2025-The year in review · Monday December 29, 2025 by colin newell
Hey, hey! 2025 is almost done – and what do we have to show for it?
A.I. has taken over most aspects of our lives (apart from this one which is still occasionally tapped out by a human…)
Travel has become as unromantic as possible – hence I rarely travel much beyond the family room…
And flying? Well, I fly my Canadian flag with pride when the wind is gusting under 125 km/hr.
Truthfully, the last year or so I have been in Hamilton, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta.
Photo above: Coffee. Yes, it is still a thing for me!
2025 was a great year for in home cooking and broadening our culinary chops without broadening our waists.
2025 marks almost 2 years retired after 35 years + working at the local University in I.T. and tech – hardware and software support.
That old adage: “I don’t know where I found the time to work before has never been more true. I really believe that this is the most meaningful time of my life and I am happier than when I was carefree and 11 years old. Seriously.
Stuff – I do committee work with the municipality of Saanich… a couple of things… keeping me engaged… on the edge… sharp… where I gotta be…
After 16 or 17 years raising funds for Movember, I have moved onto a much more local project: The Island Prostate Cancer resource center. A great cause for men facing cancer and their families that find value in this great resource.
Music: I have been playing guitar and piano since the 1970’s – my debut album was in 2008 and that is increasingly feeling like a long time ago! Now I play around 1 hour a day – I collaborate with a few other players to make some noise with. Am I thinking long term? No, not at all.
Radio stuff: I am still doing ham radio as well as technical projects that revolve around “amateur” radio – like project building and supporting our radio community locally, regionally and internationally…
Coffee – As one of the (maybe former) authorities on the subject of cafe culture, home and office coffee and espresso based goodness… I am still picking away at my coffee project that started in 1994 — now known as CoffeeCrew.comCheck in…
Is there anyone out there? I genuinely do not hear much from anyone via this blog. It is entirely possible that I am talking to a brick wall… or a dry wall… or a wailing wall. You can send us a shout over here – anyone locally that sends me a shout, I will buy a coffee and treat – and we can talk about whatever comes up.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and has been writing about the subject of coffee and pop culture since the beginning of internet time…
Two tunes by Saanich vocal superstar Jeff Albert…
Avocado Brownies - or why does Pinterest suck so badly · Saturday November 29, 2025 by colin newell
Found this Pinterest recipe on the “Recipes by Honey…” Website…
which appears to be more of a front for 1000 pop-up ads before you get to the actual recipe.
Why Pinterest, why!?
My blog – coffee.bc.ca – has no popups, no shills, no tension, frustration or BS —
much like the “blog” that I nicked from “Honey…”
The brownies are currently in the oven for the first time…
We will see if this was worth the effort and frustration of wading through yet another Pinterest recipe.
For the Brownie Batter
2 medium Ripe Avocados – Ensure they are fully ripe for a creamy texture.
1 cup Granulated Sugar – consider substituting with honey or maple syrup.
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder – consider unsweetened for richer flavour.
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract.
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour Can – you substitute with gluten-free options.
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt – It balances sweetness.
Optional Add-Ins
1/2 cup Nuts or Chocolate Chips can be added for crunch and indulgence.
1/4 cup Peanut Butter Swirl in before baking for added flavor.
Step by step guide to preparation
Grab your KitchenAid or mixmaster (you could also use a Vitamix — but set aside more clean up time!)
The Wet Mix
In the mixmaster (or blender) Mash avocados until they are creamy with no lumps (and of course – it goes without saying… you cut open the avocado, removing the skin and the seed… the skin and the seed goes into the compost!)
In this instance, I added 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup Maple Syrup for that Canadian touch!
Add in 1/2 cup fine unsweetened cocoa powder.
Drizzle in 1/2 teaspoon (or more) vanilla extract (I also contemplated adding 1/2 ounce of white rum but one must keep in mind that when adding alcohol, it can impact on how the brownies set!)
The Dry Mix
Add a teaspoon of magic baking powder to 1/2 cup standard white flour (I used bread flour without issue.)
Add the flour and leavening mix slowly to the “wet” mix… Do not over mix please…
Add ons
I added a tablespoon or two of creamy peanut butter at the very end of mixing (for something of a swirl effect…) Let’s see how that works out.
I used an 8” x 8” purpose made brownie pan – lined with parchment paper and sprayed with Pam - cooking spray.
Move your batter from its mixing vessel into the baking tray and level out the brownie mix – try and get as even a layer as possible. With this batch size the batter will be about 1/2” thick or so on the bottom of the tray.
Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 25-35 minutes… or when a toothpick goes in and comes out clean!
Important Rule says – Let the brownies cool for an hour before you attempt to cut them.
