a different type of survey

The computer is back in action and I thought I would kick stuff off with my favorite passtime- ye olde survey type thing...

Here are the requirements- With as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in: 1 picture, 1 poem, 1 song/piece of music, 1 phrase or quote, 1 piece of clothing, 1 place, and (just for fun) 1 Disney princess.

1 picture 

1 poem-

"O Fearless Squirrel ofTwilight"

by- Nekropher O'Mans

As the Ashes of the Autumn's Moon blow over, I am given to contemplate a squirrel. He does not fear the eagle of the night, nor Is he driven to madness by the thought of mutinous acorns. Ah! How simple life should be, were we Driven to contemplate the glory of nature as this Simple squirrel does. A sudden ray of thought enters my cavernous mind. The Squirrel does not fear the eagle of the night because Eagles are not nocturnal.

(taken from www.verybadpoetry.com)

1 song/piece of music-

That was really hard. I finally settled in on-

The Aquarium from the Carnival of Animals (Saint-Saens

1 phrase or quote-

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.  ~Samuel Johnson

1 piece of clothing-

1 place- 

1 Disney Princess-

I've always loved her best....

So there you go!

I'm outtie :)

Holly

Geez

So, I am still awaiting the phone call from my precious neighborhood Best Buy to tell me that my computer is ready and waiting for me. That really is the hold up. I'm sure that I would have posted at least 15 times by now. Nadine even tagged me in some survey (and God knows I am a total sucker for those). Nadine- I promise I will do it.

I have nothing more to report for the moment, but I think anyone who is actually reading this should check out Pete's blog....two words- SPAM Jam.

It's real

Holls

Breaking the Silence

So, I haven't written anything in a very very long while. The computer I had been using had some issues, which are being resolved and I have managed to find a way to blog anyway. I don't really have a lot to say at the moment other than I am still alive.

...

Yeah. I got nothin.

Here's a picture of my current pass time of sorts-

toodles

An uncomplicated life...

In a moment of unintentional self discovery I came to understand how I deal with stress. My personal life very rarely stresses me out. It's generally work that gets under my skin, especially when it comes to this time of year- competition season. For those of you who are oblivious to exactly how nerdy the coffee world is, let me fill you in. 

So, on an annual basis there are a myriad of barista competitions (yes...it's real) that go on around the world. In the United States, these events are broken down into regions (10 in all) and one national (the SCAA's United States Barista Championship). The person who wins the USBC gets to advance to being the only US representative in the World Barista Championship, which is the highest level...at least until we discover alien races, for they will inevitably love coffee. 

As far the rules and format, I could go on and on so I will simply direct the interested parties to do their own research here. These events have been around since 2001 if my memory serves me correctly. My company has been involved pretty much since it's inception as one of the owners was involved in getting it off the ground. This will make my 8th year of being involved in some capacity (3 years competing and on my 5th year of judging). 

So, the Midwest Regional is this weekend and my boys have been practicing heavily for a few months now. Our company is actually growing and in a very exciting period of its history, but we are still a little on the smaller side staff wise. Everyone we have right now is stellar which makes it easier to handle growth, but there is plenty for everyone to do :) This has little to do with competition, except that my competitors are both key players outside of putting in their own time. No one is making anyone do anything...we are all there of our volition and love of the barista craft and a drive to perfect it. We are very fortunate to have bosses that are supportive and create opportunities such as this to further our personal education and goals (and I really DO feel that way). Expectations from the outside have started to be of less and less importance to me, which leads to the whole stress part. I want everyone to do well, I was to be of help to them through my experience and lending my own hands (to polish innumerable dishes). I also want to make sure that through out the time I am doing this that I'm not slacking off on my actual job duties. Even though it can be rough, exhausting, obnoxious, crazy ( I could keep going with the adjectives here) I still feel like it's manageable. That is, as long as my personal life isn't complicated. 

So, that was actually the realization. That last sentence there. I'm not saying that my personal life is super challenging...not by any stretch. What I realized is that it has to be entirely uncomplicated. The most minor of complications gets me in a bit of a tizzy because I have unreasonable expectations of those who play more of a fun/relaxed role in my life. I forget that friends and family can't always be my 'chill zone' as I have come to see them as. They are just as human as me and some of them have way more stressful situations going on than I could even conjure up. Or, they have a different threshold or outlet for their own stress that may or may not be compatible with mine. Stress makes most people selfish. It makes me a martyr, which may be just as selfish, if not more so, when it manifests in a totally unnecessary way...

