Now THAT'S a Cup of Coffee!

Coffee Extract

When I last posted, I was in the midst of the great cold brewing coffee experiment.  Well, I finished cold brewing a batch of coffee and ended up with a carafe of pure coffee extract.  That's it in the carafe in the picture. Once you get the extract, you store that in your refrigerator and it will stay fresh for several weeks as long as it is refrigerated. 

Then it was time for the taste test.  The formula is 1 part extract to 3 parts water.  You mathematicians will have to do the figuring yourselves.  I basically used my Keurig to brew my standard travel-mug of hot water into a measuring cup.  It came out to a little over 1 cup.  So I poured 1/3 cup of extract into my mug and then put the mug in place on my Keurig and brewed straight hot water into it.  I "think" that is a 1 to 3 ratio but math has never been one of my strong suits.  Over the past few days I've tinkered a bit with it and use just a tad over 1/3 cup extract but nothing else has changed.  I don't use sugar or cream in my coffee (harkens back to my Navy days - we like our coffee strong and black).

I'm here to tell you that this is some of the best coffee I've ever had.  To sum it up in one word, I'd have to say "smooth."  There is no aftertaste at all.  It just goes down the old gullet like I would imagine cream would to a non-lactose intolerant person.  Yummy!

I'm not sure how many cups I'll get out of 12 ounces of cold-brewed coffee but since I can nurse one travel mug all morning, I suspect this carafe of extract will last me most of the two weeks.  So far I haven't shared it with the Commander but I'll let him in on my little secret over the holiday weekend.

If you'd like some idea of the various coffee beverages you can enjoy with cold-brewed coffee extract, visit ToddyCafe.com then hie thee over to your online order company of choice, order, and start doing your own cold coffee brewing.

Trying My Hand at Cold-Brewing Coffee

Ready to Weigh Out 12 Ounces

My son was recently telling me how he has started cold-brewing his coffee.  I had never heard of that so I did a little research and it sounded quite intriguing.  Apparently the process takes away the acidity and leaves you with wonderful flavor and less caffeine.  So I ordered a cold brewing system - the Toddy Cold Brewer and today I started the brewing process.  The first thing I had to do was take my pound of coffee beans and weigh out 12 ounces, since that is what the instructions recommended.

Coffee Grinder Set to Coarse

The next thing I had to do was set my coffee grinder to a coarse setting.  They recommend grinding it at the same setting that you would grind for expresso.  Since I don't drink expresso, I just put it in the middle of the coarse settings and hoped for the best.

1st Round of Grounds

Then I took the plastic container that comes with the system, made sure that I put the cork in the bottom on the outside and the filter in the recessed area in the bottom inside and then added a cup of water and 6 ounces of my ground coffee.  I poured 3 more cups of water into the container carefully and then the rest of my ground coffee.  I let that sit for 5 minutes.

Pour in 3 more cups of water.

After it rests for 5 minutes, I poured in the final 3 cups of water very slowly.  The instructions caution you not to stir because it could then clog your filter and you will not be able to get the coffee essence to flow out after the brewing process.

Tamping Down with a Spoon

The final step was to gently tamp down on the top of the grounds with a spoon to make sure that all the grounds had been dampened.

Now we wait.  I'm going to let it steep for 12 hours and then I'll be draining off the coffee concentrate this evening.  Tomorrow I'll taste my first cup and give you a report.  In the meantime, after grinding a pound of "Nut and Honey" coffee beans, the house smells divine.

A Week of Blessings

It's Friday and it's been far too long since I last did a Fave Five post.  Time has a way of slipping past and so do good intentions.  But today I shall actually have the time and the inclination to list five wonderful blessings from this past week.

1.  Special computer glasses - After my recent visit to the ophthalmologist, I decided to order a special pair of lenses for working on the computer.  My new eyeglasses have magnetic sunglasses that come with the frames.  The eye doctor suggested ordering an extra set of the sunglass frames and having special lens inserted into that frame (instead of the sunglass lens) that would give me just what I need to see the computer without having to tilt my head back.  It is the slickest arrangement.

Now, when I'm sitting in front of the computer, I just take the little sunglass frame and hold it up to my regular glasses and (pop) the magnets engage and the computer reading lens frame snaps right onto my regular glasses.  The picture above is me with the computer lenses attached.  You can't even tell the difference.  I am also finding these perfect for playing the piano, something I had almost given up in recent years because I could no longer see the music  clearly.

2.  New Fiber to Spin - I have some nice Masham to spin up in a colorway called "Emerald City", referring to the Wizard of Oz.  I've never spun Masham before but it is a very long fiber and it is always fun to try something new.

3.  Family Picnic Day with Mom - the Commander and I got to spend a lovely day with Mom at the annual Family Picnic at Mom's nursing home.  As a funny aside, one of the nurses told me recently that Mom's former roommate (who had always been very verbally abusive - swearing and yelling at almost everyone) had hated Mom because the lady thought Mom was trying to steal a male nurse away from her.  Apparently the roommate thought this male nurse was married to her and Mom was brazenly trying to steal him from her.  Gee, who would have thought that my mom was such a hussy at age 97?  Thank goodness that Mom was able to change rooms and now has a very sweet lady as a roommate.

4.  An understanding dermatologist - I had to have a fairly big mole removed this week from a sensitive area.  It was my first time ever having a mole removed and I was terrified.  Thankfully, my dermatologist was very understanding and prescribed Valium and a numbing cream just to get me in the door.  Then she was very patient with me through the whole procedure, even bringing in her own iPod and hooking it up to play soothing music.  Thank goodness that is over with.  Now I'm just praying that the results will come back as benign.

5.  Celebrating 32 years of marriage - Hard to believe that it has been 32 years since the Commander and I exchanged vows on the base in Nea Makri, Greece.  It is indeed a cause for celebration because I couldn't have picked a better husband.  We are as different as night and day but I think that is part of what has kept us together....that, and our faith in God and our commitment to each other.

I was also blessed to come across the slides of our wedding and honeymoon in Scotland and England.  This picture was taken in the Highlands of Scotland.  Pictures have such a wonderful way of bringing memories flooding back.  I guess that's why I put so much effort into taking them and preserving them.

So what have been the highlights of your week?  Why not go over to Living to Tell the Story, where you can find out the details on how you can join in the "Fave Five" blogging fun?

Out, Out, Damn Spot!

Drugs to the Rescue

I had to go in to have a fairly big mole removed today.  It was my first time ever having a mole removed and I have been dreading it.  In fact, when I had my initial dermatology screening and the doctor said the mole had to go, I was telling her how big a baby I am about getting numbing shots and stitches.  The last time I had to have stitches, my whole body started to go numb, beginning at my toes and working its way up towards my heart.  I was convinced that if it reached my heart, I was going to have a heart attack.  Luckily the doctor had finished the stitching right before that happened.

Well, after telling my current doctor this, she quickly prescribed some Valium for me and also suggested a tube of topical numbing creme to put on the area about a half hour before I showed up today for the surgery.

I was REALLY hoping that I would be totally out of it by the time I reached the doctor's office but I wasn't.  The old adrenalin was pumping, let me tell you.  The Commander drove me over there but I walked in on my own steam (as opposed to him having to carry me in, which is what I had really hoped for).  I no sooner sat down in the waiting room when they called me into the back for the procedure.

"How are we doing? the nurse asked brightly.

"Horrible, if you want to know the truth," I answered.  "I took the Valium she prescribed but it hasn't even affected me."

"Well, it will most likely kick in after you leave here," she laughed.  "You're too tense right now. But don't worry.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

The doctor walked in.  "I understand you are still a little apprehensive," she said.

"I think you should have prescribed elephant tranquilizer for me," I informed her.

She laughed.  "Well, I brought my full bag of tricks.  I'm going to set up my iPod and play some classical music for you, if that is ok.  Do you like classical music?"

"Uh-huh," I mumbled.  I also like polkas, I thought, but that's probably not the right paced music for surgery.

"I'm also going to use a cold, numbing spray on the site, even though you already used the numbing creme.  That should really ensure that you don't feel anything," the doctor continued.

"Would you like a wet washcloth for your forehead?" asked the nurse.

"No, I'm good," I replied.  "I usually prefer to clutch a pillow or my teddy bear, but I'll just lay here."

The spraying commenced, followed by periods of something.  I couldn't feel it but I figured something was happening as there would be some spraying, then movement and the doctor doing something, then more spraying. After about 6-7 minutes of this, the doctor informed me that she was now going to drape the area so she could start the removal of the mole.

"You're kidding," I squeaked.  "I was kind of hoping you were all done."

"Oh, the worst is behind you.  You aren't going to feel anything now," she chuckled.  "I promise that this will be over before you know it."

I concentrated on the music and started choreographing ballet moves to the different tunes. Occasionally I'd feel a tug here and a tug there and I hoped that meant she was putting in stitches.  When I'd run out of ballet ideas, I'd zero in on that big frosty glass of Diet Pepsi that I was going to drink when I got out of there.

"We're done," the doctor announced.  "All I have to do now is put the bandaging on and you can go.  You've done great!"

"That's because I had a great doctor, a great nurse, and excellent music," I said.

The Commander came into the room to help me out and we hightailed it out of there.  By the time we made it home and I got out of the car, true to the nurse's prediction, I was weaving like a drunken sailor.

Uh, what did I come in here for?

Don't I normally wear glasses?

Do I really care?  Where's the TV remote?

All's well that ends well.  The mole is off and will be soon on its way to the lab to be checked.  Let's pray that it is benign.

And if you haven't had a baseline check yet with a dermatologist, let me encourage you to do so, especially if you are in your middle years of life.  If they find something that needs to be removed, I HIGHLY recommend Valium before your appointment.

Capture the Moment

Jason Meets His Grandmother

Jason, this is your mother, doing what I do best.....bringing you a main dish of guilt with a side dish of reality.  It's been awhile since we've seen pictures of our granddaughter.  I understand that you've misplaced your camera.  Well, I've found a spare one here at the house and I'm sending it to you.

Jason Relaxing With His Daddy

I don't think I have to remind you how fast children change.  I'm sure you've noticed this in just the short time since Mika was born.  But not all of us can be there enjoying all those precious moments with her.  We have to rely on short phone calls and pictures......preferably LOTS of pictures to capture those memories.

What's For Dinner, Mom?

Now I know you have photographer DNA in your blood.  Believe me, I sat through more "photo ops" than you can imagine when I was growing up.  Your grandma was ALWAYS posing us for pictures.  Back then, it was pretty tedious, what with her stopping and starting to take light levels, change film, wind cameras, set up tripods, and drag over lights to try to get the best pictures.

Your Mom, on her 5th Birthday

 Do you know how glad I am now that she took the time to do that?  If she hadn't, I wouldn't have all these marvelous old pictures of Grandma and Grandpa, of my grandma and grandpa, and of Uncle John and me growing up.

I don't care if he DOES bring presents.  Get me out of here!

 Nowadays, though, we have digital cameras that can point and shoot.  Almost anyone can get great shots in just a few seconds.  My goodness, you don't even have to edit them.  If you want, you can just send them electronically to me and I'll use my photo editing software to pretty them up and share them with the rest of the relatives.

Today, toothbrushing!  Tomorrow, potty training!

There are going to be so many milestones in Mika's life to document.  Soon you'll have another baby and there will be even more cute things to photograph.  Wait until the two of them start to interact together, like you and your sister did growing up.  Oh, my....I have such wonderful photographs of the two of you and whenever I look at them, I'm right back in that time, reliving those moments.

Mommy Knit This Sweater for Me

There might even be moments that you don't WANT to relive....like the time you proudly wore that first sweater I ever knit for you.  Look on the bright side (ok, maybe "bright" was a poor choice of words), you haven't had to wear one of those sweaters since then but I'll bet just looking at this photo brought back some quick memories of your time in Morocco.

I'm Ready for School, Mom!

If you don't make a determined effort to capture your children's days on film now, you will look back years from now and realize with regret that you will never be able to go back and recapture those images.  They will never be little again.  Mika will never be small enough to fall asleep on your chest again.  But you have a picture of that to help you remember how wonderful it felt when she did just that as a little baby.  We have a copy of that picture, too, so we can also look at it and marvel at how sweet she was as a little newborn, even though she was in British Columbia and we were on the East Coast and didn't get to see it in person.

Hurry up, Mom.  I have a prom to go to.

So listen to your mother.  Take the camera, don't lose it, and take plenty of pictures.  Post those pictures somewhere where the rest of us relatives who live scattered around the U.S. can see them.  Because before you know it, Mika will be asking you for the car keys.  From there, it's only a matter of days before the doorbell will ring and her date for the prom will be standing on the doorstep.  You'll turn around as she comes down the stairs looking like a princess and one of the first things you'll want to do is take a picture.  Trust me.  I'm your mother.  I know!

Another One Off My List

Notre Dame de Grace Sweater

Ah, it is SUCH a feeling of accomplishment when I finish another knitting project.  This one is my "Purple People" sweater.  It is knit with Cascade 220 Heather yarn from the Notre Dame de Grace pattern designed by Veronik Avery. 

Hmm, what's with these stitches?

The pattern is very easy to follow overall but I did run into a bit of a snag when I was working on the shawl collar.  I had followed the instructions and picked up some live stitches (a side at a time) to knit the two sides of the collar, which I then seamed together in the middle with a 3-needle bind-off.  But that left me with a group of stitches that were still live in the middle of the back.  Hmm, there didn't seem to be any mention of what to do with these.  The next instructions said to sew the collar to the body of the sweater.

Ravelry members always come through!

I had pretty much decided that I'd just bind off the stitches and then continue on with the directions but I thought I'd do a little more sleuthing.  I went up on Ravelry , which is just the best resource for knitters that I know of, and did a search on the pattern.  Ravelry has a great feature where you can search for a particular pattern and then, once you find it, you can click on that pattern and be taken to the description page where there are tabs that you can click on that show you all the projects knit from that pattern (along with the knitters' comments), blog posts about the pattern, and forum posts about it.  Sure enough, I wasn't the only one confused by the lack of instructions for those live stitches.  Others had wrestled with the same thing and come up with the answers.  Yes, the designer had meant for us to bind them off.  Yay!  Question answered.

A-binding we will go!

Once I had my marching orders, I made short work of binding off those stitches and then it was on to the next step.

Collar waiting to be attached

It was a simple matter to sew the collar to the top of the back sweater piece.  I already had my shoulder seams attached.  Once this was done, then I just had to tack the one placket behind the front flap and pick out a button.  There is no actual buttonhole.  You just sew the button through both layers of the front flaps.  There is still plenty of stretch to get your head through the opening.

Collar Close-up

Here is a closeup of the finished and attached collar before I sewed the button on.  I actually had a nice dark purple (but, of course) ceramic handmade button that worked perfectly for this sweater.

Here's the finished sweater.  It fits like a dream, too.  With the double seed stitch, it is nice and stretchy, which I love.  I HATE clingy sweaters.  I also love the ribbing across the shoulders, which gives it a visually-appealing contrast to all the seed stitch in the garment.  It has long sleeves, too, which is wonderful since I still can't see much sense in 3/4-length sleeves in a sweater.

A purple sweater for a purple person

And here it is......with perfect timing, too because I just got my new glasses which are purple.  I'm calling it my "Purple People" sweater, in an oblique homage to a comment I heard recently when someone referred to some folks as "purple people."  I never did find out what she meant but the feeling I got was that "purple people" are .....well, let's just say that they march to a different drumbeat.  That's fine by me.  I like purple, I wear it, and I'll gladly be counted a "purple person."    And with that, I'll just say that this is one sweater pattern that I shall definitely be using again.  Thanks, Ms. Avery and thanks, Ravelry for coming through for me yet again.

Making the Connection

Part of the fun of having a new tech toy if trying out all the things you can do with it. Today was the day, I decided, to try out my Apple Wireless Keyboard with my iPad. In addition, I would be using Blogsy to do this blogpost so I'd be working with two new things at once. Wow, what a multi-tasker I am.

The first thing I did was go online to do a little research to see what all was involved in synching my keyboard with the iPad. There were actually several helpful little videos posted on YouTube that described the process in simple terms. However, they both said you first needed to disconnect your keyboard attached to your Mac. Well, I don't have a Mac and the Commander assured me that my keyboard wasn't Bluetooth-enabled so it seemed like I could skip that step. Yay!

Here is what I did to make the connection:

1. Go into "Settings" on your iPad. Pick "General" and then and make sure that the Bluetooth option is slid to the "On" position.
2. Turn on the wireless keyboard. The "on" button is at the upper right-hand end of the keyboard.
3. You will see a message on your iPad that the iPad is trying to connect to the keyboard, if this is the first time you have synched them together. It will ask you to type a short phrase or number combo on your wireless keyboard and then to hit the "Enter" or "Return" key.
4. Once I did that, the keyboard was discovered and the connection was made. Easy as pie! (Or at least, easy as eating pie.)

I brought up the "Notes" app and started typing to make sure that everything was working properly. Everything was good.

The size of the keyboard is actually quite small. That's perfect for those of us who love the freedom to be able to pop our iPads into a backpack or big purse and head out. I use a Tom Bihn Ristretto bag and I can easily put my iPad AND this little keyboard into the bag, along with other necessities, like my billfold and iPhone.

I placed one of our iPhones next to the keyboard so you could get a sense of how big it is. The actual measurements are approximately 11" long by 5" wide and the keyboard rises up a little over a half inch at the back to give it a nice angle for typing.

I have normal sized hands for a woman but long fingers (okay, they ARE a little arthritic and twisty from all those years of knitting and typing). I found it to be quite easy to type on this wireless keyboard. The keys are tile-shaped and have a nice, springy action to them. There are plenty of extra symbols along the top which might be more familiar to a Mac user. I'm not entirely sure what all they are used for. I was quite happy just using the normal alpha-numeric keys and the arrow keys in the bottom right corner. There are also "function, control, option, and command" keys at the bottom left. Frankly, typing on this is a piece of cake compared to typing on my netbook.

So that's my review of the Apple Wireless Keyboard. As an extra bonus, this is also another chance for me to use Blogsy, the blogging app on my iPad. I am really enjoying it and the ease with which I can insert pictures from my Flickr account. If you like to blog and would like the freedom to do it on your iPad, this is definitely a useful app to have as a blogging tool in your arsenal of apps.

Testing the iPad

A friend called me tonight to ask me how you post an entry to Blogger from the iPad.

"Gee, good question," I thought. So I decided to do a little digging around to see what I could find out. You see, I had not posted yet from my new toy.





So I first installed BlogPress from the iTunes app store on my iPad and then decided to try posting a short blog post. I also wanted to insert a picture to see if that would work too. Hence the "eye candy" above.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Reading Magazines in Electronic Format

My iPad Zinio Library

I'm someone who enjoys reading magazines -- lots of magazines.  I usually have quite a pile of them at any one given time just waiting to be read.  When we go on vacations by car when I'm not driving, I always have a bag filled with magazines and I read them and toss them as we make our way cross-country.  Since I'm so used to reading a hard copy of a magazine, I was a little skeptical at the thought of reading a magazine on one of my electronic devices. The thought of reducing my paper clutter really appealed to me though.

Magazine Library on the Nook Color

 I started out by subscribing to a few of the entertainment tabloids on my Nook Color.  By golly, the experience was so enjoyable that I didn't hesitate at all to take the plunge once my iPad arrived. (Oh, by the way, I do NOT subscribe to "Elle" or to "Men's Fitness."  Those were "freebie" issues from Zinio.)  So how do the iPad and the Nook compare when it comes to reading magazines?  Here's my experience.

1.  Screen Orientation:  Let's look at the iPad first.  Since the device is bigger, the most obvious difference is going to be that you have a larger area in which to view your pages.  You can also turn the iPad so that you have a horizontal orientation that then shows you two pages at a time, similar to holding a magazine open.

Magazine cover on an iPad

Now let's look at the Nook.  The screen is smaller (6 1/4" x 3 3/4") so the viewing area will show a smaller image.  Duh!  You are also not going to have the capability of holding it horizontal and seeing the two pages at once.

Magazine Cover on a Nook

2.  Subscriptions:  I imagine there is more than one app to subscribe to magazines for your iPad but the one that is very popular and the one that I use is Zinio.  I noticed that when I found magazine titles that I wanted to purchase, I was given a choice.  I could either purchase a single issue OR I could subscribe to a year's subscription.  With the Nook, you search for the magazine titles at the Barnes and Noble store online and when you find one you want, you are given the option of purchasing a single issue OR subscribing, paying by the month.  Since you will have a credit card on file with B & N, you just click on "Buy Now" and it seamlessly goes through (provided your card is good, of course) and then the issues start arriving on your Nook.  The big advantage to the Nook in this regard is that you don't have that big chunk payment for the yearly subscription cost.  Barnes and Noble  charges your credit card monthly for the much smaller amount if you have picked the subscribe option.

Article on an iPad

3.  Article View:  If you have really good eyes, you can turn your iPad horizontally and read two pages before swiping.  My eyes aren't that good.  Most folks will be reading one page at a time.  Looking at the full page on the iPad, you can use your fingers to zoom in or zoom out on a particular part of the page.

Just remember that if you have zoomed in on part of the page, then you'll  have to move the page around with your fingers to see all of the article or the rest of the page or just compress the page back to its normal size.

The other option is to click on "Text" at the bottom of the page and it takes you to a text only version of the article in a special format optimized for e-readers.  You can then scroll up or down to read the article. 

iPad

When you are finished reading the article, click on "Page" at the bottom of your screen and it takes you back to the entire magazine page.

Page View on the Nook Color

Nook also gives you the option of looking at the entire page or going to a particular article on the page.  If you click on "Article View" at the top, you will see a drop-down menu listing the articles you can access from that page.

Touch the article that you want to see and it pops up in the special text format optimized for your Nook reader.  When you are finished reading, click on the "x" in the upper right corner and it takes you back to the page you were on.  As with the iPad, you can zoom and/or move around the page by using your fingers.

Single article view in Nook Color

4.  Hot Links - One of the great things about magazine reading on the iPad is that you can seamlessly click on hot links provided in the articles and go right off to see what is being referred to.

Hot Link in Magazine on iPad

 It might just be the magazine I was reading on the Nook Color but I didn't find any hot links in that magazine.  Even if other magazines DO provide hot links that you can touch and go when reading on the Nook, I have to think it wouldn't be as easy as it is to surf around the Internet on an iPad.  I use my Nook Color to read, play games, read email, and shop at the B & N store, not surf the Web.

All in all, I think both the iPad and the Nook Color make reading magazines an enjoyable experience.  I give a slight advantage to the iPad simply because it is a larger reading surface and because I find it easier to get around the Web on it, if I want to chase down hot links within an article.  I give the Nook Color the advantage when it comes to paying for the subscriptions.  Somehow, paying $2.99 a month (for example) just seems much easier than paying $24.99 in one payment.  I think Zinio would hook more readers (and get them to ultimately spend more) if it followed this "monthly" charge system.

One last mention should be that Amazon's Kindle does allow you to subscribe to magazines.  I have a Kindle, too but I just can't imagine how reading a magazine in black and white AND without the touch technology could compare with reading magazines in color on either the iPad or the Nook Color.  In this case, the advantage definitely goes to the later two devices.