By Anatoly Liberman
It’s tea now. Once again I have little to add to what anyone can find in the OED and other easily available sources, though it will be a pleasure to continue singing praises to Hobson Jobson, and there is a redeeming quality to this post: at the end I’ll say something about tea caddy. But first here are three quotations. “That excellent and by all physicians approved China drink called by the Chineans Tcha, and by other nations tay, alias tee, is sold at the Sultana Head Coffee House, London.” (Mercurius Politicus, Sept. 30, 1658; The Century Dictionary). “I remember well how in 1681 I for the first time in my life drank thee at the house of an Indian chaplain, and how I could not understand how sensible men could think it a treat to drink what tasted no better than hay-water” (1726), and finally, “There is among our people, and particularly among the womankind a great abuse of Thee, not only that too much is drunk…but this is also an evil custom to drink it with a full stomach; it is better and more wholesome to make use of it when the process of digestion is pretty well finished…. It is also a great folly to use sugar candy with Thee” (1672; the last two quotations are from Hobson Jobson). In 1545 Chiai was said “to remove fever, headache, stomach-ache, pain in the side or joints,” and many other ailments, including gout. I remember reading similar nineteenth-century ads, except that they recommended cigars for alleviating pain and clearing the lungs.
It will be seen that the main question about tea is the same as about coffee, namely: How did the form tea conquer its numerous rivals? And the rivals were indeed many, though they can be divided into two groups: those beginning with ch- and sounding cha, chai, and the like, and those beginning with t- and spelled tee, tea, thee, etc. Both variants are still known in the European languages: for example, English has tea (like Malay te), while Russian has chai (like Chinese Mandarin chha, according to one system of transliteration), homophonous with the first syllable of the word China. In this case, the Malay may have been an intermediary between China and the rest of the world, but the word’s source is Chinese, for, as Hobson Jobson explains, “te [is] the utterance attached to the character in the Fuh-kien dialect.” Knowing nothing about Chinese, I can only repeat what specialists say, and they seem to be unanimous in explaining the origin of the two variants.
The numerous forms of coffee (see them in the post for November 23) show that there was no progression in the development of the English name of this beverage. We only witnessed different episodes in the history of its adaptation—a usual process in the fortunes of exotic articles of trade, plant and animal names, and so forth. The same holds for tea. Different forms coexisted, were affected by the pronunciation and spelling of the word in other languages (in English, Dutch and French influence has to be reckoned with), and at long last one such form became standard. The state of “peaceful coexistence” is testified to by the first of the three quotations given at the beginning of this post and by an almost identical ad in The Gazette, which, also in 1658, advertised a China drink, “called by the Chinese Toha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee.” Apparently, the norm had not yet solidified. In 1711 Alexander Pope rhymed tea with obey. In 1720 the rhyme tea / pay occurred. In 1770 Samuel Johnson extemporized the verses in which tea was coupled in rhyme with me
OUP’s Online Marketing Manager Stephanie Porter reflects on the beers to accompany her Thanksgiving meal.
Thanksgiving is all about tradition, and if you are like my family, your dinner will probably be served with wine. But having recently spent some time with The Oxford Companion to Beer and its Editor-in-Chief Garrett Oliver, I am thinking about adding a little twist to the end of the meal.
“Dessert, often thought of as the province of sweet wine, is actually usually better with beer. The maxim in wine—that the wine must be at least as sweet as the dessert—does not hold force with beer. In fact, it is the relief of sweetness from the palate that is the key to success. After a few forkfuls, the palate is overwhelmed by the sugar in most desserts. That is one reason why coffee often seems so pleasant with dessert; it is not nearly as sweet as the dessert.”
So after the turkey has been carved, eaten, and relocated to the fridge for tomorrow’s sandwiches, I will be breaking out a few choice beers to serve alongside my cousin’s famous French silk pie. Here are a few easy suggestions for incorporating a delicious brew into your Thanksgiving dinner. According to The New Republic reviewer Alexander Nazaryan, it might be almost as American as apple pie.
Pour a coffee flavored stout with your pecan pie:
Not to suggest that you have to forgo the coffee altogether, but my mouth starts to water just thinking about this pairing.
“Bigger beers with some caramel or roasted character tend to do best. With a chocolate tart, for example, we can pair a coffeeish, chocolaty imperial stout. In this pairing, we have both contrast and harmony—the
roasted malts match the chocolate, whereas the beer cleanses the palate of sweetness; the dessert can come back tasting fresh.”
