On my way back after getting the struts replaced yesterday, I happened to see the doors open at Coastal Coffee Roasters, so I thought I’d stop in and say hi.
They’re normally not open Sundays, but Brad was in roasting some beans and having some more work done on the place. Got to see the new additions to the shop too. There’s a new art gallery in the space next door and they’ve added some kitchen space. Office space and restrooms were being worked on when I stopped in.
Brad let me hang out a bit and I got to help out with roasting a few batches of beans (and by “help” I mean I flipped a lever when he told me to). It was pretty cool watching the green coffee beans go in from the bucket and come out dark and roasty and all the stages in between. They don’t immediately have that roasted coffee smell when they come out of the roaster, but there’s a hint of it. I guess the aroma must develop over time.
Had a good time participating in the roasting process and learned a few more things. Thanks to Brad for letting me hang out and aiding my procrastinating.
Thanks to JJ, there are 4 new struts on the car and now I can drive over bumps without feeling like I’m on a carnival ride or something.
Ordered 4 Gabriel Readymount struts from Autozone. It’s the complete strut including spring, so all we needed to do was take the old ones out and replace them with the new ones.
Installing them wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected, although we did have to disassemble part of the back seat to get at the bolts for the rear struts.
Ran into problems getting the wheels off because of cross-threaded nuts. Ended up having to break off a bolt on three of the wheels. Going to have to talk to the guys at Treadquarters about that, since they were the last ones to take the tires off when I had it in for an oil change and tire rotation a few weeks ago.
Car rides a lot better now. Need to get the alignment checked now in case anything changed with the new struts.
Brain: There is bacon in the fridge. Make this! Nao!
As if I needed an excuse to eat bacon.
Let’s start with the double smoked bacon that I picked up from Ted’s Butcherblock on Friday.
Bacon comes in strips. Thus you can make Moebius bacon in the same way. I made three of them, two using one piece of bacon, and a third using two pieces of bacon.
Into the oven they went. About 10 minutes later, this is what came out: cooked Moebius bacon.
They didn’t hold their shape quite as well as I expected, but they still tasted good.
Deciding to go to this year’s CREATESouth was a bit of a last minute decision. Seemed like everything was going on this weekend. CREATESouth, Cupcake Camp Summerville, Pet Fest, LUG meeting (which ended up getting moved).
CREATESouth 2012 was smaller than previous ones I’ve been to, but I think this year was better, with presentations that were more interesting. Keynotes by Philippa Ballantine and Heather Solos were both very good.
There were a lot of sessions that I would have liked to see. I ended up going to the DIY Metallurgy/Metal Casting, Budget Barista and BBQ sessions. I found all of the sessions interesting and inspiring.
The DIY Metallurgy/Metal Casting session was perhaps the coolest one with a hands on part where we actually got to do some sand casting. Packed sand to make molds, and poured the metal to make these little CREATESouth logos. I think I may have found a new hobby.
Metal casting at CREATESouth
Budget Barista was a good session looking at some of the variables that go into making a good cup of coffee. Did you know a hot air popcorn popper can be used to roast coffee beans? I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but have been known to consume a cup now and then. After seeing the Aeropress in action at the session, I think it’s my new want item.
Aeropress in action
The Art and Science of BBQ ended up being an outdoor session with Andre Pope talking about how to do BBQ and showing his BBQ rig. I learned that you don’t need a big huge smoker setup to do BBQ and that it’s easier than it looks. You can make BBQ in a slow cooker, which I’ve done before but never really considered it real BBQ. Now that I know better, I’m inspired to do more BBQ.
Art and science of BBQ
Had a really good time at CREATESouth this year, and I’m really glad I decided to go. Got inspired to do new things, at least two of which I’ll probably do. The metal casting sounds like it will be really cool to take up as a hobby, but it’s probably not something I should get into right now.
Got home last night and saw the odometer on the car reading 0x1F018 miles exactly. Still runs quite well for a 12 year old car. Still haven’t replaced the side view mirror, but the struts will be getting replaced this weekend with the help of a friend of mine. The ride has been pretty mushy the past few years, and now the car is bottoming out on things. It’s definitely time to replace them. Replacing them is an experience I’m looking forward to.
