More on Fair Trade Practices

Lately, I've been thinking about my goals and directions and why I do what I do and why do I choose fair trade. I choose fair trade as I know it best and I have seen the good works it has done to many and how it has changed the social aspect of global trading and has the biggest impact on the world of coffees.

"Fair trade coffee is coffee that is traded by bypassing the coffee trader and therefore giving the producer (and buyer) higher profits.

Economics of Fair Trade Coffee

Trans Fair USA is an independent 3rd party certification that ensures that:

• Coffee importers agree to purchase from the small farmers included in the International Fair Trade Coffee Register.

• Fair trade coffee growers are guaranteed a minimum "fair trade price" of $1.26/pound FOB for their coffee. If world coffee price rises above this floor price, fair trade coffee farmers will be paid a small ($0.05/pound) premium above market price.

• Coffee importers provide a certain amount of credit to farmers against future sales, helping farmers stay out of debt to local coffee "coyotes" or middlemen.

• Coffee importers and roasters agree to develop direct, long-term trade relationships with fair trade coffee distributors, thereby cutting out middlemen and bringing greater commercial stability to an extremely unstable market.

(Source: FairtradeUSA)

That was the beginning, the benchmark for an alternative business practice and now, Fair Trade has grown exponentially and many large corporations has since joined the ranks of purchasing fair trade. And there are critics contesting to its practices and if any real benefits are given to the pickers. There will always be issues. Especially when an organization gets big. It is hard to control and takes a lot of money to make a system workable. And it makes smaller importer like myself think if Big Guys are enjoying the labour of many purists and real fair traders.

Some has chosen to deal outside of Trans fair and some have joined other alliances and buy from different certification (i.e rainforest, COE, private certification, bird friendly, USDA Organic etc).

The more I see, the more I wonder if we will ever have a peaceful world; learning to live with each difference and what should be the real deal? Each criticism is good and necessary as it serves as a watchdog and make sure an organization is accountable to its practices.

To me, amongst all these certifications, believes and practices, it shows me people and the world are passionate on a good cause. We have ideals and we all think there is a better way. And there are. Definitely! There should be more than one way for world's reform. As long as two minds are working and thinking, there will be differences and people will take sides.

Call me idealistic or peace-maker. We should all work together toward better social reform. Better living conditions to the under-privileged, better environmental practices, working practices, education opportunities for the children and eradicate world's poverty. Be it fair trade or any other form of certifications, we should remember what is our bottom-line. How are we giving back to our communities and the world around us?

And one day, everything in the world will be fairly traded. If we are all on the same page. This is usually the problem isn't it?

We at T.A.N will continue to buy coffees that is fairly traded. Be it Fair Trade or otherwise.

Pardon me as I am not very eloquent in saying what I wanted to say. My brain travels faster than I can type. Most times, words get stuck and I can't get it out right.

p.s: I want to thank Paul for helping me to individually picked my beans apart for me. I accidentally mixed a batch of green beans to my roasted beans. I was in the midst of throwing it out when Paul stopped me and insisted he wanted to separate the beans. He came back this morning with bucket of sort beans. He and his wife spent the evening sorting the beans. What a guy! This is my community.

Another construction day!

Its another construction day. Outside. Some customers commented I should be given the "Most Obstacles Award" for a new business, once I survived it.

A direct quotation from my business partner visiting the cafe,

"The cab dropped me off across the street from the cafe at 11 am. I cannot see the cafe from across the road as there is no sign and there were a cement truck, a backhoe and a dump truck parked right outside our cafe!!!

I crossed the street to the cafe, the first thing I saw was a big hole right under the big window, a piece of plywood covering part of the hole under the entrance to the cafe so people can walk in. 2 men were working in the hole, changing the gas line. This is a city wide gas line replacement project by the gas Company".

Thank you very much Toronto. I am living in a hole. Yet, yesterday, mommies and babies and people tracked past the HUGE hole and past planks to come into the cafe. Such an ordeal. Kudos to you!
And we did our first roast. We still need fine tuning of the roaster and will try out a few more roasts today.
Hopefully, by next week, Aha (I always say next week)!, things will be almost completed.

So, come this Thursday, we are going to screen two movies, short. Assisting Desert Roses, we are launching our first ever movie night here at the cafe. I believe the two movies are The price of youth and The virgin trade (I've posted a link here for a free download). For our first, we'll even throw in popcorn to mark the beginning of Summer ; )
Down the road, we wish to screen short movies from around the world on topics that is uplifting and international. We wish to screen movies that will bring global understanding or something that will educate us; inform us of what is going around the world.

