Boise Brew Minute (episode 61) – Becca at Wingman Brewers in Tacoma talks about kettle souring and how it differs from barrel souring. We also discuss how they use kettle souring to give flavor to their recent Cranberry Sour Ale.
Before traveling to any city it’s a good idea to look it up on the web to see what cultural icons, places of beauty or other must-see sights are on offer. So like a good traveler I looked up Jeddah before arriving. Many cities around the world have TripAdvisor lists of the top things to do while visiting and Jeddah was no exception. Unfortunately, when I checked the list, three of the top 10 are malls. Not sure how you feel about malls but, for me, they definitely fall under the category of things I wish the US had never exported to the rest of the world. So clearly I had no interest in visiting those.
The next site that jumped out at me was a huge bike sculpture. Some of the reviews were underwhelming, such as “Just a big bike in the middle of busy road.” and “This is nothing special a bicycle in the middle. You will see when you go past driving. No need to stop.” That was a little disheartening, but it was close enough to my hotel to try to find it on one of my runs. Unfortunately, I got a little turned around and missed it. After reading more of the reviews, I decided it probably wasn’t worth going back for.
Another one of the sites is the World’s Tallest Unsupported Flagpole. So… it’s basically a stick in the ground? I had to read the reviews to find out how a flagpole becomes one of the must-see sites in a city of several million people. The first review that jumped out at me was “It’s a really big flag! That’s it!” I guess they really like things to be big in Jeddah. Many of the others explained that the flagpole is part of the gateway to Mecca and Medina which has religious significance. I can understand that, but the flagpole ranks several places higher than the gateway itself which seems odd. By far the best comment however was “You can see it while you riding your cat.” I’m disappointed to say I never saw anyone in Jeddah riding their cat.
The first of the top ten sites that I did get a chance to see was King’s Fountain, the world’s tallest jet fountain. I admit the same argument could be made about a tall stream of water as a tall flagpole or large bike, but somehow in my mind, this is cooler. I didn’t get a chance to hangout and watch it. Like many of the landmarks in Jeddah, you get a nice view of it from the car (or cat) driving by. With more time, I would like to have watched it for a while.
There were large tanks and small with everything from banded coral shrimp to sharks. Although the students visiting were most excited about the large sharks and rays, I was most excited about the sea horses and sea dragons they had. These small, seemingly delicate creates are so ornate that they don’t swim very fast. On a reef, they seem likely to be prey to anything that wants an easy meal, yet they continue to 
survive. I’ve only seem them in the wild once and when we spotted one, I spent most of my air floating near it, just watching.
The other creature at the aquarium that I could sit and watch for hours was the jellyfish. There’s something mesmerizing about their simple movements and hunting technique. I’ve noticed more aquariums starting to have jellyfish displays and each one catches my attention.
Overall, I felt like I missed some part of authentic Jeddah. I never found a bustling market or people excited about the local food culture. Other than coffee/hookah bars and ice cream shops, I didn’t see people hanging out, enjoying each others company in the evenings. This seems like such a universal habit that I assume it was happening somewhere, but clearly not where I was. Perhaps next time I visit I’ll have a little more time and be able to find just such a place… If I don’t spend the whole time watching the jellyfish or riding my cat.
Boise Brew Minute (episode 59) – Kevin at Tioga-Sequoia Brewing in Fresno, California, talks about the mashing process, the “brewers’ window” and how grain starches get turned into sugar for the yeast. We also discuss how different mash temperatures impacts the flavor of beers at Tioga-Sequoia.
Boise Brew Minute (episode 58) – Ian at Payette Brewing talks about getting extra color, flavor and alcohol into the big beers being released for Black Friday. We also discuss BJCP, the Beer Judging Certification Program, which lists the main styles and substyles of beer. Anyone can get certified as a beer judge and the best get invited to judge events around the world.
Boise Brew Minute (episode 57) – Brian at Haff Brewing discusses hop utilization or how efficiently the bitterness is extracted from the hops during the boil. We also chat about how recipes must change when transitioning from home brew to commercial brewing to compensate for improved hop utilization.
