Coffee

Looking back on what I have written about Hawaii, I smugly thought to myself…

I have most certainly written everything that has to be said about travel to, living on and returning safely from the Big Island of Hawaii.

Fail on that account.

This trip was entirely different – we embraced it differently – we approached it more from a “If this is the last time we do Big Island Hawaii for a while, let’s approach it like the buffet table on the 1st night of a cruise…” perspective.
Which was very effective. Did more stuff. Went more places.

Photo above – the up view at Magic Sands Beach – Alii Drive Kona – could have shot my horizontal perspective but that would have been bikini’s and bronzed dudes!

Tried some different things. Have a few more things to suggest. And some warnings for those who need to be reminded that, hey, listen up… there are hazards and you need to be warned.

Directing that more yours truly than anything else – but it makes for a good story I think.

Right off the top, this is going to be the last month long departure from home for some time to come. We both work – we both have a solid family connection here – and dang it, I love Victoria and I am a home body – and becoming more of one as time goes on.

That said, 25 odd days in paradise is hard to beat. And I have discovered a couple of things.

Thing A:) I take very little time winding down into the Island groove… often as little as a couple of days – this time was no exception.
Here is how it works: Plane arrives on Kona mid-day. Get off plane. Get baggage. Collect some brochures after visiting the lav. Get on shuttle to rental car kiosk. Thank you to Avis for years of great service! Drive to Kona Brewing company for a pizza and a beer. Drive to Cost Co for a quick shop. Drive to Safeway for some more supplies. Drive to Kona village condo to “get in” and dump bags. By 4 PM we are by the pool with a drink in our hands. If we are feeling energetic, we head down to “Don the Beachcomber” (great Mai Tai, very sketchy food) for a quick snack and a couple of strong drinks…
and in bed early because we are exhausted from being up at 5 AM for the 6:30AM connector flight from Victoria to Seattle.

Photo above – Iki Crate hike – 2.5 hours – take a minimum of 1 liter of water per person. You will lose this amount of fluid. I did and I didn’t have enough water. Result: Next chapter.

Note to readers: I avoid Vancouver International Airport in favor of Seattle because, IMHO, everything is better in Seattle. Another blog on this subject in the future.

Early days in Kona include medium to long walks early in the day to get acclimated – Kona is not tropical and not overly hot but it is not the North West and you will get dehydrated pretty quickly if you do not pay attention and badly sunburned if you do not load up with sun block.

So – quickly: What did we do more differently?
The weather was really good and the surf was not too high so we spent way more time at Magic Sands Beach on Alii Drive – a great small beach about 1.5 miles from our Condo (at the Hale Kona Kai…) It is a great beach for body surfing (board surfing further down the beach) and snorkel. Average shore break is 3 to 7 feet this time of year and has to be considered very, very dangerous to those not familiar with Hawaii water hazards.

Photo above – the calm that is Alii Drive on a Wednesday (Cruise ship day) directly across the street from Island Lava Java Cafe – photo by Shari Morkin of Illinois

More people drown in Hawaii than any other state or Province in North America.
In 3 visits early on in our trip I witnessed three mishaps requiring Life guard and/or first responder intervention – Life guards in Hawaii actually are Firemen if I did my research correctly.

A couple of the mishaps involved turning ones back on the water. Here is the thing. Never, ever turn your back on the ocean – If you are in the wrong position when the wave breaks it is like having a 600 sq. foot apartment filled with water dropped on you. Best case scenario – you will get picked up and tossed backward 15 or 20 feet. Worse case: You will tumble under the water and your head and neck will get pushed into the sand. I saw both these things happen – and it is not pretty – and it is particularly frightening if you are just visiting and this is the start of your vacation.

Personally, I learned my water limits in 1996 – and that means never go much further out that waist level in the water – because the breakers are going to be double or triple that. Prepare to jump or tuck and torpedo under the approaching break – know how and it will save your life.

