Candy Cane Delight – 16 oz  serving

1 scoop of Barista Vanilla Bean, or Vanilla Freeze®
3 1/2 fl oz milk
1 ½ fl oz Monin Peppermint syrup
1-2 Tbsp crushed peppermint candy
16 oz of ice

Pour in Vanilla Freeze®, milk, syrup, and ice into blender.  Blend 30 seconds or until smooth. Pulse in crushed peppermint candies.

Kvällsgott

Vi äter gärna en liten dessert efter maten. Nåt litet med sötma eller syra, som avrundar en god måltid, får suget efter frukt och sötsaker mellan måltiderna att försvinna för oss. Att det sen också är bra för matsmältningen, är ju ännu ett skäl till att unna sig nåt gott.

Hemma i Sverige blir det oftast bär, här i Alanya finns det mycket god frukt att välja mellan. Tar man frukt som efterrätt istället för som de flesta alltid gjort, till mellanmål, så blir inte blodsockerhöjningen lika märkbar.

Dagens dessert är riktigt bra för dem som inte alls vill äta frukt eller bär, just för att de innehåller så mycket fruktsocker. Jag gjorde en liten kopp med en gräddig valnötscrème med kaffesmak. Jag har tagit med Ekologiskt Vaniljpulver hemifrån, det är en suverän smaksättare till sockerfria desserter.

Zoega’s Mollbergs som vi hade med i bagaget har tagit slut. Men vi har hittat ett bra alternativ, Jacob’s Monarch blir riktigt gott i kaffepressen. Det dricks annars mest pulverkaffe här, både bland Turkar och turister, men det är nåt jag aldrig lärt mig att uppskatta. Annat än i Grekisk Frappé, då smakar det riktigt gott.

Moccacrème med Valnötter

1 ½ dl Grädde

2 msk kallt, starkt Kaffe

8 Valnötskärnor

Några korn Havssalt

Äkta Vaniljpulver

Hacka nötterna grovt. Mixa allt till en slät röra. Häll upp i små, fina koppar och njut av en riktigt god LCHF-dessert.

Here's to your health!

I didn’t have the time to go to Pier 39 this week but that’s ok. Having a simple moment for a simple indulgence closer to home was completely fine with me.

Ghirardelli chocolate. You don’t have to be in San Francisco to enjoy it. It’s available for Foodservice!

The instructions say to pour ice and water into a blender, add the Ghirardelli Frappé Classico  mix and espresso and blend until frothy. Taking a sip made my eyeballs spin and my tastebuds do a Lindy Hop. Some smoothie shops really are that busy that we need to keep a quick, quick, really quick beverage blend on hand and if such is the case with you ~ keep some Ghirardelli Frappé Classico  on the shelf.

A 12 oz.  serving takes a cup of ice, a half-cup of milk, one quarter-cup of Frappé Classico  powder and your choice of 1 to 2 shots of espresso or double-strength coffee. And you don’t even need coffee if your customers don’t want any.

Safe to say, you might even want to twist the recipe your own way should the time ever come. Ghirardelli’s website suggests that you can add your favorite syrup to it as well: raspberry, peach, orange. Try something. Experiment and let me know what you think!

http://matchagt.com/
http://www.smoothieessentials.com/
http://matchagt.blogspot.com/
http://smoothieessentials.blogspot.com/
http://matchagt.wordpress.com/

Sadly enough, probably the best place I could swipe my school ID for food is the Starbucks on Drexel’s campus, so I often go there after Physics with my friend Resh. As strange as this sounds coming from a food-o-phile, I could be pretty calorie-conscious sometimes, especially at Starbucks since they list their nutrition facts (which in my opinion  is both a good and bad thing).

But I decided to splurge a little and get a creme-based green tea frappe. I love practically all of Starbucks frappes. I mean, I usually hate drinking coffee, but the sweet and creamy blends Starbucks make are absolutely irresistable! I liked the green tea frappe, although I thought the nice tea aroma was not strong enough. I suppose I just enjoy a richer green tea taste. The frappe was still cold, smooth, and sweet, with a hint of green tea. My only complaint is that there are always a few bits of ice inside the frappe that doesn’t get blended. I guess this is the downside of an express service.

Mmmm, creamy green tea frappe.

