I've Been Everywhere Man...

Really...I mean that. I have been everywhere. You know those catchy car rental commercials featuring Mr. Cash? Yeah....that is literally my life the last two days. My fiance and I left the D.C. area on Wednesday night and drove just long enough to get out of the Washington metro area. We settled down just a few hours out in New Stanton, PA for one night. We then took off making it all the way to Kansas City, KS on our first full day of driving and then on the second day we made it to Denver, CO. What an adventure...oh and we had our cat as well. Our cat Jewel did really well on the trip sleeping most of the time, which was awsome.

We covered some serious ground in just two short days. We were in or crossed the following states: Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Mossouri, Kansas and Colorado. On monday we will add Wyoming and then Utah to that list. What a trip this will be to look back on. We have not taken in any sights along the way, this was a simple point A to point B trip with a neices B-day in the middle, and a great chance to see our inlaws. In any case it has been a great trip...and a land speed record. Lastly...here is map of our journey.

We are closing on our home on Tuesday, so I may not update for several days.

P.S. I am exhausted!

Go West, young man, and grow up with the country...

Oh...wait.....wrong West....Yeah.....thats more like it.

So I wanted to update my readers on my current journey. As you may already know I am in the middle of relocating with my fiance' to the wonderful west once again. We have been apart for some two months now as we have been looking for a home and tying up some loose ends before the relocation. I have been thinking of a proper title for this little jaunt and I have ultimately decided upon "Operation Western Migration". Now I could have just as easily have gone with "Westward Ho!", however I hate that casino in Vegas and thus will pass.

Well I am currently three days into my secret mission with my fiance on our little jaunt back to the west. I flew into D.C. early Wednesday morning catching a red eye flight from Los Angeles. Now Im sure you are asking yourself, L.A.? Yeah, thats right....I took the red eye from L.A. after being bumped from a flight to Denver. Now I should have been in D.C. just before midnight, but alas I arrived just after 6am eastern and spent the day packing our household belongings.

Anywho.....so we are on our way back to the SLC with our cat Jewel with an estimated arrival of Monday April 21st. Wish us well on our little journey and I pending any WiFi along our route I will keep my eager public updated.

P.S. Howard Johnson, Free Wireless, Free breakfast...attitude at no extra cost! An absolute steal at $49. All in the heart of small town New Stanton, PA.

Don't Party Like a JUICED Rockstar...its crap.

A matter of Fairness...

So I would like to post one more addendum to my previous "A Tale of Things to Come" post. I have constructed a list of the coffee shops that I intend to review in the comming "Taste of SLC" post. There are some significant concerns that warrent further detail however. For instance there are some serious questions that need be asked, such as "Do they roast thier own coffee?", "What type of Grinder to they use?", "How is the overall atmosphere?", "Should I go for the coffee...or to hang out?" All important issues and surely I have not covered all of them here. So I would like to establish some criterion for my reviews that I will stick to.

For starters there are a few variables that will remain as constants in my reveiws. The drink of choice is a 12oz. Latte with 2 espresso shots. As to weither it is to go or to stay that will be determined by the individual visit, for instance if they offer me a mug to stay I will accept it. This is somewhat like Morgan Spurlock's experiment with McDonalds. If prompted to consider a mug "To Stay" I will accept, otherwise it will be a to go cup. In any case this will be noted in the review. Oh...the milk...yeah, it matters. for all of my reviews I will be using whole milk only. There is a reason for this. I would prefer 2% milk, however some coffee shops prefer to economize by having skim and whole only...and when 2% is requested they simply mix the two making thier own brand of 2%, which I would argue is not really 2%. So...whole milk cannot be screwed up...so I will always use whole milk.

There are some variables that are simply value oriented items that you cannot attach a controlable variable lable to. For instance, do they roast thier own coffee or whose coffee do they serve? This is increadibly impotant. This is perhaps he most important variable that requires mentioning. There are several shops which roast thier own espresso, however others are still serving coffee roasted by someone else. This is not necessarily a negative, however it is definately a positive in most cases if they do roast thier own!

