Mountain Monkeys

posted by maggie on Dec 4

One of the things that we love about coffee is convenience. We can go through a drive-thru for a cup or brew our own with a bunn coffee makers . But how do those little seeds of the coffee tree become the drink that we all enjoy?

Coffee trees are very sensitive plants. The two most common are Robusta and Arabica. Robusta plants are hardier and as a result yield a large percentage of the world’s coffee. They are a lower grade bean and are typically found in instant coffees. Arabica is a more sensitive plant; however it yields about 75% of the world’s coffee. Its beans produce high quality specialty coffees.

Harvesting the beans is a long process because each plant can have blossoms, green fruit and ripe fruit all at the same time. To top it off the ripe fruit is all harvest by hand. After the cherries are picked the beans, which are the seeds, are extracted one of three ways.

The wet method is done by running the beans through a machine that removes some of the layers of skin as well as the fruity pulp surrounding the beans. They are then left to soak in a fermentation bath for 1-3 days to remove the rest of the pulp. This also helps the beans maintain a clean flavor.

The dry method involves leaving the beans out to dry in the sun for 3 or 4 weeks until the skin and fruit dry off. They are put through a machine that removes an left skin or pulp. These beans typically have an earthy flavor.

The semi-washed method is a combination of the wet and dry. The beans are washed and sorted but they are not left to soak. Instead they are left out to dry. This gives them a cleaner yet still earthy flavor.

From there they are packed up and shipped all over the world , where you will eventually enjoy them from the comfort of your own home.

posted by maggie on Jun 16

For those who have decided to leave the nuances of coffee to the rest of the world, and are sticking with the thin stuff of truck stops, coffee roasting won’t have too much appeal. But for anyone whose ears start to perk up whenever there’s a nearby conversation where people are debating whether or not a macchiato should have whipped cream, the subtleties of roasting are terribly interesting. In the Chicago area, everything is pretty spectacular, with a very discerning population from all over the planet. It’s not just that there’s a threat that someone will know how things are supposed to taste, but that there are thousands of people who know, and they’re happy to share opinions.

For the record, no whipped cream, just a splash of hot milk.

And like anyone in Chicago, the people who know the art of coffee are terribly interesting. David Meyers , the force behind Resistance Coffee, is a guy with a vision, and he’s not afraid to share it. He does like to keep it all on the downlow, however, and there are plenty of reasons for that.

He always had a thing for coffee, but when he started becoming aware of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, and the struggle for land, along with their very savvy uses of the internet, coffee connections started to pop, like beans in the Bean Boss.

Because growers need to find people to buy their product.

And there are means of getting the product out that don’t have to follow the usual codes, and in the coffee industry, this is moving to a new level. Jesse Diaz, and Star Lounge , follow a similar approach. Fair Trade Coffee was something relatively unknown ten years ago, but now it’s a symbol that’s recognized by most coffee consumers.

Perhaps indie roasters is the next wave, and if so, Chicago is on it, and with hotel reservations, Chicago can open up all kinds of coffee worlds, along with many other wonderful things.

posted by maggie on Feb 23

This was an adventure that began when I lost my taste buds.  Or maybe not necessarily the buds, but the buds weren’t working like they were supposed to.  I was working late in the library, where I was busy trying to categorize the phases of the human heart.  I had gotten through all the subtleties of infatuation, and was working my way into crushes on possible people, when I started to hear a faint rustling from the stacks.  I am not prone to visions of angels late at night, but this would be a rare exception.  Somewhere between the monographs on Meso-American art, I came across a set of footprints that were written on the floor in gold dust.
This is not usual in the library, not the ones I frequent, so I followed, because it seemed like it might be important.  There was a cherub, sitting distinguished and collected, crying over a volume on paintings dedicated to certain rain gods, and I asked him what was the matter.  He didn’t speak, but wrote notes in the dust, and indicated that I would not find any happiness until I understood why restaurants that specialize in Japanese cuisine.  He also seemed to mention Singapore, although I don’t know how I came to understand that piece of information.
Not being given to accepting the advice of crying cherubs at face value, I went home and made my usual portion of frozen salmon with ranch dressing and gluten-free noodles, and watched the weather channel until I was tired.  I didn’t realize that I could not taste at all, and this lack of sense would gradually get more keen over the next few months, until I was quite tasteless.  I have never been in love, because with my job I consider it a conflict of interests, but when the librarian asked me one night to go to Singapore because a cherub told her to ask me, I took the offer because my head felt suddenly too large for my body.  And I discovered soon after that my love for the mix of sweet and sour is exactly right for this life, this moment.

posted by maggie on Feb 15

My grandfather told me that the best pizza in the world was in New York City. He was an extremely passionate man, well in regards to the things he was passionate about, that is. If he didn’t regard it highly he didn’t care for it at all. And if he did regard it highly, well then there was nothing else in the world. Oh, New York also had the best baseball team in the world and it was the greatest city in the world. These are the things I learned from my grandpa. And I learned them from him while he was staying with my family in Las Vegas. That’s where my parents lived when I was born and my grandpa became sick and had to stay with us for a few months.

Those were great months and grandpa and I became extremely close during that time. I didn’t realize the extent of his sickness, which had my mom and dad extremely concerned. Maybe that’s why they always seemed so anxious and stressed out during those days. Grandpa never looked or acted sick though and we would spend our days playing cards and talking about the Yankees and Sunday afternoons in Central Park. I forgot to mention, he loved that park. It became his only source of exercise after he retired and slowed down. He’d walk through the park almost every day. He told me when I finally came to visit him he’d take me to his favorite pizza place. It’s on Bleecker Street and it’s called John’s I think. “Not the fancy one” he said.