I also wanted to see how perfect their perfect oatmeal is. It turned out to be not-so-perfect, but a major improvement from instant oatmeal. I hate how instant oatmeal tends to be runny, whereas Starbucks’ oatmeal was warm, chunky, and viscous. Still, it wasn’t very impressive, especially not for $3. Word on the street is that Jamba Juice’s oatmeal is a lot better, but I have yet to try it.

Kind of Average Perfect Oatmeal

And another thing I have to mention: The seasonal hot pumpkin spice lattes are amazing!

Grade: A- frappe, B- oatmeal, A pumpkin spice latte

Conclusion: When at Starbucks, order drinks, not oatmeal.

Location: Map

(215) 895-6209

anul 2050

o plaja intre munti cu nisip alb marunt un prosop imens  ochelari de soare spf un caine beagle sau chiar doi un ruj rosu aprins hidratant mat un frappe vesel si

asta e fericirea pentru mine.

bine, si undeva in muntii aia o camaruta

plina ochi cu restul de lucruri:

vibrator

tigari

aparat foto digital.

Multumesc

“The Christian faith has not been tried and found lacking; it has been found difficult and been left untried.”

-George Macdonald

I must confess up front that I am not a coffee drinker.  I neither like the taste of it nor the smell of it, nor do I have any compulsion to infuse it with a variety of sweeteners to try and mask its otherwise awful taste.  This is not a criticism of those who like coffee (my wife is one of them), it is simply a statement of fact, and to set the record strait, it is not that I do not also have a morning crutch, but for me it is tea—“Earl Grey, hot,” as Captain Picard used to say.

All of that being said, what I find interesting is the popularity of the specialized coffee drinks in our society.  People flock to one of dozens of corner coffee stores to buy the latest “Chunky-Monkey-Sola-Frappe” concoction or if they are more frugal, they will get a designer coffee machine for their home to whip up their favorite concoctions.  Now, I see nothing inherently wrong with this practice (I like stacking onions, pickles, lettuce, and ketchup on my hamburgers), what I find interesting is that by the time everything is said and done, one can barely taste the original coffee flavor—and for some, I know that is the objective.

Imagine a world, for a minute, where coffee is only ever served in this fashion (this should not be too hard as we are close to that now).  Imagine that you have never tasted “black” coffee, but that it has always been filled with the additives that we might see at a specialized coffee place.  And imagine that this is the way coffee has been served for several generations.  You may have heard stories of coffee being served black, but only in the old days when the people were so poor or backwards that they did not know any better.

Then imagine, one day, something changed in the world around you.  Imagine that you, and everyone around you, were served black coffee—no milk, no sweetener, just straight brewed coffee.  What do you imagine might be the response.  My guess is that most people would quickly spit it out in disgust.  They might curse what they were served and leave in search of “real coffee”—or at least coffee that was diluted with the sweeteners that people were used to.

I imagine, though, that there might be a few people (likely a very few), who will have something confirmed in their hearts.  Deep down, while they have been drinking all of the concoctions, they have sensed that there must be something more out there—that that there must be something stronger and more robust in this thing called coffee than what was being served.  The taste might not totally agree with them, but they know deep down that this coffee, black and strong, is what they have been looking for all along and for them to go back to anything else is something they have no desire to do.

It is imaginable, that the majority of the “coffee” drinkers would take offense to those who began serving and drinking black coffee.  They might see them as unsophisticated and seeking to undo great social advances.  It is imaginable that the majority might even legislate to try and restrict the “black coffee drinkers” from being able to proselytize and win others to drinking black coffee.  There might even be some that would go back to drinking the stylized coffees just to more comfortably fit into their communities.  There may even be some that would become secret black coffee drinkers, drinking the concoctions in social settings for the business contacts, but only drinking black coffee at home.  There would be some who would even go to the other extreme, gathering with other black coffee drinkers and living separate from non-black coffee drinkers to eliminate any outside influence upon their families.  Yet there would be some who, despite regulations and litigation against the black coffee establishments, would continue drinking their black coffee while remaining in society, being willing to have the honest discussion about coffee and to answer questions from the skeptical but curious who still are drinking the fancy mixes.