In the next chapter, more about… you guessed it… Hawaii!
Hawaii Photo-Gallery here.

Meal at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on Alii Drive in Kona.

This place was massively hammered by the Tsunami in March 2011 – the community pulled together and had the restaurant up and running again in 24 hours. That was the way it was all the way around the damage zone.

Many people do not know this but the Kona Village (some 25 minutes up the highway towards N. Kona and Kohala – was utterly devastated by the wave – and they will not be rebuilding. Sadly, they had one of the best Luau going.

Anyway. Nature lashes out – and people pull together.

Below is a shot of nature at its gentlest. A sunset. We get one a day.
Enjoy it folks. It is a precious thing.
Click on the photo for the bigger view

Shared a picnic table with a friendly, but slightly twitchy praying mantis – eventually he walked onto a stick (a real stick) and moved off to a safer area.

We met with the good folks from Blue Horse Kona down in Kealakekua Bay – home of great swimming and snorkel activities – this was also an area that was hard hit by the tsunami of March 2011 – whole houses were ripped off of their foundations and dragged out into the bay.

The view here is spectacular – Kealakekua Bay is home to the Captain Cook memorial and the works largest cliff side mausoleum – (more on that on a later blog of our trip…)

Photo taken by former art director for Prada (yea, the fashion company…) – Joachim, owner partner at Blue Horse Kona Coffee. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

Proving several things.
God has a sense of humor – watching this fella (or lady) struggle to get up to the dry lava rock, tells me that we all have our struggles but there is always a reward.

And that we are not the only important creatures on this planet (having seen a dozen whales and hundreds of dolphins the last few weeks…)

Sometimes the best part of getting away, is getting in touch with reality.

Photo taken from at least 25-35 feet away with a long zoom – Turtles are protected and should not be approached, harassed or played with.

A subtle reminder that there are great places on the planet – peaceful, surrounded by a vast ocean, seemingly insulated from the rigors of daily life… at least for a few weeks of the year.

Photo below: The balcony at the Hale Kona Kai – Kona, Hawaii.

A typical day in Kona Hawaii almost always involves a cup of great coffee to start your day – a swim at one of many great sandy beaches – often with shore break capable of breaking your neck – so show respect…

And the people! The people of the Island of Hawaii love their life and they love their guests.
What better gig than to live and work here – Like Dr. Shawn Steiman (photo below to the right of yours truly — the visitor…)

Shawn is doing some work with the local coffee community and we are catching up over coffee at Kona de Pele Coffee on Alii Drive, Kona. Arguably some of the best coffee to be drinking – brewed right – Hario pour over – measured and brewed to precision.

Next photo: Typical sunset off of our lanai off of Alii Drive in Kona Hawaii – this is what we look at, day after day – if you have never seen a sunset like this, you owe yourself the pleasure of the visit.

By Pedro Pérez

In the community of Nuevo Progreso, Oaxaca, revolution is underway. This is not the kind of revolution that calls people to arms. It is not the kind of revolution that, in the end, will only work to the advantage of those in power. If successful, this revolution will change the landscape of Nuevo Progreso—and possibly the entire region—and will give the land back to the people.
During my latest program trip to the community of Nuevo Progreso, located in the western part of the state of Oaxaca, in the Costa Chica region, I witnessed the beginning of what appears to be a radical change in the way farmers cultivate their land.

Just 30 miles from Nuevo Progreso is the Learning Center for Appropriated Technologies (CATA), a place where agronomists and farmers come together to experiment with new agricultural techniques and rescue long-forgotten ones. According to agronomists at the CATA, the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture has been detrimental to the fertility of the soil, caused significant deforestation and has led to great environmental harm in the region and, specifically, in the community of Nuevo Progreso.

These agronomists and a number of local farmers have proposed replacing slash-and-burn methods with better land management and agroecological techniques. One of the practices farmers from Nuevo Progreso are initiating is crop rotation and the introduction of nitrogen-fixing plants such as Mucuna pruriens, better known in the region as the “Nescafe” plant (not to be confused with the brand Nescafé). This plant, praised in Africa, India and the Caribbean for its medicinal and horticultural benefits, will help farmers recover their land by enriching it, thereby better enabling them to live off the land as they have for generations.

Among the many benefits found in the “Nescafe” plant is the ability to fix nitrogen to the soil, thanks to bacteria that assimilate nitrogen from the air and mix it with other chemicals to produce organic fertilizer. Mucuna pruriens is also used as fodder for its high fiber and protein content. In the community of Nuevo Progreso, 24 farmers currently cultivate this plant and rotate it with their usual corn, bean and squash crops. The “Nescafe” plant also shows promise in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and clinical depression.

The farmers of Nuevo Progreso have taken the first steps in regaining control of their land. The revolution has begun. A big part of the success or failure of this revolution lay in the hands of the farmers themselves and their ability to take advantage of their acquired knowledge, especially the agroecological practice of cultivating “Nescafe” to once again make the land fertile, allowing them to cultivate higher-quality coffee.

Sitting by the pool today noticed a glint in the ocean… which was around 15 feet away.

I know – begs the question: Why build a small heated pool a few feet away from a gargantuan sized salty heated pool. Who am I to argue.
While we sunned by the pool we could hear the shouts of folks in their shuttered condos watching Sunday football – I know… that does not make sense either.

Hawaii – truly a land of mystery.

The real mystery awaits you below – it caught our eye. An iridescent glow above and below the water – like purple laser beams that flashed brighter as waves of water passed over the outcropping – I am assuming a fluorescent algae bloom – honestly, I have never seen anything like it. For once, a photo does no justice.

Will try and do a photo a day to encapsulate my experience.

Below our balcony – again, inches from the Pacific Ocean. This fellow flirted with the ocean life for an hour and came up empty handed… or did he?

Having acquiesced to pressure from my chief significant other (she) having grown tired of watching me hover over my Asus Eee PC 4G (and its 7” screen) like a microbiologist examining a specimen…

I finally departed mid-2007 and came into the modern times with a Toshiba Netbook model NB555D. In good time too – we have been hauling the little Asus around the World (well, back and forth to Hawaii to be exact) for many years now – running its native Fischer-Price style of Linux (Xandros if I am not mistaken…) and a handful of Live USB sticks with iterations of Ubuntu just to be safe.

I had just become fully comfortable manipulating the OS on this little sub-notebook sized unit (just installed “Leeenux” – a light duty version of Ubuntu even less bloated than Easy Peasy… The Asus Eee runs great, still does – and it will travel more – just not on the next Hawaii trip – coming up in a few weeks.

The search for a slightly better netbook was not a long one – managed to zero in on the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D fairly quickly. Simplified by the fact that I did not want another Asus (at least right away), did not want a Sony, and did not want anything running Android on a device that would be locked to that OS.

What I found kind of interesting and slightly annoying was the complete lack of any credible peer reviews of the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D – nothing. One 1 paragraph review and a you tube link. The rest were ads and zero content lazy shills with links to vendors – more of the net seems to be like that sadly.

Anyway – what of the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D? With a 10.1” LED back-lit screen and a decent size keyboard (for my large hands…) and an energy scrimping Ghz AMD processor – (superior video processing to its Intel brethren in another similar model number) – and an attractive blue shell (and an interesting finish…) I guess I was prepared to be happy from the moment of purchase.

That would not come immediately.

The Toshiba Netbook model NB555D ships with Windows 7 “starter” – but let’s call it what it is – Windows “stripped down” is more like it – but that is OK all things considered. And here is one reason why:
Windows 7 is a memory guzzler. The Toshiba Netbook model NB555D ships with 1Gb of DDR3 1066Mhz RAM – which is what the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D needs to be happy – leaving little left over for apps.

