Summer Food Fun and Drink 2009 Chapter 8 Challah Toast · Monday July 6, 2009 by colin newell
There are moments that redefine comfort – those soothing snapshots in life where everything is simply wonderful, carefree – that fleeting moment we are not troubled by school yard bullies, bees, taxes, looming deadlines, angry relations and unmet expectations…
They come at unpredictable times. That sweet moment of placation when your mother scoops you out of a roll of thorny brambles, and hugs each imagined injury better… the joy of a first unexpected kiss… graduation day… a job offer… the Sunny horizon of retirement.
And the first sip of black coffee on a fragrant Spring morning…
…followed by a anticipatory nibble of a City’s great French toast.
Except it isn’t really French toast at all. It’s Challah toast from the one of my favorite bakeries – Bubby Roses on Cook Street near Meares Ave.
And as much as I would like to quantify the isotopes that make up this place – to return to that place at will and relive that peaceful, easy feeling…
I can’t.
But I have discovered that this particular bakery is as reliable as gravity when it comes to delivering the goods…
whether it’s fresh bread, or a flour-less chocolate torte, a vegan brownie or a cup of Java thick enough to stop time – and it often does…
or the Challah bread: sweet as love, drizzled with Canadian Maple syrup, anointed with organic yogurt and circled with a phalanx of mixed fresh fruits worthy of breakfast plate greatness.
Pucker up Baby, it’s Challah time!
The “Feelings” of Shadegrown Coffee · Sunday July 5, 2009 by colin newell
There’s a scientific explanation about the convective clouds rising up from the ocean along the coffee growing slopes of our volcanoes in Kona, Hawaii every day; giving the needed shade and moisture for the quality coffee grown here. And then there are these wonderful sentences written by Jack London of how it actually FEELS like. For us humans and probably to our coffea arabica plants growing here as well. So while you read, imagine yourself being a… Kona coffee bean dangling from a branch.
“You cannot escape liking the climate… I warn you, if you have some spot dear to you on earth, not to linger here too long, else you will find this dearer.”…
“Where each day is like every day, and every day is a paradise of days,” he answered.
“Nothing ever happens. It is not too hot. It is not too cold. It is always just right. Have you noticed how the land and the sea breathe turn and turn about?”
Indeed, I had noticed that delicious rhythmic, breathing. Each morning I had watched the sea-breeze begin at the shore and slowly extend seaward as it blew the mildest, softest whiff of ozone to the land. It played over the sea, just faintly darkening its surface, with here and there and everywhere long lanes of calm, shifting, changing, drifting, according to the capricious kisses of the breeze. And each evening I had watched the sea breath die away to heavenly calm, and heard the land breath softly make its way through the coffee trees and monkey-pods…
Far above towered the huge bulks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, seeming to blot out half the starry sky. Two miles and a half above our heads they reared their own heads, white with snow that the tropic sun had failed to melt….
“Listen! Here comes the land-breath now, the mountain wind.”
I could hear it coming, rustling softly through the coffee trees, stirring the monkey-pods, and sighing through the sugar-cane. On the lanai the hush still reigned. Then it came, the first feel of the mountain wind, faintly balmy, fragrant and spicy, and cool, deliciously cool, a silken coolness, a wine-like coolness—cool as only the mountain wind of Kona can be cool.
“Do you wonder that I lost my heart to Kona eighteen years ago?” he demanded. “I could never leave it now. I think I should die. It would be terrible.”
(Excerpts from ‘The Sheriff of Kona’ by Jack London, 1908)
When working closely with coffee trees farmers tend to talk to them. Which goes waaay beyond simply hugging them, as any woman will verify. At BLUE HORSE KONA COFFEE we’re actually trying not to hurt our trees feelings either and waiting till they are really ready to separate from their beans. Just makes a better cup.
Summer Fun Food and Drink 2009 - Chapter 7 Pissed with Readers Digest · Friday July 3, 2009 by colin newell
Hey. I hope I am not the only one that is experiencing this — and strap yourselves in folks. This is a full on rant.
Readers digest. Their book club. Or whatever they call it…
I have a dear old aunt who is in her 80’s – and she is getting a little fuzzy… a bit past her mental prime and all – which is normal.
At some point she got a shill from Readers Digest (Canada) for a free book or two. So they sent her a free book… and then another… and then a box of books. And then she send them a note: No more books!
But the books keep coming. And now they are billing the old dear.
And I am shipping them back – return to sender.
Surely I cannot be the only one ranting about Readers Digest Canada.
Go to their website. It is easy to find. I challenge you to find somewhere on their website where you can e-mail some human being… if only to write…
Enough with the books already!
Readers Digest Canada – please note. My patience is running out.
Colin Newell uncovers Canada’s ugly little secrets so you don’t have to.
Comment [1]
Summer Fun Food and Drink 2009 - Chapter 4 Vancouver coffee report · Tuesday June 30, 2009 by colin newell
One of the advantages of spending 4 or 5 days doing nothing other than visiting coffee shops (away from home town) is:
You get a really good sense of what is going on in other major centers and you get an unconditional view.
Photo at right – drink beer for those times that coffee lets you down… and trust me, it lets you down.
And what I mean by unconditional is…
I can sample the wares of the city and (other than 1, maybe 2 spots) I am an utter unknown – just another middle aged guy sipping coffee.
No one knows or cares that I write about coffee culture – so I am not going to get any special treatment… pretty much guaranteed.
And if I was to boil down the cafe experience (anywhere) and address a roomful of individuals interested in doing the same (citizen journalism on cafe culture), I could come up with 3 of the most common scenarios when anonymously visiting a specialty coffee shop:
Engaged – Visiting AGRO for the first time, I found an interesting, interested and enthusiastic staff – who, even during my first cup of coffee, were asking how I liked it, describing some of its lineage and then following up with some personal stories of staff coffee travels. That is what I would describe as a fully engaged cafe.
Disengaged – Ever get the feeling you are walking into someones private party when you visit some of the more popular destination cafes in North America? Yea, the coffee is great – but there is still a house party going on around you. Staff are talking amongst themselves about one aspect of cafe culture or another… but not really interested in the experience you are having… beyond taking your money and serving you their brew. I call this the Barista Jam Cafe
There are several places in Victoria like this – you know where they are from personal experience – but you do not name names – at least online.
Grab bags – This kind of cafe is hit and miss. It is noted for great coffee, but only when the owner manager is around. No manager or owner (around) and it is anybodies guess what happens here. The clear majority of coffee joints I visit in North America are like this – but that, in part, has a lot to do with the way I travel and review promising coffee places.
Ok. So three groups. I would appreciate feedback. What have you, the readers, noted?
