Does anyone else out there get tired of making the same old meals?
Yeah, that's me too!
Since starting to make monthly meal plans, I realized that even though I do cook mostly from scratch, I had a tendency to make a lot of the same things. Sometimes once a month, sometimes twice a month. Or I'd try a new recipe and think it was just OK and then toss it.
I've tried those email recipe exchanges and they never seem to work.
I've looked through all my cookbooks and keep coming back to the same recipes. I don't really want to buy new cookbooks right now (OK, actually I do really want to but I'm restraining myself). I did buy one new one that I'll write about once I make some things from it, of course!
So I decided to take matters into my own hands and have a recipe party. I'm actually amazed that the idea for this thing came from my brain and was not something I got from someone else. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but once I planned the event, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of the idea sooner. And everyone who I invited thought it was such a great idea, even if they couldn't come. Several friends asked me to host another one so they could come the next time.
Here's how it worked. There are, of course, no hard and fast rules to follow when hosting a party like this one. You can make changes for whatever works best for you. This was just how I did it.
I sent an invitation to a lot of people! I was hoping for a lot of new recipes and selfishly, it was a chance for me to see some friends who no longer live nearby. I also opened up the invitation to anyone who came to bring a friend as well. In total, I had 14 women come together for the event. I was certainly hoping for more but we had a fantastic time together. I also told anyone who couldn't come that if they sent me five recipes, I'd send all the ones from the party. No one took advantage of this great offer like I was hoping, but I thought it was worth a shot!
I asked each person who was coming to email me five recipes, mostly main or side dishes, that are family favorites or "go to" meals they like to make. Each woman was then to bring one of those dishes to the party for all of us to try, sort of like a big potluck. I thought it would be fun to actually try some of the food first, and truthfully, I just like to eat, so that was an incentive as well.
I compiled the recipes together in one document which took a lot longer than I thought it would. I didn't have to retype anything, but I wanted everything formatted the same. I also wanted to keep soups, main dishes, salads, desserts, etc...together so everytime I cut and pasted from the emails everyone sent, I had to readjust a few things. I think I'd be faster at it next time around but it is something to keep in mind.
At first, I was going to give all the recipes out that night but it ended up being over 50 pages and that seemed like a waste of paper so I printed out just the recipes that were brought that night and emailed the rest to everyone. That way, they could print only the ones they wanted to try. I put the recipes in a small binder inside plastic sleeves and gave one to each person who came. I also included some blank copies of my recipe planning sheets, to get them started if they were interested. I had talked to a lot of friends who were hoping to do some better meal planning and recipe organization and thought this might help jumpstart that process.
That's basically it. Easy right? We had a great time and the food was really awesome. It really was a great way to have a girls night with some good food and wine and get inspired to cook some new meals in the process. I have put a lot of the new recipes I received in my menu plan for April and I'm excited to try them.
The other great part about the night is that a lot of them wanted to host their own party so I of course invited myself to their shindigs, whenever they decide to give it a go. I'm hoping to collect enough new recipes to have a new cookbook and won't have to buy one!
It really was a lot of fun and I encourage you to try this one on your own with some friends. You could make adaptations in a lot of different ways. One of my friends who came that evening wants to do this sort of thing on a small scale on a monthly basis. We're looking into doing that together. I'll let you know if it works out!
So go on! Do it! Grab some friends, some wine, some recipes and have at it!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
What's For Dinner?
If you follow any foodie-type blogs or people who love writing about food, you will probably come across their meal plan for the week. I've seen a lot of blogs where each week, they faithfully post what they are eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I think it's always interesting to see what other people are eating, to see if we are in any way similar to other people or if we have these strange tastes, or if they do! On a recent comment, I was asked to show my menu plan. I don't have a scanner, nor do I know how to post or link to other documents so I can't do that, although I'd be happy to show you what it looks like. So instead I thought I'd just list our last two weeks of dinners, just to give you a feel for what we eat around here.