Out of the box, the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D is a slug until it gets through a series of software updates and software self optimization (A windows 7 feature – it actually “learns” some of your preferences and practices as you use it more…)
One of the first things I did was axe the “Norton Starter” that comes with it – I use AVG Free for virus protection but Microsoft Essentials (Free anti-virus) would have been a good choice too.

Next I loaded “CRAP Cleaner” – a great tool from Piriform.com (also free) and got into the start-up manager and pulled a bunch of useless utilities and “launch speeders” that accelerated the appearance of the “Login screen” from a miserable minute and a half to a respectable 50 seconds.

In a head to head with the 2007 Asus Eee 4G PC, the faster machine (the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D) actually lagged the Asus oldie in every instance.
Using Crap Cleaner really got things zipping – still slower than the much older Asus however. More on its performance after I upgrade to 2G of RAM (in a few days)… with more user comments and software tweak suggestions!

Beetles mating, baby coffee trees, slipping in the mud, and a burro. This is just a very quick-edit I made of some nice shots I took in Honduras a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Here I am getting a feel for the spoken portion of the 2011 Coffee Lovers Buyers guide! Let me know what you think. In this track, we chat about the best (in our opinion) gift ideas for your coffee drinking friends and loved on. – if you cannot see the audio widget below, click here.

Here I am getting a feel for the spoken portion of the 2011 Coffee Lovers Buyers guide! Let me know what you think. In this track, David Evans of Stick in the Mud – Sooke, B.C. and I chat about coffee. – if you cannot see the audio widget below, click here.

Here I am getting a feel for the spoken portion of the 2011 Coffee Lovers Buyers guide! Let me know what you think. This snippet is a very tolerable minute or so. – if you cannot see the audio widget below, click here.

Thanks! And all the best of the season. Should have this done by Monday as promised.

Special thanks to all of the friends, supporters, members and partners who make our work possible. As 2011 comes to a close, we look forward to your support in the coming year to ensure a bright future for the coffee-farming families we serve.

We’re delighted by our supporters’ creativity and their fundraising efforts.

Square Mile Coffee Roasters is selling the 2012 World Barista Champion calendar. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Coffee Kids. The calendar is available for purchase at Square Mile’s online shop. Get your copy today!

For the second year in a row, Reunion Island Coffee is selling their limited edition Organic Holiday Blend and will donate $.25 per pound to Coffee Kids.

Boston Stoker, which has nine coffee shops and a wholesale roasting plant in the Dayton, Ohio area, recently sent in $6,000 from the coin drops they use to collect donations from their customers and staff.

These are just a few examples of the ways businesses and individuals raise money on our behalf. Fundraisers help educate your customers and staff about the reality of life in coffee-growing communities. They also let members of your community know that you care about the origin of your coffee. A coin drop box collection program is perfect for retail locations like coffee shops, restaurants and bookstores. Coin drops provide consistent and much-needed support for Coffee Kids programs.

If you’d like information about how to set up a coin drop at your business or about setting up a fundraiser, download our fundraising guide (PDF) here and please call 505-820-1443 or email members@coffeekids.org.

Special thanks to all of the friends, supporters, members and partners who make our work possible. As 2011 comes to a close, we look forward to your support in the coming year to ensure a bright future for the coffee-farming families we serve.

We’re delighted by our supporters’ creativity and their fundraising efforts.

•Square Mile Coffee Roasters is selling the 2012 World Barista Champion calendar. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Coffee Kids. The calendar is available for purchase at Square Mile’s online shop. Get your copy today!

•For the second year in a row, Reunion Island Coffee is selling their limited edition Organic Holiday Blend and will donate $.25 per pound to Coffee Kids.

•Boston Stoker, which has nine coffee shops and a wholesale roasting plant in the Dayton, Ohio area, recently sent in $6,000 from the coin drops they use to collect donations from their customers and staff.