Taste test These are crazy creamy and awesome! I could have added another bit of nut butter up to maybe 1/4 cup AND some finely ground or coarsely chopped nuts – despite my frustration with the Pinterest mega-ad BS, this recipe is a win! Thank you “Honey…”
This blog entry is dedicated to our longest long suffering reader-fan of the CoffeeCrew blog... with me for almost 20 years if not more! Hey Oh Jeanie Marie!
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Singing with the trees quick book review · Sunday June 29, 2025 by colin newell
In his debut novella, artist and singer songwriter Rob Fillo invites us on a journey of self discovery, enlightenment and wisdom born of pain.
From the urban malaise of Richmond, British Columbia and the rising spectre of COVID globally, Rob has decided to flee the capitalist establishment and degradation of civilization, casting off the yokes of modernity and boiling down his belongings into the cramped comforts of his 2004 Nissan Sentra.
I took a deep breath and realized that I packed my 2004 Sentra to the gills with nearly everything I owned. I think part of me never wanted to come back to my condo…
In the summer of 2020, Rob Fillo, then 38 years old decided it was time to find out what he was made of – what measure of human man he was — and by what measure he would measure himself. This was, after all, the recesses of Vancouver Island, in all its pitiless and unforgiving and often impenetrable wilderness; from dense black forest, alpine mountains high to plunging rock crevices to a restless Pacific Ocean. And guarding these confines, cougars and marmots and bears (Oh my!)
I imagined I would have to fight a bear — or something — to earn my stripes. I awaited this challenge on my last night, alone in the misty darkness…
Equipped with a keen sense of empathy and the ability to, above and beyond all other things, listen, Rob was quickly initiated into the back-World of Island bush camping and co-existing with his co-escapees. His preternatural skills with the acoustic guitar and West Coast song writing won him quick accolades with groups small and large — quickly leading to headlining small town pub and bistro gigs.
There I was, under the stars, fire blazing, and this goddess of the forest decided to materialize and come sit with me.
At a reasonably lean 80 pages, Rob fills us with wonder within the realm of our surroundings, encouraging us to question our motives in the material World. After two easy breezy reads (yes, you can read this cover to cover in one 1.5 hour ferry ride between Island and mainland…) I felt like I had a brace of important questions for myself (and others) and wanted more. Here is hoping for another chapter in Rob’s life! The life and music of Rob Fillo can be found at his website RobFillo.com – and his books in many respectable bricks and mortar book shops as well as Amazon online.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and former authority on the subject of coffee, food and beverage culture… who likes to read and review great books…
The community computing newsletter series #2 · Friday March 29, 2024 by colin newell
Recently a neighbour contacted me about his Windows laptop…
“I have a subscription to some anti-virus software and I updated it on my laptop and now the internet doesn’t work… what do I do?”
Windows 7, Windows 10 and 11 have built in Malware and virus protection – adding more “protection” does not always work out the
way we want it to.
My Neighbour had a “paid subscription” to a popular product and paid for even more coverage than he already had — (or needed)
I did a site visit, uninstalled the conflicting software and all things returned to normal. I advised him to call the 1-800
number at the software vendor, with his purchase confirmation number, and have the charge reverse or eliminated -
which he did and was very successful.
If you are a Mac user, the story is very similar — no additional virus/malware software is needed.
Now, it is true that Mac OS does not really have “anti-malware” features built into it, the Mac OS,
at the core is a Unix/Linux based hybrid that is significantly more resistant to attack than the Windows OS.
Buying additional software for the Mac is simply not needed, in part, because of the naturally robust nature of the Mac OS.
Hackers and bad agents don’t typically spend as much
time creating exploits for the Mac OS. It’s just not worth the effort.
For most of us, we surf the web and read our e-mail: A simple rule applies here…
If a friend or family member sends you an e-mail with a PDF, PowerPoint
or any kind of .exe (executable) file attachment in it, exercise extreme caution with it.
Most of us run into trouble while surfing the web with our favourite browsers — the reason being, the web can be a rabbit hole leading us deeper and deeper into potentially dark territory.
Most of the time, modern and up to date web browsers will warn us of impending doom when the warnings of “insecure connections” and “invalid site certificates” alerts pop up.
If your browser suggests you turn back, think it through before proceeding.
Bonus tip – Everyone uses e-mail. Considering using a web-based e-mail client. This allows for an extra layer of protection from the bad people by keeping the crap and malware in the cloud OR at least warning you of the potential for a bad download.
Colin Newell is a Vancouver Island resident, retired from 36 years in info technology, software and hardware support at a local University – his writing and speaking on the subject of food and coffee culture in Canada has been seen and heard widely on radio and TV
