Coffee Fetish

I've always been a tea lover. The nuances between different teas, the ritual of brewing a perfect cup, the delight of matching the perfect teaware to the leaf and the occasion—I love the art of tea. To me, coffee is lacking in this kind of rich culture and "delicatesse."

But I've been converted. A new cult of artisan coffee roasters is inspiring a coffee fetish that's drawing me in.

A delicate and fresh way to roast

Where the beans come from has always been important to gourmet coffee drinkers. The new culture of coffee goes further. The belief is that roasting should preserve the beans' unique flavor. Good coffee, like fine wine and tea, should reflect the unique taste of the land, water and climate of the region they come from. The roaster's goal is to accentuate those intrinsic flavors, not overpower it.

These roasters also fuss over getting their freshly roasted beans to drinkers as soon as possible. Why? Because their delicate flavors start dissipating immediately after roasting. That's why, to enjoy this kind of freshly-roasted coffee, you must find an artisan roaster that's local to you. Coffee that's gone through the retail/super-market distribution route, no matter what kind of specialty packaging they have, just won't have the bright, twinkling fresh taste.

Ritual Coffee Roasters is a highly-respected local roaster close to where I live. Other San Francisco Bay Area roasters include Blue Bottle Coffee and Four Barrel.

Drip: a Zen approach to brewing

This new coffee cult also pays a lot of attention to different methods of preparing the coffee. I've always enjoyed the French Press. But recently we've started using a drip filter, and I'm really loving it.

I love the act of slowly pouring hot water for drip coffee—listening to the water fall, watching the grinds bloom, gently stirring, keeping everything in harmony for the perfect brew. There's a ritualistic dance that draws me closer to the coffee; that intimacy makes the coffee taste so much more satisfying. Much like how I feel when I take the time to prepare a proper cup of tea. I may not be able to taste the difference in a blind tasting. But the act of preparation is as much preparing the mind to taste, as it is preparing the coffee for drinking.

Hario: beauty in design

I love the thoughtful details that go into the design of my Hario filter. This piece of art is from a Japanese glass manufacturer (a lovely birthday present from hubby!). It has beautiful spiral ridges to help the water run "around" the grinds and extract more flavor, instead of washing straight down. The waves on the exterior adds a subtle design pattern to the glass that is sensual to touch and beautiful to look at.

All of this, for a perfect cup of coffee to start the day!

Doraemon

Doraemon - wonder if nowadays kids knows about this comic. I love it since when I was small, and I still remember owning one stuffed doll too. 

This blue robot cat that came from the future lives in this young boy - Nobita's house so as to help Nobita to grow up as an successful man. In that miracle pocket he had in front of his tummy, he is able to pull out all kinds of tools from the future. The most famous one is 'Takecopter' (bamboo helicopter). And the one that I love most is 'Dokodemodoa' (door to everywhere). So that I can come and go between hong kong, america & japan easily!! Oh〜 only if all these comes true...

And you know what!! Along with the modern techniques we have now, some of Doraemon's tools had been invented! And there is this exhibition 'DORAEMON's Scientific Future' in Miraikan at Odaiba, showing the tools of Doraemon's!! It is held from 12th June - 27th Sept, 2010. If anyone had the chance to come to tokyo within this time, do go and take a look at an exhibition filled with dreams and excitement.

Adventures in South Indian Food

In my recent visit to Bangalore, I discovered that Indian cuisine was way more diverse than the typical Tikka Masala and Tandoori that we get in California. It's like Chinese food; for those in the know, there is Shanghainese food, Cantonese food, Szechuan food—way more variety and specialization than just Kung Pao chicken and potstickers like we get at generic Chinese restaurants.

Since Bangalore is in the south, most of my food discoveries were in South Indian cuisine.

Yummy savory breakfasts

I love South Indian breakfasts. It's wonderful when I make time to start the day with a slow, warm breakfast and hot masala tea—often as day breaks and the sky slowly lights up.

Idlis, steamed rice cakes, became a major love affair! I love the warm and soft spongy texture, and its mild sweet taste. From the large ones that you dip in sambhar (a savory dal stew) for breakfast, to the small ones tossed in some sort of red chili powder, I love idlis of all sizes and flavors!

Talking about idlis was a great ice-breaker with locals. My driver was pleased about my idli obsession; there was a sense of camaraderie that we both had the same thing for breakfast. During home visits, a research respondent's wife was excited to show me her family idli mixture, and the utensils she used to cook idlis in the morning.

Another great breakfast is dosa, a rice and lentil crepe. You can have it plain, and dip it in sambhar. Or you can have ones that are stuffed, like this Masala Dosa with spiced potatoes.

Beyond Nan

On menus, there's usually a nice long list for breads that go beyond just nan.

The many-layered parathas are a favorite. They remind me of the roti pratas I grew up with in Singapore.

Then there is appam, a bread made from rice that kind of looks like a pancake. I love the soft and spongy middle!

Rice

Idlis, appams—these are all made from rice. That's because rice is an important part of South India cuisine. Locals will tell you that they don't feel right if they don't eat rice for a while. That's probably a big reason why I love South Indian food so much—rice is such an important part of my life too!

Besides the typical basmatic rice, I discovered the amazingly fragrant Nellore rice. Even plain, it smelled so wonderful and tasted so delicious!

Sweets

I find a lot of similarity between South Indian desserts and Chinese desserts.

This is one of my favorites, Bebinca—a many-layered soft, spongy cake. It reminds me of the thousand-layered steamed cake that you get in some Chinese dim sum restaurants. This one is technically a Goan dessert, so it's really West Indian rather than South Indian.

Warm sweet soup is another common dessert. I love this milky sweet soup with yam. Next to it is a picture of Karshu Barfi, a cashew sweet cake. It's super sweet, like some of the thick sweet paste cakes we get in some Chinese cuisine. Can't say I love it, but it's nice in small bites with tea.

Crazy about their surveys

At the end of your meal, before you get your check, be prepared to fill out a survey. Yet for all the diligence in getting these distributed and filled out, there's little concern about research accuracy! Waiters stand by watchfully, with a huge smile, as you fill them out. Some go so far as to encourage you to fill it out a certain way, and to put their names on the form if you like the service. What else can one do except fill out "great" on every column?

If you want to find out more about South Indian food, here's a link to a pretty-exhaustive Wiki page.