These are just a few examples of the ways businesses and individuals raise money on our behalf. Fundraisers help educate your customers and staff about the reality of life in coffee-growing communities. They also let members of your community know that you care about the origin of your coffee. A coin drop box collection program is perfect for retail locations like coffee shops, restaurants and bookstores. Coin drops provide consistent and much-needed support for Coffee Kids programs.

If you’d like information about how to set up a coin drop at your business or about setting up a fundraiser, download our fundraising guide (PDF) here and please call 505-820-1443 or email members@coffeekids.org.

Special thanks to all of the friends, supporters, members and partners who make our work possible. As 2011 comes to a close, we look forward to your support in the coming year to ensure a bright future for the coffee-farming families we serve.

We’re delighted by our supporters’ creativity and their fundraising efforts.

Square Mile Coffee Roasters is selling the 2012 World Barista Champion calendar. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Coffee Kids. The calendar is available for purchase at Square Mile’s online shop. Get your copy today!

For the second year in a row, Reunion Island Coffee is selling their limited edition Organic Holiday Blend and will donate $.25 per pound to Coffee Kids.

Boston Stoker, which has nine coffee shops and a wholesale roasting plant in the Dayton, Ohio area, recently sent in $6,000 from the coin drops they use to collect donations from their customers and staff.

These are just a few examples of the ways businesses and individuals raise money on our behalf. Fundraisers help educate your customers and staff about the reality of life in coffee-growing communities. They also let members of your community know that you care about the origin of your coffee. A coin drop box collection program is perfect for retail locations like coffee shops, restaurants and bookstores. Coin drops provide consistent and much-needed support for Coffee Kids programs.

If you’d like information about how to set up a coin drop at your business or about setting up a fundraiser, download our fundraising guide (PDF) here and please call 505-820-1443 or email members@coffeekids.org.

By Pedro Pérez

We often forget about teamwork, about lending a hand to others in need, or simply helping each other out. We live in a society where individual values are often more important than community values, and where things get done when you have the money to pay for someone to do them. During two recent program trips around the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, I visited two communities where communal work is still a way of life and an essential tradition. This type of communal work is referred to (at least in Oaxaca) as tequio and derives from the Nahuatl word tequitl, which means labor or tribute.

The tequio is, according to some people I interviewed, a way to get things done, a way to carry out big projects that the community needs and the government is unable to fund. Some of these projects might include laying the floor for the basketball court (this is, after all, the usual meeting point in most Oaxacan communities), or bringing basic services to the community: electricity, running water or a road to connect them to other communities. At least one family member from every family in the community must contribute to the tequio every time they are called upon.

The few times I have seen a tequio, I have been completely blown away by the amount of work each individual puts toward the welfare of the community without receiving an apparent economic benefit. This group effort gives the people a sense of community that is essential to maintaining order and progress.

The tequio has been, and I can only guess that it will continue to be, very important to some of the communities where Coffee Kids works, not only because economic resources are limited, but because the value of helping each other is deeply rooted in their traditions. We could all learn a little from these communities about the benefit of putting the well-being of the community as a whole before individual economic gain.

When a great restaurant opens, there is one big mistake that a diner can make – and that is…

Not getting there early – that is, when the place first opens… Well, it can be problematic.

Because as time passes, the legend (and reputation) of the restaurant develops and with that, your expectations – particularly on your first visit.

And so you know, this is not quite like taking your first trip to San Francisco or the Napa or Sonoma Valley and picking out some established places – which are probably guaranteed to be good based on “travel expectations”. Which is another phenomenon entirely… Not like that at all.

So. ULLA. It has been open over a year (maybe 1.5 years…) and the reviews have been stunning. Apparently it has achieved a coveted Top-10 Enroute rating from Air Canada… OK. Checked the link. Yes it has. Impressive.