Boise Brew Minute (episode 56) – Zack at County Line Brewing talks about fruit beers, specifically their Raspberry Brown ale. The berries are local and are in the fermenter within 90 minutes of being picked. Putting the berries directly in the beer is a different approach than we heard about a few weeks ago at Hi-Fi Brewing where they use tinctures. Zack explains why they opted to go this route.
Before my trip to Saudi Arabia, I was looking for information about running here and found very little. I’m still no expert but in the three runs I’ve done, I already learned a lot. Hopefully this will be helpful to others making a trip here.
Need water? Bring cash and buy a bottle on your run.
The first thing most people told me about running in Saudi Arabia is that no one does it. I was told (and read online) that the Saudis don’t really exercise much and that running, in particular, is almost completely unheard of. Need water? Bring cash and buy a bottle on the run.I’m in a very different place than that. By luck, my hotel is close to Tahlia Walkway which is a great place to walk or run. Tonight there were hundreds of people out. Most were families or groups of friends walking but there were also groups and individuals running. The whole thing is about 4km long with benches and even a chin-up bar. Every 100m or so, there’s a cooler with bottled water and a money box asking for 1 SAR per bottle. As long as you’re not hoping to run a sub-20 minute 5k, there will be people out there at your ability level.
Next, don’t wear shorts. This advice came up many times with some people saying you can get away with 3/4 length shorts but even that would raise eyebrows. My first run here, I went out in track pants at 11:00pm. It was still way too hot for full trousers, even light-weight ones. Luckily the next day I drove past Tahlia Walkway. There were many people out running in knee-length or just-above-the-knee shorts. With that encouragement, my next two runs were in my “long” running shorts which come down to about my knee and so far, no one has complained.
Finally, it’s hot and humid here which impacts your running. Not a big surprise, this one’s completely true. Not much to be done about this but keep it in mind. With a breeze on each of my runs, it hasn’t felt too bad until I stop and realize I’m drenched. I’m also going a bit slower.
I’ve been told that Riyadh is a very different picture so I would investigate more if you’re going somewhere else in Saudi. So far, the running in Jeddah has been much better than I’d feared. Have you run there? Add any advice you’d give people visiting the city in the comments below and have fun running.
It’s time for another trip. This time I’m going to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and I leave in less than 20 hours. They are starting four new science centers in the country and are looking for training in informal and non-formal education techniques. I’ll be over there for about a week and plan to post photos and stories while I’m there. Here’s a quick update on the progress so far.
This trip was first discussed about a year ago, but the plans fell through. Talk began again in May or June with the plan to go over in August. Since I’d been down this road once before, I was happy to meet and discuss the training, but wasn’t convinced it was going to happen. As expected, the August training got pushed back to September, then early October, before settling on November 1 – 5.
When I went to Abu Dhabi five years ago, I thought it strange that my ticket wasn’t purchased until 36 hours before I was schedule to fly out. That seemed like cutting things a little close. Turns out, that might be standard operations for business travel to the Middle East. Although my ticket was purchase almost six days before I fly out, I still don’t have my passport back from the embassy with my visa. I’ve been told not to worry. It’s being overnighted from California and will arrive within the hour… We’ll see.
I’ve tried to learn a few Arabic phrases and I suspect one will be more useful than all the other combined on this trip. I have no idea how it’s actually spelled, but it’s pronounced “mafi mush-kalla”. It means “no problem”. While on the Night Train in Kenya, a bunch of us from different countries discussed this concept. No worries; don’t sweat it; hakuna matata; she be right; it’s all good. Now I’ve got one more to add to the list. Considering many of the materials they are supposed to have for the training have not yet arrived (or the wrong parts were ordered), I suspect this phrase will get a lot of use.
Well, time to pack. Then go see if my passport has arrived back in Boise yet. I’m looking forward to an exciting trip.
Boise Brew Minute (episode 55) – Kombucha is growing in popularity and Mike with Idaho Kombucha tells us a bit about the drink. We discuss how it’s made, what differentiates kombucha fermentation from beer fermentation and how to flavor it.
A Runner's Ramblings 