We wanted to wait for everything to be perfect before we launch anything but I kept saying, almost there, I am almost there. And I am sick of waiting. There is no such thing as "perfect" when running a business. There is always this and that. So, if life gives us obstacles (i.e, constant construction, delayed plans, signless etc), keep going, might as well :)

See you on Thurs. Si? with a bucket of popcorn. Oh no, Grumpter will your date! I'm officially pimping him off to the lowest bidder. LOL!!

The City is Asleep!

I love Saturdays - yeah! (Yawn.) Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall....Yeah! and he fell asleep and snore....Yeah! And he fell off and I love Saturdays...yeah!

The city is asleep except to the humming of my roaster.
The city is asleep except to the pitter patter of raindrops. It has been raining non-stop for the last week with a smidgen of sunshine. And today is officially the first day of summer.
What a lovely day! - Rain - drop. drop.drop.
The city is asleep except Grumpster is telling me how his date stood him up! (stop pining for these loser! or are you the loser?)
The city is asleep except to the sweet melody of Mika on my hi-fi.
The street is asleep except to the sound the TTC.

......wait, the sleeping city might be slowly awaken. I see a ray of hope and sunshine.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us arise to the glory of the city waking up from its slumber.

And I am going to bask in its glory.

Oh! How I love Saturdays.

TGIF! But it means nothing to me - I AM AT WORK!

So, I am closing the cafe tonight! I am closing the cafe on a Friday night and not going out for dinners or parties or hanging out with hot chicks. Yup! Hot Chick only hang out with other hot chicks as I was told.

So, Grumpster skinny Chris and I are having a competition on who has a better blog and I officially won! I declare myself the winner :)
And Sweetheart J. actually say my blog is nicer. "LISTEN GRUMPSTER! It is nicer". Ha ha!
"What are you going to do about it"?

Grumpster actually did a very nice job on blogging and updating on the cafe and T.O scene. I was actually impressed he could wrestled the supplier to leave the teas behind. He does not like people and does not like conflict. Hence, the nickname Grumpster! So, I rewarded him by wearing a pair of yellow pants to work today. Just for you, Grumpster!
I think maybe there is still hope that Grumpster can be promoted to a kick-ass barista aka Martha Stewart. He does make a nice batch of muffins. And hopefully, he'll conduct classes for the cafe.

Now, with the roaster ready to roast on Monday and my supplies of teas, sugars, cocoa and other products filling the shelves; I feel I need to sleep for a week.

So, I am so happy I have the whole weekend to myself. I feel precious. The entire weekend. I was supposed to go canoeing this weekend. I have been wanting to be in nature and photograph nature as well as work out my well-muscled arms. I want a tan.
But I canceled all my plans. I also turned down two other functions. I feel blissful.
I want to sleep in, go to church. Yes, go to church! Smell the flowers that are all over my apartment.

So, finally, I can see progress at the cafe, its almost done construction, except the windows are coming in the next couple of weeks and sign coming, hopefully. I kinda enjoy being call the cafe without a sign. We are becoming such an icon.

So, live on T.O and live on West Queen West! I can see the cafe taking its own life. Shaping itself into something I feel really proud of. The harmony, the gathering, the connection, the unspoken understanding all plays itself out as a daily mantra.
Even our new website for the cafe seems to be part of the community - it is created by a customer. How cool is that? Its almost done. Its everything about who we are - our passions, our mission, our actions, our struggles, our forums, our connexion, our features, our discussions, our galleries, our city and our thoughts.

I feel very honored to be able to do what I do and loving every minute of it. And I want to thank you (yes, you) for reading my blog and Grumpster's. Not sure if it is kismet that brought us all together. Lets keep at it! Step by step.
Thank you, everyone of you, for coming out to the cafe and giving us such warm welcome and support. Your actions say a lot!

Gracias!

Rule of Thumb!

Rule of thumb is - when hungry, eat! When sleepy, nap! When angry, bite your tongue!

Okay, all jokes aside. With the world's crises of rising gas cost, food cost and global warming etc. How do we not get insane and not become overtly paranoid?

For awhile after learning about the Benefits of Organic foods, I kind of became a fanatic. Especially when my health actually improved. I feel generally better. There are so many benefits to buying Organic but the sad truth is, when farmers changed to organic farming, there is less yield in the harvest. Hence, organics become more expensive and also not as readily available.

