Summer Food Fun and Drink 2009 - This month in SELF magazine · Thursday July 23, 2009 by colin newell
Beth Janes of New York city wrote a wonderful and comprehensive article on coffee, yummy coffee in the August 2009 issue of SELF magazine.
And we are in it!
Check it out online or on the magazine stands.
We talked about the benefits of a good home espresso machine and how you can pay for it in savings one latte at a time.
I get to talk to the coolest people… and yea, I like seeing my website in print.
So. If you are looking for a talking head or talking heads, for your next TV, radio or newspaper thing on specialty coffee – we can help you out. Coffeecrew and the coffeecrew blog have members in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles.
Cheers!
Summer Food Fun and Drink Chapter 14 OTTO in the House · Monday July 13, 2009 by colin newell
OTTO arrived on the shores of North America today! Delivered to my door after what seems like a long, long wait.
You have read the stories before – and the blogs that I have put out over the last year or so.
And for all those watching the reemergence of the classic Atomic espresso maker (in the guise of a new Atomic – and a Sorrentina), OTTO was hotly anticipated.
And few were more excited than I was.
I have never even touched an Atomic or Atomic style coffee maker before – and I know the devotion, amongst collectors and users, is legendary.
So this is just a teaser – in what will become an entire series unto itself.
After taking OTTO out of its shipping crate, I was staggered at the raw weight of the unit. I will weigh it tomorrow – but apparently it clocks in at about 3 times the weight of the Atomic Classic.
And my first brew after a casual flirtation with the instructions?
OTTO knocked me out of the park with a crema rich espresso. With Craig Hiron and associate Ben on Video Skype in Sydney Australia – watching on pins – I gasped at the first sips of espresso and a cheer went up Down Under.
This was a truly delightful moment for me – and the boys in Australia. A sense of relief too. I mean, I had no idea how good this was going to be.
More coming!
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Spring coffee style - Joy in the Italian espresso maker #2 · Thursday April 2, 2009 by colin newell
If it were a simpler World – less all the problems that we are all too familiar with; hunger, war, strife, natural disasters… etc
and I had the luxury to choose… which Country I would like to rule the World… based on the simple things…
…like food, drink and love.
I might pick Italy. For the coffee. For the wine. For the food. And for their love of simple pleasures.
Sure I could pick France for the superior cuisine (kidding) and the slightly more civilized wines (now I am really kidding!) and the faster trains… but why bother.
The Italians rule the coffee pot. Particularly the stove top espresso maker. They excel in that department and the numbers do not lie. Over 100 million Italian families start each and every day with a stove top espresso maker. It is simple. It is elegant. And although it does not make real espresso (that takes more pressure), it makes some pretty dope brew – with an attitude and a punch that is definitely not straight coffee.
I have had a Bialetti for years – and it is currently on loan to another coffee lover. When Bodum-USA sent me a family sized one (twice the size of the basic stove top), I was delighted because I had heard a rumor that it makes slightly better coffee.
Now I can neither confirm or deny that the coffee was better than the coffee that my little Bialetti coughs up – but this first brew was spot on the money; intense, thick and built for the breakfast table.
So. If you have never had stove top espresso, give it a try. The coffee makers start at around 25 dollars. Do yourself a favor and get a stainless steel one. The coffee tastes better and the unit lasts longer – likely a lifetime of coffee drinking. Salut!
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and food writer for Eat Magazine. His almost daily jaunts into coffee world leave him intense, awake… and creative.
My new chapter with the Island Prostate Resource Centre · Thursday March 19, 2009 by colin newell
In my 35+ years as a technical professional at a local University, I would find time in my schedule to do committee work, employee contract negotiations and mediation.
These and other volunteer positions put me in contact with a varied segment of my workplace. I found listening to people and offering creative solutions very rewarding.
Eventually, I would mentor younger leaders in this activity and move onto larger committees centered on well-being, work-life balance, including mental and physical health.
As fate would have it, my mortality came into sharper focus, at age 40-something, with some unusual blood test results: a higher than normal PSA (Prostate specific antigen) reading indicating immediate action was required. Off to a urologist, a biopsy and a bunch of research on my part! As it turned out, after numerous MRI screening sessions, more blood work, more physical examinations and – nothing was ever found. I was in the clear… for now.
It dawned on me after my clinical experience, that for every man that detects an anomaly such as this, another 5 men are blithely unaware that anything is amiss. So what’s the cure? Simple: Dialog, awareness, conversation and empathy.
Somewhere along the way, the Movember movement found me… or I found them. Movember originated in Australia and is all about medical research, education and awareness. During the month of November, participants eschew the often daily ritual of facial hair removal… growing a myriad of variants on the moustache.
I did 16+ years as a Movember team leader and, at times, a regional ambassador… a thinker… A talker… A media go-to… And ultimately, a fund raiser. Eventually I had done everything I felt I needed to do with Movember. A tip and friendly conversation with my Urologist, between the physical examinations and blood letting, led me to a Vancouver Island resource center and its executive officer Leanne.
For me, I had the broader view with Movember but I was losing sight of the big picture in my very back yard. I need to be clear, Movember does great work but I found that there were things that needed more attention, particularly the one-on-one personal touch.
The best moments of my journey thus far, on the subject of male mental and physical health, were the taps on the shoulder from younger lads (and older guys) struggling with something that made them feel alone. I was “first contact” for them. Listening to their stories and struggles — and giving them a bit of direction to the right resource or even some encouragement was life altering in many instances.
I would soon discover that the Prostate Resource Center would be the “first contact” point for hundreds of men annually. Much to my surprise, the resource center receives no base budgeted funding from anywhere but the generous pockets of sympathetic benefactors who see the benefit of front line resources.
They are the leanest of teams — and now I am finding my own place in this group — finding my voice as it were in a new chapter of my life as a servant to the community as a whole. I look forward to what awaits me with this group.
