About two weeks ago, I began my first attempt at brewing sake at home, the next step in my evolution from a Mukune Kurabito-Intern. For this first attempt, a number of shortcuts - pre-pared koji and milled rice (to 60%), both made from Calrose (the U.S. grown rice used by, I believe, most if not all the sake brewers in the U.S.) I chose the sokujo method, for a number of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to minimize variables this first time around. The yeast is from Wyeast, it's the regular, i.e., non-non-foaming #9. This photo is the day 1 moto, yeast starter.
The moto, day 3.
The moto, day 4.
Day 08, the koji addition before hatsuzoe, the first "doubling" addition of rice and water.
Day 09, hatsuzoe and the odori or dancing phase. I think I had a bit too much water in the steamer, some of the rice got a bit gummy, but overall, it should be ok, only a small percentage of the overall rice, and it looked like the dancing went just fine.
Day 10, chilling the mash prior to the second doubling addition, nakazoe.
Day 10, rice-steaming. 
Day 10, steamed rice being cooled prior to addition to mash
Day 10, after the steamed rice was added to the mash.
Day 10, following water addition, nakazoe addition completed
Day 10, 12 hours later, before adding the tomezoe koji.
Day 10, transferred to a larger fermenter.
Day 11, steeping the rice for the tomezoe addition.
Day 11, the mash is stirred and ready for the final rice addition.
Day 11, just a couple of hours after the tomezoe addition, a very good demonstration of why foamless yeasts have become popular! The hard work is done, now it's time for the moromi to do its thing and ferment. Today is day 13, and the fermentation, and foam, has been relentless! I definitely need to buy some bigger vessels. Anyways, I'm anticipating joso or pressing by the middle of March. Not sure what I'm going to do beyond that, definitely some variations on nama, and a bit of usu-nigori and shiboritate. I do know though that the customary 6-month aging period will finish JUST in time for nihonshu no hi - national sake day, October 1st!
A quick visit to Quebec for some winter sports. First, to Quebec City to meet with friends and enjoy the Winter Festival
The view from our brunch venue. In this room, Churchill, FDR, and King met to finalize plans for D-Day. 
After brunch, we went to check out some of the day's festivities, which included a canoe race across the frozen river, half paddling, half dragging boats across the ice, and, apparently, another half eating bacon. We on the other hand were busy recreating photos from our parents' youth.
We also managed to join the natives for some sport on the Plains of Abraham, an excellent park with snowshoe and cross-country trails, very busy on a Sunday afternoon.
The frozen waterfall behind us, just north of the city, apparently very famous for ice-climbing. Not on our itinerary.
Onwards though, to the area of Baie Saint Paul and the Le Massif Ski Resort in Charlevoix. The extent of our X-games, but another wonderful park, and very nearly entirely to ourselves.
Having exercised, it was on to the slopes. With beverage, naturally.
Ozeki Junmai Uma-shiboritate. Thank you, Joel-san!
What I think I looked like after fortification. Note the frozen river at the bottom. First time I've ever skied at a place where the lodge was at the top of the mountain, and you ski down. Very cool views out over the river. And very quiet and uncrowded, super conditions.
What I probably looked like after my beverage.
This Kizakura gold-flake sake was a gift from my Japanese teacher, and I intended to drink it slopeside, but after a rather spectacularly silly fall, in which I slid face-first down the mountain for about 150 yards...anyways, I was going back up the mountain and I realised that the bottle had fallen out of my pocket... now, I remembered while falling seeing an odd object sliding down the mountain in front of me, but it hadn't occurred to me then that it might be the sake... well, a couple of hours later, on the last run of the last day, having gotten lost going across the mountain, I found myself staring at that same stretch of mountain, and thought... could it possibly... why, yes, it could! Buried in nice little mound at the bottom of the hill was this bottle! Haven't drunk it yet, lucky bottle!
Wandering through the village, we saw a sign that said, "support your local microbrewery." We're very good at taking instructions.
For dinner, Tourtiere, a local speciality, basically a meat pie.
Sunrise over the Baie Saint Paul. 
Posts
