1.13.2020 – After that third sip

After that third sip
Coffee, wines, local craft beers
It all tastes the same?

I had a great cup of coffee yesterday.

A latte, or caffè e latte in the original Italian.

It was in a bar slash brewery slash coffee house / reading room / restaurant.

The name of the place is the Bold Monk Brewery.

On their website, they state:

“To the mindful, to the curious
to the brilliantly flawed.
To those seeking comfort, respite,
splendor, and sustenance…
The Bold Monk welcomes you.”

I am not sure what it means either or what type of business they want to be.

But Leslie and I just wanted coffee.

The sign outside listed coffee and the hostess said of course we could get coffee and directed us to the bar.

The bartender said of course we could get coffee and handed us a menu that listed:

Today’s Roast
Cappuccino
Latte

I got a latte and my wife got a cappuccino.

It took a bit.

The coffee’s were delivered in china mugs on small wooden platters.

Mine came with a small ‘side’ cup of sugar.

But I digress.

I had three (okay, maybe five and I can’t remember the other two) but there were no options like offered at Starbucks.

None of the life changing options listed by Tom Hanks in ‘You’ve Got Mail’ when his character explained why Starbucks is a success.

Say the Hank’s Tom Fox guy, “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.”

Here is my point.

What I have noticed, for myself, is that with all the self selection, I can get ‘my cup of coffee’ but, after the third sip, it all tastes the same.

Not saying it doesn’t taste different from my morning coffee at home but that it taste’s the same as any other boutique coffee.

All those choices.

End up the same cup of coffee.

I got to think about the many times I have wondered what wine to get or to order with a meal.

Red with meat.

White with fish or chicken.

Chianti with Italian.

Those basics are good to know and seem to work but go beyond that.

Just visiting Kroger’s Wine Aisle and I am bewildered.

To me.

For myself.

Can any of these reds really taste that different.

Why do so many restaurant reviews often sing the glories of the locally produced vin ordinaire that was served with the meal in some out of the place in Chicago or Quebec or Bouches-du-Rhône.

I can get a bottle of wine at my local grocery store from almost anywhere in the world.

And after the third sip, it all tastes the same.

All those choices.

End up with the same glass of wine.

Sitting at the bar last night, sipping my coffee, I noticed that (beyond the brewery smell) the Bold Monk had a large of number of local craft beer on tap.

The clear pipes for the taps went straight up to the overhead beer vault where the beer was poured out by gravity.

I enjoy the craft brewery rage.

I like a nice local brew from time to time.

All these choices.

After the third sip, it all tastes the same.

End up with a glass of beer.

A good glass of beer, no doubt.

But.

I was glad that the Bold Monk took the options away from me.

I was served a very good cup of coffee.

I enjoyed it very much.

After the third sip, it tasted the same.

Tasted the same to the bottom of the cup.

Good to the last drop.

1.12.2020 – teeter and totter

teeter and totter
minor changes in middle,
extreme on the ends

In his law of thirds, John Adams wrote about the American people and their views on the almost war with France at the turn of the 19th Century, “I should say that full one third were averse to the revolution. An opposite third gave themselves up to an enthusiastic gratitude to France. The middle third, always averse to war, were rather lukewarm both to England and France.”

One third of Americans liked one side enthusiastically.

One third of Americans liked the other side enthusiastically.

One third of Americans were lukewarm and in an election would have stayed home.

Leaving the country evenly split between those who voted.

This was in 1815.

December 30 – If I have only

If I have only
one life, let me live it as ….
you fill in the blank.

A … blonde?

In 1961 a copywriter named Shirley Polykoff was working for the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency on the Clairol hair-dye account when she came up with the line: “If I’ve only one life, let me live it as a blonde!” In a single slogan she had summed up what might be described as the secular side of the Me Decade. “If I’ve only one life, let me live it as a—!” (You have only to fill in the blank.)

So wrote Tom Wolfe in his New York Magazine Essay, The “Me” Decade and the Third Great Awakening, August 23, 1976.

The ‘Me Decade’ refers to the 1970’s.

I was 10 years old.

I can verify I was pretty self indulgent.

But I was born blonde.

How do I answer the question today?

December 26 – too much food, candy

too much food, candy
drink, gifts, fun, friends and family
but too little sleep

I celebrated the Christmas Holiday in the American tradition of excess.

The one thing I did not get too much of is sleep.

At the time, it was a small price to exchange sleep for the traditions of staying up to midnight to pack stockings while Christmas at St. Peter’s is on the TV and getting up way too early on Christmas Morning.

Then the cooking.

First that Turkey in the oven.

The only prep work I do is remove that bag of parts and the neck, rinse the whole thing best I can, put an onion inside and tie up the drumsticks.

The breakfast with bacon, eggs and freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

Then back to Christmas Dinner.

Mashed potatoes.

Gravy.

Sweet Potatoes.

Bread Stuffing or dressing or whatever you want to call it.

Congealed Salad, or as we called, Jello with fruit.

Broccoli.

Black eyed peas.

Deviled eggs.

The lack of sleep is being felt, especially in my knees, but the arrival of Grand Children perks me up.

Dinner and dessert eaten.

Gifts passed around.

The day starts to lag.

Lack of sleep now hitting everyone.

I think this won’t last, this can’t last much longer.

The time comes and the guests depart.

We get to that moment, side by side on the sofa, drinks in hand.

Tired out.

Tired out a lot more than we used to be.

Sleepy.

But, lack of sleep was a small price to exchange for the many excesses and blessings of the day.

December 17 – vacation hot spots?

vacation hot spots?
lounging endlessly with books
no need to travel

I remember when I was working the information desk at the Cascade Branch of the Kent District Library I was asked, “How do you know so much about the world?”

I answered that librarians had been everywhere, done everything and seen the world … just not in the first person.

When I was in college, I would roam the labyrinth of the Grad Library at the University of Michigan (reportedly some 5 million books on the shelf) and randomly take books of the shelves until my arms where full then I would sit in the reading room and disappear into the books.

What the library staff thought when they found my stacks of books left on the table, I never stuck around to find out.

This shelf surfing continues to this day, both online and in my local library.

Searching for the odd fact, photo, story or even recipe.

I was thinking about this because I keep reading stories about the best places for a vacation.

The 10 places you have to see before you die.

The 50 cities you have to visit.

It seemed to me that many of the descriptions included the phrase, “a great place to relax”.

A place to relax with a book.

I have to ask, “Why do I have to travel to relax?”

Travel headlines are about long lines, unreliable airplanes, reliably awful co-travelers and weather.

I am not a traveler.

I have no travel bucket list.

I have to say this is not a criticism of those of who do love to travel.

If you enjoy traveling, I am all for you.

I even admit, when I travel, I enjoy the opportuinty to see new things.

I sat on the front porch of the house were Elvis was born this year.

Top that!

For the most part, it is just not me.

I travel the world, just not in the first person.

Come aboard.

You will find me nearby.

Lounging endlessly through books, through the web.

No thought for time.

No need to travel.