So yeah, just something I am mulling over right now. I need to relax and decompress in a way that I don't know that I have time for, but the only thing that is certain is that this won't kill me. So....there's that :) 

Next- Is Holly manifesting signs and symptoms of a workaholic. Tune in next time...

Bacon Cookies and Goodbyes

So, Pete left a couple of days ago for Hawaii...and for those of you who don't know, it's not a vacation. He's living there for a minimum of 6 months (as per the lease that he secured today) and gets to make coffee with an ocean breeze on his face. Not that I'm bitter. If you want to know more about his new and awesome hijinks check out the link for his blog on my sidebar (UnLandLocked). In honor of the departure of my oldest friend, I will finally post about the bacon cookies experiment, the most successful of the savory/sweet concoctions. 

So, the recipe was given to Pete and I by some of the people at Kaldi's (a coffee company out of St. Louis) when we were there for a jam early in November. We started talking about the bacon+chocolate candy bar and we found out there were plenty of people who were just as interested in this unorthodox mix as we were. 

So, the cookies themselves were actually bacon, oatmeal and butterscotch chip. The baking portion went well, as chronicled in these pictures...

So first things first- bake off the bacon. We purchased 3 different types of bacon for this experiement- Thick cut hickory smoked, thick cut smoked, and regular hickory smoked. All were basted with a mixture of maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. mmm...

In the inevitable nibbling that went on as we took it off the baking sheets we decided that thinner cut was really the way to go, and the fattier the better. We then went about following the recipe and making the dough. Here it is after the first helping of bacon-

Stir it in!

After a taste, we quickly decide that it needs something...

More bacon!

We then let them bake for about 10 minutes-

and while we wait, Pete can't help himself-

And the finished product-

So that's bacon cookies in a nut shell. They were actually quite fabulous. Pete can put in his two cents via comments. If anyone wants the recipe, leave a comment and I will email it to you to try out. There are some things I have learned about baking with bacon-

1-NEVER use bacon grease in place of oil or butter. It's not that it tastes bad, but it makes you feel funny later. 

2-Don't think you need to balance out the bacon with darker chocolate or more butterscotch chips than the recipe calls for. Bacon honestly can't hold its own as well as you might think. Milk chocolate is a better vehicle than dark chocolate.

3-Tiny chunks of bacon are not as effective as medium sized chunks. It really doesn't take much sugar to drown it out (see #2)

4-Thinner cut/fatty bacon is better for baking than what you would normally choose to consume on its own. 

5-Bacon has its limits. It's sometimes better as a pairing of sorts, rather than being integrated into something else.

So, there you have it. That's bacon baking. I don't know if this will be of interest to anyone in particular, but if you are interested just let me know and I will provide you with a few ideas to get you started. 

Reason, Season and Lifetime

..

People always come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.

..

When someone is in your life for a REASON,

it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty,

or to provide you with guidance and support,

to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend to you, and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

...

Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

...

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they just walk away.

Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

...

When people come into your life for a SEASON,

it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.

They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall,

the season eventually ends.

...

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;

those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway);

and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being part of my life.

Where are you Christmas?

So, Christmas is coming. In like 2 days. I realized that I haven't really had my 'Christmas moment' yet...you know that moment where it really feels like Christmas and that child-like excitement comes back for a moment. It usually happens before now, so I'm a little worried about it. I am starting to feel relief from the workload associated with the holidays when you work in the coffee biz. It's like relentless pulsing waves inundating your every thought.  At least that's how it feels to me. A little stressful. Thank God it's ebbing. 

I have also been trying to figure out what to get for people this year. Giving gifts is one of the highlights to my year. I really wish I had more time or money to devote to it. I have all these great ideas, but they are either to time consuming or expensive. I had a difficult time figuring out what to give to my little brother after the "BORING...GARBAGE" fiasco two years ago. He was six....I'm almost thirty. I guess I should give it up and let it go. I did have a fleeting thought of giving him a whole melange of baby Jesus's from a variety of nativity scenes. Just a box filled to the brim with Jesus so that I can say "tis the reason for the season" in his pouty little face, but, it was a momentary smart ass idea. I ended up getting him Battleship instead. Oh! and Spiderman slippers. 

Other gifts are coming together more slowly. There are a couple in particular that I am trying to put a lot of thought towards, and they are coming along nicely...just slowly. There's another gift project that is starting to worry me, as I have very little control over it working out, but whatever happens, it will be sufficient. 

So yeah, Christmas moment. I need you to come sooner than later. You only have 48 hours to bewitch me. 

That's all for now. I will try to get a post out about the bacon cookies (that turned out to be awesome btw) very very soon. I've just been un-bloggish recently. Probably has something to do with WoW....