Okay, so what does this have to do with Christianity?  If you haven’t anticipated it, my suggestion is that we have a lot of “doctored up” Christianity in our culture today.  It may have at its most basic root, genuine Christian belief, but because true Christianity is vibrant, strong, and offensive to the broader culture, churches have been quick to dilute it with all kinds of sweeteners and additives to hide the taste.  C.S. Lewis called this kind of liberal Christianity as “Christianity in water”—something almost unrecognizable as Christianity because it has been so diluted.  It is no wonder, given our culture has strayed so much from “straight-black” Christianity (to keep the coffee analogy), that so many people react so violently against the preaching of the wrath to come and the need for Christians to take up their cross and die daily to this world.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been reduced to love and fuzzy feelings rather than about a mighty God who chose to take on flesh and live in the midst of wicked, fallen, and hateful men to redeem some of them to glory, bearing the judgment for their sins on his shoulder.  All we are, we owe to him.

Drinking this kind of “coffee” will earn you the title of being intolerant, unsophisticated, and backwards.  It requires a whole new view of the world.  But this is true Christianity.  Lewis argued that while most people would be reviled if they were confronted with real Christianity, there would be some who would find that it was what they were looking for all along and find the real stuff to be “red meat and strong beer.”  How many of our churches look more like Starbucks in their theology and social stance than like the strong, black coffee of the Scriptures.

Caffetteria di nuova apertura nelle vicinanze di Piazza Brà.
Bel locale, tanti posti a sedere, tutto di nuova fattura con ragazze simpatiche che servono ai tavoli.
A parte le molte varietà di caffè che potete degustare, fa anche da torrefazione per fare il caffè a casa e inoltre potrete scegliere tantissimi tipi di infusi e tisane particolari (ma vi sono anche dei buonissimi frappè multigusti chiamati “centrifughe” di frutta e verdura al costo di circa 3euro serviti in bicchieroni).
Va benissimo sia a colazione (da provare le buonissime brioche mignon appena sfornate) sia per pranzi veloci con colleghi (data la vicinanza dei tanti uffici in loco).Proprio per i pranzi il locale offre tramezzini molto sfiziosi, pizzette e rosticeria.

Nescafe-based Greek Frappé

Today is Frappé Day. Most of us have tried a version of one.  Some of you may not admit it enjoying such a pretty drink…  A frappé is simply a cold and/or blended drink, typically including ice or ice cream, and a variety of other ingredients to taste, including coffee, vanilla, or a syrup.  If you have not gone to a Starbucks or one of their hanging-on-to-dear-life local competitors and ordered an iced coffee, blended coffee or frappuccino, you are simply missing out on one of society’s shared sinful pleasures.  Don’t like coffee?  Then ask that barista you flirt with to hand you a green tea blend…

How did we come to fall in love with our blended ice coffees, anyway?

Introduction of the Frappé

Over 52 years ago at the International Trade Fair in Thessaloniki, Greece,  Nestle representative Yannis Dritsas was showing off a new instant chocolate milk mix.  People were enamored with the concept of adding a magical powder to milk, and shaking it up to instantly produce shouts of glee from their kids. During the course of the Fair, Yannis’ assistant Dimitris Vakondios, needing a pick-me-up, decided to make some instant coffee.  Hot water was nowhere to be found, so Dimitris  mixed the coffee mix with cold water and ice, and borrowed the shaker.  An instant hit was born.

Today’s Frappés

Ah, the perfect bubbly foam...right?

Today, Café Frappés are the national drink of Greece, in almost every coffee shop, and has been the subject of popular books.  There is a science involved with making a decent frappé, down to the proper techniques to create the perfect sized bubbles in the foamy top.

You can get a café frappé in varying degrees of sweetness, depending on how much sugar and coffee you want in the drink.  Glykos (sweet) typically means 2 teaspoons of instant coffee and 4 teaspoons of sugar.  Metrios (medium) means an equal measure of 2 teaspoons of coffee and 2 teaspoons of sugar, and Sketos (plain), meaning 2 teaspoons of instant coffee but no sugar.  To create a Frapogolo (frappé-milk) you can ask for the addition of evaporated milk to the mix.

To spice things up a bit, various liquers, chocolate milk, or vanilla ice cream can be added.  Starting to sound pretty good… Kahlúa anyone?

