River Cruising Water Cooler

[jpalbny]

My car was low on gas this morning so natürlich, I "had" to borrow Chris's RS5 to get to work today. I still can't believe how fast that beast accelerates. It's sneaky because it's way lighter my S6, which is no slouch...but you don't feel the torque as firmly while the lighter car accelerates. And then suddenly the alarm goes off at 85 MPH... Oops!

 

I need to get myself one.

 

I made a shrimp pasta with lemon sauce tonight. Fried capers for a salty garnish.

 

 

And served with an obscure Italian white grape, Kerner. First time I'd tried it and hopefullynot the last. @notamermaid, the wine was also from Südtirol. Delicious match despite the dish being much more characteristic of southern Italy.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

My car was low on gas this morning so natürlich, I "had" to borrow Chris's RS5 to get to work today. I still can't believe how fast that beast accelerates. It's sneaky because it's way lighter my S6, which is no slouch...but you don't feel the torque as firmly while the lighter car accelerates. And then suddenly the alarm goes off at 85 MPH... Oops!

 

I need to get myself one.

Lighter is always better.  When I had to replace my BMW 328i, I expected to buy the 'replacement' 440i – but the extra weight really killed the handling.  I ended up at the 'cheapest' – but more importantly lightest – end of their offerings with a 230i.  Much more like the 328.  [If only Lotuses were reliable, I would dearly like to experience Colin Chapman's mantra of 'simplicate and add lightness.']

[Canal archive]

When I needed a new car I dragged my DH around all the dealers and eventually bought a Mini, I never had one in my youth, all the lads did, it was the 60s. Well this one is the Countryman ‘a Mini on steroids’. In those first months did I drive it, not a lot I couldn’t get DH out of the driving seat so I persuaded him to get his own which he did, of course with all the bells and whistles - he still prefers to drive mine, he says it has more ooomph! But I love my mini maybe I could trade it in for  a John Cooper, Works. CA

[dogs4fun]

13 hours ago, jpalbny said:

And then suddenly the alarm goes off at 85 MPH... Oops!

😁

BTW - although I am definitely not a foodie, your pasta looks delicious.

[Daisi]

4 hours ago, Canal archive said:

When I needed a new car I dragged my DH around all the dealers and eventually bought a Mini, I never had one in my youth, all the lads did, it was the 60s. Well this one is the Countryman ‘a Mini on steroids’. In those first months did I drive it, not a lot I couldn’t get DH out of the driving seat so I persuaded him to get his own which he did, of course with all the bells and whistles - he still prefers to drive mine, he says it has more ooomph! But I love my mini maybe I could trade it in for  a John Cooper, Works. CA

 

We looked at the Mini's when they first brought them back, and I very nearly got one.  Not to fond of the newer ones, as they are to big.

 

My drive during good weather is my Miata. It's a first year, and now 31 years old, but still going strong.  We used to go to the meets and watch them race around the parking lots, and have even met one of the designers.  Just waiting for the warm weather to arrive so I can get it out again...no fun driving with the top on!

[dogs4fun]

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

[If only Lotuses were reliable, I would dearly like to experience Colin Chapman's mantra of 'simplicate and add lightness.']

I just checked out the Lotus website - the Evora GT has a very sleek body - very cool looking car.

[Canal archive]

I’m surrounded by cool cars my next door neighbour next door has a beautiful TVR my brother in law a Mustang and the guy over the road a Ferrari his garage is a shrine to Ferrari. His neighbour is the guy with everything SUV, sports runabout BMW, motorbike, mobile caravan but he redeems himself by every month doing a blood bike stint for a few days or more. Sunday’s is always noisy especially at the moment reving up and checking engines. CA

[Daisi]

Our family is into antiques.  Dad has 2, a 48 Pontiac (Cdn made) Silver Streak, and also a 68 Dodge Dart.  We had a Camaro as well as my Miata.  Since we are in the process of packing up the house to move, we sold the Camaro, and will probably have to sell the Miata.  We want an apartment where we can lock the door and travel, and they just don't come with lots of parking.  My B-i-L had several cars, a Chevelle, a Bricklin and a few others that I can't recall.  