I think of our meals as pretty plain, normally. I like to cook simple food, without many ingredients, and it's mostly homemade. Again, I don't develop my own recipes and I love to get ideas from other people (hence, my most recent adventure in hosting a recipe party, which I'll post about soon). I have found our kids tend to like things pretty plain. I'm not sure if that's a phase or just how their tastes are in general. For example, I tried a new recipe last week making chicken curry which I thought was pretty great but they just ate plain rice. So, as I'm sure many of you know, wanting to cook a variety of meals can be tricky with young eaters.
When looking at what people eat, it can be somewhate misleading as to what eating 'real food' looks like. For example, when I say we eat "spaghetti and meatballs," I make my own sauce (normally, unless there's not time and then I use a jar of Muir Glen organic instead), and we use mostly Jerusalem articoke spaghetti or spinach spaghetti or a combination of both. There are many different varieties of pasta, wheat, spelt, etc...and not necessarily are all of them healthy choices. I make my own meatballs with beef we get from a local farmer. We order a quarter of a cow every year that we freeze. The cows are grass-fed (even with 3 feet of snow on the ground recently, they were out in a cleared space) and not treated with any type of inhumane practice of any kind. When we pick eggs up from the same farmer, we see them out in the field and say hello, knowing they will be butchered to give us nourishment. I never buy meat from the grocery store, and probably wouldn't eat it if we didn't have a local source.
We are certainly not perfect eaters, our kids have much more of a sweet-tooth than I would like (hmmm...wonder where they get that from??) and we do have times where we eat things I know we probably shouldn't. Eating healthy 'real foods' is a balancing act.
I say all of this because I do want to devote this blog to eating healthy foods and by saying what we eat could imply different things to different people. But I guess if you had questions, you could email me or comment and just ask. I certainly don't want to make sidenotes about every dish and exactly what's in it. But we do try to buy as many foods from local sources or organic sources as much as possible.
Anyway, as I ramble on and on, here's what we ate for the last two weeks!
Roast chicken, peas, mashed potatoes (I usually make a roast once a month and use the leftover chicken to make chicken salad, or other chicken meals during the week)
Chicken curry, rice
Spaghetti, meatballs, green beans
Wild flounder, sweet potatoes, asparagus
turkey burgers, homemade mac and cheese, carrots
Fettuccine alfredo (with a homemade sauce), broccoli
Tacos, guacamole (and yes, we use tortilla chips instead of shells)
Lentil soup
Homemade pizza (a new weekend favorite...we have it at least 2 times a month)
Chicken enchiladas
Fried rice, egg drop soup (a new recipe, not a family favorite which was too bad because it literally took 5 minutes to make)
Shepherd's pie
Grilled chicken, peas, sweet potatoes
Grilled steak, baked potatoes, green beans
So does that sound pretty normal to you?? I guess I look at what we eat like the same things most everyone eats. I do try to think about the source of the ingredients as much as possible. I guess I could do some more posts on my thinking behind that.
Here's what I'm planning to write about soon, in case you're interested in coming back to read more. I hope you are! I love to hear anyone who is inspired to make small changes!
My recipe party
Local farmers
Meat sources
Soaking grains
What's for breakfast and lunch?
Avocados
Homemade baby food
I think of our meals as pretty plain, normally. I like to cook simple food, without many ingredients, and it's mostly homemade. Again, I don't develop my own recipes and I love to get ideas from other people (hence, my most recent adventure in hosting a recipe party, which I'll post about soon). I have found our kids tend to like things pretty plain. I'm not sure if that's a phase or just how their tastes are in general. For example, I tried a new recipe last week making chicken curry which I thought was pretty great but they just ate plain rice. So, as I'm sure many of you know, wanting to cook a variety of meals can be tricky with young eaters.
When looking at what people eat, it can be somewhate misleading as to what eating 'real food' looks like. For example, when I say we eat "spaghetti and meatballs," I make my own sauce (normally, unless there's not time and then I use a jar of Muir Glen organic instead), and we use mostly Jerusalem articoke spaghetti or spinach spaghetti or a combination of both. There are many different varieties of pasta, wheat, spelt, etc...and not necessarily are all of them healthy choices. I make my own meatballs with beef we get from a local farmer. We order a quarter of a cow every year that we freeze. The cows are grass-fed (even with 3 feet of snow on the ground recently, they were out in a cleared space) and not treated with any type of inhumane practice of any kind. When we pick eggs up from the same farmer, we see them out in the field and say hello, knowing they will be butchered to give us nourishment. I never buy meat from the grocery store, and probably wouldn't eat it if we didn't have a local source.