National variations on the Frappé

The frappé (and its die-hard fans) moved across Europe, from Greece to Cyprus, then Albania, Macedonia, across Asia, Turkey, and many Eastern Bloc nations, all of whom added their special twist on the drink.  Bulgarians have tried adding Coca-Cola rather than water, and in Denmark milk is typically used as a base rather than water.  Americans tend to like the version introduced and made famous by Starbucks, although in the Boston area, a frappé is what they call a very thick milkshake (no coffee.).  In France, a frappé is a milkshake-like concoction of milk or fruit juices.

Frappé is pronounced Frap. Rhymes with Rap. They liked that concept…

A Date (yes, Date) Frappuccino

Frappé Recipe

According to http://www.frappenation.com to make a great Greek frappé, place 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, sugar to taste, and 3-4 teaspoons of cold water in a blender.  Blend for 10 seconds to get a good foam.  Add ice to a tall glass, and pour out the foamy mix into the glass.  Add a shot of evaporated milk and fill the rest of the way with water.

The term “frappe” confused me, to be quite honest.  It turns out a frappe is no more than a common smoothie.  Unless you find yourself inside one of those ubiquitous coffee shops named after a character in a Melville novel, in which case “frappe” is short for something involving coffee and often whipped cream (wonder what Melville would think about that?).

In any event.  Like many Vancouver residents, I style myself a runner, and frequently sign up for races I’m then too injured to run.  I like a smoothie (or “frappe”) before my weekend runs – it’s a good hit of protein and carbs at the same time, and tastes a lot better than a gloppy carb gel.

I was thinking about smoothies as I went for my run this evening.  Daydreaming about the perfect combination of fruity goodness.  Then it happened. A marauding pack of girl guides waylaid me.  “Hey lady!” one of them called, and suddenly I was surrounded by waist-high bundles of earnest wholesomeness.  One of them, a sweet-faced child with cinnamon curls, immediately took charge: “you wanna buy some cookies?”

Now.  I’m a firm believer in buying Girl Guide cookies.  And lemonade from yard-front stands (though lately I’ve been startled to find not lemonade but some toxic blend involving blue Kool-Aid in my plastic cup, wondering if I’ve wandered into a mini-Jonestown.  But I digress). I didn’t have a penny in my pocket, and the light was fading fast.

I made polite, non-committal excuses (“ummm… errr”) as I tried extricate myself from their midgety midst.  As I made my escape, cinnamon curls held up her box of cookies and yelled, “I’ll wait here for you!”

I didn’t go back.

Mystery Market Melon

Back to the frappe.  I didn’t have a frappe before my run; instead I had one this morning.  I’m not a real melon fan but that was the fruit at hand at 6:30 a.m. (at least I bought it organic, at the Trout Lake Farmers Market).

Threw melon into the blender with a banana, some organic yoghurt, guava nectar (would have been better if I’d had mango – at least then I could have the pleasure of alliteration: a “mango-melon frappe”), a couple of teaspoons of flax oil and a teaspoon of unpasteurized honey.  Blended.

Even with the melon, it was pretty damned good.  J even forgave me for the blender at 6:30 a.m.  I think it would have been slightly improved by the addition of fresh mint.  E.

Watch out for marauding Girl Guides!

Been hanging out at Teadot@Iluma lately. The drinks are mostly teas but they have a small selection of coffee as well. While the prices are a little on the high side, the drinks are tasty and cakes are yummy. And if you have one of the stamp cards, there is some discount to reward loyal customers. =) My favorite drink so far is ‘Simply Matcha’ which is a tea frappe. But I also recommend ‘Angel’s Breath’, a hot tea that leaves a fragrance aftertaste, or ‘Arctic Brew’, Oolong tea with a zest orange.

It’s a great place to chill and get some work done. There are plenty of spots to plug-in and type away on Sebby-chan, or in this case, Ennoia that belongs to Nyanko-sempai (as seen in the picture).

But the place gets pretty cold after an extended stay, so bring a jacket! Only complain is that the toilet is quite a distance away. =D

(Credits : Bottom two pics taken by Nyanko-sempai with my PnS.)

