Greek frappe

In the days before I made the cold brew iced coffee, my husband introduced me to the Greek frappe. That could also be why I didn't jump on the iced coffee. This stuff is also really really good. And easy.

Put 2 heaping teaspoons of instant coffee, 2T sugar or some sweetener and 6oz refrigerated cold water and shake well.

Apparently the absence of oil makes a ton of foam or something like that.

Pour over ice and scrape out the foam- that's the best part. Add a half cup of skim milk and 1T half and half or whatever combination you like.

*If you had fancy flavored syrup, you'd add that instead of sugar, but after shaking instead of before.

Some other info:

http://coffee.gourmetrecipe.com/Greek_frappe_coffee_l46

Of course there is this:

http://www.greekshops.com/detail.aspx?ProdID=5201219070180

Iced coffee- not just talk anymore

So, I finally got around to making iced coffee.  (And a week and a half later, I got around to posting it!) It wasn't that big of a deal. I don't know why I thought it would be. I guess some of those sites take a picture of each step- i.e.- this is me measuring the coffee, these are the grounds in the container, this is me filling the water, etc.- make it seem really involved because there are a thousand pictures.

Anyway, I did it and it was awesome!

Here's my post about talking about doing it:

http://notanotherpoliticalblog-j.blogspot.com/2010/08/homemade-iced-coffee.html

I talk about course grind coffee in the post, but some of the links don't specify. I don't know where I got that. I used "random grind". We went to the store and tried to grind coffee for Turkish coffee with cardamom, but it ended up very uneven and decidedly not fine. More like normal to coarse with random beans and chunks thrown in. It was Java Time in case you're wondering the brand. Sometimes I think my husband is testing me to see at what point I will just throw out the bag of random coffee he brings... It wasn't the worst I've had and it was a dark roast, so that was a plus.

Here's what I did:

• Added 1 cup of grinds in a 32oz mason jar and filled it with water like the instructions say, leaving an inch at the top. Shook it to wet all the grinds. 

• Steeped for more than 12 hours. Some people say 8 hours is fine; 12 or more will make it bitter. I'll have to try the 8 hours version. 

• 12 cup coffee filter over a strainer over a bowl, poured half the liquid and waited 0.5 hours. Changed filter, poured rest and waited 0.5- 0.75 hour. Refrigerate. 

• I used about 4 oz coffee concentrate, 2-3 oz milk, a few tablespoons of half and half, and 2 tablespoons of sweet condensed milk. I didn't try the simple syrup method, but hope to soon. I don't think I'll bother with dissolving sugar or sweetener in cold coffee, given my many unsuccessful attempts at sweetening cold tea up north...for you northerners, the secret is 1.5 cups sugar per gallon boiled with your water (8 teabags)!! Pointing at the Sweet and Low makes me want to point you back to elementary science class. Ok, not really, but restaurants do have the capability to heat water, I'd think.

***

In scanning some recipes and trying to see if the concentrates were the same strength, I ran into the dry measure problem. Not a big deal, but kind of interesting.

My thinking was 2 c = 1lb...

From a cookbook, before I remembered you can find anything online:

For wheat flour, 3.5c = 1lb

For granulated sugar, 2c = 1lb

For cocoa, 4c= 1lb

Online:

One guy measured 5.4 cups in 1 lb Folgers.

Another site said 4.75c = 1lb coarse grind and 5c = 1lb for fine.

Anyway, take that for what it's worth. Or measure your own. And post it online.  :)

Homemade Iced Coffee

I think I have to make it. Soon. Is it the record number of 100 degree days or the sweet coffee goodness? I can't say.

I'll admit I'm no gourmet. (If this had one more rhyme, I'd have to delete this post...) I know it's cool to like black coffee, but I've alwys needed sugar and recently gotten into the habit of using quite a bit of milk. I like McCafes, though I admit they are more dessert-y. I like au lait, thanks to my husband bringing back some Louisiana chickory coffee. I like cappuccinos and lattes at Starbucks and iced chai tea lattes at Panera, though I can't remember if it's cooler to like Starbucks or hate it. :)

So about iced coffee...

So I was under the impression everyone just brewed the coffee, maybe on the strong side because of ice and stuff, mix the sugar in and cool it and add the milk product of your choice. My two issues were how ot get the sugar dissolved and how not to dilute your coffee/milk/sugar with ice when you "ice" it. It makes sense to dissolve the sugar while the coffee's hot, which will require me to know exactly how much I like per cup... Not impossible. I read about coffee/milk/sugar ice cubes, which makes pretty good sense. Didn't think about that.

Apparently, there is a cold brew method that makes the coffee taste even better. Not iced coffee maker coffee; 12 hours at room temperature, no filter. Crazy. I know. You use a dark or French roast, which I like anyway, coarse grind, and oh- by the way- it takes 12-15 hours... :) Guess it's going to take some advance planning. :( The concentrate spoken of in one of these articles keeps for awhile in the fridge, though. There is a fancy contraption(s) to brew this stuff, but I'm partial ot the method shown below that uses a mason jar, coffee filters and sieve.

The sugar issue is definitely present here. I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners, so it looks like I will be experimenting with sweetened condensed milk. Or Vietnamese do (does it rhyme with pho I wonder...) I will definitely have to start running again. Or use artificial sweeteners. I should start running again anyway, I guess.

When I get the coarse grind and remember to make it, I'll have to give it a try. Guess I should try both methods if I'm going to do it right. :) Maybe I will have to update this afterwards.


I normally like to have the link spelled out, but the computer's acting wierd, so I'm going with the "inline" variety only today. There are two up there. Have fun!

