Berlinerkranser – A love letter to my Grandma

I haven’t posted enough recently.  There are a lot of reasons for that.  This is not a great post for a blog about getting fit but that’s okay.  Sometimes food is about more than nutrition.  Sometimes it is about emotion, and memory, and honor.  This is a post about food that feeds something more than just the body.

My Grandmother passed away on Monday.  She was 95-years-old and lived a long and amazing life.  She walked around the lake near her condo every day until she lost her sight.  She also played bridge and did crosswords.  These simple things helped her live well much longer than most.
She inspired me with her grace, compassion, and love.  She inspired me with her education.  Mother of three, she also worked full-time as a teacher, guidance counselor, and principal throughout the years.  She inspired me with her cookies.  Norwegian cookies that still have to be baked every December before it can truly feel like Christmas.

Each year my Mom and I set aside a day to bake her cookies.  Many of my cousins aren’t the baking types, I am.  Mom has warned me that I have inherited the task of cookies.  It’s more precious to me than any heirloom.

Grandma’s burial and service are tomorrow and while there will be plenty of food, I wanted to remember her the best way I know how…in cookies.  This is the first time I’ve tried baking the Norwegian cookies without my Mom, and it shows.  They turned out a little uglier and a little more crumbly than usual.  But hey, I have 63 more years in which to get it right if I follow in Grandma’s footsteps.

No one knows that I’ve baked these and I’m terrified to bring them to Grandma’s adoring fans.  They aren’t quite right, they aren’t quite hers.  Then again, no tribute is quite the same as the original, it is merely an ode to, not a copy of.  At least this ode is delicious.

Grandma, this is my buttery, sugary, messy love letter to you.

–Berlinerkranser–

• 2 raw egg yolks
• 2 hard-boiled egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• Egg whites (for topping)
• Pearl Sugar (for topping) (Available in a fair few grocery stores, and IKEA)

The original instructions:

“Work well together the raw and hard boiled egg yolks. Add the sugar. Work in the butter alternating with the flour to form a smooth dough. Rollinto long roll with the hands. Cut this in about 30 pieces. Then form eachpiece into a little roll. Make a circle of each roll, crossing the ends. Dip each into slightly beaten egg whites, then into coarse sugar. Bake a delicate brown 10 to 15 minutes at 300 F.”

My slightly modified version:

1. Mash together the raw and hard egg yolks into a smooth paste.
2. Add the sugar and mix/mash together
3. Alternate working in the butter and flour until you have a smooth dough.  (I recommend chilling at this point as the warmth of your hands will all but melt the buttery dough when you get to the next step)
4. Roll dough into a long, thin log.  Cut into small pieces (2-3″…you have to play with it until you get the size you like)
5. Form each piece into a circle, crossing the ends.  (I recommend aiming for about 1.5″ circles)
6. Dip each cookie into lightly beaten egg white and then into pearl sugar.  (I like a light tap in the sugar, you don’t want them fully covered)
7. Bake to a delicate brown.  ***I found the original time/temp to be way too low.  I go closer to 15 minutes at 325F.

***Crossposted from Get Fit, Get Fat

Maybe the smell of charcoal will lure spring out of hiding!

It's March 12th and it's still cold and white here in Minnesota.  Very cold, and very white.  We've had snow on the ground since November 23rd and I think we're all starting to feel a bit monochromatic.

Most years Rich does a little winter grilling but this winter has been so harsh that the grill has stood lonely and forgotten.  Today, Rich got sick of waiting for robin red breast and decided to grill, despite the below freezing temps and even colder windchill.  I thought I was going to get frostbite while fueling up my car.  He's a crazy man.

We had a piece of skirt steak still in the freezer from last summer so Rich modified our usual shish-ka-bob marinade and added a bit of zip with cayenne.  He also did our favorite grilled veggies, a medley of thinly sliced onions as well as red and orange peppers.  These he puts in our cast iron skillet which then goes straight on the coals.  They end up caramelizing down to a delicious veggie "slaw," though that's not the best word for it.

The meal was simple, hearty, and filling.  He served the thinly sliced steak atop a bed of veggies, all drizzled with some reduced leftover marinade.  Plus we have enough meat and veg to make a few sandwiches in the days to come.

The marinade was an improvisation but here is Rich's best guess:

1 1/2 cups soy sauce
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 TB vinegar (He used white, rice or cider would be delicious)
2 TB onion powder
2 TB garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder

The 1/2 tsp of cayenne gave it a nice subtle zip, but I would go for a touch more next time.  The sweetness of the veggies really offsets the spice nicely!

