The weekend so far

[gurdymonkey]

Spent four hours of my Saturday with Shannon-sensei, Sean-sensei, five of my classmates, two six foot sections of 16" diameter PVC sewer pipe and assorted power tools at a community center in a nearby park, reducing said pipes into sections suitable for practice taiko drums. We wiped down the pipe with paint thinner because they'd been stored outdoors and were covered with unidentified goo and grime. Each pipe was sawn into three pieces using circular saws and a plywood jig to guide each cut. We took turns with routers beveling the cut ends, creating a blizzard of pale green "snowflakes" on the patio.  I'm not wild about the dojo default color of Rustoleum Carnival Red, especially since some of the pipe sections had some deep gouges in them. I innocently mentioned that there was a Home Despot about two miles away and did anyone else think black would look nice? I made the run and we had a can of gloss black in less than 20 minutes and four out of six of us used it. It did seem to reduce the noticeability of dings and gouges in the PVC and looked pretty good, I thought.  We sat around chatting for awhile waiting for the paint to dry up. I'm looking forward to starting with the intermediates in a couple of weeks. Paint was dry enough to pack down by a bit after 2 PM. Next Saturday we will put rawhide drumheads on. 

Thanks go out to karisu_sama and didjiman for an enjoyable party. Lots of good eats and drinks and fun folks to hang out with.bovil's seared ahi with the wasabi sesame dipping sauce was orgasmic. My pie plate came home empty.

Movies with subtitles: Tell No One (Ne le dis a personne)
This 2006 Belgian thriller is currently playing at a local art house so layla_lilah and I caught it this afternoon. If you like thrillers, Tell No One is a pretty solid one. Eight years after Dr. Alex Beck's wife is murdered, two bodies are found in the same area - and Dr. Beck receives a mysterious email. Well acted, absorbing and definitely worth a couple hours of your time.

Dinner was up the street at China Village (1335 Solano Ave, Albany, CA). layla_lilah had seen a review on PBS' Check Please, Bay Area and wanted to give it a try. Terrific Szechuan food, reasonable prices. We started on a spicy rabbit-with-the-bones-in appetizer, swimming in chili oil with star anise. I admit I am a wuss about hot foods, particularly in comparison to my dinner partner, but I actually nibbled on three lip numbing pieces of tender rabbit and didn't die. The pork with dried turnips and leeks was a bacon lover's delight, savory and salty, with plenty of crunch in the veggies. The loofa squash and shrimp was delicate, the sweetness of the squash complimented by the slightly salty shrimp. And the pickled cabbage that was on the table was excellent.

Comments

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever seen rabbit on a Chinese restaurant menu, but that sounds good. Very good, in fact, if I could get it a little less spicy.
I've had something like your pork dish and it was lovely. I had loofah in my garden a year ago and tried them stir-fried with scallops--yummy.

Now I'm making me hungry...

[masahide.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun. I had gotten a wooden barrel to make a drum out of, but it has just sat and weathered more.... The pipe idea is a good one!

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

The wooden ones are really labor intensive. Here's a website that has info on making them from PVC:
http://www.taiko.us/cheap.html

[masahide.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! Good info.... Do you happen to know any resources for learning Taiko (I noticed drills and music on that page, but no explaination for how to actually play)?

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Go to Denver Taiko and ask for lessons?

I used to think you could learn by reading a website too. After working my backside off for sixteen weeks trying to make it look pretty, I am not so sure. Doing it correctly is HARD.

http://www.taiko.com/ might be another place to look.

[masahide.livejournal.com]

Denver Taiko doesn't offer lessons. They keep talking about doing a "once a year workshop" but those are really infrequent. I'll see if I can get on their mailling list for that... The stuff at taiko.com looks good, however, for a basic understanding.