Flew home today. Plane was completely full, but the flight went well.

I was telling my cabbie on the way home that, given the number of American Taxi cabs that are always parked at my apartment parking lot, I was surprised that I've never been driven home by one of my neighbors. Turns out that he lives at the end of my hall! We ended up spending most of the drive talking about how great the neighbors and management staff are.

As soon as I walked in the door, the cat started meowing at me from under the sink, where she retreated after sniffing my luggage. But then she came out to continue to meow at me for another half hour before she finally jumped on top of me for some petting that lasted much longer than her petting sessions usually last (normally, she's had enough after five minutes or so, but this time, she kept coming back for more).

I miss the kogi beef taco truck that used to hang out by my work. It may still go there, but I haven't seen it. Mayhaps on the days I'm not on campus.

I need to grade more. Sigh. I so don't want to. And I can't do the just-do-5 thing because each one takes me close to an hour. I'm all just do one, and then take a break and you can do another one.

Man, I love bulgogi. I have an excellent recipe for it, which calls for flank steak, which marinates up wonderfully. NOM.

Oakland needs some food trucks, more than just the taco trucks we get in the Fruitvale.

Ha! I finally figured out why Alberta was so snooty about Bombay Sapphire.

It's a compound gin instead of a distilled gin.

*****

The base spirit for gin can be made from a variety of cereal grains--wheat, rye, or barley. The grains are used to make a neutral base spirit to which flavoring is imparted from botanicals. There are two basic methods for instilling the flavors.

* Distilled gin The neutral base spirit is infused with botanicals and then distilled a second time. Botanical essences travel with the alcohol vapors and flavor the gin in a delicate manner.

* Compound gin The neutral base spirit is flavored with botanicals and there is no second distillation. Technically, compound gin is the same thing as flavored vodka.

That's why she said it was basically gin-flavored vodka.

Awww, man! Olden times had all the non-hygenic fun.

Old Tom Gin straddles the gin spectrum between genever and London Dry (it is sometimes called the missing link). It is slightly sweet, but still drier than London Dry and not as sweet as genever. It was popular in England in the 18th and 19th centuries but only a few distilleries still make it today. This was the original gin used in the Tom Collins. It got it's name from how it was dispensed in the 1700's. Gin houses would hang a plaque shaped like a tom cat on the outside wall. A patron or passerby would drop a penny in the cat's mouth and a bartender inside would dispense a shot of Old Tom Gin through a tube that led outside between the cat's paws. Due to hygienic reasons, I doubt we'll ever see anything like this again, though it does have a certain charm.

I used to have the best vintagey swimsuit ever, but I left it in my the trunk of my professor's car. I realize how skeevy that sounds but I swear it's not. My best friend was dating their son, so we hung out at their place and went to their swimming holes (this was Tennessee, you know) pretty much constantly that whole year.

Anyway. It was like the Esther Williams suit linked, but with a different neckline. It was gorgeous! And modest, but flattering.

I've been eyeing that Esther Williams swimsuit all evening. It's lovely. And it looks like they make them to order? I may need to own it. I'm thinking either navy or cherries delight blue.

Blah. I woke up early to move my car, because my town is cleaning the streets. (Yes, we have three days of alternate-side parking per year, it seems.)

Gin houses would hang a plaque shaped like a tom cat on the outside wall. A patron or passerby would drop a penny in the cat's mouth and a bartender inside would dispense a shot of Old Tom Gin through a tube that led outside between the cat's paws.

Front paws or back paws?

Yikes.