3 July 2022

Cafe for coffee?

The idea was to go to one of the coffee houses with Wifi and get some work done. And in the same stroke, get some motorbiking done too. To that end, quickly consulted Google maps and located a cafe in Keithsburg, GA. That would imply that I got to see another small Georgia town and get my work done while enjoying a ride to and fro.

Well, turns out it was not that smart an idea to look for “Cafe” in Google Maps. This cafe turned out to be a small breakfast and lunch place. Not exactly what I had in mind.

Fortunately, Keithsburg was not too far from Ballground. Ergo, quickly rode to Barrel Coffee House and finished up my work there. As luck would have it, I ran into my old friend Adam Miller there!

While riding back, suddenly the rains started and I got immediately soaked. But, it was one of those localized showers (very common in this part of Georgia). In about 4 minutes, I was in bright sunshine. Took a circuitous route back so as to hit the highway. The high speed and sunlight had me completely dried up when I pulled up to our garage!

Category: Motorbiking | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 June 2022

Juhi’s Elder

“Hey, that cocktail matches your name!”
“That is because I created it!”

Last couple of trips to India, I had gotten to know Juhi. This time, I had not noticed her initially – those masks still make facial recognition tricky for me – but one of the nephews pointed out “Juhi didi na?“.

As I was talking to her, I noticed that the advertised cocktail at the bar of the Executive Lounge carried her name.

“Looks like a summer drink to me”, I said as I read the ingredients.
“Yes sir, best on a hot day.

“Let’s make two of them. And then I will take a picture of the drink with you.”

Sharmila and I both tried the drink.

It tasted great. The elderflower left very fragrant notes and the vodka was mild enough. Probably better suited for being by the pool in heat rather than in an air conditioned room though.

Category: Cocktails, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 June 2022

That was not the way it was when we were kids

This evening, I made a foray into College Street to check out College Pen Forum. Wanted to see if there were some interesting new or old fountain pens. The trip itself was a bust since the the gentleman there thought that showing me various pens would be a waste of time and waas focusing his time on selling those inexpensive ball points and gel pens that were flying off the shelf.

Interestingly, amongst all those bulk pens, he had a winner of a fountain pen – the Pilot Justus 95. It has a very interesting mechanism that can turn the nib from hard to soft (and various settlings in between). Basically you turn the edge of the pen and as you do so, a metal plate comes out on top of the nib split. By controlling that fulcrum point, you control how much the nib will “give”. Very unique mechanism. That would set you back by over $320 in the USA or about Rs 25,000 in India.

However the most interesting experience was noticing that sign you see in the middle of the picture. You probably remember from your school days how you bought your notebooks (to write on). They were priced per notebook or might be by the dozen. That is how we grew up. That sign says you can buy by the kilogram – meaning the weight of the notebooks you buy. So, you pay by the weight instead of the count! I checked with my brother. And he confirmed that is how he buys notebooks for the nephews!

Never knew this!

Category: Fountain Pens, Vacations | 2 Comments on That was not the way it was when we were kids