We booked a week or so in advance because this place tends to be busy – because of its reputation. And we landed on a very, very blustery Wet Coast Victoria evening while thousands of folks were without power, Ferry boats were docked and flights grounded. Consequently, there were a few cancellations at ULLA. No problem.

The room has a comfortable and warm feeling to it – we received a very friendly greeting at the door with an offer to take our coats – We were dining with another couple who had never been there – they were seated and giddy with excitement.
Menu’s and wine list immediately in hand we were given plenty of time to mull over the adult beverage selection and ask any preemptive questions about the menu or the ULLA concept.

Within a few minutes we had glasses of wine in hand and were quickly zeroing in on appetizers and mains.
Andrea had the 63 degree soft poached Egg on a brioche, with chanterelles, cipollini onions, black garlic jus, and parmesan. Well presented but kind of a single note item – like it was missing something extra on the plate to offer contrast.
Please note that Andrea’s palette is way more advanced than mine – in short, she is a super-taster and can pull flavors off of the plate and scents out of the air that a bloodhound would miss. It is an amazing talent to see at work.
Our couple friends (much to my chagrin) ordered two of the same appetizers; Escargot… 6 on the plate with lots of drizzle flourishes.
Note: These were not just ordinary snails – they were basil fed snails.
Yup. Not kidding.
Our friends thought they were yummy, that there was not a lot of snail on the plate and that it was more art than substance. Not a nit pick folks, just an observations.

My appetizer: Edremit, gemlik, castelvetrano and picholine.

Any ideas folks?

Olives. For whatever reason, I ordered a bowl of olives to nibble on. I love olives and these were all very tasty, different and appetizing.

Mains: Here was one of those times where I felt like smacking my friends on the head.
Andrea, Steve and Sharon had the pork tenderloin…
Still meadow farm pork loin, braised cabbage, Potato roesti (hash brown), celery root, bacon, cheddar, apple, gastrique (Gastrique is caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar, used as a flavoring for sauces…)

The pork was perfectly prepared and presented on the three plates – a veritable art gallery of small items to taste and enjoy.

I had the halibut cheeks on a bed of beluga lentils and roast sugared almonds, tents of steamed spinach and grilled baby cauliflower caps. The cheeks were slightly overdone and watery but everything else was dreamy and perfect. I could have eaten a plate of the lentils and almonds. The baby cauliflower was sublime.

ULLA is artistry pushed to the limit. Service is polished, at the ready and entirely unobtrusive. When we had questions, there were instant answers.
It’s entirely possible that someone with unrealistic expectations would be disappointed here. For me, any minor flubs in the kitchen are made up in superlative service and understanding of the product.

For me, any overall criticism would be: ULLA is a very serious restaurant. It is not a fun restaurant. There is a ton of passion and prowess here – but it is not a place where you raise glass after glass of wine hooting and hollering with joy. The food is art and ULLA is a food art gallery. And you know what they say about Art Galleries – they are repositories of brilliant works where you hold your voice down in quiet humility while you appreciate the artistic efforts of… well… artists.

If you love food, art and art galleries, you will love ULLA. But don’t be too noisy about it. Out of 10 points per, I would rate the food at 8.5 – Service 9.5 – Presentation 9.5Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident, food and coffee lover – and occasional writer for EAT Magazine…

From my most recent trip, to Honduras in November of 2011. Images from the farm of Edgardo Tinoco, winner of the 2011 Cup of Excellence in Honduras. His farm is called Pino de Oro (Golden Pine).

Hey! If you enjoy this blog, are male or have a male in your life – please consider supporting Men’s health in November!

It is Movember and I have tossed my razor for the month of November 2011.

Please consider a small donation to my Movember team at the University of Victoria.

If you are a dude or there is a dude in your life, please remind him to take care of himself and get “checked” at least once a year.

Prostate cancer is a battle that you can win – if you stay on top of it. So say “I love you” to the ones you love by looking after yourself.

Feel free to click here for a small donation to my Movember team.

Thanks everyone!