Café Essentials launches a new Hot Cocoa campaign by focusing on flavors from around the world. Each destination of cocoa is unique and provides specific flavors and taste profiles that customers will identify with.

Whether it’s cocoa from European countries, North America or South American, Café Essentials has got you covered. Customers will enjoy the taste of Belgian Style Dark cocoa, Chocolate Truffle cocoa, Chocoholics Choice or Mexican Spiced Cocoa. If you enjoy a sipping chocolate like the French or Italians, Café Essentials sipping chocolate recipe is the desert beverage in the European tradition.

Besides decadence and flavor, Café Essentials has stepped up to the plate by providing products that can be made with milk or water.  This valuable options for shop owners can help increase profits without having to sacrifice quality or taste. All Café Essentials flavors feature no trans fat & no artificial flavors. For healthy conscious consumers, Café Essentials offers Naturals™, frappes and hot beverages with distinct, clean and real taste profiles.

Aki kávézik, annál kialakul egy saját, személyre szabott szertartás, rutin. Reggel indulás előtt lefőz egy feketét, vagy a munkahelyen indítja a napot. Általában ugyanazt fogyasztja. Érdemes néha egy-egy újabb variációt elkészíteni. Íme néhány egyszerű tipp:

Angol mokka: 1 dupla kávé, 1 tojás sárgája, 1 kiskanál cukor
Tejszínes mokka: 1 dupla kávé, 1 kiskanál kakaó, 1 kiskanál cukor, 1/2 dl tejszín
Kávéflip: 1 dupla kávé, 1 egész tojás, 1/2 dl tejszín, cukor ízlés szerint
Café Frappé: ½-ed rész erős kávé ½-ed rész fagyival mixerben összekeverve.
Latte amaretto: Kávé, tej, tejhab, amaretto-szirup, csokiöntet
Jávai fahéjas kávé:

4 kk. instant kávé, 100 ml habtejszín, őrölt fahéj, néhány koktélcseresznye, 2 ek. gyömbérszirup, 2-3 ek. cukor (2 személyre)

Két csészében keverjük össze a kávét a cukorral és a gyömbérsziruppal, majd a forró vízzel öntsük fel. A tejszínt ízlés szerinti mennyiségű fahéjjal verjük félkeményre, és osszuk el a csészék tetején. Fogvájóra tűzött koktélcseresznyével díszítsünk.

Hazánkban jelenleg a legnépszerűbb, kávéból készült italok – figyelembe véve, hogy van, aki többfélét is megjelölt – az eszpresszó (36%), rögtön utána a capuccino (34%) és a tejeskávé (33%) szinte holtversenyben, majd a sor végén a hosszúkávé (16%). (adatok from www.marketinginfo.hu)

Astazi servim Frappe pentru copii.

Ingrediente necesare:

*400 ml ciocolata calda                  *un cerc dintr-o grefa

*frisca de casa                                      *un cerc dintr-o lamaie

*un cerc dintr-o portocala             *o bucata de piersica.

Preparare:

1. Se toarna cu grija ciocolata calda intr-un pahar de 500 ml.

2. Se pune frisca de casa in forma de spirala si varful dinauntru il lungiti inca putin, cat sa iasa in evidenta.

3. Cercurile de portocala, grefa si lamaie le desfaceti intr-o parte pentru a le pune pe marginea paharului. Luati o umbreluta mica pentru decor si sprijiniti-o de marginea paharului si un pai, desfacut la capat, special pentru frappe-uri. ..m…Sorbire Placuta si sper sa va placa!

T and I some times (this “some” is getting to be increasingly more frequent, so much so that she insisted that we get a punch card and promptly grabbed one from the counter) spend Friday/Saturday late nights at a cafe in Uptown. The good thing about being there today is that the normally glum barista with a grim scowl (and who I suspect is a desi from Fiji) is not there. Instead, we have the friendly lesbian barista with the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard (again, her orientation is purely based on my often not reliable speculation arising from her crew cut ; I will not be held to this casual observation). I am lactose intolerant and so the huge list of all the drinks/coffee types/beverages that dangles so temptingly (and customarily) at every cafe, including this one, means nothing to me. However, I graduated from a chai latte (with soymilk ofcourse) to a frappe today. She was sweet enough to make one for me. The scowling Fijian refused to make one for me the last time. He didn’t even provide a reason and scowled some more at me. Now when I think of it, it was not as bad as the one I got two days back at work. The visitor from Kansas also narrowed his beady eyes while doing the same. I did not like it one bit. I have decided to not like him anymore.

I hope T finishes her cover letter. The last time I distracted her so much with my sluggish-bordering on being monkey-like-extremely annoying- wiggling (I was dancing to some very crass music on my Ipod), that she never quite got around to finishing it. I need a job. She does too. We both want good things to happen to us. For now, I am tensed about the move-out. September, according to celestial forecasts, is going to be a challenging month for me.

I am addicted to the insanely ridiculous dance of “uncha lamba kad”.

Cu totii am auzit melodia celor de la Refflex – Samba,si la Callatis am avut surpriza sa ascultam piesa intr-un format nou si anume Andreea Banica feat Dony,suna mult mai tare piesa cu d-soara Banica…Acum a aparut si varianta originala 320kps,si va las mai jos linkul de download.

Click pentru Download

Mod de ascultare:

Va asezati frumos pe scaunul de la birou,presupunem ca aveti deja ness frappe’ul facut cu multa gheata,pe urma aprindeti o tigara[sa fie proaspata sa sfarie tutunul can tragi din ea] apoi se savureaza totul! daca nu fumati stati si beti doar frappe’ul

I’ve been back in the States since about 4:50pm last Wednesday, and back home since about 1:30am Thursday. A wedding, a paper, and some other efforts are now presently occupying me for the remainder of the month.

There’s a lot regarding the last two or three weeks which I’m still processing. Some of it I can talk about, some of it I can’t, and I can’t even really explain why I can’t talk about it because to even do that is to talk about it in a way I really shouldn’t do.

I learned a tremendous amount on this trip. What I learned is not necessarily what I went to Greece thinking I would learn. The principal objective, to improve my Greek, has been accomplished, but there’s so much more I need to do. One year of university classroom instruction and eight weeks in the Mother Country really only gets you so far. Thankfully, I will have another year of classroom instruction, and I find it likely I will apply for the FLAS again for next summer, but it really is a marathon and not a sprint.

My secondary, personal objective, to be able to study Byzantine chant with a “native speaker” as it were, was also accomplished. I can now look at a Byzantine score and at least have some idea what I need to do with it. We’re talking about the basics here, to say the least, and I need to keep up with what Arvanitis taught me in order to not lose it, but that’s a lot better than I was able to do on my own in Bloomington. It remains to be seen whether or not it will be possible for what I learned to have any practical application at the parish level, which troubles me somewhat; if I learned all of this stuff strictly for my own benefit and not for the service of the Church, I’m not sure I see the point. Nonetheless, Arvanitis really was a gem and exactly the kind of person with whom I needed to be studying; he was able to discuss the psaltic art not just from the standpoint of applied performance but also in terms of historical development and paleography, and even more than that, he was a grade-A human being all around. It was a joy to get to know him and his wife Olga, however briefly, and if I go back next summer, I look forward to being able to do more with him.

I also learned that a well-made Frappé is a decent — and addictive — use of otherwise useless instant coffee. This was an unanticipated, and pleasant, lesson. In other matters relating to food, my newfound appreciation of eggplant and zucchini represents a brand-new chapter in my life.

Unfortunately, something else I learned is that regardless of culture, language, or creed, somebody can be well-meaning, well-intentioned, and earnest and still encounter people who will irrationally decide at first sight that they don’t like you, and nothing you can do will change that. Rules of communicating with normal, rational people just don’t apply, and the best you can do is to try to not have a person like that in a position of power over you. I will re-emphasize that this has nothing to do what one’s nationality or native tongue is; there is neither Jew nor Greek here, as it were. It is a lesson which transcends linguistic, ethnic and cultural barriers — it just happened to be in Greece that this was made manifest to me.

Next year, if I do this again, there are things I will do differently. I will make different living arrangements, and look for a short-term apartment rental (unless Egeria Home Exchange is up and running and comes up with a decent fit). I will also leave more time on either side of the school commitment for traveling — eight weeks really isn’t all that much time for such things when you have someplace to be four hours a day, five days a week.

More specific reflections will have to wait for a bit.