Lazy Saturday Morning

Frozen waffle with raspberry jam and a dab of whipped cream.  The poor man's belgian waffle.  ANd it was surprisingly good!

That's all. :)

To make the morning more bearable

My work schedule pretty much has me opening everyday at this point, which means starting at 5am.  On the plus side, I'm done by 1:30 and I avoid traffic!

I've had my eye on a recipe for Doughnut Muffins for some time but put it aside during the holiday madness.  When the urge to bake something for my fellow morning crew arose, I knew at once that it was time for the muffin.  I mean doughnut.  I mean...well, whatever.

There are several recipes for doughnut muffins out there but I decided to try the one posted at Serious Eats.  The recipe was straightforward, didn't involve much I didn't already have in my kitchen, and seemed easy enough that my sleep-lacking self would be able to figure it out.  (4am is fine, it's mid-afternoon when the early morning catches up with me!)

Though their recipe calls for topping the doughnut muffins with cinnamon sugar, I decided to further complicate things and do a few with Alton Brown's Doughnut Glaze.  Since the muffin itself isn't all that sweet, I really liked the addition of a glaze.  Then again, I'm a sucker for classic glazed doughnuts anyway.

As I mentioned, the muffin is not too sweet, making the perfect base for any toppings you might choose.  I love the mini muffin size as I'm never terribly in to big food early in the morning.  The muffin top has a nice crust to it and the interior is light and airy.

Hopefully my coworkers will be pleased with my offering.  It's always good to spoil the serfs from time to time!

Well now, look at the time

Did I do that again?  Let life get in the way of my blog?  Silly life.

It's the week between Christmas and New Year's and it's a time when emotions run high and nostalgia sets in.  My Dad passed away on New Year's Eve two years ago so it's an especially hard time of year.

Emotions, cold, and snow can only lead to one thing - nostalgic comfort food!

After several days of delicious and special holiday meals, I'm turning back the pages and bring out one of my favorite family recipes - Great-Grandma Rasmussen's Meat Loaf.  It's not a frilly meat loaf, coated with ketchup  But it's delicious, easy, and filling.  Especially if you get one of the fought over end pieces.  Mmm...end pieces.

Meat Loaf

  Meat Loaf                

   Tags (edit):   

Ingredients 1 pound ground beef 1 egg 3/4 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 1/4 teaspoon sage 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup cracker or bread crumbs 2 teaspoons salt 2 Onion to flavor if wanted

Instructions1. Mix in order given. Bake 1 hour, 375 F. Baste 2 or 3 times.



A couple of tips that I haven't added to the recipe yet:

• My Mom often used 1.5 pounds of beef and left everything else the same, it bulks it out a bit.
• She recommends beef around 90/10.  85/15 will shrink up too much.
• Grandma always ran a little water over the meat loaf before putting it in the oven, just to help keep it moist.
• Don't over mix it!

We usually serve it with baked potatoes or acorn squash.  It makes for great leftovers, even cold.  Meat loaf sandwiches, here we come!

It's time for comfort food

I love when the weather turns chilly, because most good comfort foods are better when it's cold out.  Yes, I've been known to make chili or mac and cheese when it's pushing 90, but it just tastes better when it's pushing 50.

The Brit and I are trying to get back on the home-cooked food wagon and since I had today off before starting a five day streak, I played Suzie homemaker for the afternoon.  Okay, Suzie probably wouldn't have made muffins from a box mix but hey, it's been in our cupboard for weeks.  Hopefully the Trader Joe's Triple Berry Bran Muffins will be a good breakfast alternative to all the coffee shop fare.

His next request was a lunch item, namely tuna noodle casserole.  My last attempt was okay but a bit blah, so I found a new recipe today.  I love anything with less than ten ingredients!

The recipe came from Pinch My Salt and I think my only edit was to double the recipe and cut back on the bread crumbs because I did it in a deeper dish with less surface area.  We haven't tried it yet but it smells delicious!

My cooking isn't done for the day.  We were up north at the cabin for the weekend and Mom sent us home with s beautiful salmon filet.  So despite the fact I just made a casserole, I'm actually cooking the salmon for dinner.  The casserole will become instant leftovers.  A bit crazy but we just can't waste this salmon!  I've been doing a lot of salmon with dill lately and wanted something different so I found a recipe with a brown sugar and soy sauce glaze.  Will let you know how it turns out!

Pancakes and bacon make everything better

I imagine that every family has a few recipes they think of as theirs.  The recipes that are made for every get together.  The foods that have become traditions.

