traditional English-style wassail this year). 

As for next month, I'm very much looking forward to Christmas.  This will be my first Christmas in 5 years that I haven't had to work.  Although there is no place like home for the holidays, I can tolerate one more Christmas in Japan before returning to the States in April. 

I guess that's all for now.  I figure that should be enough to silence the critics for a bit ;)