I would aim for something with rich flavor, but that isn’t too heavy. I might go for two of my all-time favorite beers, Full Sail Session Black or Köstritzer Schwarzbier. But any of the beers listed in this link—Great Brewer’s Beers with a coffee flare—(or in your grocer’s isle) could have a similarly great effect.
Swap a Pumpkin Ale for your Pumpkin Pie:
As full as I am after a big meal, it just wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without a little something sweet to finish it all off. And since pumpkin ale is an American original, it seems even more fitting.
“As a general rule, pumpkin ale has an orange to amber color, a biscuit-like malt aroma, and a warming pumpkin aroma. Modern pumpkin ales are almost always made with “pumpkin pie spices,” which usually include cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and sometimes vanilla and ginger. The finish tends to be dry because of many fermentable sugars derived from the pumpkin.”
Pumpkin ale has seems like it has secured its place in bars and bottles across the country, so you should have no trouble picking up this new classic. I love the light flavor of Brooklyn’ Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale, but as this would be in lieu of pumpkin pie, I might go for something with even more pie-like goodness like Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale. Check out Draft Magazine’s Pumpkin picks, too.
Pour a rich barrel-aged beer over vanilla ice cream:
This pairing is all about pleasant contrast. Concurrent with the flavor of the wood itself may be the flavor of whatever beverage the barrel h
By Anatoly Liberman
All sources inform us about the Arabic-Turkish home of the word coffee, though in the European languages some forms were taken over directly from Arabic, so that the etymological part of the relevant entry in dictionaries and encyclopedias needs modification. There is a possibility of coffee being connected with the name of the kingdom of Kaffa, but this question need not bother us at the moment. The main puzzle is the development of the form coffee rather than its distant origin. The OED is, as always, helpful, but particularly instructive is the array of variants found in a book with the funny title Hobson-Jobson. Far from being a book of humor, it is a wonderful dictionary of Anglo-Indian words. In its pages we find recollections about a very good drink called Chaube (1573), Caova (1580), cohoo (1609) and, surprisingly for such an early date, coffee (also 1609), cahue (1615), coho, and copha (1628). The route to Europe is supposed to be from Arabic quahwa via Turkish kahveh. Later coffee became the standard form in English. But, as we can see, there was no real progression: in 1609 some people said cohoo, while others already knew coffee. The cause may be that the Arabic and the Persian pronunciations competed, one being prevalent on the coast of Arabia, the other in the mercantile towns. The writers quoted above were mainly English, Dutch, French, and Italian. All of them recorded the foreign word according to their speech habits, though some may have repeated what they had heard from their countrymen. (Incidentally, the transliteration of the Turkish word as kahveh and the Arabic as qahwah may not be quite right, for the so-called round gaf of the Turkish word, as this consonant is known among the Anglo-Indians, sounds very much like Arabic q. I would be grateful to specialists for either corroborating or refuting this statement. Perhaps there are dialectal differences of which I am unaware.)
Several researchers wondered how hw could become f. This, I think, is less of an enigma than many people think. The opposite change of f to hv (with a guttural h, that is, kh, approximately as in German ach and Dutch Schipol) often occurs in non-standard Russian. At one time, the consonant f was alien to it, and names like Filip (stress on the second syllable) turned into Khvilip. The same substitution still happens in Russian dialects. To produce the consonant f, one needs a passage of air (otherwise, the result will be p) and active lips (or at least an active lower lip). The group hv satisfies both conditions, except that breath and the lips participate in its production consecutively instead of concurrently, as happens in f. Since, as a general rule, seventeenth-century Europeans could not pronounce hw or hv, they combined both elements of articulation in one sound and ended up with f. Its voiced partner v fits the situation even better, and we should applaud the man who wrote caova. Chaube (that is, khaube) is a close relative of caova, because b is also a labial sound. Some speakers were lazy and left out w altogether; hence cohoo and its likes. For comparison, one may cite Finnish kahvi and Polish kawa.
The vowels give us grief too. Both Arabic and Turkish have a in the first syllable, while the English word has o. The Dutch for coffee is also koffie, as opposed, for instance, to German K
SCENES FROM LIFE: A short playette
THE COFFEE DILEMMA
SCENE: A WELL-KNOWN FAST-FOOD OUTLET BEGINNING WITH LETTERS “Mc”. A MAN AND WOMAN STAND IN LINE, WAITING TO PLACE THEIR ORDER WITH COUNTER PERSON
HE
Whad’ya taking? The usual?
SHE
(examining menu choices)
Not sure...
HE
You always end up taking number five
SHE
Well...I just might be daring and opt for something different for a change
HE
I’ll stick to the usual. The Big M. So?
SHE
What’s the rush? I haven’t decided yet...