My family has many of these recipes, we like our food.  A lot of them probably aren't even original.  I know for a fact that our Grandma's tv mix recipe is just a slightly modified version of the original Chex Mix recipe from the 70s, but that's okay, it's still delicious and it's still Grandma's tv mix.  It tastes best when you're sat in the hammock over-looking the lake, outside the cabin she and Grandpa built in the 1950s.

Another cabin classic are her buttermilk pancakes.  I found an early copy of the recipe and there's a note that the recipe came from one of her sisters.  I don't know any history past that.  We have these pancakes every time the family is together at the cabin and it's now spread to other holidays in other place.

Despite my love for these pancakes, I had never actually made them myself.  Maybe I was afraid to mess with all the memories, maybe I was afraid to just mess up.  Maybe we just rarely have a morning with enough time and motivation to make pancakes from scratch.  (Though they are good for dinner too, I learned that when staying with my brother whilst he was in college.  They were also good for lunch, and breakfast.  Turns out it was the only thing he could cook at the time - I was okay with that!)

While cleaning out the fridge earlier this week, we found a bottle of buttermilk, unopened, with an 8/2/10 expiration date.  We both had the morning of 8/1/10 off.  It seemed like a sign.  A big neon "MAKE PANCAKES NOW!" sign.  So we did.

Using a little cast iron skillet was tough.  Mom uses an electric griddle that actually has pancake shaped marks on it from the spatula over the years.  I'll have to grab a pic of it some time.  Our skillet only fit two at a time and most of our early ones were just too big, which made flipping tough.  They weren't all pretty, but they were all tasty!

Tweaks I'll make next time include cutting back on salt - I think Mom usually does a double batch with a single amount of salt, meaning my single batch had a bit too much.  Also, though the recipe calls for canola oil, I'm guessing she uses Crisco.

It was a tasty and filling breakfast, and I'm glad I finally tried the recipe all by myself.  Thank goodness we don't eat like this EVERY morning!!


Buttermilk Pancake Recipe
Ingredients:
1 c flour
1 1/4 c buttermilk
1 t baking soda
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c canola oil
1 T sugar
1 t baking powder


1) Mix flour, buttermilk, soda, egg, salt, and oil.
2) Add sugar and baking powder just before cooking (when griddle is hot).
3) Spoon or ladle on to hot griddle.  (I found a scant 1/4 cup to be perfect)

Buttermilk

Food blogging at an early age

I have no idea why I wrote down this recipe, but I'm claiming it as a sign of blogs to come.

Make sure that cookie sheet is BUTTERED!

Boylan Sodas

I've never been that big a soda drinker. I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, so giving up pop seemed like the easiest choice. But there's still something about a cold fizzy drink on a hot summer day. I know water is the best option, but sometimes you don't want the best option, you want the tastiest one!

Meet Boylan's Orange Cream Soda. Yes, the photo would have been more effective with the soda still in the bottle, but it didn't last that long! I'll post that photo tomorrow (using it as an excuse to buy more!)

I'm not fooling myself into thinking that this soda is healthy, it's not. But I do believe that it's healthier than the fake stuff, and tastier too. Sodas sweetened with real sugar seem to me to have a lighter feel, less syrupy. They make me crave other foods less and satiate more. Plus, they are naturally limiting - a four-pack of good soda costs more than a 12-pack of the normal kind. I'm okay with that, as it makes it more of a treat.

Our other favorite is Mexican Coca Cola. Yum! Our local Costco recently had 18 packs of Mexican Coke for about 75 cents a bottle. It really does taste better and more refreshing than the US stuff. Plus the glass bottles look cool.

There are many brands of cane sugar sodas out there these days. I highly suggest that you look around and try one near you!

P.S. Behind the soda bottle you can see fabric samples that I'm trying to decide between. I'm still not sure if they'll be curtains or accessories, but that's why there are random bits of clashing material hanging there. :)

My dirty little secret

I am a marketer's best dream.

I see something that looks good and I must try it.  I don't stop thinking about until I get to try it.  It doesn't even have to look that good, just intriguing.  It doesn't have to be marketing, maybe it's just a tv show.

The other night I saw Paula Deen cook some sweet potato fries and have been able to think of little else since then.  Right now I should be posting a photo-tutorial on how I sliced the sweet potatoes and blanched them or baked them or fried them or whatever.

Guess what?  I cheated.  I worked at 5am this morning and had a splitting headache so I cheated.

Luckily for me, the kind people at Alexia were nice enough to cut and package some sweet potato fries for me.  Then they were kind enough to freeze them and ship them to my local store where I bought a bag, for probably twice the price of an actual sweet potato.  My bad.

