Coffee, Retail Chains, and Random Thoughts

I have a love/hate relationship with coffee. I remember my first time tasting it. Way back when I was 2 or 3, I had my own little tiny coffee mug. I am guessing it was just for water, but when you are young and have something that is meant for something else, well, you want it to be used for what it is meant for. So, naturally, I wanted to put coffee in my little mug.

It smelled so great and I remember the smell being the reason why I wanted to taste it. My parents got to have one of those moments that I am fairly certain brought a little bit of joy to their lives: watching their child, who has begged to the point of sending them up a wall, get what they want and realize how bad it is. Yes, I tasted that coffee and thought it tasted awful. I disliked it completely, but recall saying that I liked it.

I don't remember having coffee again until later. This time, I tried moms. I loved it. Full of cream and sugar and tasting not like coffee at all. After that, I'd have to make sure she put a bit of it in my cup every time.

So, that story starts my relationship with coffee. Today, it is a little different. I enjoy coffee, find the flavor wonderful, but do not drink it often because my body hates it. It makes me sick. So naturally, I work at a coffee shop...

This issue keeps me from spending money on all of the wonderful drinks they have, earns me some extra money, and also faces me with a difficult situation.

I love making coffee. I think most of our customers are wonderful (there's the occasional one who wants everything 10 mins. ago and makes the day a challenge), but I do this all for a big retail store. It's hard to focus on customers when each order involves asking them 10 questions and trying to pressure them into signing up for a frequent shopper card. I know a lot of revenue comes in that way, but if my coffee shop were independent, nothing like that would exist because people do not want to spend $20 when they are purchasing a $2.00 cup of coffee. The culture of people who come to buy coffee is not looking to scan a card, receive dozens of e-mails, and have their barista ask a slew of questions. They want their coffee order taken correctly, their coffee made correctly, and they want to get to reading their book, chatting with friends, or to be on their way.

I think my niche is a small little independently owned shop. Make coffee, serve customers, create a bit of a conversation, and no pressure to sell, sell, sell and make copious amounts of money. So with that, support your local independent shop...most of them do what they do because of what they love and because of you! Also, support coffee shops that are not part of retail stores.

And the random thought portion of my day...I'm finding that I need to really get to know people. There are things I want to do, but find having companions along for the ride makes it both more enjoyable and possible. I love hiking, but don't dare do anything to extensive on my own for safety reasons. Same goes for many other adventurous activities. Joining tours and group hikes is just not my thing. It's odd for me to pay to meet people or do activities I enjoy. I just never seem to be in one place long enough to actually make friends.

I'm terrible at socializing further than small talk and it takes me months to get to know a person well enough to believe they'd like to accompany me somewhere. Definitely a working point for 2011. My goal for the year is to go on bigger adventures and it isn't going to be met if I don't make  an effort to get to know people.


I also keep dreaming up things I want to do when I'm finally able to stop saving every dime of what I make. That time is actually, in theory, only 4 months away for real. It is no longer years, but an actual real reachable deadline. The problem with this is that my income is still going to be small and there are a lot of practical things I need to do with this money. Saving it for future is good, just in case I find a job somewhere across the country and have to move and put a down payment on an apartment. I need to repair my car or buy a different one. I need to save to make college loan payments to kick my student loan debt down from its astronomical level.

But...the adventurer in me is crying for an opportunity to be truly released. I want to spend money on some frivolous things like: a backpacking stove that is light weight, a new warm ultra compact bag, sea kayaking lessons, and a trip to Monterey for tidepooling and birdwatching, and a visit to the rockies...San Juan mountains in Colorado to explore the abandoned mining camps again, Banff and the Canadian Rockies for some bagels and beautiful views, and somewhere new like Alaska or Europe. Be practical or be frivolous? It's tough. I'm still young and have my whole life ahead, but if I keep that as my motto, I'll be in my 70s saying, I had my whole life ahead, where did it go?

Money sucks a lot sometimes and I need to be better with it.

Daily Recipe:
Veggies, with some egg

Needed:
Veggies of your choice.
I use:
1/8 of an avocado
2- stalks of kale
1-2 whole mushrooms
1/8 red pepper
3-slices of cucumber cut into smaller pieces
1-2 little crowns of broccoli
green onion
garlic
4 eggs
sea salt
pepper

I cut all my veggies up and place them in a pan that has some cooking spray or a bit of olive oil. I saute them until they are crunchy but a bit soft. I crack and scramble my eggs in another bowl. Add some pepper and sea salt and pour over the cooking mixture. cook until eggs are desired consistency. Save half for later or feed to another person.

Enjoy! (Very simple, anyone can do it, but it looks pretty!)

A Statement

I've been tossing around starting a blog for awhile. I'm rather shy and tend to not have a lot of opportunities to share conversation with others, yet, have a lot to say. My head is ever constantly spinning with thoughts about  one thing or another and I find written word to be my best form of expression, thus, a blog was created.

I hope to free my brain, which means there will be a wide variety of things here. And so here goes my first post.
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I really enjoy cooking when I have the time. There's nothing like good food and when you can cook it yourself, well, that makes the experience even better. I present one  of my favorite things to eat lately: Veggie Shrimp Quinoa Curry

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
curry sauce (the Trader Joes Yellow Curry has been my go-to lately)

Mix water and quinoa (2 parts water to 1 part quinoa) and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and cover until water evaporates entirely. Once the quinoa is finished, mix in curry sauce.

The Non-Grain Part:
-Shrimp (I use the frozen already cooked stuff mostly because I'm lazy, you can also use tofu or some other meat or no meat at all)
-avocado (about 1/4 to half depending  on how many you wish to feed)
-kale
 -red pepper
-cucumber
-broccoli
-green onion
-garlic
 -olive oil
-curry sauce

Instructions: I usually slice up quite a bit of each veggie (how many people I am feeding also determines how much I cut). Just slice up some of each and put them in a pan. Add in a bit of olive  oil and  start to fry. Once the kale is a bit floppy/wilty but still a bit crunchy add in the shrimp and fry a bit longer. Stir in curry sauce.

Mix Quinoa and Shrimp/Veggies in a bowl and enjoy. I encourage red wine if you want to go all out.

This was my dinner tonight:

On another note:
I've started a new gig: food for thought Friday, where I post a question that hopefully inspires thought, and in my wildest dreams: dialogue.

Today's question has been difficult to come by. I've had a few ideas and wish to cover all genres from silly to climate change to philosophy.