HE
It’s our turn (to COUNTER PERSON) ‘Number 8’
COUNTER PERSON
The full meal?
HE
Yup.
COUNTER PERSON
(keying in order)
Soft drink with that?
HE
Right. So? (to SHE) What’s it gonna be?
SHE
O-kay...I’ll take...
HE
...let me guess. Number 5
SHE
So what? At least chicken breast is a healthier choice. Too much beef is bad for your heart
HE
Is that a fact? Then I guess you won’t be taking the full meal ‘cause it has fries. Right?
SHE
A few fries now and then don’t hurt.
HE
Okay. She’ll have the full meal, fries included...
SHE
...and a coffee
SERVER
(stunned look on her face)
So you want a soft drink AND coffee?
SHE
No. Just a coffee please
SERVER
That won’t work.
SHE
Why not?
SERVER
The full meal comes with a soft drink.
HE
Can’t you replace the soft drink with a coffee?
SERVER
Uh-uh. If you want a coffee, then you can’t have the full meal. That’s the way it works
SHE
What? Never heard of that!
SERVER
I’ll have to order each item, separately
HE
That makes no sense, whatsoever, not to mention cost more
SHE
I mean, we could keep it between the two of us. We wouldn’t have to tell the computer. Really – it will never know
SERVER
You can order a full meal WITH a medium soft drink AND a coffee. That’s okay
SHE
What? But...I can’t drink all that liquid! I’ll float
HE
Just say yes and we’ll throw away the soft drink.
SHE
No – this is like...soooo stupid. All I want – all I need – is a coffee. Periiod
SERVER
But you can have a small coffee AND a soft drink
SHE
What type of crappy rule is that? Just like your dumb no refills on tea rule.
(manager is watching the server and listening to conversation)
HE
Our food is getting cold. Please make the necessary adjustment
SERVER
(very unnerved)
I’ve...never had this happen...before. I’m going to have...to...speak with someone. If you take a meal...you have to have a soft drink...
(she starts to turn around and is confronted with manager. They have an animated conversation)
Um...my manager says you can have coffee instead of a soft drink.
SHE
Oh goodie!
(COUNTER PERSON computes total. HE checks bill)
HE
You’ve over-charged us by a dollar
COUNTER PERSON
Really? Let me see the bill... You’re right. Now I’m going to have to place the order all over again. So that would be a full meal Big M...a full meal chicken breast...two soft drinks...
SHE
Coffee...
By: Lauren,
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Some of you may know that today is National Coffee Day. I've, personally, been trying to ignore the free/discounted offers around New York City since I'm trying to cut back, and decided to distract myself by putting together this quick video post about coffee and caffeine.
Now, I would be reimiss if I did not first mention the fantastic book Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine by Stephen Braun. This is a
By:
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on 6/13/2011
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These little digital doodles of mine are nothing particulary special as far as Art (with a capital A) is concerned, I know. They aren't meant to be. They are bits of colourful fun that pop into my mind throughout the day, are quickly sketched down into my book with marker pens, scanned in, and then digitally painted over whenever I have the time to do so.
I like them. They're cheerful and bright ... and perhaps they're trying to tell me that somewhere deep within this rather cynical husk there's still, rather well-hidden perhaps, a sense of uncomplicated joy left.
Above is Colored Pencils and below is a Red Coffee Cupcake. Enjoy.
What’s Your Drink of Choice?
Here are some recipes for you to learn to make coffee drinks just like the baristas at Wired Joe’s. Enjoy!
Jane’s Nonfat Iced No Whip Mocha
Ingredients
Chocolate syrup
Skim milk
2 oz. espresso (double shot)
Ice
Directions
Squeeze a decent amount of chocolate syrup into the bottom of a tall glass. Use your judgment, but 4 or 5 swirls are good. Fill the glass with skim milk.
Make a double shot of espresso. For fresher espresso, grind the espresso beans just before use. Pour the espresso into the glass of milk. Stir.
Add ice.
One of my recent chalk boards, showing Vader ordering his favourite coffee.
Check out my blogs for more images
By: Michelle,
on 1/24/2011
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By Michelle Rafferty
“So, why did we launch the Trenta? We listened to you,” says Starbucks. Really?
Looking for more answers, I asked my friend Greg Dietrich for his thoughts on the matter. Greg works at Paragon Coffee Trading, which means he imports coffee and collaborates with members of the New York commodities coffee trade. Oh and he gets to roast beans and cup all day (see picture below on right). Below is a conversation (via Gmail’s instant messaging service) we had about the Bucks’ latest creation.
Note: Some g-chat names have been changed to protect the identity of those in the conversation below.
Me: So you work in coffee. What do you think of this whole Trenta thing?
Greg: Honestly, this is about McDonald’s. They are very successful with their iced coffee and Sbucks is trying to compete.
Me: So the Trenta is really a response to McDs?
Greg: Yes.
Me: They also appear to be warring over oatmeal…is Sbucks actually afraid they’ll lose their customers to golden M?
Greg: Sbucks started off as a specialty coffee outfit but they moved away from that a long time ago. Now they are responding to the demand for iced coffee and larger beverages.
Me: Wait what does “specialty” mean? Better quality?
Greg: There are many interpretations of specialty coffee, but for the most part it encompasses all Arabica/high grown single origin coffee.
Me: And what do they use now?
Greg: Well, Sbucks does not use bad coffee, in fact it is still considered specialty because it is Arabica, meaning it is grown at high elevations, and it is from a single-origin. But, by no means does specialty signify “good coffee.” Sbucks has gotten sooo big that they are now buying coffee from cooperatives (many different farms with varying degrees of quality), whereas the majority of the other roasters prefer to buy single-estate coffees (aka single farm coffees where quality is consistent and exact origin is available for the end consumer).
Me: So they still get to say they’re “specialty,” but in reality they’ve lost some rights to this claim. They’ve just grown too big.
Greg: Yeah. They have already lost a lot of customers to McDonalds/ McCafe due to quality and price. McDonalds has better coffee.
Me: Whoa, really?
Greg: Yeah, McDs has won numerous blind tasting competitions and they have cheaper prices.
Me: In terms of the bean, what’s the diff? And have you participated in these competitions?*
Greg: In my opinion the difference between the two is not so much the bean, but the way they roast. McDonalds has an outside company roast their beans for them that solely focuses on roasting whereas SBbucks roasts for themselves and I feel has become complacent and lacks innovation in terms of blending and adding new flavors.
Me: They are bad roasters?
<
My husband and I seriously love coffee. So much that we've never had a date that didn't at some point include a stop at a coffee shop. Even after our wedding we had the horse and carriages pull over at the Starbucks in downtown Naperville, IL.
On one of our dates, about four years ago, my husband and I were sitting in our local Starbucks, having a drink and watching people come in and out. When one woman came in I said to him, "she's a Venti Caramel Frappuccino". We listened to her place her order and I was right!
So then we started guessing what each customer's drink order was and I was pretty good at it. It hit me that I should write a book detailing coffee drinks and the types of people who drink the various concoctions, and that I should call it Espressology. I went back to that same table at the same Starbucks later that week to begin writing the book. I was stumped as to how to start when inspiration walked in the door...
This really obnoxious guy came in and while waiting for his drink at the pick-up counter he was majorly ogling a female customer. The barista gave him a nasty look and that's when it hit me! I had to write a fiction book and have a barista practicing Espressology. She needed to matchmake customers based on their favorite coffee drinks. I immediately started writing the book (that guy made the first page!) and page after page came flying out of me. A couple of nights a week I returned to the same table at the same coffee shop and four months later the book was complete.
Kristina Springer is the author of My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, and The Espressologist, which is now available in paperback!
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By: Leslie Ann Clark,
on 12/10/2010
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Leslie Ann Clark's Skye Blue Blog
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It has been busy busy busy in the studio! The place is jammed packed with characters waiting to be famous.
Newton has had his day in the sun with a new Baby Journal out in January.
“Yes You Can Man” wants a bit of the action for himself. He has been waiting in the wings with his REALLY BIG ideas!
Peep Squeak?.… he is always “On the Move!“. There will be Peepsqueak fabric out in February and a Peepsqueak‘s children’s book in the works for 2012..
Lae Dee Bugg is hoping for a July release at Christian Art Gifts for the TWEEN market.
Bitty Bot?… she and her bot friends really wants to be on fabric. They are waiting to hear back from a recent submission.
Hen Rietta fabric is in revision mode. Hen Rietta‘s friend, Grace is serving us up some hot cocoa. She is standing near ……. Shivery the snowman! Brrrrr!!! He has high hopes for a children’s book someday.
There is no forgetting Bea Bunny. She is always trying to get in the picture. She will debut in the Peepsqueak book.
This is life in my studio. Never a dull moment!
Oh NO! did you hear that? It’s Zippy! That little hedge hog came in late and missed the photo shoot. I will not hear the end of that!
“Zippy! Next time try to be on time. Remember, you snooze you lose!”
There are also bears, clowns, birds and more. It is never boring in the studio!
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Last Wednesday, Eight O’Clock Coffee teamed up with First Book to host a fun-filled day of off-site learning for local second graders at Eight O’Clock Coffee’s Landover, Maryland roasting and packaging facility. At the event, Eight O’Clock also proudly announced the production of 5,000 co-branded copies of the Sesame Street Workshop book, We’re Different, We’re the Same, now available to children nationwide on the First Book Marketplace.
The day’s events included a tour of the plant and reading activities with 63 second graders from nearby Woodridge Elementary School. Students got to see what goes in to every bag of Eight O’Clock Coffee and enjoyed reading We’re Different, We’re the Same with Eight O’Clock Coffee employee volunteers. A tasty Sesame Street-themed lunch followed, and the event ended with each child taking home two brand new books in an Eight O’Clock Coffee tote bag.
“We love hosting the First Book events and spending the day with the kids—they really light up when they get new books,” says Alisa Jacoby, Senior Brand Manager at Eight O’Clock Coffee. About the book We’re Different, We’re the Same, Jacoby adds, “Having recently changed our Eight O’Clock Coffee packaging, we can relate to the idea of being different on the outside, but the same on the inside!”
Through the First Book and Eight O’Clock Coffee partnership, 580 books will be donated to Woodridge Elementary School, two for each student. Kyle Zimmer, President of First Book, commended Eight O’Clock Coffee’s efforts, “Their continued dedication to promoting literacy helps to ensure that all children have ‘the same’ educational resources and opportunities.”
Life Is Good
By Bill Kirk
She wakes early,
Before first light
And slowly makes her way to the kitchen
To start the coffee ritual.
Her footsteps are muffled by thick, woolen socks
Pulled on out of habit—
Even in summer.
The house is quiet
And will be for another hour,
Except for the occasional creak or pop
In floors, ceilings and walls,
Just as old bones are also sometimes wont to do.
It’s odd that those noises always seem to be
Upstairs or in the next room—
Present but never proximate,
As if the house wants the attention—
Letting you know
It should not be taken for granted.
What makes those noises anyway—
In bones and boards?
Are people like houses when they get old?
Come to think of it,
Old ships are like that, too,
What with their snaps and cracks
From movement on the water,
Even when safely sheltered.
She feels that way sometimes—
Just an old girl with ancient ribs and joints
Making noises as all the pieces and parts
Settle and resettle into place.
But not today.
Today the noises don’t matter.
She has no time for feeling old.
For this day, she has fifty miles ahead of her—
On foot; uphill and down,
Over rocky, narrow trails
Carved out through the heavy underbrush
Of ancient forests by pack mules, horses and pioneers.
Today, she will join the company
Of thousands of her comrades,
Both past and present,
Once again, experiencing a level of
Anticipation, pain and exhilaration
Shared by few.
But now in this quiet moment,
Like no other in its simplicity,
She savors the first steamy sips
Of rich, dark coffee laden with
Fresh cream and sugar—
The steady warmth radiating from her core.
Cradling a comfortable old mug in her hands,
She closes her eyes, thankful for this day.
Then, as if in prayer,
She imagines the start of her long day’s journey—
The steady cadence during twelve hours
Of her 80,000 foot strikes,
As she leaves her own transitory yet enduring
Marks on the trail—
The next first steps of the rest of her life.
It’s almost time to lace up.
Life is good.
First things first, let's be clear what I mean when I say coffee. I don't mean that dark, black, bitter stuff that makes my mouth turn inside out. My parents drink that by the gallon but unless it has loads of cream and flavored syrups, plain old coffee does not make my list.
Instead, I mean coffee with funny names. Like frappuccino. My winter time favorite at Starbucks (aka my office) is the mint mocha frappuccino (no whip, to save on calories) and my summer go-to ice blended is the caramel frappuccino. If I'm near a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf I'll get a white chocolate. Heaven! (Sadly, I am not near a Coffee Bean at the moment. Sniff sniff.)
If I'm feeling moderately healthy, and the weather is cool enough, I'll get a soy chai latte. Great soy proteins from the vanilla soy milk. Yummy, earthy, aromatic chai tea spices. Mmmm, I can just smell it.
Some of my other coffee shop favorites are toffee nut lattes, iced green tea lemonade, and (if I'm going for a major indulgence) a white chocolate mocha. Maybe with peppermint.
Wanna know another favorite? Jaclyn Moriarty. Aka the author whom I wish I was. (Not her life, necessarily, although I'm sure it's quite lovely, but her writing. Sigh.) So, in honor of my
stalking victim favorite author, I'm giving away a copy of her book,
The Year of Secret Assignments.
To enter, just leave the name of your favorite winter beverage in comments. (No fair copying mine!)
Hugs and happy holidays,
TLC
Oh. My. Gods. and
Goddess Boot Camp (out now!)
Forgive My Fins (coming June 1, 2010)
PS. No one has guessed the Mystery Bee (mwuahaha) but ~Jamie and Paige can email me (tlc at teralynnchilds dot com) their mailing info to get a slick set of Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp buttons.
Posted on 9/20/2009
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Like many British people (and I suspect many other people around the world), it’s a real treat to crunch on a biscuit when enjoying a cup of tea or coffee. So you can imagine my surprise, when having my early Sunday morning imperfectly made cuppa (see http://purpleslinky.com/offbeat/the-complicated-cuppa-cup-that-cheers-or-mug-of-misery/) that I discovered I was amongst those idiots who have managed to suffer a minor injury at the hands of the humble hobnob.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/125767/Crumbs-half-of-us-have-been-injured-by-biscuits
I regret to admit that I’m one of the 29% of adult Brits who have managed to splash themselves with hot tea when dunking my digestive. For those of you who’ve never dunked or heard of dunking let me enlighten you. Once you’ve made your tea (or coffee) (beverage) and taken the biscuit of your choice from the biscuit tin (dunkee), you then proceed to dip a bite size piece of the dunkee into the beverage while holding onto the remainder to use as a ‘handle’ . Once the dunkee has been dunked for a couple of seconds you bring it to the surface of the beverage and then manouevre the dunkee together with beverage as close to your chin as you can before biting (or sucking) the dunkee. The skill is in getting dunkee to lips before it drops back into the beverage. More often than not the dunkee drops its load back into the beverage thereby splashing the dunker with hot beverage!
If you’re lucky enough to dodge the hot beverage if the dunkee drops, don’t believe for one minute that the danger ends there. You then have the job of taking a teaspoon, delving to the bottom of the beverage and trawling the cup to retrieve the errant dunkee to prevent choking. This is no mean feat as, more often than not, the dunkee slips back into the beverage like an eel through a fishing net, which again can cause the dunker injury from splashback!
Having overcome the hazards of dunking, I have also regularly fallen into the 28% of Brits who have choked on biscuit crumbs and at times I’ve fallen into the 7% of Brits who have dropped a biscuit tin on their foot and the 7% who’ve been nibbled by a pet while feeding it with a biscuit (obviously I’m so sweet they can’t tell the difference between a biscuit and me), but thankfully none of my injuries have required the services of the A&E Department of the local hospital.
So there you have it – the Great British Biscuit Bite Back!! I’m now going to get my mid morning coffee and I’m just pondering on whether to risk having a Bourbon (the UK version of the Oreo) biscuit – could be a nice treat or could end up as ‘death by chocolate’!!! If it turns out to be the latter then at least I will have died happy!
(Because the SCBWI Summer Conference is coming up, I feel some pressure to post something cheery and rah-rah about the writing life, in case SCBWI friends stop by. But, I'm like a 5th-year senior at these conferences by now. I'm just gonna tell it like it is.)
Today the table I sit at every day, to write, smelled like B.O. It's in the far corner of the cafe, in its own sunny little glass case, not unlike a phone booth.
I set up all my stuff anyway—because I need this table—wondering how long the smell would last and whether I'd be sitting in it all day.
After ordering, I bussed a small plate with an open muffin wrapper on it. Then I thought, This muffin was probably eaten by the person with the B.O. I wondered if sweat glands were on me.
I washed my hands.
Of course, I'm probably sitting in the same chair as that person. And because the table hadn't been bussed, it also hasn't been wiped. I feel very connected right now.
I hope he got a lot of work done.
On an unrelated note, here are my photos from SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2009! (It was only five and a half months ago. :P ) I was so worked up about entering the Writer's Day contest for the first time that I felt like I didn't take as many photos as usual. But apparently the habit kicked in. There's reasonable coverage. :) (During the slideshow, click "Show Info" to turn on captions.)
Also for your viewing convenience:
SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2008: Photos | Blog entry
SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2007: Photos | Blog entry
And if you want to hear me say something not jaded—
On the one hand, I want to downplay the meaning that winning the Writer's Day middle grade fiction contest this year had for me.
On the other hand, irrationally . . . that was one of the greatest days of my life. 
r
Thank you, Lee Wind, for making a point of getting a photo of me!