I knew from experience that sweet potato fries need dip.  After a bit of research on the topic I decided to blend something with greek yogurt, hoping for a spicy/tangy accessory to my cheater's fries.  Thankfully another company was ready and waiting for me at the grocery store in the form of Stonewall Kitchen's Maple Chipotle Grille Sauce.  (The extra "e" on grill was their idea, not mine.)

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed in myself for this half-assed approach to a craving.  But some days that's all the energy I've got.  The fries weren't bad for frozen, a bit chewy on  the outside from the sugars in the sweet potato, soft on the inside.  They would have been better fried, but most things are.  The grill sauce mixed with yogurt worked for a dip but next time I would add some more chipotle for a bit more Ooomph.  Now that I have an open bottle of the sauce, I'll have to find a more appropriate way to use it.

And what of my craving for sweet potato fries?  Satiated...but barely.  Sometime soon I'll do them justice and then I can move on with my life, until something else tempts my palate that is!

MUST TRY-Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I have just discovered the blog of Joy the Baker.  Pretty much everything on her site is a MUST TRY.  But this in particular is going on the list...Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

My husband and I are suckers for chocolate peanut better ice cream.  There used to be one made by the now-defunct Edy's Dreamery line that was my favorite....thick swirls of peanut butter and rich chocolate.  Now a days I tend towards Haagen Dazs or (on splurgey days) Cold Stone Creamery's Peanut Butter Cup Perfection.  But I love making my own ice cream so Joy's recipe is going on the front churner.  (Heh, front churner, like burner but...oh nevermind)

Well, that sort of worked

I tried the "light" sloppy joes and while they were okay, they were missing something.  I just can't put my finger on what.  They certainly needed salt, which is odd for a soup recipe.

Like many family recipes, I don't know where this originated.  It was called sloppy joes, or even stranger, "barbeques."  It resembles barbeque about as much as I resemble Angelina Jolie.  Less maybe.

Here is the original recipe:

1-1.5 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can chicken gumbo soup
1/2 can water
1 TBS ketchup
1 TBS yellow mustard

Stir all together.

Complicated right?  I didn't take a photo of the finished product because a) I was hungry and b) some foods just don't photograph well.  Stews, curries, and most things with "sloppy" in their name.

I do have one trick for the recipe.  It's really a trick for any ground beef recipe.  When I brown the beef, I like to start with it all on a big hunk (or medium sized hunks) so I can get a really good sear on the outside.  That extra browning adds a lot of flavor and you can't quite get it if you break the meat up first.

I will keep hoping for the original chicken gumbo soup to return, but I'll probably try this a few more times and try to tweak it.  It would be a shame to lose a meal that brought me so much comfort growing up, so hopefully I won't!

Change is bad, mmm'kay?

I've read articles recently about how family recipes are being ruined when companies change their sizes.  A lot of classic recipes skip measurements in favor of "One can tuna" or "small jar of diced tomatoes."  Now, this was find for years, when most things can in a standard size.  But with rising food prices, some companies are changing their packaging and not necessarily informing customers.

My dilemma is similar.  I grew up with a sloppy joe recipe that calls for a can of Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup.  Problem?  They only make a light version now.  I'm going to try using the light version tonight but my hopes aren't high.  Usually when they make something light, they replace the good stuff with, well, crap.  Sadly it's this, or give up my childhood sloppy joes.  I hope this works!

Related Links:
Objects in store are smaller than they appear - LA Times
Shoppers beware: Products shrink but prices stay the same - USA Today

What's for dinner?

I have some fresh fettucine (not homemade, Buitoni), garlic, cream, prosciutto, and frozen peas.  Surely I can come up with a way to blend these into something delicious?

Oh, and a couple of cherry tomatoes that need using...the few that survived the storm.  With the pasta or in a salad?

Strawberries!

About two weeks ago, to celebrate my freedom from radioactive isolation and one of Rich's last days off, we went to a local berry farm to load up on Strawberries.  We ended up paying $13.90 for about seven pounds of berries.  What a haul!  It only took us like 30-45 minutes to pick that many, I was amazed.  The plan was to make freezer jam but I planned poorly so we ended up with a small batch of jam and a big batch of crushed berries, frozen to be turned into something at a later date.

Being the kitchen gadget freak that I am, I bought two new small toys to deal with the strawberry harvest. First was a strawberry huller. Now I have tried these before, the dinky little ones that look like flat tweezers.  Basically worthless.  True, a paring knife works well but I'm not a big knife person and with the recent surgery, I was looking for something fast and easy.  This huller was awesome.  Even Rich started using it and he HATES my gadgets.  "A knife will do just fine," says he.