Next comes an entire class of variables that are quantitative in measure but qualitative in terms of context of a review. Here are a few to consider

• If served in a mug was the glassware warm or cold?
• How was the presentation?
• How was the interaction with the Barista?
• How was the decor of the shop? Local art...or generic art of the Target variety?
• How is the signage? Can you easily identify your beverage on the menu board?
• How was the quality/variety of the "cold case" options? Muffins, crissont's, cookies ect.
• How was the parking? (Note this may effect the overall customer experience.)
• How is he clenliness of the shop?
• How was the overall customer experience?

Im positive that this will not capture all that I am hoping to in terms of qualitiative measures, however this is a good start.

Lastly...and most importantly. No matter if you are treated like a king, or like a coffee vagabond...ultimately the coffee is why we are going through this little exercise. So lets discuss the beverage. A latte is a great benchmark that almost no one can screw up to badly, however there is a significant difference from the average latte and an amazing latte, of which I have had both. There are specific measures that are intigral to this specific review, so I will mention them now.

• How was the crema in the beverage?
• How was the temperature of the beverage?
• does the barista know what coffee art is? Any coffee art?
• how is the nose of the cup, crema ect. Does is smell burnt or sweet?
• How is the body of the beverage? Is it creamy or flat? Dull or Vibrant?
• How is the espresso? Is it single orgin?(DOUBTFULL!!). Is the espresso bold or mild, sweet or bitter? How is the aftertaste of the espresso?
• What flavors do you taste in the beverage?
• What is the flavor profile? Is is short and crisp..or long and robust?

I will certainly answer most of these questions in my reviews, and I certainly believe that it is important. Measuring coffee shops against each other is complicated, however everyone definately has thier favorite's. Some coffee shops fit specific moods or purposes (i.e. studying, catching up with a friend, surfing the web for a bit, quick espresso on the way to the office).

The ultimate reason for this review is because there are so many coffee shops in SLC, where do they fit into the social tapestry that makes this city so damn great? Now this is an organic project that at some point may expand outside of the SLC area....for instance if I happen to go on vacation to the coffee mecca Seattle (this town makes me happy!), or its little sister Portland! There are tons of great shops in the west...something that the East coast simply does not grasp. Manhattan in all of its greatness is unfortuantley missing some of the simple things in life. There is far to much stress and far to little hanging out and socializing without a $15 cocktail in your hand. Don't mistake this to mean that I do not like coctails and wine as well, however I dont think it is a pre-requisite for a social interaction, part of the reason that I wanted to move from the East. I simply appreciate my lifestyle in the West more...however this is the topic area of another post which is forth comming.

There is one element that I have not mentioned at all that while is somewhat related to the review purpose of this blog is also not any measure of the quality or either the coffee or the overall experience. Photos...yes photos. I full intend to create a catalog of photos which will display each of the coffee shops that I visit. This may be the deal breaker for my readers as to weither a visit is waranted or not...or may simply reinforce the value offered by each coffee shop. In any case, I will make it a sincere effort to capture each exerience on film.

Now that we have establisher a general framework concerning the criterion that will be used to grade coffee shops, which shops have thus far made the list? Now this is not a completely comprehensive list of shops in the SLC, as I am certain I have missed several so please feel free to comment on any shops I have missed.

• Caffe' Dbolla
• The Coffee Garden
• Salt Lake City Roasting Company (aka: RoCo)
• The Coffee Break
• The Greenhouse Effect
• Alchemy Coffee
• Java Jo's
• Caffe' Expresso (that is tragicl not misspelled)
• The Coffee Connection
• Blue Star Coffee
• Cup of Joe
• Millcreek Coffee
• Beehive Tea Room
• Bad Ass Coffee Co.
• Nostalgia
• Beans and Brew's
• No Brow Coffee & Tea Company
• Cocoa cafe
• Two Creek Coffee Co.
• Dolce Coffee

wow...as I expanded my seach I noticed that many new shops have emerged. Now I am going to go out on a limb and assume that the vast majorty simply wrote thier name on a shingle and hung it out declaring that they are a coffee shop. I have seen this before...and it is typically not pretty. However I am always willing to entertain recomendations by the many readers of this blog.

Cheers....go enjoy an amazing Sunday in SLC!!

I shall call it...The Broken Swan

So the other evening My landlord and I were enjoying an AWSOME dinner prepared by his robo-girlfriend (seriously....there is no way she will never sleep!) and to cap off the evening I spent some time at the espresso machine plying my trade, or at a minumum honing my skill. When I finished making an amazing mocha and had delivered the final product this is what appearred. As I made my way back to the kitchen for round two I was informed that the name of my Signature beverage should be "The Broken Swan" as a result of my ill fated attempt at some coffee art. In any case, my mochas are getting better and better!

So while I am taking some time to discuss my recent coffee adventures I think it is only appropriate that I update you on my "A tale of things to come" post. I have been visiting coffee shops in the SLC for almost 2 weeks now and I have formed opinions on several lattes. I am currently reserving my opinion until I visit every shop on my list so as not to encourage my readers to influence my opinions. There are reviews in the work's people, I absolutely insist on intilectual integrity.

Lastly, there are two new additions to my at home coffee experience that I have not given proper introductions to.

First - On a recent visit to one of Salt Lake's finest coffee shops I made the decision to purchase a coffee cup for my home use. I have looked at this particular cup before, but finally took the initiative to add it to my collection and add it to the rotation. Now typically I have more than 5 travel mugs on hand, however I am still mid relocation back to the SLC and this is my only travel mug, so currently it is the only one in rotation.....i'm not even sure that qualifies as a rotation. Now while initally apprehensive about the unasuming stature of this particular 10 oz. coffee cup, I took into account the consistant endorsement from John the Caffe owner and took the plunge. Wow...he could not have been more correct! I fully encourage you to consider adding this little gem to your home brewing experience.

Now when making such a formal introductiton it begs to give an apt description. The cup is only 10 oz in size and appears from its small stature to be inadequite to quell you coffee needs. However, the stainless steel lined theremal interior is suspended beautifully within what appears to be a clear accrylic/polymer outer shell. The thermal interior is supported at the base by a type of rubber fitting that is affixed to the bottmomside of the cup. The base of the cup appears to be made of a stamped rubber emblem of the manufacturer of the cup Gordon Sinclare (Tony's Brother). The outer contours of the cup are slightly wave like in shape from the top of the cup to the base. Laslty the lid is fashionably surrrounded by a stainless steel rim similar to the rim on the thermal lining. The exterior of the cup has the logo of the Caffe boldly displayed in a classy fashion. The logo is not etched into the accrylic/polymer casing but is affixed to the front by what appears to be some sort of chemical bonding process that is far above my attention span. I have hand washed the cup almost 15 times to date and the logo does not show any wear, what a great feature. This mug is perhaps one of the best designed coffee mugs that I have ever owned, and adhears to the simplicity in design ethic that makes modern contemporary design features so sought after!


Welcome to the family Mr. Sinclare

Second - Its all in the grind. Well, thats "what they say" anyway. Now I cannot dissagree with this logic, it is damn near infallable. Truth be told, I am a professional in my industry and I tend to know more than the average customer about my industry. I have hands on knowledge that can only come with real world experience in my particular profession. Like wise, I must defer to the specialists not to lead me astray in this particular department.

While I have always had a grinder available due to my Fiance's tour of duty behind the counter at Starbucks, we have always yearned for more. So I have been asking questions about what to purchase and where to purchase, and unfortuantly to buy an adaquite espresso grinder I will have to work some overtime to fund that purchase. While I am not opposed to doing so, I am also in the middle of purchasing a home and am bleeding cash like Michael Jordan at the Golf Course. So ulimately I knew that I would require a burr ginder to improve my home brewing experience in order to adequitely gind my beans with something more adept than the equivilent of a garbage disposal.

I have spent some time looking into this matter and I finally decided to purchase a grinder that would not set me back and would improve my experience dramaticly. I settled on a burr grinder designed for Starbucks and sold under the Barista brand lable. Thus far my happiness is vastly improved, and so to is my coffee. I feel that it is only fair that I take ample time to introduce the newest member on my home brewing team.

The design on this burr grinder is actaually amazing. It has a simple classic appeal, while it appears to be semi-professional with the cone shaped bean hopper at the top. one of the features I like most about this specific grinder is the capture mechanism. There is a plastic bin which captures the espresso as you grind. The shoot that delivers the grounds is top loading in nature. That is, there is not a hole in the wall of the capture bin but rather it functions like a bucket and is top loading. Thus far I have not invested a ton of time playing with the features of the grinder. Depending on the type of grind that you desire, there is a dial that you rotate which moves the burr's (coffee shaving drill bits) internally in the grinder to different positions to achieve the desired grind. While it is not stepless (there are specific notches you have to select) it appears to be a dramatic increase from my previous efforts.