Same goes for Fair Trade. So far, for certified fair trade products, there are bananas, sugars, teas, coffee, cocoa, flowers, football, honey, spices and some wheat. As much as I want to buy fair trade and all things organic; the world is still lagging behind in availability.

How do I balance it all? I cannot afford to buy everything organics as they can be pricey and not everything I used in my life is available Fair Trade.
My personal rule of thumb is, anything I use most of in my day to day routine and anything that gives me most benefits to my well-being,I strictly buy organics and fair trade (when it is available) . I won't sweat it if I do not have everything stock up at home that is organics.

And even if products are not certified Fair Trade, I buy from smaller, independent businesses that protect the environment, the local communities and one that gives fairer exchange for its products.
I asked as many questions as I can to understand where things come from.

That is my rule of thumb. And it is alright to shop at large convenient grocery store, if that is only what is available to you. Everyone needs to eat and need to survive.

One day, I pray, there'll come a time when everything we shop is fair trade and organic. That we do not have to use the word "alternative" anymore!

Cheers to that!

Is Anybody Home?

"Oh Oh Oh...is anybody going home....stuck in the middle"
That is a line from Stuck in the middle, my favorite singer Mika. I can dance to him anytime, anywhere... Oh well, almost anywhere.
So, I love Saturday mornings :) Love it, love it, love it!

I'm supposed to go to the park after work with plumbergal but now with the weather threatening to break into a downpour, we are going S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.

I love Saturday morning. Birds in the sky, everyone seems to have a lighter steps in them and actually stop to enjoy a proper breakfast and my muffins are fast becoming the best kept secret in the block.
Whats happening here at Queen West Queen today?
Bellwood Trinity Park has a huge yard sale annually. Anyone can bring whatever junk to sell at the park. I so badly wish to be there now but I can't. Maybe I shall make a mad dash to the park and see what I can scramble from some one's junk. I hope to find some interesting vintages for the cafe.

I have many people visiting this morning and also one of my neighbour has had all his truck's tires slashed in the middle of the night. I called my tow truck guy and it is taken care of now! I realized three other cars were damaged as well. And two men were shot randomly near the cafe as well. That's my kinda hood, Bro!
This part of town is not the safest but the neighborhood is changing slowly and surely. I really like the people and I feel as long as the community stays together, we will create a healthier sense of neighborliness, we can make good changes.
And this is such an artistic community. So much creativity and so many talents. Its rubbing off me.

And, this is such an amazing time of year - Summer ROCKS! and T.O is bustling with activities. Just last night, I went to the the worldwide short film festival and watch an short film of all music videos which includes Bjork's latest 3D animated video. It was fun and to my surprised, the street was closed at College street for "Taste of Little Italy". Excitedly after the short film, I walked the street, ate and danced. I wish I could eat more. I ate Kebabs, ate Gyros and Gelato. My friend and I stopped to listen to this great musician playing on the street call Dr Draw. He is amazing, muscle flexing on that electric violin of his. His band were jumping up and down. I was transfixed and like a robot, I made my way to buy his CD. I played his latest CD this morning and customers are attracted by it.
I am so glad he is Canadian. He ROCKS!

How do I pace myself to the heartbeat of Toronto? B and I counted on the number of festivals we have in T.O and I was dizzy. We have counted 15 screening festivals and these does not include any outdoor live events. Boy! We sure are busy as a city. I LOVE IT.
There are always things to do and places to go.

That is why everyone loves T.O and wants to move to T.O. Why wouldn't anyone : )

Have a great outdoorsy day today! Despite the rain - which I was caught in!

How do you recognize a good espresso?

Well, its easy. Order one, twirl the espresso cup a little, open your mouth and pour the golden syrup into your mouth.
The End.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!! Many coffee aficionado would yell.

If you are a serious barista or a coffee lover with a home espresso machine, then you'll want to know about the art and science of making a perfecto espresso. The science comes from knowing your machine to your beans and understanding how your beans, your roast, your tamping, your grind, the temperature and extracting the right amount of espresso work. And how you combine these knowledge together is Art.

But it is too complicated here and I won't touch on it. I just wish to give a simple introduction to anyone who drink espresso and love a good espresso in how to recognize what is a good espresso?
So, anytime when you walk into a cafe, you can be assured with the basic why some cafes serves such great black gold and some makes you scratch your throat.

