New Widgets

Good news, I've finally decided to bring myself into the 21st century! Considering that I basically stopped updating my "Currently Reading" and "Recently Read" book lists after moving over to Goodreads.com, I gave in and added the bookshelf widget to my blog so that it automatically updates the blog bookshelf when I update my Goodreads.com page. Fancy, I know. Now people can finally keep up with what I'm reading and also get an insight into my opinion of the book via the rating system and, if one clicks on the book, presumably also, my review (if I wrote one).

Luxury

Here are two features at my hotel in Seattle that I am so grateful to have at my service:

A bottle opener for getting sauced in the tub:


And just in case I fall in, it is good to know help is always right at hand:



Now all I need is an French press on my nightstand... I guess I'll have to make do with what I have.

Seattle Coffee Quest

Synonymous, right? Everywhere you go in Seattle, practically, there is a cafe of some sort staring you in the face, tempting you to enter and sample it's wondrous elixir. Most of these cafes are owned by the big giants, Seattle's Best and Starbucks, and are not too much different from the everyday version of these places you find in most every moderately large town. However, sometimes you come across smaller cafes or coffee companies that you rarely, if ever, see outside of Seattle. Now, I tend to gravitate towards these smaller places for one reason: I don't particularly care for Seattle's Best or Starbucks coffee. Sure, they make delicious specialty beverages, but when it comes to a good 'ole cup of joe, they fall way short of delicious. The coffee always has that acrid, burnt coffee taste and is never palatable for more than a few minutes before your brain finally realizes that it's stupid to continue on pretending to like it. So I have a quest to find a good tasting cup of coffee in this city that isn't a specialty beverage... trust me, I already accidentally stumbled upon the "best cafe latte in Seattle", and trust me again, it was the best of my life. More on that another time.

It begs the question, then, "where is the best cup of coffee to be had in Seattle?" Thus far, I have no answer for you. The place that serves the best latte serves a drip coffee that contains a bit of flavor, but mostly just a pungent taste of grossness. Oh, and then there's the place in the Convention Center. Crap. I could barely palate the dirt that was put in my cup. Served scalding hot so that you first burn your taste buds off before you actually taste the coffee. Too bad for them I wait for my coffee to cool to a reasonable temperature; sickening. Absolutely the worst cup of coffee I've ever had in my life. No joke.

So I raise my coffee mug to you, readers of this post, as I venture forth to try and find a good cup of coffee in this coffee mad city; a task most would think simple. Think again.

UPDATE: I have not found anything spectacular (nothing close to a Dirt Cowboy quality cafe, but Seattle Coffee Works "wins" so far. Maybe at future AAS meetings in Seattle I will have to work a little more vigorously to get a superb cup of coffee.

Best Chocolate

If you consider yourself a chocolate snob because you only eat the most expensive chocolate, then I surely hope you have tried chocolate from Taza. I was introduced to Taza chocolate through the book American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen but finally purchased a bar yesterday at the Coop in Hanover. Here is the bar I purchased:



At first glance one sees that it is 80% dark chocolate, which might be a turn-off for most people due to the intense bitterness that dark chocolate usually brings. But this is no ordinary chocolate bar. The cocoa beans are direct from the grower who also takes the time to sun dry every single bean so that the full, robust flavor of the cocoa is achieved. What does this mean? No bitterness. None. Zip. You are first greeted by the gritty texture (do to stone grinding by Taza) and then a subtle nuttiness enters your palate; but not for long, as you are hit by a burst of fruity notes that flood your taste buds. It is one the most delicious chocolate bars you will ever taste, I kid you not. Why so great? They sun dry the beans and prepare them properly. That's why. For more information I encourage you to read American Terroir for Jacobsen can explain things much better than I.

Red Un-delicious

This thing claims to be a Red Delicious apple.



While it may be named a Red Delicious, despite being red, it is not even close to delicious. A single bite provides one with a mass of mushy crud slopping around in your mouth. Gross. Why apple growers still grow these things is beyond me... well, not entirely (more on this in a later post)... but to know whether or not an apple orchard is legit, look to see if they have red delicious. If they do, they are not worth going to. No self-respecting orchard produces this crap.

Home Improvement

I recently just moved into a new apartment, but, this apartment is also a fair bit smaller than the one I moved from. I have had to start being a bit more creative on how I organize my things. This past Sunday (that was yesterday), was deemed home improvement day at my new place in order to start to fulfil this creative calling. My mind was set to accomplish two tasks: create shelving in my closet to store boxes and to build a spice rack to store spices (of course).

After a dreadfully long trip to Home Depot (it takes forever to find things in that store!), I returned home with a saw, wood, sandpaper and wood glue. The shelves were easy since a couple 2x4s were already nailed up in the closet holding the hanger bar up. All I had to do was measure, cut and place. Done and done. The next task of building the spice rack was a nerve racking experience since I've never really built anything except for a birdhouse way back when. Here is the final product, with spices already in place. I am quite proud of myself, I think it turned out well.



and to "show off the detail", a side view:



After this positive construction experience, I think I am ready and willing to try my hand at building some other things when the time/need arises.

Utterly Contemptible

LA - First impression: the city is crowded, colorless (except for that of concrete and sand) and furious. People are high strung, loud and seemingly self-serving. Drive crazy - NH's worst on a grand scale. People I've met/seen seem fake, hard to tell who is genuine. Billboards and ads litter the surfaces of everything, from cars to buildings; the lack of billboards is something one tends not to notice in NH and VT. Their absence just seems right. The smog hangs over the city and the airport. We hear about the smog, but it's nothing until you see it. The Hollywood sign, an American icon, sits barely visible on the distant mountain, shaded grey. Even The Sign is suffocating.

The people are immersed in the consumer culture. Logos blazoned on everything they wear, prominently displayed for all to see and worship. Actors and actresses are frequently the topic of conversation along with their adulterous lives and their up coming films. Actual conversation is nothing more than a few words as they quickly check their phones for the latest gossip and entertainment news. A fifteen year old girl argues with her mother in the hotel lobby over the fact that she cannot get her own hotel room, only a cool $169 a night, because every upscale hotel in Pasadena is booked solid due to numerous goings on, including my conference. I smile and chuckle at her sorrows...

I must only be seeing the worst of the city. The run down houses next to the highway. This surely can't be a snapshot of life in LA. What is? The affluent homes on the mountain? I can't blame the people who live next to the highway; for all I know they don't have the means to live anywhere else among the over-inflated prices, over-taxed populous of this city.

My first glimpses of the city made me feel disgusted, appalled, and even a bit queasy... but this can probably be written off as an effect of all the exhaust fumes I inhaled on the 40 minute trip to my hotel. You've caught me by now. Call me out. I am an elitist from the Northeast taking my $25 shuttle ride to my hotel with 5 other people entering into a city that is presenting me with a wealth of options for entertainment and fun, if I'm willing to pay. I am the elitist who would rather canoe with a rented canoe on a lonesome lake or who would rather go for a hike, hell a walk, instead of paying some astronomical amount for a movie ticket for the privilege to lavish the Hollywood folk with praise; the elitist who would rather make a $5 dinner with food from the local market instead of indulging myself by dining at a $100+ restaurant the "stars" eat at. They probably shit in the bathroom too, see you there. Bring a quarter for admission. I'm the elitist?