*ahem*

Been awhile, huh? :o/

Catching up would be nearly impossible, but I think the following cheat sheet to Irenaland Ver. 06 should be all you need to decipher the forthcoming entries:

1) Simon's - the coffeeshop where I've been part-timing since October
2) Intersession - the weeklong limbo inbetween first and second semesters; the reason I've started blogging agian
3) REUs - summer research programs for undergrads; I'm in the midst of applying to like 20 of these right now (see also: huge bitch)
4) MARBC - Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Championships; I'll probably be volunteering, and Peter's gonna be a judge. Road trip!!

Ok, I think that was a sufficiently unambitious post. Expectations low enough now?

good :o)

oh right! this is a coffee blog...

This week (technically 8/19-8/28) in coffee:

8/19: Received 2 mystery central americans and 1 production roast Yirg from Peter (of Terroir). Here are my notes from (blind-)tasting the centrals:

A: From the smell of the beans and the taste of the coffee, it definitely reminded me of a Kenya. It was really acidic, but simultaneously sweet, and I think I also identified 'beef' for the first time ever. Maybe some faint vanilla or sasparilla thrown in the mix. I had a hard time dissecting the flavors in this one...

B:  Strawberries.  And spinach/sencha tea.

So it turns out A was their new crop COE Honduras Mira Valle and B their 2004 Panama Jaramillo (<--as compelling a reason for green-freezing as any pf rant). The Panama is no longer for sale, but I cannot recommend the Honduras enough. If only those silly Actonites would stop dragging their heels and come out with the 2005 new crops already *cough* As for the Yirg, Peter seemed to think this batch was too mild, but I really enjoyed it. It was just really, uh, Yirg-y...clean lemon taste, delicate cane-sugar sweetness, etc. etc.


8/26: Last day of my internship!! Celebrated by meeting Steve at Intelly after work. I told him I would get there at 5, but arrived half an hour late because I got off at the wrong El station, starting walking in entirely the wrong direction, and then had to backtrack :o(. Sorry, Steve! Anyway, we talked there til around 6 about his plans to go to Seattle & Portland next month and other geeky things, and then I had to order my beans (1/2 lb Los Delirios) and run to catch the train. Ah yes, and he also kindly gave me a latte bowl to practice my art on. Pics of the bowl and my rudimentary art to come...


8/26 upon arriving home: I received a shipment of homeroast from Jon R! I've been playing with it this weekend, and . Since I'm more of a light/medium-bodied caramel-fruit-bomb (copyright Chris Tacy 2005) type, this heavy-bodied bittersweet nutty espresso (which I believe contains Yemen, Brazil, Malabar, Uganda) is taking quite a bit of getting used to as a straight shot. I do enjoy it a lot in short milk drinks, though, because its chocolatiness and sweetness cut through milk so well. When I made cappas for my parents, they both independently asked if I'd made them mochas.

Oh, and this new batch of Los Delirios? Not so good :o/...I think it was overroasted or something. The SOS's I've pulled of it can't compare with the ones I was getting last week, and it exhibited a distracting bitterness every time I french-pressed it.

*****

Oh, and I've finally decided on which classes to shop next semester:
-Math 122: Abstract Algebra - Group Theory and Vector Spaces
-Math 124: Number Theory
-Math 131: Topology
-Econ 1011a: Macroeconomic Thry (mv calc-based)
-Comparative Lit 151: the faust legend in literature
-Comparative Lit 164: the 20th century postrealist novel in east europe
-Philosophy 172: Modern Moral Philosophy
-Science B: you know

Right now, I'm thinking I'll probably end up with 122, 124, 1011a, 164, and maybe 91r.

clint eastwood: overrated

Sorry guys, but it's time for yet another unsolicited movie rant:

Here are 3 things you could do with 132 minutes:
-Listen to the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (1st mvt) 7.something times
-Make 33 cappuccinos
-Count 7920 sheep
-etc.
Whatever you do, do NOT waste those precious seconds watching the movie Million Dollar Baby. Were there really so few good movies last year that they had to give 'Best Picture' to this vehemently misguided POS? As you probably know, the second half of this movie revolves around the issue of assisted suicide. And, really, the first half (the boxing half) is just a very elaborate build-up of motive for what's to come, of a reason (for murder) that's ultimately summed up withMorgan Freedman's character saying something like, "...at least if she dies tonight, she'll die knowing that 'she did alright'."
Alright at what? "...the world championship," he adds.
Of what? Women's. Boxing.
Sorry, I don't mean to come across as having something against Women's Boxing. Actually, she could have 'done alright' at the _________ of ________, and the message of the movie would still have been this: a person's life is only meaningful and worthwhile when lived in pursuit of his/her one, individual, self(ishly)-proclaimed life's purpose. On top of this, some of the symbolism in the movie even seems to insinuate that Eastwood's character has birthed Swank into some kind of second life, and that he is therefore entitled--nay, obligated--to bring her out of it when he sees fit...which is so crazy that I think it speaks for itself.

After watching this movie, I couldn't help contrasting it with Amenabar's similarly-themed 'The Sea Inside.' (For some weird reason, I've seen like 4 euthenasia-themed movies this summer.) With only a simple plot, it was able to address more about suicide and the Sisyphean nature of life than Million Dollar Baby was able to do with a sprawling two-part storyline, dozens of readymade sports cliches, better lead actors, AND Morgan Freedman's sexy voice. So, so disappointed.

Ah, 8/16...

...a refreshing change from the 12-hr-workday uncaffeinated hell that was yesterday. I got a few more projects to work on for the rest of my time at AI, all of which seem pretty interesting and nontrivial.

U of I's schoolyear is starting up again soon, so I'm doing a lot of seeing-people-off this week. This evening, I went out with Justin (who's inexplicably gone all 'sergeant pepper' on me over the summer...) We had dinner at Joy Yee's (MSG-ed!!*), after which we saw Must Love Dogs (saccharin/e in every sense of the word: artificial & sickeningly-sweet)
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun. 'Twas good seeing that he's still as weird as ever.

p.s.: read this <--most satisfying "oh snap!" moment in pitchfork history

*******

Oh, and I have some informal tasting notes on the espressi I've been trying lately (all from Intelly):

Kid O: creamy, slightly lighter body than Black Cat, very smooth (in fact, so smooth that I thought I was missing something...) I also found it kind of nutty, but not as overwhelmingly chocolaty as some have reported.

Organic Nicaragua Los Delirios: So good!! Viscous and caramelly, peachy (or, more precisely, a slightly musty fruit flavor), some chocolate? And the shots had an appearance to match: tight, plentiful crema with a monochrome reddish-gold sheen.

I also tried Guatemala El Cuervo as a single origin: twice as espresso and once as an americano. I know Matt Riddle recommended it as a source for SOS's on HB, but it's way too acidic for my tastes. The americano was pleasant and had a nice candyish aftertaste, but was rather uninteresting. Then again, I haven't had an americano in about 3 months; maybe I just don't like them anymore...

*brownie points to the first person who tells me where that's from

drunk post redux

'Be always drunken. Nothing else matters: that is the only question. If you would not feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually.
Drunken with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will. But be drunken.
And if sometimes, on the stairs of a palace, or on the green side of a ditch, or in the dreary solitude of your own room, you should awaken and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you, ask of the wind, or of the star, or of the bird, or of the clock, of whatever flies, or sighs, or rocks, or sings, or speaks, ask what hour it is; and the wind, wave, star, bird, clock, will answer you: 'It is the hour to be drunken! Be drunken, if you would not be martyred slaves of Time; be drunken continually! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.'

-Baudelaire

Today would have been exhausting/boring/utterly disappointing if I weren't so blissfully drunk on Los Delirios espressi and the last act of 'Long Day's Journey into Night'...

all the (geeky) girls go to the city (do d-do d-do)

My coffee stash has been running critically low and, having just realized (stupid, stupid) that Monadnock is only a 36 min El ride from my workplace, I made a trip to Intelly after work to buy some beans. Ended up getting 1/3 lbs of both Kid O and El Cuervo. I also got some Los Inmortales drip, which was pretty good, but real astringent...maybe because they gave me the dregs... Awell, I can't complain---they also didn't charge me ;o).

Can't say anything about this batch of Kid O yet, but the El Cuervo is very, very good. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I *believe* it's the newly-arrived 2005 crop. In any case, it's definitely a very clean cup. Real light-bodied. Very sweet, mild acidity ("swash-buckling acidity"? err...), toasty/chocolate aroma. As Michelle says: Pre-tty!

Oh, and finally: a shoutout to my coffee buddy, Ben, through whom I've been vicariously geeking out lately. He just finished some heavy-duty modding on his Isomac Rituale:

Anyway, it's inspired me to do a similar mod of my own (hopefully before the summer is over). Since my Expobar's group isn't a true E61 w/ preinfusion, though, (I think?) I'm going to stick my probe up above the showerhead rather than in the preinfusion chamber. Seeing as I suck at anything applied/practical/useful, though, I'm really just hoping not to get electrocuted...

Oh, and the picture above is of the best band in the world.
(Spoon)
Kenya:Coffee::Britt Daniel:Music

chicago

Before my report on Chicago, an irrelevant story:

In the car yesterday, my dad was listening to this CD of really bad Chinese 80s rock (?). I was sleepy and wasn't paying too much mind to it at first, but after a while, I noticed something strange: the song playing was undeniably Rudie Can't Fail (or at least a really schmoozy version of it, with different lyrics and sung in Chinese)! And the next one? Jimmy Jazz. So after we got home, I took out London Calling, went back and forth between the two, and found that just about every song on the Chinese album was some warped cover of a Clash song. OK, so maybe I have too much time...still rather pleased with myself, though. :o)

After that, I practiced violin and did some Bulgarian math problems for about 2 hrs, then started dialing in the Kid O espresso I got yesterday.

I have a feeling that I'm going to be another Kid O convert. First off, the beans: they smell amazing, seem to be of good quality, and are much closer to my preferred roast level (unlike BC, they show no hint of oil). And last night, after a couple garbage shots, I got 2 quite good ones which both confirmed that Kid O is much sweeter and chocolatier than BC. It also has a slightly thinner body and is roasted lightly enough that it retains a slight fruity note (all good things.) I'll post more detailed notes about taste and how I'm pulling the shots after the weekend.

Now sufficiently caffeinated, I headed to Barnes and Nobles downtown to browse for an hour or two. Ended up spending the entire stay reading Bukowski's Slouching Towards Nirvana, which was so worth it. To be honest, I'm not sure how good a poet he really is; the 'poems' are more like rhythmically-conscious prose. But it doesn't even matter, because they ring so true and unexpectedly wise, and are so deliciously infused with cynical/boozy/dirty-old-man ness (surprisingly, also all good things.) <--someone told me that the convention is to put the period outside the parentheses now. true/false?


****

Chicago


I ended up going to the Art Institute with a friend from work. We left around 3:30, got on the Blue Line around 3:40 ... somehow *missed* downtown chicago because we were talking and ended up taking the train to the end of the line, took another one back, and finally arrived in the loop around 5:20. Luckily, the station was right across the street from Monadnock, so we stopped there for some quick drinks.

When Peter and I went to Intelly a few weeks ago (this is not entirely non sequitor) and when we were cupping at Jim Schulman's house, he always did this thing where he stuck his entire nose into the cup before sniffing it. So, when I got my double at Monadnock, I decided to try the same thing. Well, first I sniffed it gingerly. Then, I stuck my nose really close to the espresso, sniffed...a little too enthusiastically, and ended up snorting my demitasse of black cat. It stung really bad. I ran over to the napkins as discreetly as possible, but one of the guys behind the counter had already come over to ask if I'd broken my nose (huh??). He kindly offered to make me another espresso, which was much better than the first ;o). After I finished it, I also ordered a half-lb of Kid O and a capp to go. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that during all this hoopla, Carrie was enjoying her first real latte (w/ very pretty latte art) ever. A new coffeegeek is born? We'll see...

(have to run right now; i'll finish up the chicago post later)