 

These are my Dad's 2 cars, which we maintain ..and usually drive. 🙂

[notamermaid]

It will be nice to see more vintage cars on the road again here, the usually insure the open top ones from April to October, so I expect to see and hear some over the weekend. Here some people in the area have Borgward Isabella and Isetta. Those where great designs! In my humble opinion anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgward_Isabella

 

https://www.bmw.com/en/automotive-life/history-BMW-isetta.html

 

But onto food (again ). Borscht! https://www.euronews.com/travel/2021/04/01/borscht-soup-set-to-become-official-ukrainian-cultural-heritage

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

14 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

But onto food (again ). Borscht!

 

Thanks! Chris will love this. She gets mad if someone calls it Russian.

[jpalbny]

2 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

😁

BTW - although I am definitely not a foodie, your pasta looks delicious.

 

Here's the recipe. It wasn't bad at all to make.

 

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemon-spaghetti-shrimp

 

I used half the pasta and sauce, but 3/4 of the shrimp. And since it's too early for me to plant basil, I had to use grocery store parsley instead. 

 

The fried capers were the best. I buy them by the pound, dry-packed in salt. None of those vinegary ones for me.

 

I was amused to see that this is Giada De Laurentis' recipe. She looks like she's never eaten a strand of pasta in her life!

Edited April 1, 2021 by jpalbny

[Canal archive]

As a teenager I toured Europe on my Lambretta back at home I belonged to a club a Scooter and Three Wheeler Club we had members with Isetta’s and Messersmitts, those were the days. CA

[Host Jazzbeau]

Here is a drop-dead beautiful car, unfortunately a prototype but possibly headed for production, from Genesis:

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/03/30/genesis-x-concept-reveal-electric-coupe/

[notamermaid]

An English three wheeler club with Messerschmitts! I did not know they were ever made for Britain. Or where they left-hand drive?

 

I suppose this dates me as a relative youngster here, I have never seen an Isetta or a Messerschmitt as a relatively new car. By the time I could think of driving a car, it was Ford and Opel as the cars to have, unless you went for a French one, a Fiat, or had financial access to the "upper class" BMW, etc.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

So to go from the sublime to the ... well, not ridiculous but perhaps mundane:  DW and I bought a new car on Monday.  It's a 2022 Honda Odyssey, to replace our 2011 Odyssey with over 105,000 miles – the first time we've had a car last over 10 years and over 100K miles and still be in perfect working order.  But it needs an oil change, so adding that to the trade in value made it a bargain!  [Not]

 

There is one interesting thing.  Note that it is a 2022; they came out in January 2021 – extremely early for a model jump, but it was forced on Honda.  The top-line Odyssey has for several years now come with a built-in car vacuum, made by Shop-Vac.  Shop-Vac went out of business late last year and stopped supplying Honda with the vacs.  Rather than 'downgrade' a previously advertised feature, Honda decided to switch to 2022 and quietly remove any mention of the vacuum.

 

The sweetener was that they replaced the 2021 dark red color with a much brighter red.  You'll see 'Parnelli-DW' coming now before she runs you over!

 

[Daisi]

We're a Honda everyday driver family, I am on my 2nd Civic (first one got written off when an idiot decided red lights didn't mean anything), and my husband now has a Fit after also owning a Civic.  When we started looking and preparing for retirement, DH wanted something he didn't have to fix to often.  We've always owned imports, VW (had about 7 Beatles when we first started including a dune buggy), Mazda's, Suzuki's and now Honda.  I did have a Firefly, but it was one made in Japan... 🙂

[Host Jazzbeau]

14 minutes ago, Daisi said:

We're a Honda everyday driver family, I am on my 2nd Civic (first one got written off when an idiot decided red lights didn't mean anything), and my husband now has a Fit after also owning a Civic.  When we started looking and preparing for retirement, DH wanted something he didn't have to fix to often.  We've always owned imports, VW (had about 7 Beatles when we first started including a dune buggy), Mazda's, Suzuki's and now Honda.  I did have a Firefly, but it was one made in Japan... 🙂

I think our Odyssey comes with a Fit in the boot 🤣

[Canal archive]

This is the Messerschmitt three wheeler driver in the front passenger in the back the weirdest car ever to drive also no problem with which side to drive. CA
 

[notamermaid]

Oh, now I see it. Really no problem left or right. A bit frog-like but really nice. I hope we can have a vintage car show again this year in the Rhineland, the one I wanted to see last year was cancelled.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Was it the Isetta where the front of the car was also the door?

[notamermaid]

21 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Was it the Isetta where the front of the car was also the door?

Yes. Looks like this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:BMW_Isetta_offene_Tuer.JPG

 

There is an Isetta Club, this is what it looks like when they meet: https://www.isetta-club.de/pages/mediathek/videogalerie.php#itemzVideo

 

notamermaid

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by notamermaid
added link

[Canal archive]

Because I had my full motor bike licence I could sit beside a car learner driver so they could drive legally but I would have broken the law if the learner reversed. So my neighbour got an Isetta and I sat in with her, one of the most frightening experiences of my life the car not her driving. CA

 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

This is the Messerschmitt three wheeler driver in the front passenger in the back the weirdest car ever to drive also no problem with which side to drive. CA
 

Even if there is only one person, I presume that there is a difference between left and right hand drive; presumably the controls would be on opposite sides of the seat.

[Coral]

I watched "The Last Cruise" on HBO Max which documents the infamous Diamond Princess cruise that had the COVID-19 cases that was docked in Japan.

 

Of the cruise lines I have cruised, I have cruised more with Princess than any other line. This film scared the living daylights out of me.

 

Most of the film is of passengers and crew personal videos while on the ship. There was also videos of people after the cruise. They had film/audio of the announcements that everyone had heard and also video of crew knocking on the door and saying "you tested positive, pack your stuff, you are going to the hospital". There is also a lot of the video of crew areas and what they thought.

 

I have to say it was done well. Due to the personal videos - there was a lot of camera movement so one could get a little motion sick. A lot of the crew made their videos in their native language so there are captions. I wish the captains had been shown a tad longer or sometimes it looked like white text on white background. I am probably showing my age and my nearsightedness.

 

Even though we all watched this in real time when it happened via the news - it is worth watching. I don't think it was an over dramatization.

 

---------

 

I am home for a 4 day weekend. Though I wasn't thinking and made some medical appointments first thing tomorrow AM and also have my 2nd Moderna vaccine on Saturday. 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Coral

[texasstar]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

So to go from the sublime to the ... well, not ridiculous but perhaps mundane:  DW and I bought a new car on Monday.  It's a 2022 Honda Odyssey, to replace our 2011 Odyssey with over 105,000 miles – the first time we've had a car last over 10 years and over 100K miles and still be in perfect working order.  But it needs an oil change, so adding that to the trade in value made it a bargain!  [Not]

 

There is one interesting thing.  Note that it is a 2022; they came out in January 2021 – extremely early for a model jump, but it was forced on Honda.  The top-line Odyssey has for several years now come with a built-in car vacuum, made by Shop-Vac.  Shop-Vac went out of business late last year and stopped supplying Honda with the vacs.  Rather than 'downgrade' a previously advertised feature, Honda decided to switch to 2022 and quietly remove any mention of the vacuum.

 

The sweetener was that they replaced the 2021 dark red color with a much brighter red.  You'll see 'Parnelli-DW' coming now before she runs you over!

 

Funny about your oil change.  We had a 2013 Subaru Outback that had 122,000 miles and needed new new tires.  We wanted to drive from WA. to Texas (because we didn't feel safe flying) at Christmas to see our mom's that are in their 90"s.  Perfect excuse to buy a new Subaru Outback!