I’m trying to remember now if that’s what he said. I never made it to visit my grandpa in New York and I’m actually just now getting ready to visit the city for the first time in my life. I have a place to stay near the park and can’t wait to visit it. I feel like I know it and have already been there based on my grandpa’s stories. “If I can find the fountain I can find anything.” That was his motto. It will be great to finally visit New York. I’ve always felt kind of misplaces being a Yankee’s fan but never having visited the city. What do I care, my grandpa lived there his whole life, I don’t have any choice but to be a fan. And when I find John’s pizza on Bleecker Street, I’ll eat a pie for grandpa.

posted by maggie on Feb 9

Friday, I headed into Wichita, Kansas and it was around lunch time, by the time I found Darren’s and James new place. I grabbed some lunch with them, it was really good to see the old gang again. After lunch I drove to this really nice Kansas hotel I found at this site: http://www.hotelskansas.net. and checked in. It was really cool, I’ll I had to do was show them my confirmation print-out and I was all set.

Later, in the evening, I headed to a local coffee shop where Darren was playing some music. That night, the coffee shop had different musicians play; Darren told me they do this once a month and he’s a regular player. It was great to hear him play guitar, I was surprised to see how good he was, he’s very talented. After that, we hooked up with James and looked over his gun collection, and played the game Settlers.

The next morning, I picked up Darren and we went to church at Whitestone. While there, I bumped into that guy who hires engineers at Excel. He asked me for my resume’, but I didn’t have it on me, so I’ll email it to him. I’m not really sure if I want to work at Excel, but it won’t hurt to keep in contact with this guy. I haven’t been to a Mennonite church service in years; I’d forgotten what they are like. I like some aspects of the service and then again, the rest is pretty boring. After church, Darren and I went out for some lunch and had pizza. By this time is was time for me to be heading on out to see other college buddies, but before I did, I made Darren come with me to Drubers, for old times sake. Drubers is the best little doughnut shop. I’m sure I’ll regret eating pizza and then a greasy, sweet pastry on top of that, but I young, I’m going to take full advantage of being able to burn off calories easily.

posted by maggie on Jan 19

Curtis lived in Tallahassee, Florida and for as long as he could remember he was a huge fan of the Miami Dolphins. He first began watching football on Sunday afternoons with his grandfather in his private den. His grandmother loved this bond that was developing between them and even encouraged and supported it by bringing cookies and tuna fish sandwiches for them to snack one during the games. Those were extremely special days to Curtis and even as a young child he had the sensitivity to know that they could never last. Now that he was a grown man with a wife and two children of his own Curtis looked back fondly on those early days and couldn’t help but to think of his grandparents every time he saw a game.

Of course his wife Janice knew all about his grandparents, she even had the pleasure of meeting them once and was also fully aware of his love for the Miami Dolphins. In fact, it was this obsession of his that gave her an idea of how to celebrate their last wedding anniversary. She made secret reservations at one of the luxury hotels Miami and also purchased two tickets for Dolphin’s game at Dolphin Stadium, or as some people were now calling it Land Shark Stadium. Not being much of a football fan herself, Janice didn’t know the difference and just wanted to make sure they were watching the Dolphins play and that the game was going to occur in Miami.

This ended up being one of the biggest surprises of Curtis’ life. He had no idea that his wife had gone to all the effort and expense and was so moved it brought tears to his eyes, he was sensitive remember. Fortunately for Curtis he was also romantic and had been saving up all year for a beautiful diamond bracelet that Janice had seen in a jewelry store and mentioned thinking it was beautiful. He was proud to be able to return a great gift to his wife and they both had an amazing weekend on their anniversary celebration. It was definitely good enough to get them through the difficulties of the upcoming year.

posted by maggie on Jan 11

Many years ago I took part in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. One of the things I had not considered before we left for the trip, was that many of the local residents opted to take the weeks of the festival for their own holiday.  Which is understandable as during those weeks more than twenty thousand theatre and music artists from around the world descended on the streets of Edinburgh.  What we found was that not only could we find great deals on hotel accommodations, but we were able to rent out the flats of those who choose to hand over their city to the throngs of people and performances.

Such will be the case in New York this August as the Fringe Festival gets underway.  There will be many fine travel deals to be found, but as this is the largest festival of the arts in North America, be sure to find those apartments to rent, or rooms in New York’s finest five star establishments, as soon as your travel plans are set.  The streets will be filled, just as they were in Edinburgh, with dancers, musicians, actors and artists, as too will be the restaurants and the hotels.  This festival in New York brings the members of more than two hundred international companies from around the world, for three weeks of just about non-stop performances and shows.

During the days between August 13th and August 29th, more than thirteen hundred shows will go up, at more than twenty different venues around the city.  The atmosphere is filled with the vibrant energy of the world of the arts, and should you want to get a feel for it before you go, their website offers a complete history of the Festival, as well as archived stories and photographs from past years.  This city is known for theatre, and during this time, just about every hour on the hour, all day long and late into the night, you will have the opportunity to see some of the most innovative productions from the companies traveling from all over the world to perform for you, this coming NY Fringe Festival 2010.