Helau!

I skipped out on work for a few hours today and met the family in town for the Fasching (Carnival/Mardi Gras) parade. It was cold. Fun, but cold. There was a lot of candy for the kids. And matches. That's right, there was a club throwing out small boxes of matches. A got one. B didn't. She was distraught. We let A help us light a fire in the wood stove tonight, then I took them away. Poor guy...

Oh, and we bought a car last week. After more than year and a half without one, we finally gave in. Well, we also found one that was dirt cheap. It is way smaller than we had planned, but we couldn't beat the price, and it gets us into a vehicle so we can better search for another, larger vehicle should that become critical. We want to see how long we can manage with this one, though, so we can get finances better in hand.

Either way, being able to hop in the car and drive to the store in the rain is amazing.

New Wheels: 2001 Fiat Seicento SX 1.1L


Wow. Perspective can make things in the background look really small.


It's even more effective when you have small things in the background.


But... It has a FULL LENGTH sliding sun roof.

Aaaahhhh... Good coffee

I have a confession. I find German coffee and beer only OK. Well, let me clarify that. Most Germans own $2000 coffee machines, but they buy $2 coffee which they store open on a bright counter. And, while, Tschibo makes pretty good coffee, the Germans do something strange when they roast it, and it is all flat and bitter. And I feel that I have given it a good go. I have bought tons of brands. I have tried brewing in a coffee maker, I have tried it in my coffee press, and I usually brew into a thermal carafe with a cup top cone filter (where you just pour the hot water in by hand). It is all very mediocre.

Now on to German beer. I like beer. A lot. I have years and years of experience automating breweries. I have done taste tests with brewing departments to determine quality. I am not an expert at it, and I will be the first to admit that I can't sit and pitch the pros and cons of Yakima hops over blah blah hops or the best pitch rate for a nice pils, but I understand beer. I also know what I like. I like ale. Very hoppy IPA's really get me going. Germans don't do that. They have three types of beer: Pilsner, Export, Wheat. And they are good. But they aren't ales. And the differences between brewers really aren't that big. Enough to pick a favorite, but not enough to pass when it isn't available.

I have, however, found a workaround. There is a little brewery here called Vogelbraeu. I love their beer. They brew a few other varieties, and the quality of the ingredients makes it taste great. I don't go there very often (only a handful of times a year, maybe), but it is quite tasty.

Last summer, I stumbled on a coffee roaster. It is nice. He makes coffee like it is supposed to be made. He drastically varies the roast based on the beans he is roasting, and he knows his stuff. His prices are reasonable as well. I mean, it ain't cheap, but since it is a pain for me to get there, it isn't a frequent expense. I picked up a kilo of coffee yesterday. I got an Ethiopian (I believe) and another one. Since I can't read German hand writing, I don't really know what I got. The one that I think is an Ehtiopian is a sorta dark roast, but not too dark. It is nice and mellow, a little grassy (like every Ethiopian I have had) and quite drinkable. I got another one that is super dark roasted. Very oily. It is a little over roasted, but I like that taste, so it suits me.

I brewed up a carafe of each today. I won't be sleeping tonight, but man oh man is it worth it.