Thursday, September 28, 2006
Cell Phones
The most insidious device ever invented by man is the cell phone. All my suspisions and fears about carrying a cell phone have come true. Let me describe what happened yesterday on two different occasions throughout the day. I sat down at my desk to check a voicemail on my land line, as I was listening, someone was trying to ring through, also at the same time, my cell phone was ringing and it was work related. Why would you call someone's cell phone during normal business hours when they have a phone line? I'll tell you why, we have become a culture of instant gratification. Whenever some little thought or need pops into our heads, we start to freak out if we can't communicate it immeadiately. Look what I'm doing now! I could have waited til I saw all of you to spew this little rant, but now that not fazt enough, I have to get it out there! How about this little scenario, you're meeting with a client and all of a sudden another client is ringing through on your celly, ahhhhh what to do! If I ignore the call the client I'm with will think that I ignore calls from clients, if I answer it, I'm just that dick that answers his phone in the middle of conversations. You can't win and thats the way THEY want it. Insidious I tell you.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
How to Make a good Latte'
I'm posting this because for two days in a row now at 2 different coffee places I've gotten crappy Latte's. And its the reason I moved to regular drip coffee for the most part. But Dammit, sometimes a man needs a Latte.
First, get your espresso shot ready to pour but steam your milk first! get the milk nice and warm and then start making your foam by holding the steam tip just under the surface of the the milk and gently moving it up and down. Not too much foam, if your making one latte, a half inch layer of foam is plenty. Watch your thermometer! Once the milk gets to 139-140 degrees, SHUT THE STEAM OFF! Once the steam is off the temp will continue to rise to 145 degrees. Now, this is complicated, start your shot pouring and get the milk pitcher and tamp it down on the counter a few times. This will burst any big bubbles in the foam and will make it stiff and managable. Pour your shot in your cup first, (if you do it the other way around, you have a machiatto) and pour your milk into the cup, using a spoon to hold back the foam. (Remember, a shot of espresso and a bunch of foam is a cappuccino NOT a latte.) once the cup is about 3/4 full with milk and coffee stop pouring and use the spoon to push in the nice stiff foam. DO NOT just remove the spoon and continue to pour. A good latte should have a head of foam about the size of a good head on a beer. Some people like it flat (no foam) I guess thats okay. Having it with non-fat milk is not, the foam sucks, and only accomplished master baristas like myself can get a good head of foam from non-fat milk.
Things to watch out for.
Don't burn the milk. A pitcher of milk can be steamed once and only once. As soon as you try to reheat an already heated and steamed pitcher of milk, the temperature will jump up too fast and you'll have burnt milk before you know it. (this is whats happened the last two times I went to the Starbucks on Colorado and Los Robles) When you're at Starbucks and you hear the milk steaming...if it sounds really deep and hollow...the barista has burnt the milk and you're in for a crappy drink.
Feel the weight. A good latte, should have the heft of a full cup of drip coffee. If the cup feels too light, you've gotten a lazy barista and its probably a cappuccino. (This is what happened at Gelsons this morning.)
The funny thing is that I worked at Starbucks, but I didn't learn how to make proper espresso drinks there. I was taught by old school masters when I worked for a company called Old Pacific Coffee. They used to have a coffee cart at the conference center, but now they're based in Temecula. Those dudes knew how to make coffee.
First, get your espresso shot ready to pour but steam your milk first! get the milk nice and warm and then start making your foam by holding the steam tip just under the surface of the the milk and gently moving it up and down. Not too much foam, if your making one latte, a half inch layer of foam is plenty. Watch your thermometer! Once the milk gets to 139-140 degrees, SHUT THE STEAM OFF! Once the steam is off the temp will continue to rise to 145 degrees. Now, this is complicated, start your shot pouring and get the milk pitcher and tamp it down on the counter a few times. This will burst any big bubbles in the foam and will make it stiff and managable. Pour your shot in your cup first, (if you do it the other way around, you have a machiatto) and pour your milk into the cup, using a spoon to hold back the foam. (Remember, a shot of espresso and a bunch of foam is a cappuccino NOT a latte.) once the cup is about 3/4 full with milk and coffee stop pouring and use the spoon to push in the nice stiff foam. DO NOT just remove the spoon and continue to pour. A good latte should have a head of foam about the size of a good head on a beer. Some people like it flat (no foam) I guess thats okay. Having it with non-fat milk is not, the foam sucks, and only accomplished master baristas like myself can get a good head of foam from non-fat milk.
Things to watch out for.
Don't burn the milk. A pitcher of milk can be steamed once and only once. As soon as you try to reheat an already heated and steamed pitcher of milk, the temperature will jump up too fast and you'll have burnt milk before you know it. (this is whats happened the last two times I went to the Starbucks on Colorado and Los Robles) When you're at Starbucks and you hear the milk steaming...if it sounds really deep and hollow...the barista has burnt the milk and you're in for a crappy drink.
Feel the weight. A good latte, should have the heft of a full cup of drip coffee. If the cup feels too light, you've gotten a lazy barista and its probably a cappuccino. (This is what happened at Gelsons this morning.)
The funny thing is that I worked at Starbucks, but I didn't learn how to make proper espresso drinks there. I was taught by old school masters when I worked for a company called Old Pacific Coffee. They used to have a coffee cart at the conference center, but now they're based in Temecula. Those dudes knew how to make coffee.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Traveling at the Speed of Light
For those involved in last night's discussion and still give a shit, here's a quote from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking:
"As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises ever more quickly, so it takes more and more energy to speed it up further. It can in fact never reach the speed of light, because by then its mass would have become infinite, and by the equivalence of mass and energy, it would have taken an infinite amount of energy to get it there. For this reason, any normal object is forever confined by relativity to move at speeds slower than the speed of light."
"As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises ever more quickly, so it takes more and more energy to speed it up further. It can in fact never reach the speed of light, because by then its mass would have become infinite, and by the equivalence of mass and energy, it would have taken an infinite amount of energy to get it there. For this reason, any normal object is forever confined by relativity to move at speeds slower than the speed of light."
Sunday, September 03, 2006
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