Things I’m Enjoying: Summer Edition
Just a few weeks into the summer and I find myself interested in sharing something things that I’m enjoying and am grateful for. As always...if you have the time...I strongly encourage you to sit and reflect on what you are grateful for. I recognize that this is a privileged position to take but honestly, I find the process to be very peaceful.
Impossible Meat
Some of my readers know that for several years my wife and I were vegetarian. Recently, we’ve been seeking out alternatives to meat, just for a change of pace. One of the things I learned while trying out vegetarianism is that much of what you end up liking about the experience comes from the “mouth feel” of the food you are eating. Of course taste is a high priority but if you can find a particular food that has a great “mouth feel” you are more likely to try it again. Enter Impossible Meat.
We recently came across this while thinking about alternatives to my all-time favorite; the burger! We thought it would be interesting to try out. We tried the Impossible Burger first. It was really good. I truly think it comes as close to tasting like a “real” burger than any other brand I have tried; and I’ve tried many. While enjoying it I thought, “It would be really cool to get the actual Impossible Meat and experiment, using it with recipe for burgers I like making with ‘real’ meat.” We bought some, tried out the recipe, and I am here to report; yummy!!! Not only does it have great “mouth feel” it looks and smells like the real deal.
Mack Weldon T-shirts
I’ve dabbled with this company before. I have some cool slippers that I wear in the Winter time. Recently, I was in need of upgrading my t-shirt collection and wanted to get some I could wear everyday, during the summer. So, I bought some Pima Crew Neck T-Shirts. One of the things I am enjoying most (besides how soft and comfortable they feel) is their “Recovery collar” technology. I hate when my t-shirt collars look like they’ve gone through a war after wearing them just a few times. If washed and dried properly these t-shirt collars, and the t-shirt themselves, look brand new each time you take them out of the dryer and/or wear them!
Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
I wrote about this technology the week that Apple made it available in Apple Music. What I’m enjoying most is that...when it’s done right...it elevates the listening experience to a whole other level. Like, right now; I’m listening to “When Doves Cry” by Prince & The Revolution through my 2021 11-inch iPad Pro speakers. It sounds amazing! You want to go to the album and listen to more! However, when you look up the album that this song appears on, Purple Rain, you find out that “When Doves Cry” is the only song currently available with Dolby Atmos. It’s going to be interesting to see if record labels/artists decide that their back catalogue is worth layering this technology to. I do not want this rushed as when this happens you get the sonic disaster of Weezer’s Buddy Holly; I still can’t believe that they “let that out the door.”
Listening to music on my Crosley Turntable
Believe it or not; more so than Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, I am really enjoying the experience of having purchased my turntable. I wrote about the origin story of this purchase in a post last week. This experiment has turned into something I wasn’t quite ready for but have totally embraced; which will surprise no one that knows me well.
I have decided to use Apple Music as a space to vet music that I want to purchase on vinyl. My “collection” has started with the purchase of albums from artists/groups I got to see when my wife took me to the 2016 Desert Trip concert for my 50th birthday. I’m actually purchasing these albums based on the night I saw each artist/group. So far I’ve purchased Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited and the Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. because I saw them perform night 1 of the concert. I purchased Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, and Paul McCartney and Wings Band on the Run because I saw them perform on night 2. My next purchase will be albums from The Who and Roger Waters/Pink Floyd as they were the artists/groups I saw on the last night of the 3 night concert event. I’m also looking forward to purchasing albums from the likes of ELO and Bill Withers. I’m really excited about using Apple Music to put together this modest collection of albums as listening to them has been so much fun!