We are certainly not perfect eaters, our kids have much more of a sweet-tooth than I would like (hmmm...wonder where they get that from??) and we do have times where we eat things I know we probably shouldn't. Eating healthy 'real foods' is a balancing act.
I say all of this because I do want to devote this blog to eating healthy foods and by saying what we eat could imply different things to different people. But I guess if you had questions, you could email me or comment and just ask. I certainly don't want to make sidenotes about every dish and exactly what's in it. But we do try to buy as many foods from local sources or organic sources as much as possible.
Anyway, as I ramble on and on, here's what we ate for the last two weeks!
Roast chicken, peas, mashed potatoes (I usually make a roast once a month and use the leftover chicken to make chicken salad, or other chicken meals during the week)
Chicken curry, rice
Spaghetti, meatballs, green beans
Wild flounder, sweet potatoes, asparagus
turkey burgers, homemade mac and cheese, carrots
Fettuccine alfredo (with a homemade sauce), broccoli
Tacos, guacamole (and yes, we use tortilla chips instead of shells)
Lentil soup
Homemade pizza (a new weekend favorite...we have it at least 2 times a month)
Chicken enchiladas
Fried rice, egg drop soup (a new recipe, not a family favorite which was too bad because it literally took 5 minutes to make)
Shepherd's pie
Grilled chicken, peas, sweet potatoes
Grilled steak, baked potatoes, green beans
So does that sound pretty normal to you?? I guess I look at what we eat like the same things most everyone eats. I do try to think about the source of the ingredients as much as possible. I guess I could do some more posts on my thinking behind that.
Here's what I'm planning to write about soon, in case you're interested in coming back to read more. I hope you are! I love to hear anyone who is inspired to make small changes!
My recipe party
Local farmers
Meat sources
Soaking grains
What's for breakfast and lunch?
Avocados
Homemade baby food
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Menu Planning Update
Last month, I finally dug in my heels and started planning a monthly menu. This was one of my goals for the year, to have more organized food plans. Even though we almost always cook from scratch, I was flying by the seat of my pants way too often. Here is my original post of how I got started.
I was pretty pleased with the first month. I enjoyed getting most of my staples in a single trip to our health food store. There were, of course, some forgotten items and a weekly trip to market for milk and produce, but it did feel like we were shopping less. I wouldn't say we spent any less than we normally do, but I think with time, I'll be able to get better at that.
I did make a few changes to my monthly planning sheet for March. I kept the same routine for planning dinners. I made a list of enough dinners for the month, trying to balance out beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian meals. Instead of writing down specific breakfast and lunch meals for the month, I just wrote a generic list of the things we normally eat for those meals. I'll share those ideas with you soon, just in case you're curious what we eat around here for that.
I also decided to make a weekly planning sheet as well. I found that only having a montly planning sheet required a lot of moving meals around. I made a chart that has seven blocks, one for each day of the week. Then I put a line for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is each block. I then take my generic lists for breakfast and lunch and fill one in for each day. I use the master list of dinners and fill those in as well. I like planning for the week this way because I plan easier dinners for the nights my husband works or if we have something going on in the evening. It was always hard for me to plan weekly until I made the master month list first. Below the dinner line I put a section for planning ahead. So if I need to take meat out, grind flour, or soak some grains (another new thing I'm trying-more on this later), or prep something, I won't forget to do it. Well, as long as I remember to look! This has made everything go so much more smoothly.
The other thing I put on the weekly planning sheet is a small space to the right of the dinner blocks where I can put any ingredients I didn't plan ahead for or things like fruit and vegetables I might need to get at the beginning of the week. It's kind of like having a weekly grocery list and since it's right next to the menu, again, it's a lot easier.
