What is funny is Americans are doing the same thing to measure their butter, cutting off chunks according to a ruler on the package, it is just marked in volume on the side of the package instead of weight:
Dravin
joined 2 years ago
There is a best practice of spooning flour into the measuring cup to avoid dense packing but in my experience most people just scoop and go even though it introduces variability. Usually it won't matter too much or you'll see things like, "If the dough seems dry add more water a tablespoon at a time." included in the recipe. Of course even with weight you sometimes see that sort of instruction because the moisture content of flour varies.
I get why that'd be a bit annoying particularly if you aren't experienced with the type of dish.
This brings back memories of my sedimentology field trip when I was at IUPUI.
You thought correctly. The locality is named after oolotic limestone not vice versa.
If I stumbled upon mastic flavored lokum I'd have to give it a try.
One of my personal favorites is seeing salt advertised as being non-GMO.
My wife and I pick a country each year and plan our Christmas Eve dinner to make of food from that country. This year we picked The Gambia so it is going to be domoda (peanut stew) and thiakry (millet couscous pudding).
We always cut down a tree in the forest - the forest manager makes a map of which parts of the public forest they want the firs and spruce thinned out, so it’s like free forest management. After Christmas we put the tree out by our chickens, who enjoy sitting on and under it.
Man that brings back some memories. While my family grew up with an artificial tree but my Aunt and Uncle always went out and chopped down a spruce for Christmas and it being Alaska there was no shortage to be found. They were the host for the Christmas Eve get together.
I often prepare newer-ish dishes but always filling that template that I mentioned above.
We (wife and I) love trying new dishes and that is part of why we do a new country every year. Often the result is "Huh..." and we enjoy the experience even if the dish isn't a new favorite but every once in a while we stumble across something that ends up joining our repertoire.
This year I’m going to tweak Ur’s palace cake to serve it as dessert alongside the tiramisù, my sister loves those cheese-based sweets.
That sounds interesting. If you are a fan of historical recipes (and this isn't just a one off) I can't recommend Tasting History enough.
Everyone gets together to make lussekatter the first day off from school.
Those look neat. As a baker at heart I often look for some cake, bread, cookie, or other baked treat I can make for the contribution for our Christmas Eve meal (I always work Christmas Eve so being able to either bake something the day before or get a dough ready and let it stall in the fridge helps ease things). I may have to try a country's version if they end up on the list in the future.
The reasons are different (people moving away and spreading out) but I kinda feel this. My childhood was a Christmas Eve bake potato bar and pies over at someone's house filled to the brim with relatives with a gift exchange. It is part of why my my wife and I created the Christmas Eve dinner when we got married. I moved across the country and away from my side of the family her family didn't really have much in the way of traditions so we decided to start one. I look forward to what we call out 'International' Christmas Eve every year but it definitely isn't the same at this point (13 years) it feels like Christmas but it definitely doesn't feel like the Christmases of my childhood.
Tinker's coffee is making yet another appearance. It seems every time I start thinking, "I should order some more coffee." I'm getting a text from them informing me they just got a new coffee in. So I'm still happily stuck on the Tinker treadmill. As always I prepared my coffee in French Press using the James Hoffmann method.
The fresh grounds were a bunch of chocolate, generic nuttiness, and a tart berry fruitiness (so basically what it says on the tin). When I went to break the crust in the French press prior to letting things settle I was smacked in the face with a sweet chocolate. Once I poured a cup the nuttiness had reasserted itself but I really wasn't getting any of the tart berry on the nose. The tart berry popped back up as once I started sipping as part of the after taste so it certainly reads chocolate and nutty dominate for me. It isn’t the most intriguing cup of coffee I’ve had but it is damn solid and I'm happy with it.
P.S. Given sweet chocolate can be interpreted a lot of ways they really missed the chance to give brigadero as a tasting note given it is a Brazilian coffee. Though I suppose that'd leave a bunch of people wondering what in the hell that is (for the curious).
I used James Hoffmann's French press technique. So this is a full sized bag because they had a good sale on it and I decided to risk it for the biscuit.
So I got tons of green apple on the nose from the fresh grounds. Once it was brewed the raspberry showed up in a sort of jammy way and the green apple took back seat and lost the perception of acidity and became more of a regular apple for me. On the palate the fruit became sort of a generic fruit and the star was a nice sweet nuttiness. I'm guessing this is what they are calling cola candy on their tasting notes but absent spice and citrus it just doesn't trigger as cola (candy or otherwise) for me. All and all a very pleasant cup of coffee.
Tinker continues to leave me satisfied though to date my favorite offering of theirs remains the Jorge Rojas as cherry and chocolate are just hard too beat for my tastes. I swear one of these days I'll get around to trying another roaster.
Another batch of Tinker coffee. I think this leaves me having tried all their current offerings so I’ll need to decide if I want to look elsewhere to keep my sampling going (looks over at S&W Craft Roasting) or actually commit to a full bag. I got asked last time so I’ll state it up front that I’m just using James Hoffmann’s French Press technique. I realize coffee presents a bit differently when I actually use my Aeropress but I only pull it out for the rare afternoon coffee when my wife is out of the house*.
Don Mauricio: I mostly just got milk chocolate and a bit of fruitiness on this one. It was quite pleasant and I’d in no way turn down a cup nor am I going to find it a chore to finish the sample but it is not particularly interesting to me.
Jorge Rojas: The winner of this batch of samples for me mostly because I’m a sucker for cherry. I just grinned as I popped off the catch cup on my grinder and was just hit with the aroma of dark chocolate cherry. And that strong dark chocolate cherry stayed the star when I started drinking it. The melon showed as a sorta of cantaloupe-like musk on the back end. So a favorite fruit, some chocolate, and a bit of an evolution? Yeah, I’m here for it.
Laayyoo: A grape bomb for me, from grounds to sip it was front and center. The grape was supported by a different non-grape tart fruitiness and a potpourri quality which they’re obviously specifying as raspberry and lavender but my palate wouldn’t have picked them out as such. This came across as a bit muddied in my French press but trying it on my Aeropress helped sharpen things though didn’t bring anything new to light.
The idea that I’m not a fan of floral notes in my coffee is slowly being strengthened. I’m not going to write coffees with such notes off completely but I will be restricting any purchases to sample sizes unless things change. You might wonder why I’d keep buying samples but I enjoy trying new things even if at the end of the day I’m not a huge fan of them.
*For those who had a, “Whaa?” reaction. I find the French press to be more forgiving when I’m in a pre-caffeinated state. So shy away from the Aeropress for morning coffee. As for why my wife is relevant, she hates the smell of coffee so I only brew coffee when there is enough time for the smell to dissipate before she wakes up or comes home.
So I actually waited to try them before sharing this time. I'm probably being primed by the tasting notes on the package as I'm not doing blind tastings of anything but my quick thoughts:
Modor Lot 1: I get the grape and a floral character. Indeed I literately said, "Wow." when I went to brew it and I was blasted in the face with those smells as soon as the water met the grounds. There is more going on fruitwise which could be guava but I don't have guava in my experience bank firmly enough to tell.
Keramo: I got a rather faint and generic stone fruit and some floral character. This was probably the least impressive for me and part of that may have been the "mango candy" note that I was really looking forward to but didn't find.
Uraga Natural: I got a subtle strawberry and I'd call it more danish rather than doughnut but either way it was nice. This was probably my favorite even though it never made me say wow. Who doesn't like something that makes them think "Danish + Coffee"?
I think I preferred the first batch of coffees I got and it was probably because I'm not a huge fan of the florality which probably plays into the Uraga Nautral being my preference of the bunch as I didn't really get any in that. I enjoy florality just fine in wine and spirits but I guess the lesson is I don't really like it in my coffee.
I won't be trying any until tomorrow as they just arrived this evening but I'm excited and couldn't wait until I actually brewed them. It'll be my first whole bean coffee. I'll probably need to bust out my small French press though so I can get the grinder figured out with smaller brews. They're only 4 oz sample bags so its not a ton to play around with. I'll make sure to pop back and share thoughts as I try them.
This was taken looking out over the Monument from the Head of the Rocks Overlook.
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Just seeing that made the theme song pop into me head full force. Crazy how things can stick with you.