Sunday, December 28, 2003


of italics & coffee blogs

long time readers know that one of my favorite stores in all of nyc is the famed aedes de venusta. but few may know that another big fave is the fountain pen hospital.

since i almost never actually have the chance to write anymore, when i can, it's become more precious than ever.

so i cling to my parker duo-fold and italic nibs in hopes i'll have an excuse to whip out the gorgeous clairefontaine 96 page cahier.

and thus every now and then i bring out my copy of fred eager's "the italic way to beautiful handwriting" to practice my hand. i mean, if you have great paper and a lovely pen filled with perfect ink, it's a waste to dispense illegible chicken scratchs, yes?

especially since you can acquire a stunningly lovely hand in about 6-8 weeks by practicing just 15 minutes a day with either eager's classic or any of the several italic books by barbara getty and inga dubay.

naturally, writing is a preocupation that meshes perfectly with coffee. whenever your hand tires of holding the edged pen at 45, 15, 30 degrees, it's a relief to reach out for your favorite cup.

and that's what i did today: practiced my italic hand and sipped some of don schoenholt's gillies sumatra lintong kuda mas, triple pick, grade one, japanese preparation.

if you think you love sumatra coffee, if you can't get enough of the intense, thick bodied, sweet, syrupy, low brightness indonesian coffees -- wait until you try this kuda mas. amazing.

i've looked around at various coffee blogs from time to time to see if anyone else has reviewed this incredible coffee. but no. it appears to be my secret.

speaking of coffee blogs, if you search for them, there appear to be many with coffee, java, joe, espresso, caffeine, etc. in the title.

but few are actually about coffee in any serious way. this surprises me a lot!

why aren't these bloggers scaa consumer members yet? don't they really love coffee? i'm mystified. . .

alas, i can think of only 5 that seem to truly focus on the world's greatest intellectual and social beverage.

why is that? another mystery of the internet to ponder!

in the meantime, i did my daily alphabet, and waited for the pizza to rise.

speaking of pizza, i've made a discovery: better than pepperoni, the san daniele prosciutto salami.

costs less than perfect prosciutto, easy to use on the pizza, but 100% great san daniele taste. try it. a winner!

posted by fortune | 7:04 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments