Falsified foods

The recent news that honey is not always honey reminded me of some South American olive oil I bought from a well known purveyor of organic foods a while back.  I discovered it was not olive oil only after I had used most of it (olive oil solidifies in the fridge) and since then I have bought Australian Olive Oil with a definite use-by date. 

Today I discovered that coffee can also be dodgy. I am one of those smallish percentage of the population who can't digest coffea robusta beans so I always ask before ordering if the coffee is 100% arabica. I can tell if there are robusta beans in the mix as it has metallic taste.

This morning I dropped my car off for a service then made for the cafe selling Campos coffee down the road. It has changed hands and now it sells ' leaf and berry' brand coffee. I asked if the coffee was 100% arabica and the owner said very forcefully that "he wouldn't sell any of those other floor sweepings', by which he meant robusta beans. I said some people liked a bit of robusta in their coffee but he was adamant it was rubbish. I was still doubtful as 100% arabica was not written on the coffee packet so he checked with the agent who replied it was 100% arabica. So I ordered my coffee.

I took a sip.... it didn't feel right.  I looked up the coffee bean online and there was nothing about it being 100% arabica in the bean description. The metallic taste developed as I researched and I wondered who was telling fibs, the coffee company, the agent or the cafe staff?  The cafe manager had checked and shown me the agent's reply on his phone so it wasn't him. As left, coffee un-drunk, I told him I was certain there was a % of robusta in the mix. Arabica beans are more expensive and if he is paying for them, he should get them.

In checking online I had discovered that the firm selling 'leaf and berry' brand also sells the Gusto brand. I used to drink a daily cup of coffee at my local cafe, but they switched without notice to Gusto coffee and after a particularly bad reaction I decided to buy my own coffee machine. The cafe was sold shortly afterwards. A European cafe owner had told me that coffee firms offer large inducements (white goods etc) for  multi-year contracts and I felt sorry for the new owner.  The cafe changed hands a third time and now it sells 100% arabica coffee again - but I have my own machine and hardly visit.

Coffee in Oz

First coffee back in Australia after nearly two months.

I heard in London that there are several new cafés being started by Australians. I can see why they would be successful. The coffee shops I visited in London all felt a bit like conveyer belt establishments. Slick, perhaps, but lacking that personal touch.

Music, coffee, etchings, art

Coffee grinder with (Wagner) music

At Art School in 2008 I had a wonderful time in the print workshop. 'Print' as in etching, intaglio,aquatint, relief ... not print as in photocopying.

Before spending time in the print workshop I had thought that multiples of etchings were as easy to produce as photocopies, that one turned the handle several times and out would pop several etchings, all the same. Little did I know. (If you do see etchings all exactly the same, with multiple colours, then you are  looking at work of a print-master.)

I worked like a crazy and learned a great deal. One of the etchings I made was of a coffee grinder - with some of Wagner's music in the background (of course).

The other day I found the  coffee grinder cutout I worked from and was about to throw it away. Then I discovered it has a charm of its own.

Coffee, coffee, coffee.

As my print teacher Neil Emmerson told me, the product is sometimes an e-product - and that's fine!

Neil is celebrating 10 years at Dunedin Art School this month with an exhibition of work by teachers and students.

 

Rainbow coffee

The early morning sun and my coffee machine put on a rainbow display this morning. If I were superstitious I might think the gods were sending a message to our Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is opposing a proposed cross-party gay marriage bill.

I was once so naive I thought maybe Abbott just didn't get it, was uninformed about the social causes he opposes.  His stance on climate change has made me wise up and I am now convinced he understands but just doesn't care and that he is just the sort of politician corporates need to push their barrow. Our current government seems to be full of people who just don't care.

So I see the rainbow as a reminder that nature is beautiful and fragile and that we must join together to fight for her.

Coffee in Australia

Favorite coffee in favorite coffee cup

Ah coffee! Yum, swoon!

One of the best things about being back in Australia is the coffee. We prefer a bitter brew here, real Italian coffee.  Germany prefers a smoother less bitter roast.

The cup and saucer in the picture are a favourite of mine. They were bought in Wanganui in about 2003 during a last trip there with my already very frail father.

Answering life's questions

ALL. Try we life-long, we can never
Straighten out life's tangled skein,
Why should we, in vain endeavour,
Guess and guess and guess again?

LUIZ. Life's a pudding full of plums,

DUCH. Care's a canker that benumbs.