I have only pulled some 10 shots with the new grinder however my home experience is experienceing a golden era. Welcome to the team!

Quick...to the point no fakin'!

Click on the picture above!

Ok, so in a tragic moment of pax Americana utter nostalgia I wanted to post a brief homage to the ever popular Robert Van Winkle aka "Vanilla Ice". In another tragic falling from grace story the former poet was arrested at his home in Florida following a domestic altercation. While this is not the first time (Really?) im positive there is a good reason that can simply explain this little mix up.

Since his fall from grace is already such an amazing piece of the public lexicon I will spare you the details of this epic crash and burn. Interestingly though his plight might be all the more tragic once you learn the names of his daughters, Dusti Rain and Keelee Breeze. Now typically I would leave family out of this, but who in the hell would name their children like strippers. Seriously...your personal life is humiliation enough, do you need to impart your douchebaggary upon your children? So in summary, Vanilla is still a douche...but a rich douche, however I dont think he will ever come back to the SLC (Why?) after his last foray behind the Zion curtain. The way I heard it...he was completely throttled by a concert goer, I can't say as I blame them.

How do I really feel?

The Home Inspection Went Well!

I had the inspection at the home on Kensington on Tuesday morning, and it appears that all went well! Home inspections are expensive, I had to write a much larger check than I wanted to but all in all, the home is a go! This makes me happy!

Have you Registered?

Read on...read on

What could they be up to?

A Burning Question?

So I offer a brief item for debate and something to be considered. I would like you to take into consideration the economic factors behind this epic question. Being a guy offers a completely different perspective on questions such as this. While I am always willing to learn a new skill that I might impliment in my daily life perhaps some skills are best left unmastered.

So, I offer you this.

A sock has a hole in it, what shoudl I do? Should I repair the sock with a quick mending job? Or should I discard both sock's (it certainly does not make sense to keep one sock!) and venture forth for a new pair of socks?

Take into consideration the above photo before you pass judgement. Weigh and consider....oh, and vote.

Mike's Ipod - Autumn Playlist

I wanted to take a moment to share with my readers one of my favorite playlists, something that I put together for the fall last year, but something that I still love listening to today. So, please enjoy!


Autumn

Rufus Wainwright - The One You Love
Ben Fold's Five - Selfless, Cold and Composed
Foo Fighters - Ain't It The Life
The Killers - All These Things I've Done
Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Radiohead - I Might be Wrong
The White Stripes - The Denial Twist
Wilco - Jesus, ect.
The Counting Crows - Ghost Train

Office Etiquite Vol. 1

So in my position in "The Firm" I work in an office environment with many other people. We all have to share space in every situation. There are a few things that really get to me though. I wanted to take a brief moment to discuss one of the things that frustrates me about sharing space. Fist Victim, The Bathroom.

Now, we all have routines that we tend to make for ourselves. Perhaps its a specific morning or after lunch ritual that we take part in that helps preserve our sanity. Let's face it, man was not intended to spend his life in a cubicle, so the daily routines that we create for ourselves are our last ditch effort to preserve our sanity in the given environment.

Bathroom etiquette is something that we could all benefit from having a brief lesson on when we begin work at an office. The concept of a "courtesy flush" should not be overlooked as one way to add value to your bathroom routine. Also of note is the addition of a news paper via a vie The Wallstreet Journal within your stall. If you have that amount of time to commit to a bathroom visit, see your manager...im sure they can come up with more for you to do!

Lastly, those sinners who deem it appropriate to attempt to flood the counter top with water they gleaned from the tap they most likey used as a public fountain; god forbid they use it to wash their hands. But I digress...why is it necessary to douse the counter tops with water as we exit the restroom. There are no plants on the counter top...thus no need or water on the counter. So seriously...wash your hands....wring as you see fit...the use a hand towel to finish the job.

This is not science folks.

I (We) made them an offer that they could not refuse...

More photos after the jump!!

I am a Latte and Mocha's are a superstition

So, the challange has begun....review to follow.