The Chef'n StemGem Strawberry Huller opens up, cuts into the berry, you give it a twist, and pop, you pull out the stem and (if you're really good) the woody center all at once.  It was fast, it didn't take too much berry, and it didn't get tiring or cause a repetitive stress injury.  Pretty good going for one little gadget versus seven pounds of berries!

My other toy is the Lattice Pocket Pie Mold from Williams Sonoma.  I didn't end up making it to the farmer's market so I had to use California berries instead of local, but they were on sale at Cub so c'est la vie.  After hulling a pound of berries (it's actually fun now!) I chopped them up and sort of made my own pie filling recipe.  I ended up letting the berries macerate with about 1/4 cup of sugar but should have used more, the pies didn't end up very sweet.  I realized at the last second that I had no cornstarch so I used arrowroot instead, about a tablespoon.  I also added a few grinds of black pepper, something that really works well with strawberries and makes them "zing."

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Using a store bought pie dough (shame on me!) I cut out the shapes using the pie mold.  The plastic edges did a remarkably good job making a clean cut in the dough.  You then flip the mold over, press in the solid piece of dough, add filling, top with the lattice, and squeeze to seal.  The mold works pretty well but I can see that it will take practice (and better dough) to really make this gadget shine.  Most of my pies didn't seal properly or ended up misshapen when I tried to get them out of the mold.  The instructions on the box say to freeze the pies for 30 minutes before baking.  I'm guessing this is to help them keep their shape.

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Despite my poor results, I think the pie mold has promise.  I would love to try some savory pies for lunches as well as more sweet pies.  Hopefully with better dough, better filling, and better technique, I'll be able to master the Lattice Pocket Pie Mold.  And hey, if not, even the ugly pies are tasty!

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Brunch at Victory 44

We love Victory 44. LOVE it. It's nearby, has great food, a fun and casual atmosphere, and it's reasonably priced. We recently heard they had started a brunch menu and have been dying to try it out, today we finally got that chance.

The have about six brunch entrees on the chalkboard menu, plus several of their usual favorites. Because of the prices and portion sizes, it's very easy to order a variety of items and share. We were hungry this morning and ended up trying four of the six brunch items. Embarrassing but true!

I started with the Pig in Blanket, a housemade sausage wrapped in pancake batter and deep fried. The batter was light and crispy and the sausage was perfectly seasoned. It was served with cashew butter, maple syrup, and what I'm fairly certain was a pear slaw - thinly sliced pears in what tasted like mint and lime juice. The pancake flavor didn't really shine through the batter until you dipped it in maple syrup, but it was a fun dish and very tasty.

Rich's first dish was the Fried French Toast. We really didn't mean to start with a fried theme but I guess we started safe and went for the edgier dishes on round two. His French toast was deliciously crispy and not overly sweet. The fresh strawberries, sauce, and whipped cream added a perfect level of adjustable sweetness.

I can't believe that I'm telling the world we had a round two but there it is. At least I don't have to eat again today! We had tried two of the "safer" dishes on the menu and it was time to get a bit racy. Not as racy as the spicy mixture they offered Rich in a beer. I can not remember the name (michinga?) but this stuff was potent. The small sample was plenty for Rich but I can see where it would be a good way to get your heart going for the day! They also offer a "bloody beer" with their homemade bloody mary mix. We didn't get THAT racy.

For round two, Rich tried the Smoked Salmon "Dog." First, let me talk about the potatoes. I don't know how they cooked them but they were awesome. Rich said "I think they poached these in butter" and I'm inclined to believe him. If there is a way to get buttery deliciousness into the center of a roasted potato, they have found it. Yum. The "dog" came with mayo, red onions, and capers. When I took a bite I was surprised by the smoked salmon flavor, maybe because it's such an unusual presentation of smoked salmon. However, the flavors meld together very well and it was a great new take on a brunch classic.

Now, you'll probably think me crazy when I mention what I had next. I know Rich thought I was crazy for ordering them but I had read about them on chow.com so I had a hint that they would be good. Olive Oil Pancakes. Yes, olive oil. And wow. What you end up with is a moist, rich, and slightly savory cake. The edge of the platter was sprinkled with bits of chocolate and the combination was surprisingly good. Even Rich was converted.

We ended up spending close to $40 for this brunch but that was with four delicious plates and Rich's beer. The portion sizes are pretty small but the prices reflect that quite fairly and I think next time we would max out at three plates, shared. And there will definitely be a next time.