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Things are a bit slow around here ... I'm still recuperating. The good news is that I am free of infection and therefore finally free of antibiotics. But my neck is still a bit sore from the operation and my foot still somewhat swollen -- apparently it has been so traumatized that it will take another month or so to fully recover! I hobble along quite well though, so am at least no longer sofa-bound :)
Still, the pace of life is no longer frantic as limping around takes time and I still get exhausted at the end of the hot summer days. Am appreciating life and drawing what lies before me, in this case my coffee cup, saucer and spoon. The coffee stain is a photograph of an actual one so I guess I should apply the term Collage to the above. Lots of fun doing it.
I also had another special request for the above. I hope she likes it. Cheers!
Coffee Break products at Floating Lemons at Zazzle
Yasmin purple products at Floating Lemons Typography at Zazzle
Yasmin products at cafepress
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First, I started out with this doodle of coffee mugs (this was while I was sipping one in the morning as one does) which I am not terribly fond of ... But it inspired me to do this:
And so the end result was this:
And then I ended up getting a Today's Best Award at zazzle for this:
Now, THAT put a smile on my face :D Cheers!
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Gone is the day of the publishers’ martini lunch. These days the Penguin offices are fuelled by a heady mix of chamomile, peppermint and green teas. And plenty of coffee. Walking into the staff café in the morning is like being punched in the face with a caffeine-infused glove. To celebrate the daily grind (ho ho), and to celebrate the publication of his warming, enlivening debut novel, Javascotia, we asked coffee fanatic Benjamin Obler to talk us through the whys and wherefores, the highs and lows, of his 5 Favourite Cups of Coffee in a Day. Take it away, Benjamin.
1. The Morning Cup.
It's so obvious, I know, but the morning cup — the first — morning cup — is like the pioneer. The self-sacrificer. Without it, there would be no others. It's the Ray Charles of coffee cups. The Aretha Franklin. The original, and still the go-to when it's got to be done right. Imagine the pressure on all those first cups in the greater DC area the morning of January 20. Three a.m., the middle of the night, people travelling to the inauguration. It's time to deliver, morning cup. It's all on you. And it delivered. You know it did.
Even on a regular day, it's a workhorse. It doesn't get savored, rather greedily slurped. It has no accompaniment — not mine, anyway, though my wife takes peanut butter toast — nothing to offset its deficiencies if there are any. It's just out there doing its job: being strong, being hot, being dark but not too dry. That's no small feat at 6:30 or 7:00. Where I live, it can be ten or twenty below zero (F) outside in the a.m., and in the kitchen, it's not much better than 55. The coffee maker is cold, the carafe is cold, the burr mill is cold, the beans are cold. Optimum extraction needs water hitting 180 F. Okay, yes, some of the burden is on the equipment, yet who's getting up to do its thing? The morning cup. Props are in order. There's been a lot of mornings, and you've been there — I won't turn my back on you now, morning cup. You da man.
2. The Fiction Hour Cup
Aesthetically, this one is my favorite. An explanation is in order, I suppose. The Fiction Hour is precisely what you might imagine: the time when all other things are dropped and writing begins. Most nights this happens around 7:00 p.m. Often what will happen is, a short nap is taken between 6 and 7. This empties the brain of daytime, practical, rational thoughts: matters pertaining to the so-called real world. Mentally, gears are shifted. Then coffee is made, and a first cup is had while coming out of a "nap-over" and writing in a journal. The fingers and mental tongue loose, a second cup is poured. Things are usually quite lucid by now, and having divested myself of the burden of recording the day's trivial matters and perhaps brainstormed about the fiction at hand, plotted a little course, I set to it. The Fiction Hour Cup comes along on this mental journey. It is the final stage booster rocket. But it's only fuel, not the vehicle. It's still up to the captain to steer towards a planet or get the vessel into a meaningful orbit. Keep water nearby and a pack of gum, set up the office near a restroom, and you'll be fine; the Fiction Hour Cup will not get the best of you, but get the best out of you.
3. The After-Luncher (a.k.a. the Après-Déjeuner)
There's nothing very poetic about this one. It's more scientific. The fact is, the body becomes sluggish after lunch, for a number of reasons to do with circadian rhythms, blood sugar spikes, and something called a homeostatic cycle. (It's all documented by a team of certified internet scientists.) These phenomena contribute to a strong desire to fall on the floor, eyes closed, and not wake for several days. But this course of action isn't too practical for folks wanting to remain gainfully employed. Enter the After-Luncher! Da da da! Regal trumpet blasts! He's the unsung hero of the coffee day! In summer, he might come in iced, or cold-pressed, form. Mmm-mmm, nothing wrong with that. At the office, he might be — gasp! — that brew made from pouches of flaky Robusta shipped in on a food service van. Gulp. Far from ideal, as in blind tastes tests, soggy loafer insoles and rained-on cardboard have been preferred. But Robusta actually has more caffeine than its classier cousin, Arabica. Sometimes it's just a matter of whatever gets the job done and keeps the chin off the chest. That is what the After-Luncher is all about. Its raison d'etre is to raise one from death.