Fair trade

James posted this article on a note on Facebook earlier this year. I have been coming back to this fair trade concept a lot in my mind. Being your average greedy American I always think I am entitled to the lowest price. Long live The Market, right? But really what about those people who are making these things we buy at Wal-Mart in Chinese sweat shops, farmers who get a tiny fraction of our $3 cups of “premium” coffees, and Palestinians who deal with so much to try and make their living in their ever-temporary homes? Do we care? Should we? That’s up to you. And regardless of what or if you think of the politics of the Middle East, the fact remains there is a humanitarian situation that we could be helping by buying olive oil, olive oil soap, spices, etc.

This might explain better:

North American Fair Trade for Peace in the Middle East
http://www.chicagofairtrade.org/aboutFairTrade/fair-trade-in-conflict-zones/news_item.2006-02-06.1817772353

Will it be as popular as the coffee? I don't know why it isn't yet- Rachel Ray talks about EVOO all the time, Italian places do the olive oil and bread thing (if they served zaatar with the olive oil, it'd be way better, but I digress), olive oil is considered trendy and healthy these days. Add fair trade into the mix and I can't figure out why you can't pick it up at at least one place around here. I would think Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Asheville, etc would be all over this.

As far as locally, this is the one thing I’ve found. I don’t know what they sell from these countries, but they mention fair trade and Egypt and the West Bank. If it’s the same as World Market, I think I’ve been, but still don’t know what was from the West Bank, and if not, then I haven’t been at all.

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com - Egypt and West Bank, among other 3rd world locations
* Sarasota, FL
* Cumming, GA
* Greenville Crossing, DE
* Atlanta, GA - Perimeter Place
919-929-8022 | Eastgate Shopping Center1800 East Franklin St Chapel Hill, NC
(919) 286-2457 | One World Market811 9th Street Suite 100 Durham, NC


This sums up the regions’ organizations::

North America - www.afsc.org * www.canaanfairtrade.com * www.palestineoliveoil.org * www.worldcentric.org * www.zatoun.com

Europe - www.zaytoun.org

Middle East - www.canaanfairtrade.com * www.pal-arc.org * www.palestinefairtrade.org

These are various organizations I found:

Canaan Fair Trade, 5218 Shorecrest Dr., Middleton , WI 53562, phone: (608)831-0707, fax: (608)821-0790, email:nasser@canaanfairtrade.com. National distributor of fair trade products from Palestine, specializing in olive oil. All products are certified by the Palestine Fair Trade Association

Friendship and Peace Society Embroidery Project, PO Box 275, Point Arena, CA 95468; phone and fax: (941)922-7657; email: ellen.rosser@sbcglobal.net. Markets beautiful cross-stitch embroidery made by poor Palestine women who are the sole support of their families. Featuring: pillows, jackets, shawls, wall hangings, dresses, etc.

Holy Land Olive Oil; 2930 Domingo Ave., #122, Berkeley, CA 94705; phone: (510)830-8804; fax: (206)203-0515; email:info@holylandoliveoil.com. Startup business rooted in an all volunteer effort to help farmers in Palestine. Importer of Extra Virgin olive oil from Palestine.


http://www.palestinefairtrade.org/

https://www.canaanfairtrade.com/distributors-and-partners

http://WWW.OLDECITYIMPORTS.COM -- USA, MA

http://www.olivebrancholiveoil.com -- USA, MA

http://www.sunbula.org/etemplate.php?id=22
http://www.aseela.org/

Hadeel, St. George's West Church
Location:
58 Shandwick Place
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
http://hadeel.org/page.html?id=11


Along the same lines, I wrote this awhile back. Not too long ago. And I don't think it was on this site. I'm not exactly the go-getter type, but I think from time to time about stuff like this or getting something going. Petitioning the government is certainly (or seems so) one way to influence policy, but if Americans are talking to Palestinians and start to see them as people with perhaps more in common with themselves than they think (rather than The Others, terrorists, etc), maybe this will make people re-think the "Israel's way or the highway" mentality that holds us captive and causes common sense to escape us.

Here goes:
I have heard of (and have been inspired by) various efforts lately to aid Palestine like Galloway's convoy, Kite Gang (NPR), Gaza Surf Relief, etc:
http://www.vivapalestina.org/events.htm,
(edit 7/2009- A convoy actually left the US on July 4 and went to Gaza July 13)

http://www.kitegang.org/what_we_do/jordan
(http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_496_Kites_and_Plastic.mp3/view ),

http://www.gazasurfrelief.com/Start.html ,

https://www.canaanfairtrade.com/about ,

various programs among elementary students/schools from the US and Palestine exchanging letters, pictures, goodies, etc (why don't cities or peace groups in the two areas do the same sorts of things?)
*Facebook comments about Flat Stanleys around that time kind of re-inspired that one. I thought- what ifFlat Stanley went to a Free Gaza event or protest...

and even http://www.provoforpalestine.org/ (go figure!)


*************************************************

And with that, I'm all brainstormed out. Maybe something will come of it one day. If not from me, then from someone reading this. I feel less cluttered having put all this on "paper", so I guess I've accomplished something.

Poop...and coffee

Picture from: http://www.carlspackler.com/archive/cs_183.jpg

When I heard about the coffee described below, I thought about this scene from Caddyshack. (It's a Baby Ruth bar, if you haven't seen the movie.) Even some fairly innocuous items in different settings can cause a degree of panic...

My husband keeps talking about this coffee. There is a really expensive coffee that is pooped by weasels. Imagine that! Would you pay $48 a cup for civet poop coffee?? I think I’ll pass. Pretty crazy stuff. Chock Full of Nuts or Starbucks will do just fine! Maybe you can get it cheaper "unprocessed". Ew.

But this is funny...
http://www.ravensbrew.com/NewFiles/kopiluwak.html

And Wikipedia comes through with this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak