Babbling Barristas
28/02/17 07:32
Seasons come and seasons go. That's just the way things work around here. It seems like we've had a somewhat uneventful winter judging from the snowfall thus far this winter. Maybe a better way to look at it is that we've only had the chance to go snowshoeing once. Just to put a little definition around that, I like to go snowshoeing after we get a pretty good storm that gives us something to walk on as opposed to walking around on snow that has settled and may even support someone walking around on the snow pack without snowshoes. I was commenting to Nancy just yesterday that the snow has really receded and it is looking very springlike here in town with the beginning of Spring just two or three weeks away. The temperatures have been in the upper forties and occasionally in the fifties. Warm enough to go biking and this past week I think I rode six out of seven days. Nancy's bike is in the shop for her annual servicing and will be available for pick-up this week I expect. She is less likely to ride given the cool temperatures so not a big deal if her bike is in the shop for an extra day or two. As much as I'd like Evan to get out for a bike ride it is just not in the cards. Offers to take my bike for a ride are declined and I have long stopped asking him so that is that. Like any good card player, and as Kenny Rogers used to say, "you need to know when to hold em and when to fold em."
We've made no plans to vacation at the lake this year and I feel no compulsion one way or another to arrange for same. There is a general sense of complacency and even disinterest about such things so not sure what to make of that. Maybe it just seems like it requires too much effort and is not worth it anymore. Maybe it will force us to be a little more spontaneous and we can take day trips here and there or maybe not at all. It does make me wonder if this disinterest extends to other things that we usually do like gardening, etc. It's all about continuing to put one foot in front of the other. Keep moving, keep grooving. You stop, you die. You slow down, you die. Maybe in Spring, we see renewal and with renewal comes hope. Hope to do better, hope to do more, hope to embrace and effect change in a world that is largely resistant to change but otherwise resigned to its fate and direction. It's a little like a merry-go-round I suppose. You stay on that pony even if that means just going around in circles. You grab those reins and straddle that porcelain beast and laugh aloud like life matters because it does when you live in the moment. In this past week I have seen the emergence of plants and animals alike signaling the coming of Spring. The birdhouse I just raised in the back yard near our still-dormant garden immediately attracted both bluebirds and finches because they too hear the clarion call of nature and want nothing more than to participate in all its glory.
It's a funny thing this business about coffee. Just when you think you have it down you find that there is more to it than you thought. For the longest time I thought I had found the coffee that met my needs. A brew so dark and so deep that there was no reason one way or another to look any further than my local Starbucks. I might well deviate from time to time and go somewhere other than Starbucks if I felt like having an iced coffee or a cup of cuban coffee which is not otherwise available at Starbucks. But even then I rarely ventured out of my comfort zone so stuck with that which was always satisfying, always intoxicating, and rarely any different than the cup that came before it. That all changed when on a fluke I decided to have a latte. Let's spruce things up, I thought to myself.
I'm going to splurge and have the best that they have to offer and not look back, not regret my decision to do something impulsive, and certainly not care one way or another how much the darn thing cost. In an odd turn of events, I decided to stop going to Starbucks for my lattes' because they were inconsistent in how they frothed their milk. I'm not at all sure how I became a connoisseur about such things but I knew immediately what I liked and I knew what I didn't like. It was an epiphany of monumental proportions and my preference for a lather-like head on my coffee would not and could not be ignored. I've also discovered that latte's are widely available and more establishments than not offer consistency in how they prepare their latte's so I am no longer a slave to Starbucks. Now the challenge for me is to be able to replicate the drink at home. Spare the soy, use whole milk when frothing, and be careful not to boil the milk when frothing. The type of coffee used in the process is almost secondary it seems. I will say that I wonder if what I've been making is more of an espresso given the ratio of coffee to water used. It's a work in process to be sure. I get to drink my mistakes too. What can go wrong?
We've made no plans to vacation at the lake this year and I feel no compulsion one way or another to arrange for same. There is a general sense of complacency and even disinterest about such things so not sure what to make of that. Maybe it just seems like it requires too much effort and is not worth it anymore. Maybe it will force us to be a little more spontaneous and we can take day trips here and there or maybe not at all. It does make me wonder if this disinterest extends to other things that we usually do like gardening, etc. It's all about continuing to put one foot in front of the other. Keep moving, keep grooving. You stop, you die. You slow down, you die. Maybe in Spring, we see renewal and with renewal comes hope. Hope to do better, hope to do more, hope to embrace and effect change in a world that is largely resistant to change but otherwise resigned to its fate and direction. It's a little like a merry-go-round I suppose. You stay on that pony even if that means just going around in circles. You grab those reins and straddle that porcelain beast and laugh aloud like life matters because it does when you live in the moment. In this past week I have seen the emergence of plants and animals alike signaling the coming of Spring. The birdhouse I just raised in the back yard near our still-dormant garden immediately attracted both bluebirds and finches because they too hear the clarion call of nature and want nothing more than to participate in all its glory.
It's a funny thing this business about coffee. Just when you think you have it down you find that there is more to it than you thought. For the longest time I thought I had found the coffee that met my needs. A brew so dark and so deep that there was no reason one way or another to look any further than my local Starbucks. I might well deviate from time to time and go somewhere other than Starbucks if I felt like having an iced coffee or a cup of cuban coffee which is not otherwise available at Starbucks. But even then I rarely ventured out of my comfort zone so stuck with that which was always satisfying, always intoxicating, and rarely any different than the cup that came before it. That all changed when on a fluke I decided to have a latte. Let's spruce things up, I thought to myself.
I'm going to splurge and have the best that they have to offer and not look back, not regret my decision to do something impulsive, and certainly not care one way or another how much the darn thing cost. In an odd turn of events, I decided to stop going to Starbucks for my lattes' because they were inconsistent in how they frothed their milk. I'm not at all sure how I became a connoisseur about such things but I knew immediately what I liked and I knew what I didn't like. It was an epiphany of monumental proportions and my preference for a lather-like head on my coffee would not and could not be ignored. I've also discovered that latte's are widely available and more establishments than not offer consistency in how they prepare their latte's so I am no longer a slave to Starbucks. Now the challenge for me is to be able to replicate the drink at home. Spare the soy, use whole milk when frothing, and be careful not to boil the milk when frothing. The type of coffee used in the process is almost secondary it seems. I will say that I wonder if what I've been making is more of an espresso given the ratio of coffee to water used. It's a work in process to be sure. I get to drink my mistakes too. What can go wrong?