Has anyone else given this a try? I encourage you to do so!
I'm having a recipe party next weekend. Can't wait to share the details of how it goes!
I was pretty pleased with the first month. I enjoyed getting most of my staples in a single trip to our health food store. There were, of course, some forgotten items and a weekly trip to market for milk and produce, but it did feel like we were shopping less. I wouldn't say we spent any less than we normally do, but I think with time, I'll be able to get better at that.
I did make a few changes to my monthly planning sheet for March. I kept the same routine for planning dinners. I made a list of enough dinners for the month, trying to balance out beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian meals. Instead of writing down specific breakfast and lunch meals for the month, I just wrote a generic list of the things we normally eat for those meals. I'll share those ideas with you soon, just in case you're curious what we eat around here for that.
I also decided to make a weekly planning sheet as well. I found that only having a montly planning sheet required a lot of moving meals around. I made a chart that has seven blocks, one for each day of the week. Then I put a line for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is each block. I then take my generic lists for breakfast and lunch and fill one in for each day. I use the master list of dinners and fill those in as well. I like planning for the week this way because I plan easier dinners for the nights my husband works or if we have something going on in the evening. It was always hard for me to plan weekly until I made the master month list first. Below the dinner line I put a section for planning ahead. So if I need to take meat out, grind flour, or soak some grains (another new thing I'm trying-more on this later), or prep something, I won't forget to do it. Well, as long as I remember to look! This has made everything go so much more smoothly.
The other thing I put on the weekly planning sheet is a small space to the right of the dinner blocks where I can put any ingredients I didn't plan ahead for or things like fruit and vegetables I might need to get at the beginning of the week. It's kind of like having a weekly grocery list and since it's right next to the menu, again, it's a lot easier.
Has anyone else given this a try? I encourage you to do so!
I'm having a recipe party next weekend. Can't wait to share the details of how it goes!
Monday, February 22, 2010
A Cloth Diaper Giveaway!
OK, I don't do giveaways but lots of other super amazing bloggers do! And here's a great one from Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking. Envibum, a very cool cloth diaper company, is giving away a super cute, soft diaper to 3 lucky winners. You can read her review on this particular brand. Check it out at the link below if you are interested. If you want to read my link on our fave diaper, Fuzzi Bunz, to get an idea about cloth diapering, click here. I entered because they look awesome and her review had me sold. It's so fun to try new cloth diapers. Good luck if you enter!
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2010/02/envibum-giveaway.html
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2010/02/envibum-giveaway.html
Saturday, February 13, 2010
A Snowy Treat
So what else do you do with 3 feet of snow on the ground?
A little bit of this...
A little bit of this...
A little bit of that...
And a whole lot of...
And when you're all done with that (OK the kids are never done with playing in the snow but their mama is),
you can make some snow ice cream!!
What? Really?
Oh, yes, I was a bit skeptical. But it was oh so yummy!
And of course, it was not my recipe or my idea. Check out Laura from Heavenly Homemakers for all the details (Thanks, Jennifer, for the reminder). And yes, it really works! And it is REALLY tasty!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Food, Inc. Just See It!
I'm devoting this blog entry to encourage all of you who have not seen the move, Food Inc., to see it! I can't believe it took me this long to finally watch it!
If you haven't heard of the movie, here's a description directly from their website.
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
I wouldn't be able to do justice to the actual content of the film. I think it's best to see it for yourself and take it all in. Here are a few "highlights" to hopefully spur your interest a little. Nerdy me, of course, took some notes while watching so I could, as directly as possible, quote parts I felt were important to motivate you to watch.
"The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating because you wouldn't eat it."
They don't want you to know that a small group of multinational corporations control our food supply. It's a "world deliberately held from us."
The goal of meat companies to to make a lot of food on a small amount of land and sell cheaply so you buy it.
One hamburger patty you buy might contain over 1,000 different cattle.
We want to pay the cheapest price for food, BUT the price to pay for that is big companies and a cheap labor force. (By the way, all major corporations where intereviews were requested, declined ).
These large corporations use their POWER against farms, workers, and consumers. We are deliberately kept in the dark about what we eat and what it does in our bodies.
While much of the information in the movie wasn't new to me, it was eye opening to actually see with my eyes things that I've only read about as far as meat packing plants, large cattle farms, treatment of poultry, etc...
This movie might come as a shock to you, if you are unfamiliar with a lot of the facts presented. It might depress you, anger you a little, and hopefully above all, inspire change. If it doesn't make you change the way you look at food and go shopping, I would be surprised. Every small change you make after seeing the movie is a step in the right direction. I've heard some people say they wanted to become a vegetarian after seeing the movie. While I don't ever picture myself a vegetarian, I was certainly even more grateful for the small farms where we are able to purchase our meat.
I hope that you can see beyond just the meat industry, to how only a few small companies, basically control almost all the foods you would typically buy at the supermarket. How eating a bowl of cereal and milk or pulling into a drive through seems so innocent, and yet, how unhealthy it is and the sacrifice our nation's farmers have had to take.
Eating well does cost more. I've said that before. And while most of us are trying to spend less, food is one area where spending less has larger costs to our bodies and our world.
If you've seen the movie, or see it in the future, please share your feelings! And let others know about it. The more you know, the more power you have to make decisions about what you eat!
If you haven't heard of the movie, here's a description directly from their website.
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
I wouldn't be able to do justice to the actual content of the film. I think it's best to see it for yourself and take it all in. Here are a few "highlights" to hopefully spur your interest a little. Nerdy me, of course, took some notes while watching so I could, as directly as possible, quote parts I felt were important to motivate you to watch.
"The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating because you wouldn't eat it."
They don't want you to know that a small group of multinational corporations control our food supply. It's a "world deliberately held from us."
The goal of meat companies to to make a lot of food on a small amount of land and sell cheaply so you buy it.
One hamburger patty you buy might contain over 1,000 different cattle.
We want to pay the cheapest price for food, BUT the price to pay for that is big companies and a cheap labor force. (By the way, all major corporations where intereviews were requested, declined ).
These large corporations use their POWER against farms, workers, and consumers. We are deliberately kept in the dark about what we eat and what it does in our bodies.
While much of the information in the movie wasn't new to me, it was eye opening to actually see with my eyes things that I've only read about as far as meat packing plants, large cattle farms, treatment of poultry, etc...
This movie might come as a shock to you, if you are unfamiliar with a lot of the facts presented. It might depress you, anger you a little, and hopefully above all, inspire change. If it doesn't make you change the way you look at food and go shopping, I would be surprised. Every small change you make after seeing the movie is a step in the right direction. I've heard some people say they wanted to become a vegetarian after seeing the movie. While I don't ever picture myself a vegetarian, I was certainly even more grateful for the small farms where we are able to purchase our meat.
I hope that you can see beyond just the meat industry, to how only a few small companies, basically control almost all the foods you would typically buy at the supermarket. How eating a bowl of cereal and milk or pulling into a drive through seems so innocent, and yet, how unhealthy it is and the sacrifice our nation's farmers have had to take.
Eating well does cost more. I've said that before. And while most of us are trying to spend less, food is one area where spending less has larger costs to our bodies and our world.
If you've seen the movie, or see it in the future, please share your feelings! And let others know about it. The more you know, the more power you have to make decisions about what you eat!
Pass Me a Cup of Joe, Part 1
I love a good cup of coffee! Anyone else out there?? While I don't consider myself a coffee snob, I'm particular about how I drink my coffee, as most coffee lovers are. No sugar, only cream (has to be half and half, NOT milk). While half and half is not a health food by any means, I'm fortunate to have a source that only makes pasturized half and half versus ultra-pasturized (the same place where we buy our raw milk). Coffee is not something I've eliminated from my diet or have any intention to and I have no interest in drinking it black. Because of this, I try to buy fairly traded organic coffee or coffee roasted as close to home as possible from independent coffee companies. And yes, while Starbucks calls my name on occasion because we don't have many independent places in my area, I try to not frequent their store very often.
I asked my brother, the closest expert on the subject I know, to share a few thoughts on coffee in a short series. Hopefully, you'll find the topic as interesting as I do!
Coffee....the word that everyone knows, likes, loves, hates, takes with cream and sugar, is a snob about, or knows what their taste buds tell them.
My sister asked me to write a few things about the subject of coffee and share some thoughts. These thoughts come from 2.5 years of being a barista and a year of roasting experience, both for independent businesses whose owners care a great deal about coffee and providing it for their community.
While the subject of coffee can take many different roads, I'll start with the why. Why do you drink coffee? Is it a caffeine addiction? Do you like how it tastes in the morning or after dinner? Is it pleasurable to drink or have you formed a habit and merely kept it up? Do you like the many aromas and tastes you experience in the cup or is thinking about drinking a cup of hot liquid not really of interest to you?
Unless you answered that this subject is of no interest to you, then regardless of just having a caffeine addiction or enjoying the tastes and aromas of coffee, your experience with this well known drink can be more than you thought. Coffee is often compared to wine and chocolate in the sense that while it may seem simple (take a grape, smash it up and make a drink) the complexities of the whole process from start to finish have many factors, all contributing to the quality and experience of drinking it.
Our general enjoyment of coffee is dependent upon the region between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, which—except for Hawaii—we in the United States do not fall in. Therefore, the process begins far away from our kitchen counter. Because of this, when we buy coffee, our act is based on at least our preference of a certain kind, but it also involves a host of issues such as farmer relations, care of the roaster and why the coffee is sold (just for profit or a care beyond that). But when you think about it, these kinds of questions come or should come to mind no matter what we buy whether it's a new shirt or a pint of strawberries. The point is understanding and discerning how as a consumer you impact and care for what you buy. Don't worry, I'll stop there and just focus on coffee.
Let's take this in a 3-part series. Like part I, part II will be focused on coffee facts that will hopefully help you appreciate your next cup of joe, and in part III, I'll answer any questions you might have.
So if you have specific questions, feel free to comment or send an email.
I asked my brother, the closest expert on the subject I know, to share a few thoughts on coffee in a short series. Hopefully, you'll find the topic as interesting as I do!
Coffee....the word that everyone knows, likes, loves, hates, takes with cream and sugar, is a snob about, or knows what their taste buds tell them.
My sister asked me to write a few things about the subject of coffee and share some thoughts. These thoughts come from 2.5 years of being a barista and a year of roasting experience, both for independent businesses whose owners care a great deal about coffee and providing it for their community.
While the subject of coffee can take many different roads, I'll start with the why. Why do you drink coffee? Is it a caffeine addiction? Do you like how it tastes in the morning or after dinner? Is it pleasurable to drink or have you formed a habit and merely kept it up? Do you like the many aromas and tastes you experience in the cup or is thinking about drinking a cup of hot liquid not really of interest to you?
Unless you answered that this subject is of no interest to you, then regardless of just having a caffeine addiction or enjoying the tastes and aromas of coffee, your experience with this well known drink can be more than you thought. Coffee is often compared to wine and chocolate in the sense that while it may seem simple (take a grape, smash it up and make a drink) the complexities of the whole process from start to finish have many factors, all contributing to the quality and experience of drinking it.
Our general enjoyment of coffee is dependent upon the region between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, which—except for Hawaii—we in the United States do not fall in. Therefore, the process begins far away from our kitchen counter. Because of this, when we buy coffee, our act is based on at least our preference of a certain kind, but it also involves a host of issues such as farmer relations, care of the roaster and why the coffee is sold (just for profit or a care beyond that). But when you think about it, these kinds of questions come or should come to mind no matter what we buy whether it's a new shirt or a pint of strawberries. The point is understanding and discerning how as a consumer you impact and care for what you buy. Don't worry, I'll stop there and just focus on coffee.
Let's take this in a 3-part series. Like part I, part II will be focused on coffee facts that will hopefully help you appreciate your next cup of joe, and in part III, I'll answer any questions you might have.
So if you have specific questions, feel free to comment or send an email.
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