2012 Picture report from Hawaii number 2 and 3 · Wednesday January 11, 2012 by colin newell
A typical day in Kona Hawaii almost always involves a cup of great coffee to start your day – a swim at one of many great sandy beaches – often with shore break capable of breaking your neck – so show respect…
And the people! The people of the Island of Hawaii love their life and they love their guests.
What better gig than to live and work here – Like Dr. Shawn Steiman (photo below to the right of yours truly — the visitor…)
Shawn is doing some work with the local coffee community and we are catching up over coffee at Kona de Pele Coffee on Alii Drive, Kona. Arguably some of the best coffee to be drinking – brewed right – Hario pour over – measured and brewed to precision.
Next photo: Typical sunset off of our lanai off of Alii Drive in Kona Hawaii – this is what we look at, day after day – if you have never seen a sunset like this, you owe yourself the pleasure of the visit.
Rites of Spring #34 - Seriously the best dessert ever - Toni`s Pavlova · Sunday June 13, 2010 by colin newell
I had the most extraordinary dessert today – ever… in my life…
Pavlova. Never had it before. Maybe I am a little biased (but not that much..)
This was heaven in my mouth – apparently Pavlova is some kind of dessert of the royalty. It certainly tasted that way.
Served with pipping hot black coffee – on the patio in Brentwood, near Victoria B.C. Canada – on a blazing sunny day.
The picture below was taken in full sun on my LUMIX. Click the photo for the full size.
One cup super-fine berry sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch
4 extra large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipping cream
Oven 275 to 300 (F)
The Meringue
In a medium glass mix 1/4 cup of the sugar with the corn starch
mix til smooth – put aside
Beat whites until foamy
add salt and cream of tartar
continue beating until soft peaks form
add remaining 3/4 cup sugar – 2 teaspoon at a time
while beating constantly until peaks stiffen
beat in corn starch mixture
On cookie sheet – lined with parchment paper –
Put mixture in the center of the tray – dinner plate sized
(drop temp. to 250) and bake for 1 hr 15 minutes
Turn oven off – and let cool completely in oven (leave overnight)
Alternately – Take out of the oven – peel off parchment – put back in oven
on cookie rack – can stay in oven 2-3 days.
Topping
Cup of whipping cream: Beat (w/ vanilla and sugar)
2 hours prior to serving – top meringue with whipping cream
cover with whatever fresh fruit you have. Toni used fresh Kiwi,
Mitchell Farm strawberries and rhubarb (see below) from her garden.
OPT: Whip cream + 400g Mascarpone (thicker and richer!)
Poached rhubarb (from above) – 1 pound rhubarb – 10 stalks 1/2” chunks
cup of water + 3/4 sugar (white) – teaspoon PORT or Brandy optional
bring the sugar to a boil – add rhubarb – reduce to heat to lo.
simmer for 6 minutes.
at 6 min. remove from heat – put rhubarb in a bowl (on top of ice bath)
Book review - Driven to Espresso by Ray Weisgerber · Wednesday December 2, 2009 by colin newell
People ask me: What is it about coffee and cafe culture that has given it that certain lasting quality? That particular something that keeps it on our radar time and again… I mean, one need only subscribe to a newspaper or magazine or watch TV to experience how pervasive coffee culture is in society. For me, although not a life vocation, coffee has been a steady source of fascination and creative output.
And I cannot help but admire the person that captures some of the energy and puts it into book form. Because from where I am sitting, books are forever baby!
A successful photographer in his own right, Ray Weisgerber’s has put some of his coffee love into a soft cover book that we can all enjoy – and on several levels.
For the coffee lover, the drive-through espresso stand or kiosk is the alter of caffeine, the church of brew, the mosque of hot, black and satisfying java. And as we now know – the thing that makes the coffee stand or cafe that sacred place is its ability to take you away from the everyday. The coffee house is not your home and it’s not your office. And with the blurring of the work place, the cafe has become that one place where you can chill for 15 minutes to a half hour and get away from all the day to day demands.
Ray Weisgerber’s photos encapsulate a part of the American experience that is familiar and reassuring. He accurately captures the breadth of architectural style that is at once common to the North-west but also unique in its variance.
Driven to Espresso would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys a hot cup of joe or simply wants to share in the American journey. Driven to Espresso is available directly from Ray’s website or via online vendors like Amazon.
Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter One - DISCO open on Oak Bay Avenue · Thursday September 3, 2009 by colin newell
Stopped in at 8:20AM for a killer espresso made by Logan at the new Oak Bay Avenue Discovery Coffee –
Click on any photo for the super view.
Arguably the most anticipated coffee shop opening of the year.
Photo at left: Logan does the Misty Valley from Ethiopia on the Siphon Bar – Saturday morning – September 5, 2009 at 11 AM.
More photos here
Photo below – inside view of the new Discovery Coffee – Oak Bay and Amphion – this is, for me, a welcome oasis of great Coffee at the Oak Bay border – three cheers for the Grays, Riopka’s and their crew!
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