It was a nice quiet Sunday indeed. Barkus was rolling thru the Qtr., but my pup is not such a fan of the crowds. We tried it one year... she was just so uncomfortable and thus twitchy. She had a parade of 1 all the way home in her Sock Monkey outfit. Shame... I mean... a dog parade is just old fashioned fun I dig in a campy sorta way.
My wife has Portuguese sausage made by a local meat market. I know you can actually have stuff like that made, so I'm certain you can have some crafted. If ya find a yat, ya know they're good for some Boudin.
Having been raised upon the teat of the java industry in the Great NW, I have certain standards regarding the bean I love. Personally, I'm of the opinion that mixing Chicory into one's brew is an abomination that should be scoured from the face of the planet... violently. Having said that, I point every visitor towards a cup.... no accounting for taste and I 'try' not to judge.
The Mrs. might manage to drag me to Muses next weekend. Shoe floats... she just can't resist. Endymion is within walking distance. Most locals hide on Fat Tuesday... it's just impossible to get anywhere... the city is bifurcated and the highways are full of floats moving to or from parades. I like to go out in the mornings on Fat Tuesday and chase the Indians, but then I hide.
Mardi Gras ...blah blah ... I hear what you are saying.. yep
and now ...
Having been raised upon the teat of the java industry in the Great NW, I have certain standards regarding the bean I love. Personally, I'm of the opinion that mixing Chicory into one's brew is an abomination that should be scoured from the face of the planet... violently. Having said that, I point every visitor towards a cup.... no accounting for taste and I 'try' not to judge.
Chickory is a solution they came up with when they couldn't get real coffee beans. It
IS an abomination. The young man drinks it. The wife puts a little taste of the Cafe du Monde mix into her real coffee sometimes. I don't mind the aroma, but I'm not drinking it.
I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I lived 122 feet away from (and 40 above) a coffee roaster when I was 22 - 27. Restaurants, doughnut shops, and ice cream parlors had Bunn coffee makers with fresh ground American Roast Coffee. So when I'm in my house, I'd smell the beans and try to guess whether it was Ethiopian or Sumatran or Peruvian beans. And when the smell was just right, I'd wait about 45 minutes and take a stroll down to the coffee roaster. I'd drop in for a chat and he'd say he just roasted up a batch of xxx, and the oils were xxx and what would I like. I'll have 1/2 lb of Peruvian mixed in with 1/3 lb of Zimbabwe and ... he'd ask me didn't I prefer the Kenyan which was a lot richer, and I'd say I already have the richness of Peruvian and I know Zimbabwe doesn't have the intensity of flavor, but there is something about it ... and then he'd suggest a little Kona, and I'd say just top up with the Peruvian... and then he'd suggest "How about a touch of French Roast?" and he'd be zipping up the bag as he said it, because even though he like's a touch of French Roast to add a little insouciance I won't touch the stuff.
How is French Roast made? It's the equivalent of burnt toast. It's an abomination to cover up the flavor of bad beans. You can see in the roaster how the oils have dried up and the bean is a bit ashy/powdery and they just burn't the damn coffee before you even had the chance to put it in one of those coffee urns in the banquet hall and overcook it for 2 hours. They pre-burned the beans!!! Why? Because when the Germans took over France in one of their world wars they cut off the coffee trade and the French had to burn beans and add Chicory and such to make pretend coffee.
But that was when my grandparents or parents were in their 20s, and the USA held firm with the American Roast for decades. Sure they made Sanka and freeze-dried coffee and certain brands preground in coffee cans and left on the shelf for a year - but when you went into a roadside diner you could order fresh, hot coffee from a Bunn coffee maker. And you didn't know it was American Roast. It was, well, it was a damn fine cup of coffee.
But those hippies started traveling to Europe and French colonies and they came back with their wild ideas. Pete's Coffee in Berkeley started serving French Roast, alongside Medium Roast and Dark Roast - but at least they were quality beans. Then these companies swept down from the Pacific NW with their overpriced French Roast - and sometimes the beans were good and sometimes the beans should have been thrown away before they even shipped them. But you went to work and you found a way to get some nice beans and you enjoyed several cups of coffee brewed by the denizons of your corporate overlord. (a nice guy, but still an overlord.) And then I ended up in Boston where Dunkin's can't make one batch of coffee taste like the other batch of coffee because they don't have a clue where to buy a quality bean so they buy from Jorge Valdez, Juan Valdez's cousin, and they pay some millenial who'd rather be living with his parents than doing this stupid coffee roasting thing.....
and I gave up on drinking coffee because coffee ain't what it used to be.
I'll have a cup now and then, but it's for the warmth and nostalgia. If I taste the flavor, it pretty much always sucks.
- - - Bottom Line - - - - French Roast is an abomination that ruined America's coffee taste buds - - - -
I just ranted all over your thread when you behave like a gentlemen on my thread - - - Sorry for being a tourist.
I love food. You should get your town back to 'normal' in March. Enjoy and I wish you good weather for the times y'all venture out.
The other 6 days Mtn Dew takes care of the caffeine need.
