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!