Silly fun

One of my Store Coffee Masters send this link to me. I thought it was very funny and rather silly fun. The main character, girl in fishnets, called Sarah, wrote the lyrics for this masterpiece which in my opinion are brilliant and expanding the boundaries of literary excellence. She also wrote that she was obsessed with Starbucks for a while and "had a good fortune of being hired by the company". In my current situation I can only be envious of such enthusiasm.

Here it is. Watch it, dance to it, sing along!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MZ_DU1lKEc

Paris, Paris, Paris!

Having lived in London for a while I have developed some stereotypes and prejudices which is never good, but saves a lot of time – I never trust BBC weather forecast, I don’t read Dan Brown and I don’t believe in sky without at least one tiny cloud.

However, this type of sky exists! I got a proof in Paris last week. It was just surreal – bottomless blue void and nothing to hold on to, the merciless sunshine that I thought was only possible in Jerusalem, burning the ancient remains and balding heads of the local sages.
But, my, oh my, how freezing it was! Bitter wind blew from the river, making us seek shelter in many cafes and brasseries, where we were served cafe au lait or later Americanos for me and cappuccinos for Ash, because we got corrupted by Starbuck’s cup sizes and coffee brought in egg cups wasn’t quite enough. Majority of people though stayed outside, on lined along the cafes tables and wicker chairs, sipping their espressos, smoking and lazing on the sun.

We also discovered chocolate viennoise, which is just a hot chocolate with cream. And chocolate africain from Angelina. The place looked so snob from outside that we had some doubts before entering it, but I am happy we did. It was very welcoming and stuff greeted us like their cousins returning from travels down basin of Amazonia. The cafe itself certainly looks grand with golden carvings, huge mirrors and chandelliers – it feels like Louis XVI’S palace. The sweets display is a stuff of a dream – giant jars full of macaroons of every colour imaginable – pistachio, orange, pink, black, little wonders of culinary, so sophisticated and artful that it seems a crime to eat them.
The chocolate africain was brought to us in a little milk jar with whipped cream separately, so thick and syrupy, and full of flavour, I am sure they milked the most gracious and serene cows to produce this quality cream and cracked the cocoa beans worth their weight in gold to make chocolate so delicious.

We also ordered Montblanc – desert which recipe is kept secret for over hundred years – it tasted divine but totally unusual. Only after buying a marron spread (chestnut) and trying it at home, it downed on me, that this Monblanc is simply the chectnut flavoured pastry filled with whipped cream rested on most delicate, most fragile meringue. Oops, I told you the secret!
I don’t know why we needed desert at all as the calories we consumed with hot chocolate would be enough to sustain us on our attempt to swim across the Channel. To be honest, this stuff has to be taken in moderation – it is like caviar or my beloved fois gras – after few spoonfuls it just becomes too much and you understand that this things designed to be savoured slowly and in homeopathical dozes.

Coffee was very good everywhere we went – even at the hotel where I suspect they brew the filter. Paris certainly lived up to the expectations, but also shocked with its astronomical prices. Get saving, fellas! Having said that, the best things in Paris are stil free – the smell of fresh oysters on a bed of ice displayed on a street market, insanely tasty baguettes, the regularity of Jardin de Luxemburg, the sight of the city sprawled below from the Sacre Couer’s Dome, the iron-wrought balconies and views of Eiffel Tower at dawn.

Magic instant

Here are some rather poetical pics from my recent outing "Love Ball" which was held in Roundhouse in Camden Town on 23d of February. "Love Bal" is an annual fundraising event of Naked Heart Foundation, charity founded and run by Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, who through her astonishingly successful career in modelling escaped poverty and miseries layed out for her. Having had married an English arisrocrat Justin Portman and earned quite few million herself, Natalia decided to bring some joy into Russian children's lives and build many playground around Russia and now UK. Her charity balls attract cream of the cream of fashion and art world and Love Ball was a very beautyful occasion indeed. (Sorry for picture quality - I did  them on wrong setting, oh well, :-()

The reason I brought the whole thing up though is that I have spent the whole day In Roundhouse and since there were no coffee machine around I had to drink some of the instant coffee provided for the crew. Now, I really can't remember when I had a cup of instant coffee last time, but when I had I knew I didn't like it. There is something very wrong with the word instant for me - it assumes that the whole ritual of preparing coffee - from the moment when aroma of just opened bag of beans fills the room to manual grinding and 4min brewing, pouring thick syropy liquid into one's favourite cup and slowly sipping it on the terrace, greeting first rays of the sun, spilling their gold on the green fields of Nairobi (dream on, kid). All this is reduced to a "instant"! What a disgrace!

And of course, when I first heard that Starbucks will be launching its brand of "instant" coffee, I felt betrayed and very sceptical. Until I tried it.
And I have to tell you, fellas

IT'S FANTASTIC!!!

It's not your french press, it does take away the joy of brewing your own, but I you happend to be somewhere far from home or Starbucks shop - it's just miracle! I can't explain the science behind this ground-breaking innovation, however, it works. The cup tastes amazing!  
Smooth and very sweet marshmellowy on the nose, it packs some punch on the taste buds - mediun bodied, with clean acidity and hint of lemon in the aftertaste - it delivers like your old Colunbia Shuttle brewed cup.
You don't believe me? Try for yourself!