Passing the Time

I've been stuck at home for a week now. Rich doesn't want me driving and I'm only just starting to be able to do dishes and the like. Boredom is creeping up on me and today I was overwhelmed by the strangest urge...to make Butterscotch Haystacks. You know the ones? Drop cookies make with chow mein noodles and butterscotch chips? We made them in Junior High home ec class and I doubt I've even thought about them since then.

Apparently being stuck home conjures up strange memories because today I made the haystacks. To be honest, they aren't that good. It's just a general sweet and crunchy thing. But they are old school and I know Rich never had anything quite like them back in England, so that is fun.

I wonder what urge will overwhelm me next?

COFFEE!

So, Monday morning we finally got to go on our tour of the neighboring coffee plantation. You have to keep in mind that since our first day here, everyone who found out I work for Starbucks said “You must visit Burka Coffee Plantation!” It is one of the few local plantations to actually roast coffee as most of the beans are exported. It is also well known here that Burka sells to Starbucks. I saw the trees that grow the beans that go into Starbuck’s Gold Coast Blend! Crazy, huh?

The tour was about two hours, with the last 30 minutes dedicated to a very thorough coffee tasting. Now friends, remember how I gave up caffeine in September because my Doctor thought it would help my migraines? I gave up the giving up as soon as I found out I was coming to Africa. I simply couldn’t come to such a prominent coffee growing region and say no to caffeine. So far so good on the headache front so we’ll just see what I end up doing when I return.

Our tour started in the nursery where we saw the sandy soil where coffee plants start. The germination rate is very low, they may plant 100 seeds and only get 10 plants. It’s also very slow. They don’t sprout for at least three weeks and there are no leaves for eight or so. (I am trying to remember this all and can’t just google it as I normally would, so please forgive factual errors, I will try to fix them later.) They stay in the starting nursery for six months and then go on to the next nursery for 18 months. There the technicians try to weed out any weak plants as well as see what diseases are affecting a given crop.

The actual plants have a very long life after that slow start. Some of theirs are almost 90 years old. When a tree’s production slows down, they chop it off at the stump and new branches grow. The roots of the old plants are so deep that the fields of old trees don’t need as much irrigation. They become more efficient as they grow. The branches of some trees are weighed down by beans. I was amazed at the yield of a single branch! When they are green, they are called berries, red is a cherry, and it’s not a bean until the skin is washed away and the parchment removed.

The grounds themselves are beautiful. The coffee fields had a lot of big trees, providing shade for the coffee as well as added nutrients to the soil. Shade grown coffee makes for better quality but less quantity. They also have patches of other fruits and vegetables mixed in with the coffee. I think he said that it was partially for soil quality and partially to bring bees, as apparently plants pollinated by bees also produce better coffee.

Working at Starbucks, I have mastered my “higher prices for high quality” and “better farming conditions” spiels but to see it first hand was amazing. Burka has two daycares, a first aid station, ambulance, and both permanent living quarters as well as camping areas. (They have about 200 people on staff year round but up to 6000 during the harvest!) They have set some of their 1200 acres aside as a private nature reserve which is home to a natural spring providing all their water as well as providing water to local villages.

They also have a system by which at certain times, local people can come into the plantation to pick the afore-mentioned vegetables as well as bundles of firewood gathered from dead trees. There is a metal flag with one end red and the other green, when green is up, everyone is welcome to the vegetables. Many of their coffee buyers will give a surprise visit, parking nearby and walking into the fields to see if everyone is safe and happy. Because of these changes, working on a coffee plantation is seen as a desirable job, not the near slavery of the past. Well, at least at Burka.

While not organic, they are certainly leaps ahead of a lot of farming. Use of DDT is a real problem locally and is being used on food with which it’s not meant to come in contact. Burka starts with a natural method of pesticide – more bugs. They keep a close eye on pests as well as the pest’s enemies. When the predators outnumber the pests, they don’t spray. If the pests outnumber the predators, they do minimal spraying. Judging by the number of butterflies and bugs I saw, they aren’t spraying very often.

Sadly our visit was in the off season so we didn’t see much going on. I really wanted some photos of people working but there was hardly anyone around. They do get some ripening berries year round but the main season is June, July, August. By September they are just trying to get as much off the trees as they can before the rains hit. This time of year they are just processing the few cherries they find in small batches.

There are two main processing methods, wet and dry. Wet is more time consuming but produces a better quality. The cherries are husked and the washed and finally fermented to loosen the parchment surrounding the bean. Then the beans are aged on big racks in the African sunshine. Burka only uses the dry processing method for lesser quality beans. These include those that float during the wet processing and those that are left of the tree too long. These are taken straight to drying, husks and all. It’s a time saving process but the flavor of the coffee really suffers.

