It is a common phenomenon that many things apparently inhibit pathogens in culture but are ineffective or harmful in an intact organism.
It brings to mind this XKCD.
A number of places serve instant grits which are just horrendous. If that was one's first experience I could see how it is a turn off. Sometimes it is from places you don't expect. I remember ordering cheese grits as a side at one BBQ joint in North Carolina and they were instant grits with a pinch of shredded cheese dropped on top.
Pecan pie. Easily my favorite American dessert.
I love a well done pecan pie but I find myself avoiding it because you never know when some Karo jelly with a few pecans thrown on top horror is going to be what is served you.
I found Malort to be not all that bad. Not something I'd choose as my liquor of choice but not the concentrated hell I expected from descriptions and reactions.
I bought a small (20 g) jar at an international store on a whim. I followed the advice I'd seen of lots of butter and just a tiny bit of Vegemite and I have to say it was pretty tasty. I then had the intrusive thought to really slather it on and... yeah, if that had been my first experience I'd be convinced it was the most vile substance known to man.
My wife spent 18 months in Bulgaria. When she talks about the food banitsa invariably comes up as something she desperately misses.
Interesting. I've had fårikål but that sounds more interesting to me. Probably on account of the use of cured meat, particularly smoked, likely giving a more complex flavor to the lamb.
We always camped on some mostly permafrost supported island in the middle of a wetland when we hunted so we avoided open fires. I've got lots of memories of that place. Spiders pelting me as they were knocked off the tall grass by our airboats we rode in, the one black bear my father shot that had been eating so many blueberries that the smell hit you in the face when we cleaned it, or my cousin and I being chewed out for sinking part of 'our' island when we attempted to build a log cabin. That's why I think nostalgia is playing a big part in why I miss the dishes so much.
I grew up in interior Alaska. The hometown food I miss the most is saltine crusted Northern Pike. Very bony but so tasty. Though to be honest a lot of that may be nostalgia as it was something we'd eat camping as an extended family when the fishers in the group had a good haul. Pan fried moose heart and tongue is a simular situation.
If we do the United States instead of my home state I'd say key lime pie for sweet and shrimp and grits for savory.
His standard for being labeled a Nazi is one Hitler fails prior to 1939. They might as well have a sign with bold print proclaiming, "I'm not to be taken seriously."
Just seeing that made the theme song pop into me head full force. Crazy how things can stick with you.
This brings back memories of my sedimentology field trip when I was at IUPUI.
You thought correctly. The locality is named after oolotic limestone not vice versa.
If I stumbled upon mastic flavored lokum I'd have to give it a try.
One of my personal favorites is seeing salt advertised as being non-GMO.
My wife and I pick a country each year and plan our Christmas Eve dinner to make of food from that country. This year we picked The Gambia so it is going to be domoda (peanut stew) and thiakry (millet couscous pudding).
Permanently Deleted
Even if it means sleeping with multiple blankets, it’s much more cozy.
There is something to be said for having a giant pile of blankets on top of you. Growing up I would round up spare blankets and crack the window open in the winter until a balance was achieved between however many blankets I scrounged and the room temperature.
Permanently Deleted
I have a big old robe, flannel pajama pants, and slippers I wear around the house in the winter.
Permanently Deleted
65 F or 18.5 C. A little colder at night. It varies as my wife sleeps hot so it depends how warms she is feeling that evening.
Tinker Cachoiera - My first Brazilian coffee
Tinker's coffee is making yet another appearance. It seems every time I start thinking, "I should order some more coffee." I'm getting a text from them informing me they just got a new coffee in. So I'm still happily stuck on the Tinker treadmill. As always I prepared my coffee in French Press using the James Hoffmann method.
The fresh grounds were a bunch of chocolate, generic nuttiness, and a tart berry fruitiness (so basically what it says on the tin). When I went to break the crust in the French press prior to letting things settle I was smacked in the face with a sweet chocolate. Once I poured a cup the nuttiness had reasserted itself but I really wasn't getting any of the tart berry on the nose. The tart berry popped back up as once I started sipping as part of the after taste so it certainly reads chocolate and nutty dominate for me. It isn’t the most intriguing cup of coffee I’ve had but it is damn solid and I'm happy with it.
P.S. Given sweet chocolate can be interpreted a
Let's talk travel/insulated mugs.
