May Highlights

We had another visit from the health department and if you follow me on twitter @tyronebcookin or Facebook you saw my humorous posting: Stick THAT in your dishwasher and sanitize it!

Things are wrapping up here in the kitchen as school winds down. We grilled a few meals outside in front of the kitchen just to kick things up a level. Chicken for fajitas!

Burgers for cheeseburgers and fries!

When I am not in the kitchen or out in the parking lot playing with fire, you can try to catch up with me at my mobile office:

Ice coffee, nothing fancy here...keeps me moving. 

Thoughts on Coffee

I have traveled quite a bit on ships, trains, planes, and automobiles thru the Caribbean, Central American, Europe, Africa, Canada, and of course the U.S.. I have also tasted and visited a few coffee places, estates, fields, and shops. That being said I will not call myself and expert except on the subject of my own palate. So for a moment lets knock out any one-off coffees and talk about chains and corporate. Here is what I found for my tastes...

Although I am from the South and Krispy Kreme seems to be the doughnut king when the light is on...it's coffee is lacking. Starbucks is great for specialty coffees and maybe buying their coffee and making it at home but why does their house brew always taste bitter, burnt, or harsh? My wife and I LOVE Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf both specialty and regular cup of coffee but this place is not found to many places in the USA, some high traffic cities and mostly California...and oddly enough a bunch of them in Malaysia! So still no everyday options for me. Waffle House has good coffee that is pretty consistent from coast to coast (because it is made the same) but lacks that inviting atmosphere and is not available for purchase at home. From what I remember Tim Horton's was pretty good (Canada) but that was a distant memory. Illy coffee imported from Italy is hands down my favorite coffee that my palate loves straight from the French press but OH does it cost a pretty penny.

But as I sit here today in the first of many Dunkin Doughnuts coming to my city in the South I am reminded of my trips to Boston and New York where every corner seems to have one on it. it also reminds me of why I love their coffee so much. I get just the regular coffee with cream and sugar (they add it) and the mix and taste seems to be just right for me every time. The price does not break the bank. Their take-home bags of coffee taste just as great when you make them at home and are affordable...and I guess their doughnuts aren't to bad either! (Wink!) But don't tell Krispy Kreme I said that.

Favorites This Week

Below are a few things I found this week I like. Each picture has a link to the original post so hopefully I am not breaking online etiquette. Merely trying to bring attention to some cool ideas and a few new things.

The Floating Mug - To expensive for me...But cool none the less, a coffee mug that never needs a coaster.

 

The edible cookie coffee mug.

 

Tomato Pie with Bacon and Jalapenos: the picture first, then the recipe attracted me. Actually, it probably had to do with the part that said "Bacon".

Tonka Beans: I never heard of them, and I have traveled quite a bit.

The reason that tonka beans are not well-known in the US is that they contain courmarin, a (naturally occurring chemical) that was shown to cause liver problems in rats in extremely high doses. Tonka beans have been banned by the FDA for sale in the US as a food item since the 1950s because of this, though you would have to ingest exceptionally high amounts of the tonka bean to reach these levels.

How to make ice shot glasses: I am not promoting the 'shot glass' so much as this creative idea to make a 'glass' out of ice. I am sure it would be cool to use for other drinks and a dessert or two...I can think of a few catering applications.

Mens Retreat Menu

WOW!  So things have been really busy lately...this month, weekend of the 4th, 5th, and 6th we had a men's retreat and I was cooking for it.

This group is mostly 'steak and potato' guys and so I planned my menu accordingly!  In addition to that we watched the Alabama vs LSU game which was the only sad part of the weekend (LSU won). But I tried to have an amazing line-up of food for the game.

Quick @ Home Fraps/Smoothies (blender needed)

Fraps:
The Basics- Use cold coffee, put 10 regular ice cubes into the blender, pour milk & cold coffee in to just below the top of the highest ice cube (adjust the ratio for your tastes), at this point I use caramel, chocolate, or some other flavored syrup to both flavor & sweeten pulse blend & listen for no more ice cubes bouncing around (time in between pulses allows 4 remaining chunks to sink back down), at the end give it about a 3 to 5 second 'on' blend...if it's too liquidy use less 'liquids' next time. But if you don't get enough liquids in the blender it's harder to get ice cubes blended. These make about 12 oz glasses of Frap.

Or find big cans of Cafe D'Vitta at Sam's or Costco (they have caramel, chocolate,...flavors) same directions as coffee drink except add 1 scoop (scoop that comes with it) and then add milk, blend (only use mix, ice, and milk. no reason to add flavors or coffee, unless of course, you want to). They are great 4lb canisters of the mix.  By the time you figure out how many Fraps this $10 canister of powder mix makes, it is WELL WORTH IT!

Additional things I do: Add more caramel sauce to it, Mexican or regular chocolate sauce, a few coffee beans to the blender for speckled look, add peanut butter, find the Dulce De Leche sauce in 'select' grocery stores...yum.

In my professional 'making and drinking' opinion, powders work better than flavored syrups to thicken Fraps and improve taste...Using powdered creamer IS NOT A GOOD IDEA, you will soon become tired of the 'taste' that comes from powdered creamer, try using some powdered milk.



Smoothies:
For quick smoothies use the same amount of ice cubes and 8 to 12 ounces of flavored yogurt.  Use vanilla or plain yogurt and add fresh fruits for a more customized taste.

Steal lots of BIG STRAWS - (McD's or Coffee Shop straws) haven't found that they sell the big ones in any stores yet so I just get a few each time I am at Starb*cks, Pete's, or McD's

This is not definitive...just a quick guide for my friends who asked. If you have a coffee shop friend get him to let you 'have' big buckets of Big Train powder mix.

Joy of Coffee

This coffee shop in Dublin Ireland (not to far from the famed Temple Bar) was a great little 'hole-n-wall' place to take a break and have some lunch.

Sandwiches, soups, and various other offerings.  Besides coffee there were plenty of tea choices...One that I remember right away was a green tea with mint and coconut.  That hit the spot as we were there during winter time.  Warming the cold body!

I  posted the picture to simply say the name of this place says it all for people like me~ Joy of Coffee!

What are some of your 'hole-n-wall' coffee places, joints that you like?  What makes them special?  And lets steer clear of the ones in Amsterdam!