coffee

So how many of you out there are hardcore coffee drinkers? When I was visiting my Dad, he took me to a gourmet coffee place. The store owner obviously knew him well; as soon as she saw him, she told him that some specialty coffee he was waiting for had come in. An excited conversation about the subtleties of brewing, tasting, the specific geographical origin of these beans, etc. ensued. I listened in awe and with a growing sense of inadequacy.

I'm not really a coffee drinker. I drink it on occasion with Jodi and Allison on practice nights, sometimes brew myself a single cup about once a week. The only way I've ever been able to drink it is with enough cream and sugar to completely eradicate any coffee flavour whatsoever. I've also never been able to make coffee properly. Case in point: our friend Scott Dixon came to visit a while back, and asked if he could possibly have some coffee. I said sure, but warned him that I can't make it very well. No problem, he said with a careless wave of his hand, coffee is coffee, I'll drink anything. So I made him a cup and set it in front of him as he read his book. Half an hour later, the mug was still full, and Scott confessed (looking incredibly guilt-stricken) that he had tried very hard to drink my coffee but finally had to give up.

Still, I found myself fascinated by the animated discussion between my father and the coffee woman several days ago, found my mouth watering at the euphoric descriptions. So I caved and bought a 1/4 pound of Kenya AA+ (the plus is vital, you see...regular Kenya AA is not supposed to be nearly as good). Brewed myself a cup, cautiously tasted it WITHOUT ANY CREAM AND SUGAR.

And was shocked to find that it was actually ok. More than ok, really. Maybe some of this was psychological ("this is really good coffee so I must like it!"), but for a brief moment, I actually got a glimpse into what it must be like to be a True Coffee Drinker.

So I find myself teetering on the brink of the Abyss...do I jump?

not coffee

Some misc.writing folks (including Carol Flynt) will be in town this week, so I'll be visiting with them on Wednesday evening. Then on Friday, Dave Clement is coming to visit! Looking forward to some quiet time with him (outside of a hectic con atmosphere). Sam Baardman will be crashing here on Sunday as well.

Went to Marcon on the weekend. Those interested can see my report here.

Blatherchat comments...

To Lissa: coffee-flavoured candy? Yum. I still prefer tea, too, though I tend towards herbal teas. Mint, cinnamon, green, ginger.

To Dave Weingart: What's a half-marathon? Did you get to write any of the filks down after?

To Joe: I'm jealous about your Jelly Belly tour. Did you get to meet the Big Bean Himself?

To Chris: I used to prefer instant coffee too! Especially with that white powder creamer stuff.

To Taunya: Next time you visit, you should ask to see Allison's private Axe Collection.

To Ju: Any luck with the house hunt?

To Howard: I want to see your Nerdboy dance! :-D I still do my "One Week" (Barenaked Ladies) ritual dance in my office about once a week. Great stress-reliever. However, I've found that I'm semi-brainwashed now. Jeff and I were in a sports store recently, and they had the song playing on the radio. It took ENORMOUS willpower not to jump around!

To Sherman: "Mountain Jelly Vegetable"? I'm intrigued....

To Coz re: jumping off the brink. I remember what you looked like in the morning before you got your coffee. :-D Is Amanda the same?

shopping for guys' clothes

Went out with Jeff, did some "guy clothes shopping". To tell you the truth, I've always felt a bit sorry for guys re: choice in clothing. I mean, what choices do they really have? Pants or shorts. T-shirt or shirt. They make up for this by going overboard in the variety of tie colours and styles, but I'll save my Tie Blathering for another time.

On the other hand, one could also see this as an advantage. When going out to a formal event, for example, a guy really only needs to invest in one good suit (that's where the variety in ties comes in handy). No one usually notices if a guy wears the same suit twice in a row. Very few women, however, would consider wearing the same dress twice in a row, unless she was absolutely certain she wouldn't see the same people (in which case she would be surely whispered about in hushed horrified tones for months to come). But even that doesn't come close to the ultimate embarrassment of womandom...Wearing The Same Dress As Another Woman To A Formal Function. Especially if the other woman looks better in the dress.

Comments? And a poll for all Guys out there...how many ties do you have right now? Be honest.

Been listening to Jeff and Maya's CD, Manhattan Sleeps, and have to say...I'm really, really impressed. Great stuff; I will be listening to this lots. :-) Ok, I'll stop gushing. Maya is also a published author (I'm interviewing her for Inkspot right now)...has bunches of short stories, articles, and novels published. Her most recently novel is THE SPIRIT GATE.

Officemusic: MANHATTAN SLEEPS (Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff (Syntax))

p.s. Andrea's Marcon report is up at http://merlynproductions.com/zencuppa.html.

p.p.s. Oh, I have such wonderful co-workers! One of my columnists, Moira Allen, sent me a batch of chocolate bars made by the Seattle Chocolate company: Black Forest, Lemon Mousse, Pike Place Expresso, Seville Orange, Hazelnut Biscotti. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... (the Lemon Mousse goes marvellously well with a cup o' Kenyan AA+ ;-) )

I have decided to collect chocolate bar wrappers, by the way, as of today. More on this tomorrow.

my famous sister

Hey, my sister Ruth is giving a speech at the Young Authors' conference at McGill University in Montreal right now. Also, she's been picked by Chatelaine magazine to be included in their Who's Who of Canadian Women book, published this fall. I have such a cool sister. :-)

Hanging out with some misc.writing folks tonight, should be fun. Interesting, too, since some of us haven't met most of the others. Will we all hate each other? It's sometimes difficult to really know what someone's like just through email contact. Online, it's far too easy to pretend to be something you're not. As an experiment, I once logged onto AOL under a pseudonym and cruised through some of the teen chats, pretending to be a 13-year-old girl named Melanie. No one questioned me or seemed at all suspicious. For all I know, everyone in those chat rooms could have been adults pretending to be teenagers! If I had a teenage daughter, however, I'd certainly be unnerved, and have a long talk with her about being careful about giving away too much personal information, etc.

Went to see GO with Jeff and Helen last night, quite enjoyed it. Tickets for the Star Wars movie goes on sale this afternoon at the York. I'm not going to even TRY...Jeff saw people waiting in line at one of the Toronto theatres several days ago...and the movie doesn't open until next Wednesday!

Blatherchat comments:

To Luisa: I want to see a picture of you in that dress! I promise not to post it on my Blatherings page, really! I wanna try that Frappucino thingy you described, yum.

To Howard: Jelly Belly tie? :D Where on earth...

To Steve: my favourite kind of hot chocolate is the kind made with miniature marshmallows and/or whipped cream. Don't think I've ever had "genuine" hot chocolate (i.e. made with real chocolate).

To Sionnain: I've never tried any of the flavoured syrups in my coffee, just flavoured creamer.

wrevellings

Had fun last night (we didn't hate each other after all :)). A bit awkward at first; I didn't know anyone, and Carol Flynt (the only person I knew) hadn't arrived yet because of traffic problems. After some quick introductions, though, the conversation topic turned to food and writing...and everything was fine after that. :-) Met Carol T., Melanie, Ingrid, Jerry, Anna, Jacey, Candy. After dinner, we headed over to Ingrid's. Lots of writing/book talk, of course. :)