The coffee tasting was a highlight for me. First we were offered a cup of coffee, and may I say it was one of the smoothest cups of black coffee I’ve ever tasted. Sadly I didn’t have much of it as we quickly moved on to an extreme tasting. Our guide, Dennis, set up about 12 cups, all marked to indicate the contents. First we had a test of coarse vs. fine coffee, both brewed in what looked like a little tea pot. Next came a comparison of the grades. We had AA, AB, and PB (peaberry). The grades refer to size with AA being the biggest and most “pure” tasting. These beans are used mostly in blending, to complement a bolder flavor. Then we tried a couple different blends each roasted differently. And finally we tried two dry processed coffees, not my favorite.

Overall I loved the tour and feel more knowledgeable about coffee in general and the role Starbucks plays in changing the quality of life for so many people. Even if I weren’t a barista, I would feel good knowing more about this massive business. I don’t believe that all farms are as good as Burka, but with consumer pressure on coffee buyers, more will have to improve. And I’ll never complain about the price of beans again! (Oh wait, I get them free. Definitely won’t complain!) Now let’s see if I can get the four pounds of Burka Coffee in my suitcase and home!!

The market and the lodge

Well, it’s Thursday afternoon and the power is out. Thankfully my laptop has power left so I can type this up and post it when the power returns. There is a dark cloud blowing over Peace House and though I can hear the thunder already, the rain hasn’t yet hit. At least these fast heavy storms bring with them a cool breeze.

Where was I? Oh yes, Wednesday. Mom had heard about a good shop near Peace House called Fotini. When we arrived here she asked everyone if they knew of it, where it was, etc. We came up empty handed. Finally I googled it and discovered that it does exist, but it’s not in Arusha. It’s technically in Kisongo, a town just down the road. We asked Ernest the taxi driver about it and he said he knew where it was and that there was also an interesting market nearby. So we planned for Wednesday to be Kisongo morning, to coincide with the weekly market.

It was fun to turn left instead of right out of the Peace House road for a change and we got to see a new expanse of land. Kisongo is a Maasai village and we drove past many traditional huts. Finally we found the turn off for Fotini, with a large sign just off the road. A little ways further down we found another smaller sign directing us up a hill. How anyone finds this place without a referral is beyond me! We drove up the flower lined hill until the road seemed to end and found nothing. Thankfully Ernest asked a gentleman walking down the hill if he knew anything and he pointed us back the direction we had come. Sure enough, halfway down the hill, there was a gate with Fotini painted on it in big letters. Unfortunately there was another sign on a piece of computer paper that read “Closed for renovations. Please visit our shop at the Coffee Lodge.“ We had come all this way to a shop that was closed. Whoops.

Thankfully the day wasn’t a complete waste as Ernest drove us in to the market. There is very little rhyme or reason to the market set up, and one sort of road that sort of goes through the middle. I say sort of because if someone decides to park their truck and refuses to move it, the road becomes a parking lot.

The market was truly a sea of colors. The Maasai men wore their red or blue robes, women were in every color imaginable, the bananas and mangos were green, the donkeys gray, white and brown goats, yellow pineapple slices, and the list goes on.

There was no real structure for stalls or the like, instead it was a patchwork sea of people with their goods laid out on blankets or bags, or piled on carts. Apparently different towns have markets on different days, and people come from miles around to buy and sell. We saw people walking, biking, or riding packed into truck beds. Obviously these markets are the place to be.

Ernest asked if we wanted to walk around but we were short on time and a bit intimidated as well. There were two white couples that I saw, both with guides. He did hop out at one point to take our photo in the car and Mom also asked him to buy us a pineapple. He bargained and got us a pineapple for 1,000 shillings. That’s about 80 cents! He also got a big slice for himself, I’m not sure if that was out of our money or a free sample, but he certainly earned it either way.

After the fascinating trip through the market, we went back towards Peace House, stopping briefly at Arusha Coffee Lodge to check out the mini-Fotini and have some lunch. I’m ashamed to admit that I had a hamburger, something I rarely do when I travel. However on this long trip I decided I was allowed an American treat after eating rice, beans, kande, etc. Tonight we are finally going to try the traditional ugali. We went to lunch one other day to have it but they had a special meal as a going away surprise for one of the staff. Every other time it has been on the menu, we have had plans. Mom can’t get out of it this time!

As I said earlier, there are two sides to Africa (well, probably many more but two that I’m seeing in this short time) and we really jumped between them going from the market to the lodge. The market is a bustling place but very raw. The lodge is pristine and sculptured. Bungalows there can range up to $900 per night for full board. It is where celebrities (like Jessica Biel recently) stay and fundraisers are held (the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently hosted an event there). It is as far away from the rest of Africa as one can get.