So can we talk mugs? I tend to make a half liter (~17 oz) of coffee in a French Press in the morning. I run into the problem that I get about a half hour to 45 minutes (I've never timed it this number might be wildly off) in before the, "Crap! Its getting cold!" moment and feel like I have to accelerate my consumption to avoid cold coffee when I'd prefer to keep going at a leisurely pace. I realize the most obvious solution is a couple of smaller batches but I'm lazy, easily distracted, and have a bit of a cutoff in the morning as my wife hates the smell of freshly brewed coffee and I catch a bit of drama if I'm brewing while she's awake or just before she wakes up.
I do have a Contigo Autoseal stainless steel travel mug that I use occasionally for cheap tea and it works well for retaining heat. I can sip on hot tea for hours but the lid has all sorts of nooks and crannies that retain coffee oils that is a pain in the ass to clean and it has a very small drink hole limits the orthon
Tinker El Cocobolo - a proper bag this time.
I used James Hoffmann's French press technique. So this is a full sized bag because they had a good sale on it and I decided to risk it for the biscuit.
So I got tons of green apple on the nose from the fresh grounds. Once it was brewed the raspberry showed up in a sort of jammy way and the green apple took back seat and lost the perception of acidity and became more of a regular apple for me. On the palate the fruit became sort of a generic fruit and the star was a nice sweet nuttiness. I'm guessing this is what they are calling cola candy on their tasting notes but absent spice and citrus it just doesn't trigger as cola (candy or otherwise) for me. All and all a very pleasant cup of coffee.
Tinker continues to leave me satisfied though to date my favorite offering of theirs remains the Jorge Rojas as cherry and chocolate are just hard too beat for my tastes. I swear one of these days I'll get around to trying another roaster.
Batch 3 of Tinker Coffee samples.
Another batch of Tinker coffee. I think this leaves me having tried all their current offerings so I’ll need to decide if I want to look elsewhere to keep my sampling going (looks over at S&W Craft Roasting) or actually commit to a full bag. I got asked last time so I’ll state it up front that I’m just using James Hoffmann’s French Press technique. I realize coffee presents a bit differently when I actually use my Aeropress but I only pull it out for the rare afternoon coffee when my wife is out of the house*.
Don Mauricio: I mostly just got milk chocolate and a bit of fruitiness on this one. It was quite pleasant and I’d in no way turn down a cup nor am I going to find it a chore to finish the sample but it is not particularly interesting to me.
Jorge Rojas: The winner of this batch of samples for me mostly because I’m a sucker for cherry. I just grinned as I popped off the catch cup on my grinder and was just hit with the aroma of dark chocolate cherry. And that stron
Another batch of Tinker Coffee
So I actually waited to try them before sharing this time. I'm probably being primed by the tasting notes on the package as I'm not doing blind tastings of anything but my quick thoughts:
Modor Lot 1: I get the grape and a floral character. Indeed I literately said, "Wow." when I went to brew it and I was blasted in the face with those smells as soon as the water met the grounds. There is more going on fruitwise which could be guava but I don't have guava in my experience bank firmly enough to tell.
Keramo: I got a rather faint and generic stone fruit and some floral character. This was probably the least impressive for me and part of that may have been the "mango candy" note that I was really looking forward to but didn't find.
Uraga Natural: I got a subtle strawberry and I'd call it more danish rather than doughnut but either way it was nice. This was probably my favorite even though it never made me say wow. Who doesn't like something that makes them think "Danish +
New Coffee Arrivals!
I won't be trying any until tomorrow as they just arrived this evening but I'm excited and couldn't wait until I actually brewed them. It'll be my first whole bean coffee. I'll probably need to bust out my small French press though so I can get the grinder figured out with smaller brews. They're only 4 oz sample bags so its not a ton to play around with. I'll make sure to pop back and share thoughts as I try them.
Seasoning a new grinder?
As part of trying to move into the world of freshly ground coffee I've been doing some haphazard reading into tips in the use and care of coffee grinders. One idea that pops up is the idea of seasoning a new grinder by running cheap coffee through it before using it for real. Some sources claim it isn't needed with others recommending it. Of those that recommend it they don't all agree on why it should be done, how much coffee should be sacrificed, and just how necessary it is (best practice vs. essential).
I suspect that the lack of consensus may be a case of people chasing every improvement possible on one hand and folks not willing to invest quite so much effort to that aim on the other. Any insights and information would be appreciated.