4. The Great Reliever
A good cup of coffee brings many pleasures: aroma, ambiance, companionship of a sort or an aid to human companionship, flavor, calm, warmth, uplift, ritual. But one thing it has not always been lauded for, until recently, is pain relief. And again we turn to the documented science: this has been proven by studies. Serious studies by men in white coats and rimless spectacles. Though I must add that I noticed the benefits, and have relied on the effects greatly, long before it hit the internet headlines in recent years.
A Jan. 2005 article by Melvyn R. Welbach states, firstly, that caffeine acts as an amplifier to household pain pills. "In a review of 30 clinical trials involving over 10,000 patients, the authors concluded that 40% higher dosages of aspirin, acetaminophen or salicylamide would be needed if they were not given in combination with a small dose of caffeine." The same holds true for ibuprofen, which is found in my medicine cabinet. And caffeine's solo effects were tested as well: "Caffeine appeared to have an independent analgesic effect … Sixty-five milligrams of caffeine was just as effective as 648 milligrams of acetaminophen..." That's ten times as effective! Is there no end to coffee's power? Furthermore, a ScienceDaily.com headline of Jan. 10, 2007 reads: "Caffeine Cuts Post-workout Pain By Nearly 50 Percent, Study Finds."
As a recreational tennis player, or "weekend warrior," I've known about this for a while. That is why my number four favorite cup, though not a "daily" cup, is The Great Reliever: that cup that one makes after a long session, whether match or practice, of chasing down forehands, scrambling for backhands, charging the net, lunging for volleys, and leaping for overheads on the unforgiving hardcourts of public parks, which are composed of little more than concrete and paint. You can take your fluids, you can eat your chicken sandwich (protein to rebuild muscle tissue), you can get a rub-down, you can shower and rest, but until you brew The Great Reliever, and with it wash down three Advil, the sound you make descending stairs will continue to be, creak Ow, creak Ow, creak Ow.
5. The I'm-On-a-Roll Cup
Let me be clear: you have to know your limits. The I'm-on-a-Roll Cup is not for everybody. Use only as directed. Consult your physician if you have a heart condition or take blood thinners. Side effects may include insomnia, blurred vision, delusions of literary grandeur, workshop paranoia, gastrointestinal distress, and loss of editorial restraint. You have to know where your line is. You have to draw the line, and stay clear of the line.
Furthermore the IOAR Cup is by no means daily. Make it daily and you will imperil your central nervous system. In fact, your nervous system may become decentralized altogether, and that's not good, trust me.
So what is it? It's that one-too-many cup, the after-midnight cup, the Memphis-by-Dawn cup, the exam cram cup, the hyper-intense discussion, at a romantic confluence or spiritual crossroads cup, the friend-in-town-from-out-of-town cup, the In-the-Creative-Zone cup.
Like the morning cup, it's not going be the most lingered-over delicacy. One doesn't make it for the flavor or fineness. At this hour, in these circumstance, you're not going for an elegant presentation with trays and sugar spoons laid out handsomely. If you could, you'd mainline this one. And it is like a drip: stabilizing. The IOAR is just what you need there to keep you on track, like a guardrail. Okay, you're going to hammer out those breakup blues or finish your shift in the driver's seat until mile marker 280, or mount your story's next plot-rise. You are rolling already and have no intention of stopping just yet, but you can't just coast—that may cause a sputter. They say that in a car, you have more control accelerating through a turn. Same concept here, though to mix the metaphor: the IOAR cup is like fresh motor oil, keeping things slick and cool as you red-line it.
Benjamin Obler, author
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This morning I went for a nice walk. I almost always end up in a coffee shop sometime during my walks. Coffee shops draw me in. They are full of people and people are interesting! Everyone of them has a story. Sitting across from me was a man with shining white hair. He was bent over his newspaper and chasing down his seeded bagel with warm coffee. I wondered what he did for a living when he was working. Is he married? Is he widowed? What did he look like when he was a little boy? Where did he live? What is his story?
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I’m sure I know some of them by your description
Thanks for sharing your coffee contemplations!
There are regulars in coffee shops all over town. ha! love it! Great seeing you yesterday and love seeing your photos. they are so amazing.
I loved people watching! Try it sometime on the 16th St. Mall.
I have not been down there for a while. Might be a bit like Boulder eh?