The rain has hit now and the breeze is amazing. The walk back to our house will be less amazing and more wet and muddy. There are no light showers here, only storms. They are quick and heavy, and despite their force, the ground doesn’t really seem to absorb much. The top layer turns to mud and even that dries up quickly after the sun comes out.

The power has come back on so I will try to post this before the next roll of thunder kills it again!

Emerging from the African Sun

It has been insanely hot and humid these past few days, making it hard to want to do anything. Even sitting and typing is a sweat inducing chore when the air is so still and heavy. Thankfully we had a bit of rain today so the evening has cooled down considerably.

Monday was a lazy day. We took the free school transport into town to check out the tourist board in the morning. The tourist board claims to be able to help you book cultural visits to Maasai villages and whatnot, but we were just pointed to a wall of poorly made brochures. It was a short and disappointing stop. Then we went next door to Africafe to have breakfast while we waited for return transport. And waited. And waited. One must not look a gift horse or a free ride in the mouth and I actually enjoyed the coffee and people watching. I ordered an iced latte with vanilla and the vanilla syrup came in a tiny pitcher on the side, like syrup. It was pretty cool. We also ended up ordering a double mocha milkshake toward the end of our two hour wait, it was rich, cold, and delicious. The café was lovely, if full of Mzungus (white people). Mom and I were quite amused to be across the street from the Lutheran Centre (see yesterday’s photos) and thought about going in to see what was going on.

There are several Swahili proverbs about time:

· HHaraka haraka haina baraka=Hurry hurry has no blessing

· Mwenye pupa hadriki kula tamu=A hasty person misses the sweet things

We are finding than time moves differently here. You must be grateful for what is given, even if you have to wait a bit. I like the pace here, but then I’m always happy to stop, relax, and look around.

Tuesday was a lazy morning, getting to the library a bit later than usual but still getting almost 150 books barcoded, cataloged, labeled, and shelved. We may not always work long hours, but we work hard. At 3:30 we were picked up by Ernest, the taxi driver. While he isn’t really “our driver” he is Peace House’s most recommended driver and we’ve already used him several times during our stay. He speaks great English, is helpful, and very conscientious of our safety and comfort. Apparently he is also a barbecue king, something we will see firsthand next week at a Peace House volunteer party.

Our first stop was at the TFA complex, kind of a strip mall anchored in the center by the large grocery store Shop-Rite. On one side is a kitchen store and a Woolworths (really!) as well as a few random shops. The other side has two coffee shops, a gelato shop, souvenir shops, chocolate shop/bakery, photo gallery, Tanzanian restaurant, wine bar, and Vama, the Indian restaurant we were at the other night. We had a good poke around the shops and finally did a bit of shopping. A basket, jewelry, and two scarves were among our bounty. We tried the gelato but it wasn’t as good as Italy. No surprise there. I had hoped to have an iced coffee with ice cream at Stiggbucks but they were closing for the day.

After our shopping trip, Ernest picked us up again and brought us to Via Via, a restaurant and cultural center in the old German Boma. When Tanzania was occupied by the Germans, this was their headquarters. Today it houses an “art gallery” (shop), tourist center, the National Natural History Museum, a small open air stage for performing arts and Via Via restaurant. For all of the hype in every guidebook, I was expected something more…put together. Instead it’s a maze like assortment of structures. The art exhibition was really just five people sitting around waiting for tourists to come buy things.

I’m not a huge fan of shopping in Arusha as the custom seems to be for the salesperson to follow the white person closely and force upon them anything they express the slightest interest in. Yes, that’s a lovely bracelet but I can already tell it won’t fit me. No, I really don’t need to try it on. Sure, I picked up the beaded Obama bracelet but it was out of bemusement, not interest. It’s a pushy method and while I understand their need to make whatever money they can, I really hate it. There are several times I might have bought something but I got so uncomfortable that I just wanted out. Susan, the librarian here, says that we just have to put our hands up and say “Asante” (Thank you) and be pushy right back. But that is so different from our shop customs that it is a challenge.

Once we found the restaurant, the food was great. Mom had a spaghetti al pesto with a very fresh and very garlicky pesto. I had the special of the day which was a beef curry with rice. Mom actually liked mine almost as much as her own. Our window-side table looked out over a lush yard and several mango trees. We were also joined by several lizards. I know they are harmless, and even a bit cute, but they still scare the bejeebers out of me when they scurry across a floor or wall.

Wednesday is going to be a separate entry as we were really across the board in our adventures. Stay tuned J