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Hey, Jason just called and he’s on his way over. He said it only took him like about 3-1/2 hours to drive in from Tahoe today. There wasn’t much traffic.

Is he bringing any beer this time?

Yeah, he is, as a matter of fact. He’s got a few sour beers and he’s got a stout. I think the stout is one that he brought us before. It’s the one that had the red, white and blue bottle cap.

Yeah. It’s got a coffee flavor to it. That’s so cool that he makes his own beer. And he’s just, he’s gotten so good at it, too.

Yeah, remember, I started him on making the beer, y’know?

Well, no, I don’t know that because you guys were making it already by the time I met you.

Yeah, I guess you’re right. At the time that we met, he and I were brewing with some regularity and then I pretty much stopped because I got busy and just had some other interests, but he kept going. I mean he’s continued doing it the whole time.

Yeah. Yeah, and like I said, he’s gotten good at it. He saves money from going out into a bar, buying beer or buying it at a store. Don’t you think he saves money by making his own?

Yeah, I mean, because he makes really good beers. But it is an expense, y’know, once you get all the ingredients. And it’s expensive in terms of time, for sure.

Yeah.

But it’s a labor of love.

Well, right, sure. Yeah, y’know, I made beer at one point. Remember, I told you that, when I was living in Korea.

Oh, yeah. Wasn’t there a place where you could go and they had the equipment or something? Yeah, it was a really genius idea of this Korean man. Y’know, at that time, 20 years ago when I was there teaching English, there was no good beer for us. And we were used to having good beer, or what we called good beer at that time, anyway. Beer has come such a long way here. But anyway, we didn’t like the Korean beer and so this guy, this Korean guy, had actually lived abroad and had tasted other kinds of beer besides this really light beer that was in Korea at that time. So he decided to start this business where he had.he provided all the equipment and you could just come in, and of course, it catered totally to ex-pats, you could go in and just choose from a kit what kind of beer you wanted. I was making a bunch of stouts at that time. He provided the bottles. Y’know, you would mix it up, bottle it up, and then just go pick it up when it was done.

Well, that’s convenient.

Yeah, the picking up the only part that was a hassle was going and picking it up. I can’t even remember. I probably couldn’t afford to even put it into a taxi. I think I was hauling it on a bus or something.

Because you had to carry it.

I don’t know, maybe I was yeah, yeah, yeah maybe I was getting it home in a taxi.

Well, it’s funny you mention this because I think that’s really when Jason started brewing all the time. It was when he was in Ecuador living and he thought the beer was terrible there and there was no variety. So that’s when he started brewing beer every week. Y’know, before that it was maybe once every other month we would do it and we’d wait for one batch to be ready before we’d go and start another one. He was just brewing batch after batch. He would have two batches in preparation at all times, y’know?

Yeah, it seemed like it was more of just an interest that’s now turned into a full-on hobby.

Oh yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, he likes the scientific side of it also.

Yeah.

And he’s also into cooking like I am so he views it as something similar to, y’know, making a recipe.

Right.

Y’know, because it is.

He’s making wine and, what am I trying to think.

Bourbon, not wine, bourbon.

But he’s made wine, I thought, too.

Oh, I’m not aware of that but.

I thought he made a batch of wine.

.he’s trying, well, he’s trying to make bourbon though. We know that. He’s even got a barrel.

I think it’s so great when people start making their own whatever Like.

Yeah, DIY, do it yourself.

yeah, like you got me that, what do you call it, the thing you bought me for my birthday that you can make.

I think they call it a crock is what they call it.

Yeah, a crock, so I can make my own sauerkraut or kimchee even.

Yeah, yeah, that’s a great thing.

You were thinking of making kombucha at one point.

Right, Y’know, the person who turned us on to all this is Jake. Y’know, Jake started me brewing beer. He was the one who was first doing his own sauerkraut and he’s also the one who’s got his own kombucha, y’know?

He used to brew beer?

He’s the one who taught me how to do it.

Oh, I don’t think I remembered that. Hm.

Yeah, y’know, I think that things have really come a long way in terms of being able to be self sufficient, like doing things on your own, in the advent of the internet.

and all the videos you see online.

Yeah.

All the instructional videos. Y’know, it used to be difficult to find out how to do some of these things.

Right.

Now you just look online and there’s usually someone who’s teaching you how to make whatever it is you want to make. You want to make kimchee? There’s an instructional video. You want to make curry, even, y’know, cooking. There’s tons of cooking instructional videos online. Just go to YouTube.

Yep We made, remember we were making cheeses at one point, too?

Yeah, yeah, that was another thing, y’know, out of almond milk, y’know?

That was fun. Yeah, and that, I think, did save us money because the nut cheeses are expensive.

Yeah, but that was another labor of love because the cleanup took so much time, y’know?

Yeah.

Y’know, my dad has always been a do it yourself kind of guy also. Y’know, he’s always been a person who loved cooking and I guess that’s kind of a do it yourself thing. But he also, y’know, he used to make furniture that we had at the house and when we were kids, y’know, he this was for my mother actually, but he made, when I was a kid he made my mother these miniature dollhouses also.

Yeah, I was just thinking about those, the doll furniture.

Yeah, they don’t really have dolls in them but they’re just these really small like living rooms and stuff and they’re pretty intricate. It’s pretty nice actually.

Yeah, It’s kind of, it seems like it’s more decoration because they have them up on the walls.

Yeah, true. No one’s ever played with them because they would break because the stuff is so dainty.

Right.

You know what I mean? Did your speaking of do it yourself, did you ever have anyone in your family who used to make blankets for you? Because when I was younger, my grandmothers and my aunts used to crochet blankets for us.

Yeah, not that I can remember but we definitely had some of those crocheted blankets that were straight out of the ’70s, very popular in the ’70s, y’know?

Yeah, I loved them.

Yeah.

We still have one here at the house that my grandmother made.

Yeah, I know, I know. But something that, like my dad, I remember he made me a dollhouse at one point, this really big dollhouse. And he also made me a, what was it.

A stove, right? Didn’t you tell me that?

Well, yeah, it was.it had a stove but it also had an oven.

Yeah, that’s cool.

I can remember I put my cats in the oven.

I hope that you couldn’t turn on the heat.

No. But, y’know, how special was that? I probably didn’t appreciate it at the time but looking back, like that’s so special. He made those for me whereas now you’d just go out to a store and buy plastic ones.

Yeah.

That’s what Hayden has probably.

Yeah, and they break, y’know.

Yeah.

And there’s no sense in handing those things down because who cares, right? If it was something that someone made and put a lot of effort into, not only would it last longer, but you’d want to keep it because of all the effort that was put into it.

Right.

I mean, I know that’s the way it is with that blanket we have that my grandmother made. I look at that as something that, y’know, is special because she made it and, y’know, my grandmother isn’t with me anymore so I look at it as something that, y’know, is still a part of her.

Yeah, that just made me think, my grandfather made a toy box for me and Kory, I don’t.I can’t remember if he made one for Kevin. I think Kevin was probably too old, but he made them from scratch.

And then on the inside, when you lifted up the lid, he had a little plaque engraved for each of us, y’know, To Kristin From Grandad and he had the year, To Kory From Grandad and he had the year. I don’t know what happened to them. My mom tried to get me to keep it and I didn’t.

Man, it’s too bad because something like that would be like a treasure to have at this point.

Yeah.