Saturday, January 31, 2004


i heart vincenzo sandalj

but first let me note the new hobbies of men: yoga, knitting, and now, fire-freakin'.

for those of you unfamiliar with the radical artisan bread culture, generally the term fire freak is reserved for a person who is a fanatic about their backyard brick oven. and baking bread in it.

long-time readers know that as i live in a little hovel in the sky on a small island off the coast of the united states, i do not have a backyard brick oven. but that doesn't mean i haven't lusted after one for years and years, and that i have ceased worshipping the surya of all fire freaks, alan scott.

i was surprised that fire freakin' has gone so mainstream it's featured this month in the -- brace yourselves -- aarp magazine. but there it is. knitting, yoga, and bread baking.

men get more interesting all the time.

in other news, i was totally blown away to read this month's tea & coffee, where the chief of the specialty coffee association of europe, vincenzo sandalj, wins my heart for ever and ever.

he does this by discussing specialty coffee in europe in terms of the consumer. and his priorities about improving coffee are exactly the ones we on alt.coffee and who are also scaa charter consumer members would use: improving the coffee culture of baristas, retailers, and cafe owners; improving the craft of roasting; educating consumers; improving coffee quality at the level of the farm and the importer/exporter.

i am so overwhelmed i can barely remember how happy i was this morning to sample the batdorf southern-italian-style espresso, the nutty vesuvio.

i normally don't like coffees roasted this dark, but actually this was pretty yummy. mr. right still prefers the sweet and floral dancing goats, however. . .

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