A great espresso when serves to you should look like Guinness - stout beer. Black at the bottom with a layer of crema on top (golden looking with 2 coloring and speckled with dark brown accent) . When stir at top, the crema should be silky looking and not have any bubbles floating around. Depending on the type of roast you prefer, to me, it should be bright and tastes sweet and feels like it burst in your mouth - buttery, creamy, rich and bold at the same time - complex. Most importantly, it should not have bitter after taste. YUM!

So, if you are looking for ideas to do things, why not do an espresso day trip? Grab a friend, spend a couple of hours, walk around your neighborhood cafes and check out their espresso. Find out which you like and why you like. Just make sure you drink lots of water :)
Or you can have a shaking competition - Hmm...it can be kinda fun!

And if you will excuse me, I'm going to pull myself an espresso - rich caramel looking liquid flowing into my porcelain cup. YUM, YUM, YUM!

Today is the Day!

Ha ha! Today is the day.
Today is the day when Marilyn is cheeky.
Today is the day when my window guy and engineer finally got together to confirmed my roaster placement and also to change my windows. YES!
Today is the day when hopefully, the thunderstorm will end.
Today is the day when I am so excited to see my green beans - I just want to cut the bags open and be buried in them.
Today is the day when I feel things are getting there. Almost there! I say that all the time. *SIGN*
Today is the day when I might confirmed to buy a projector for the cafe to screen movies. I already have requests to screenings.
Today is the day when customer editor Mat wants to confirm hanging his photography at the cafe.
Today is the day when two interns are coming in to look at shelving space for more products.
Today is the day when my ice-machine broke and there is a leak all over the basement and I am still smiling. What can I do? And I might not have enough ice to appease the hot weather. What can I do? "Go to the mattresses" - says the Godfather! (Ah, my ice mechanic called to say he'll do me a favor and come in when he was suppose to come only maniana! - Being nice and say "PLleeease" works some time! Goody!)
Today is the day when I will start all my marketing materials and work with Monty for ideas and visit his office maniana (tomorrow). Monty is the Man!
Today is the day I will turn on the air-conditioning and keep the door close. I hate to turn on AC, so wasteful. But all my equipments are working doubly hard.
Today might be the day Dessert Roses will come and discuss some partnership in coffee beans wholesales.
Today is the day when Marilyn already has request to SELL green beans even before the beans are acclimatised arriving into Canada - "poor beans, leave my beans alone. Can we have some space"?
Today is also the day Marilyn has to drink tonnes of Espresso because it tastes so DARN good and because she stayed up all night finishing the book "Before I wake" - please read it! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR.
And Today is the day charismatic Greg moves to Edmonton and I just bid him adios before he head to the airport.
Today is also the day I will check on my espresso machine to make sure all calibration is on the mark.
Today is the day Marilyn is ahead of herself and already decided on topics to blog: Coming up - "how to recognize a good espresso"? and "Rule of thumb"! Goody.

So, today is the day. What is your day today?


p.s: you might want to check out my Barista/writer/skinny Chris's blog, My cafe's unofficial blog page - He is a hoot!

Farmer's Tan

So, I went to the Farm on the weekend! I knew I was at the farm when a whiff of cow manure overcame me. I was instantly relaxed. The wide space, the farm houses, the barns, the animals and the quietness, the long miles, the dirt road all seem so welcoming.

I had a wonderful restful time doing nothing but enjoy the great company and hospitality of my friend and her family. It was a treat to sit in the garden and read, eat healthy food and walk all over the acres of land looking and smelling flowers, I even get to see Asparagas plant (i think that is a plant!) first time. I even get to take home with me some beautiful and lovely flowers too!
I was so enjoying the whole environment I fell asleep and ended up with a farmer's tan. That was not a pretty sight!

I got a big smile on my face when I left and left with a healthier sense of mind and body. Now, that might be my personal oasis every time I need a space and I hope we all find an oasis to nurture and calm our soul.

I do not usually put any personal picture here but this is such a beautiful place and I will do it once.

Enjoy and have a great week ahead of you!

And thank you P, my dear friend - a friend who has gone through many challenges yet determines to fulfill your dream as a fire fighter!

All about Me!

Ah, Its Saturday again! How I love it! The morning sun, the police cars, the 24 hours grocery store, the exceeding overpriced gas and Jazz. Deep, Soulful and slowly wake my senses that I have a deadline on hand and someone just walked in and ask for a beer! Oh well, its almost brunch.
Yes, Brunch is another thing I enjoy thoroughly. Its been awhile since I had the chance to brunch.

Last night, I was kinda overwhelmed. Peter is still working on the chimney and its bigger than I expected. I have to call and make some changes on my plans and my sign will further be delayed because of the chimney. We have to re-do the design and now my plan of getting a garage door is kaput. The roaster is in the way of the window I wanted changed. I can only do a sliding window.

With so much going on, I sometimes regress into my negative mode of thinking and slowly feeling I am sinking. I went for a Frisbee game with Michael and dinner at Fresen. Just to get my head away for a little while. It was good to be in the sun, exercising and working on my throw. The park is such a sexy place, especially this time of the year. Everyone wants to get some sun on their palsy white skin and I get some eye candy on those topless, well muscled specimen. Very nice! Indeed.

Toronto does have a city full of Beautifuls. We seem to inherit all the artistic, tattooed, bohemian preppy type. The men and women are way too cool for their own good. This is my city. Sin City.

With armload of flowers and eyeful of the Beautifuls, I popped into Maya before heading home. Just to wind down my day. I was tempted to go Distillery with the girls and let my hair down.
But I am tired. Exhausted. I knew it when I can hardly picked myself up from Maya's couch and headed to my car.

I needed some alone time to have a perspective of what is happening. When I wrap so many things into such short time and will them to happen and it doesn't, I panicked. Patience is such a hard virtue on me, its like telling a dog not to jump into a puddle of water. Try telling a kid not to stick his/her hand into the cookie jar! Its hard.

So, what "All about me" is this? I don't know. And that is exactly how I feel. But, I know I need to slow down and do what I can and let the others go. Everything will come together. I cannot hurry. I need to pace myself. Time is the best teacher. Things will sort itself out. Or through time, I might be able to see things differently. I need to take the the time listen to my heart and listen to nature.

I so look forward to my drive to the country this evening. I look forward to the quietness, to seeing P and take some pictures of the country and hopefully, smell the roses. I hope to catch up on self.

Oh, how I love Saturday! The clear blue sky, the vibrant city, people in transition and we are quite becoming the place for people to call it their hub.

Community

Its such a beautiful day outside today. And I am feeling a little well-rested and not like a walking zombie.
So, what is happening in this part of the world today? What is new in my community today?

Starting tomorrow the craft council is locking 14 artists in their tiny studio creating some form of group art and I am baking some of my delectable muffins for them and stocking them with caffine all day long, for the entire weekend.
There is a outdoor lawn sale at CamH and my neighbor where I park my car is still painting on the wall. Adding nice spring flowers to beautify the area. Everyone is painting. The storage company is painting as well.

As for myself, we are making a heck lot of mess outside the cafe. Peter is installing the chimney and being a Greek, you can't work without screaming at each other, father to son and vice versa. I have to go out and tell them to give each other a hug or they can't continue to work.

And Peter wanting to take sweet revenge on me; decided to change the location of my chimney, from the side to the center of my entrance which also happen to be in the middle of my new sign.
"Peter!!!! No more hugs for you"!
Quickly, Hugh came over and took a look. We have to discard what was already made and have to decide the new placement and design. Thanks Peter! For giving me the heads-up. Not!.

The city also came and work on the street this morning and covering up the new gas pipe they will be putting underground. Thankfully, its such a beautiful hot day and everyone is in a good mood. So, with the mess, noise and craziness, I am making batches of muffins and sipping the delicious berry ice-tea Chris made.

Dear Paul is on his 3rd espresso -making up for the lack of espresso during the weekend since he doesn't live down-town.

This is my community at downtown West Queen West. The hardware store Glen, kung-fu master Michael, Purple thumb Jamie, Social worker Paul, Spanish Claudia with her super cute daughter, Gorgeous Val and humble Hector, spiritual Benjamin, charismatic Greg, Artistic Ken, Vegan Chris, girl pow Maya and many more!

I am really enjoying each and everyone of them. I have been really bless and despite the craziness of the city, I find a close knitted group of people I can call community.

And some of us are heading to the park for some frisbee time. Summer Rocks!

BabyLand & LalaLand

Its BabyLand here today.
We have pink baby, blue baby and multi-color baby - I mean the clothes they are wearing. Mommies sipping their perfectly pulled ice-americano, ginger-peach tea latte and chai latte while eating my favorite curry chicken wrap and portobello filled goat cheese. Yum!
Makes me crave for a Matcha latte. Matcha contains L theanine which calms the brain and add alertness. And I can do with the calmness after this morning episode.


Jimmie, big Jimmie has always been my nightmare. Since I first opened my door. So when he disappeared I was very relieved. He appear again last week and I try to stay under his radar. So, when Big Jimmie came into the cafe this morning, I was hoping he'll turn around and leave. He staggered in and did a soliloquy in the cafe with everyone trying to enjoy their morning coffee. I do not mind anyone coming in, really. As long as they behave properly and are not a nuisance and disturbance to anyone using the space. But when Jimmie not so nicely insisted my presence, I told him to leave. People were getting up and leaving.

Bad decision! Jimmie in not so many words told me why I was his most affectionate woman and why he could stay in my cafe as long as he likes. I picked up the phone to call the police.
Dear Jimmie decided he could come close to me and threaten me with hot coffee and his fisted affection. His choice of love language. Till a customer stopped him. I was afraid someone will be hurt.

So, I calmly told Jimmie he could stay. But he needs to respect me by being gentle and soft - just the way I like my man : -) He needs to behave like everyone else.

Comes in Val from, my favorite next door neighbour, the Craft Council. Val knew dear Jimmie better than I did and I told her what happened. Next I knew, comes in Paul, big sweet heart - according to his girlfriend. And Paul sat and waited till the police came.

First word from the hunky police officer was "It's you again!" to Big Jimmie. Big Jimmie coyly followed officer hunky outside for the next while.
I really hope this is the last I see of dear Jimmie. I have to say I was scared. The same feeling I had when I was caught in a riot in Mexico - tear gas and all.

I really love this neighborhood. Its everything. So much creativity in all forms and manner. Its never boring! I learn so many things. And people are fantastic! Except for Big Jimmie.

So when it is BabyLand time today, I really appreciate the simplicity.

Tomorrow, I am going to try baking my favorite Fat buttery English scone eaten with fresh cream and jam. I hope to make some new recipes for muffins and have a date with mommies to be my taste tester!

Pasta as Stir-Sticks

I am almost done changing the cafe. Roaster chimney install on Thursday - checked! New sign install on Fri or Mon - Checked! contractor quoting me on new windows -checked!, Cooperativas de Mujeres Artesanas de los Altos de Chiapas brought some items in - checked! Fair Trade clothing meeting - checked!, Fair Apparel meeting - checked! Back patio benches arrival- checked!, meeting with local Fair Trade chocolate maker, chocoland - checked! Confirmed packaging for teas/cocoa/coffee - checked!, Green beans arrival next week- checked! Meeting with the director of Threads of Wrath to be filmed in cafe and so on and on....

My day is brutal today! My goodness. Doing business ethically is not easy and a lot of research, reading and discussion. And lastly, it is not usually the cheapest. And it has to make sense.
So, when I was finally fed-up with using stir sticks (the last of the package I inherited from the last cafe) and customers telling me I can maybe try using linguine as stir-sticks (biodegradable), we got into an discussion. It is very preppy to use stir-sticks and some cafes are beginning to switch because it is environmental friendly but to me, it is food! To me, it is wasteful. Some people are lacking food yet I am using pasta as stir sticks. Wheat prices are on the raise and in some countries, wheat is scare!

Do we actually question things? In this case using pasta as stir sticks or are we caught up in all the nice marketing and brainwashed with the term "environmental friendly" and "biodegradable"? Just because someone say it is environmental or the packaging say biodegradable. Are we actually knowledgeable enough to understand what does that mean? Sometimes, we went to extreme measures not because it is actually good for mother earth but because it is hip! There is nothing wrong with being hip but we need to understand what we do and ask ourselves why do we do it?

When I decide to buy local (as much as I possibly can), be as green, as organic and healthier as I can in my products, I get deeper into mud. Issues pertaining our world, our connections to each other and globalization stare me straight in my face. I need an education. It helped me decide on topics and forums I wish to host in the cafe. I hope by understanding more, we can make decision clearly and not wrapped in pretty marketing bullshit.

Come tomorrow, I will start using spoons and not stir sticks at the condiment table. Something I have been wanting to do since Day 1.

And so, the cafe hopes to screen the move "Threads of Wrath" at end of June and also in July, we will have a forum on "Globalization and its effects on us". A forum with all my suppliers - dialogue on why we do what we do. All of them have signed up!
And we will have a party. We will mix seriousness with double amount of fun :)

Give me a shot of tequila!