Cafe culture Winter 2009 marathon post number two · Thursday February 5, 2009 by colin newell
The other interesting thing about this particular sample of the ECM Cellini Professional… is that it was dropped about 10 feet… onto concrete. Yup. It had its face pushed in quite seriously. I have given it a semi-pro fix while it waits for some replacement steel components. Which makes an important point: This machine is built like a tank!
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Nod to the Great Canadian Blog - Clean Hot and Dry · Wednesday February 4, 2009 by colin newell
If I never blogged another sentence about coffee culture, specialty coffee and the pop culture associated with the scene in the North-west…
I certainly would not be missed. Especially when there are spot-on blogs like Clean Hot Dry
Like the Jim Seven blog, Clean Hot Dry brings home the reality of the sheer sexiness of the coffee scene in Vancouver – the life and times of the baristi in Vancouver – and Clean Hot Dry speaks to the best of the best across Canada and America.
And when I return to Vancouver for a week in June, I am going to have my work cut out for me getting caught up – of course I will have the assistance of my two key associates there; Dave and Theresa.
Anyway Clean Hot Dry reduces the essence of the Vancouver coffee scene to a sweet, sweet ristretto stream of consciousness – I love it and I think you will too.
In other thoughts, I am thinking of finally abandoning the multi-threaded theme of this website; coffee, food, rants, miscellany – and just focusing on Coffee and Food Culture in the Northwest.
If there are any objections, raise them now in the comment fields.
Click on the above image for the full photizzle…
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and writer of words… his search for the perfect cup of coffee is on going
Bonus blog - things that make me steam · Monday February 2, 2009 by colin newell
Picture at left – a portion of my ham shack – the receivers – one of which used to be used to pick up an actual Sputnik satellite (upper left Radio Shack DX150B circa 1973)!
From the Canadian wire and on Global TV news today…
Four Toronto college students have accomplished a technological feat that their teachers are calling a first. The Humber College seniors made contact with the International Space Station on Monday with a radio system they designed and built themselves.
School officials say that, to their knowledge, that’s never been accomplished by students at the college level.
These school officials have;
never used an internet search engine…
have never researched an article…
and have been living under a skull crushing pile of gravel for the duration of their miserable lives…
Hello. Has anyone ever heard of Amateur Radio? Ham radio as it is also called is a hobby enjoyed by about 1 million people Worldwide.
And thousands of student radio operators, if not tens of thousands of student radio operators (at various high-school, college and University amateur radio clubs…) have enjoyed the thrill of radio contact with orbital space craft, shuttles, space stations etc.
I am one of those people. My call sign is VA7WWV.
My first radio conversation, prior to actually having my own license, was as an 11 year old conversing with a rescue mission in Managua, Nicaragua after the 1972 earthquake that killed 5,000 of the 400,000 population, leaving 20,000 injured and over 250,000 homeless.
And as for space communications… We have been doing it since Skylab, every shuttle since, the Mir space station and the current international space station.
And to the good folks at Humber College…
Do your homework!
Dining in Victoria as good as it gets #2 · Saturday January 24, 2009 by colin newell
I last wrote about Brasserie L`ecole several years ago – and I get back from time to time. And I am never let down… unless of course there are some things that are out of the control of the restaurant and its owner.
A case in point.
Andrea and I were out for dinner last night with a dear friend who is celebrating her birthday. She is the best and is worth the best that the city has to offer.
Brasserie L`ecole has no bad tables – and only great food.
Unless. Unless you have some badly behaved guests.
At Brasserie L`ecole, everybody is special – although if there is a fussy guest, the staff will generally look after them. Last nights celebrity guest table included Global TV news anchor Tony Parsons – an awesome guy by all appearances (and younger and better looking in person than on the tube…) He and his table were awesome – enjoying the restaurant and the whole experience.
He was to our immediate left. To our immediate right was a local clothier who thinks pretty highly of himself – you know the kind; refers to himself in the 3rd person…
Anyway, when he was not talking story with any restaurant staff that would stop by the table (forcing our table to look at staff bums for almost 20% of the time we were eating…) he was trying to send; wine, dessert, whatever to the Parsons table – essentially insinuating himself on them.
Clothier: “I would like to buy a bottle of wine for Tony…”
Maitre d’: “Monsieur, the Parsons table have plenty to drink… They do not need any more wine…”
Clothier: “Well, I would not want to buy them wine they will not drink…”
And so on and so on…
Nothing like an idiot clothier to almost ruin a great meal…
Almost. It was a great meal nonetheless.
Brasserie L`ecole is the perfect restaurant for that special first date or 22nd date or a spot to take those special friends on their special days.
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