ALL. Life's a pudding full of plums,
Care's a canker that benumbs.
Wherefore waste our elocution
On impossible solution?
Life's a pleasant institution,
Let us take it as it comes!

From The Gondoliers.  
(Written on Facebook in response to a 'friend's request for answers.)  

Let us take it as it comes.

Brown, white and mixed

Sitting in the cafe in Taihape looking at my coffee, I can't help thinking that the townsfolk and the coffee are similar .... a bit brown a bit white and a bit mixed. I  grew up in a truly bi-cultural place and when I return I am reminded why being Pakeha is such a significant part of my identity even after so many years of living far way from this place.

Coffee at Soul Food, Taihape (it was strong and delicious)

Coffee with a heart

In Umina at Ruby's Cafe and Books. Good coffee, lots of books (you can read them there or take them with you) and engaging staff. A good recipe for success.

Ruby's Cafe and Books

Lurv coffee

Australia is expensive

It is nice to be back in a place that makes the strong bitter coffee that I prefer but I gulped when I had to pay nearly eight dollars for a coffee and friand at my local coffee shop yesterday. I had become used to the much lower European prices.

Coffee and Cake in a Hamburg Cafe

Saucer surprise at Maribor Vinotek

Down by the River Drava in Maribor there is a Vinotek that serves local wine ... and good coffee as well.

Vinotek by the Drava in Maribor

I was having an espresso there on Sunday morning when the wind blew away the small paper serviette under the cup, revealing an image on the saucer.
I had a closer look ...

Espresso cup ... and what's that on the saucer?

... and found someone staring up at me from below. What a surprise and I would have missed him without the wind gust.

Oh,  hello there!

Life in Maribor

There are lots of outdoor cafes in the old city of Maribor and the tables spread right out over the streets which are closed to traffic.

Coffee shop patrons in Maribor town square

The Cafes are lively, full of people chatting over a coffee or a soft drink. Occasionally there is a table of beer drinkers, but mostly people sit for what seems like hours with a bottle of water or lemonade or a coffee in one of its many forms. The clientele are of all ages; tables of youngsters, tables of mature ladies, tables of families, tables of men, all of them chatting in the sun. Somehow life seems simpler here.

Families and bicycles

Munich Ostbahnhof

On the long hours of the flights from Sydney to Munich I thought, 'This is too far - I must be crazy.'  Once I got here it didn't seem too far at all. Our bodies are programmed to forget the bad bits which is probably just as well.

Munich was 14C and very wet.  I took the S-Bahn to Munich Ostbahnhof where the coffeeshops were just opening. There were very few patrons at 6am when I got there but lots of people pausing in their rush to work when I left at 8am to catch my train to Graz.

Pearl Beach Portrait

I have been feeling a bit dislocated and I decided that now I have discovered a cafe with good light I should go and paint there more often. So I went back to Pearl Beach Cafe yesterday and painted the pleasant and friendly woman sitting opposite.

At Pearl Beach on Monday.

Unfortunately the coffee at the cafe leaves something to be desired ... perhaps I can convince them to try a coffee with 100% Arabica beans?

Making Coffee

Coffee with green cushions

The sun has come out again in Maribor. Down by the river is a cafe with bright green cushions that serves excellent coffee. I went there this afternoon before rehearsals and sat thinking just how idyllic this place and this festival is.

Nespresso

Wonderful what you can do if you have a quid. Launch a 'luxury'coffee brand complete with special coffee machines that 'extract' the coffee from little dinky aluminium one-cup containers. Nespresso coffee from Nestles. The machines (there are lots of options) are sold through upmarket specialty shops which have tables at the back where you can have a tasting (ie a free cup of coffee). No milk though or the shop would have to register as a cafe. Instant espresso coffee!

(Ahhhh... Modaks. How far away you are.)

Jahresaustellung

The semester is over here and the end of year show. The day before the show students were very busy hammering and painting and putting their work of display. There appeared to be a great deal of last minute activity, but the next day all the mess has gone. The show included everything including a new version of a disabled bicycle (patented), little electronic gadgets that go 'pop', huge enormous apparatuses whose function I could not establish, a couple sleeping in a bed, paintings and drawings of every type, witty installations and lots of tea and coffee and orange juice bars. One student was having his coffee introduced intravenously.

Coffee in Canberra

In a Kingston Cafe.