Summer all fun, food and drink marathon - The Otto Espresso maker · Sunday July 6, 2008 by colin newell
Sydney Australia – A city of 4 million souls who live in an espresso crazy society. For Craig Hiron, a youthful 36 year old living in one of Australia’s most populated cities, bright ideas are merely a cup of coffee away.
And so it was – that he and his circle of free-spirited 30-something friends would gather (like so many other young people around the globe) looking for the answer to life’s age old problems and questions.
Photo above: The Otto Espresso maker is the product of passion, Australian ingenuity and the burning desire for award winning fine design.
For Craig, a young man who has plied his trade as a professional roofer and successfully migrated into the film and entertainment industry… the question burned within him: “What does this city need? Why do my people need? What contribution can I make?”
Sydney is noted for its spectacular Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and its beaches. The metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and contains many bays and inlets. But on the street level, Espresso coffee is the language of its people. Australia, in general, is quickly becoming an espresso-centric society – and that means, Espresso coffee is the building block of all its coffee beverages. Neato. For me, that means heaven!
Minor digression. Sydney resident Craig Hiron’s creative light-bulb kind of flashed in an unexpected and amusing way. He had urged his friends to talk amongst themselves – and those friends with their tertiary friends… “What is that it thing that we Sydney young people need… that would be really cool? If we can collectively think of it, I promise you… I will build it!”
Good thing – Craig was good and ready to put his money where his coffee cup was… but what came of this exercise?
In the middle of one of their brain-storms, one of the gals popped into it, midstream, offering… “Those blasted people over at Ya-da Ya-da Coffee Company are useless! I am trying to get a widget-gadget for my 50 year old Atomic coffee and they are hopeless!”
The idea hit Craig like a sack of unroasted Arabica coffee.
Take one 50 year old coffee maker. Update that coffee maker. Sydney society needs a coffee maker to put Australia on the map and into the coffee culture history books for all time. It just made sense.
But what of the name Otto? True story. The name of this new coffee maker comes from the 1st born Son from within Craig’s creative and bright circle of friends.
Additionally, all the research and development is taking place within the community of Sydney, Australia – all paid for by Craig and a handful of his friends.
Craig and I spoke over a trans-pacific phone line for over a half-hour. His infectious laugh and sense of humor did little to hide his burning passion for all things caffeine. We will be hearing more from this story – as it happens.
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Saving the Planet one volt at a time · Thursday June 19, 2008 by colin newell
We had the Gem Car road show pop by the campus for a few hours today – and I had the opportunity to pilot the E2 and the E6. Top speed on the E6 is about 40km/hr – the E2 about 25km/hr – an electronic governor keeping it from achieving light speed in under a handful of nanoseconds.
I took these two muscle carts around the campus ring road, much to the amusement of senior-citizens with walkers who bravely (and easily) passed by… and various University staff who looked quizically at the over-sized Pilates ball on wheels.
The Gem looks like a golf-cart on steroids – It’s 12V Gel-Cell and 7 Hp motor giving it remarkable pick-up and range (something in the order of 30 miles between Gerbil feeds…)
The sleepy community of Oak Bay, near Victoria, is thinking of buying a few – We speculate for the Oak Bay Police Department – a community largely consisting of septuagenarian millionaires who, not surprisingly, move around this sleepy hollow… on much smaller electric carts.
I can picture these crime busters now – Racing to the scene of a bank heist in the Oak Bay Village as a 70-something Clint Eastwood wanna-bee tries to knock off the Credit Union. He flees the scene on his scooter reaching speeds of 10 km/hr as he races through the sleepy berg, putting life and limb at risk. Other elderly Oak Bay residents hobble and shuffle for cover. Soon, very soon, the Oak Bay cops give chase – reaching speeds of 15 km/hr. They catch up with the evil doers somewhere near Esquimalt – but not before running many red lights and frightening bystanders into mild strokes and heart attacks.
Yup. I can see it now.
Gas Price Rant #13 F-cked at the pump in time for the long weekend · Tuesday May 13, 2008 by colin newell
The Canadian May long weekend approaches.
And we all know what that means:
- an extra day to sleep in
- a family gathering or outing
- inexplicably higher gas prices
That’s right folks – It is a Canadian tradition. As reliable as gravity and daily sunrises, the price of gas goes up and up and up and up. You would almost say that it is predictable. Of course it is not.
Yet you have to wonder – if the price of gas goes up on the weekend because of demand ostensibly signaling the beginning of summer driving season…
Why doesn’t the price of beer go up on the weekend?
Or BBQ sauces?
Or take-out Pizza?
It is all supply and demand right?
Truth is, oil price increases are the result of frantic speculation – futures.
Oil is the number one traded commodity. Picture 100% of the global production and/or extraction of oil from the ground. Ten times that… or hundred times that resource changes hands annually on the stock markets of the World.
It’s liquid gold. And like real Gold, if you had to buy solid Gold several times a week, you would be feeling the same pinch in our beloved free market society.
As for the future? Are we screwed?
Yea. Pretty much.
Have a safe Canadian May long weekend. Drive safely – if you can afford to.
Or stay home with your friends and family.
And order a pizza.
This is the modern World - Panasonic microwave oven · Sunday May 4, 2008 by colin newell
We just got our first microwave oven. No really. The sales guy (aged about 60) at the Victoria Sears sales center in appliances was incredulous.
I may as well have suggested that a legion of vacuum cleaner shaped electro-beasts from the Planet Zontar were disembarking onto the parking lot…
And were they angry.
Seriously though. As shopping goes, there are few Men that shop faster than I do.
Recently I selected new frames in an optical place… within 7.2 seconds.
Which begs the question: At that speed of visual acquisition, did I really need new glasses?
Fair enough – I did some online research and determined that this particular model of Panasonic microwave (in stainless-steel, 1.2 cubic feet, 1200 Watts, etc) was the right one for us. And I was in and at the counter talking to sales-guy within a minute – and ordering one within 2 minutes.
“Would you like to order one”, he asked, somewhat skeptical of my technological lineage…
“Yes, but first I need to consult with my C.F.O on this newfangled…” now gesturing towards my Motorola RAZR, “…wireless device!”
“Oh. You have one of those… How bold! …he improvised.
Long story short – We now have a device that will help us save lots of electricity. We do almost 100% of our cooking from scratch. No pre-prepared anything – and very few tins. And being able to do tertiary stuff beside our regular electric grill will be very useful.
Oh yea – while I was at the mall for this purchase, my wife asked me to pop into Bolen Books and size up some good microwave cook books.
I might as well have been looking for a basic Pet Rock users manual or the latest step-by-step guide to Disco dancing. Microwave cook books, it seem, went out of print around the advent of MTV and are about as fashionable as polyester stretch pants.
But I found one microwave cook book, at our Chapters Book Store (your Barnes and Noble)… printed in England… about 20 years ago.
With timely recipes like; Leek terrine with deli meats, Pork Crumble, Herby Baked Tomatoes, and Austrian nut pudding…
So this is what the Brits ate during the last great war!
In addition to this cook book and appliance, I now need a historic culinary translator.
One thing at a time.
Look forward to more food oriented blogs on this website (as time permits).
In all fairness, the cookbook is titled The Microwave Kitchen Handbook by Carol Bowen first printed in 1998. Bon Apetit!
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