Summer Food Fun and Drink - why Ikea sucks · Tuesday August 11, 2009 by colin newell
Ikea. Junk furniture made with unsustainable materials manufactured and collated by exploited workers so we can have dilapidated and readily disposable crap in our shrinking living space.
Ikea is in the hot seat this month after being caught vandalizing hundreds of pieces of public and private property. Picture at upper-right: Unreal.
Given that IKEA’s environmental stewardship is more global wrecking ball than actual contributor to real solutions, their recent botched ad campaign seems entirely apropos – Corporate guerrilla art it’s called. They spray-paint (vandalize) public space in the name of corporate kitsch and coolness – and it bites.
Ikea. You stink and it ain’t the reek of laminate.
IKEA—third largest global consumer of wood— gets many of its raw materials from regions where illegal logging is rampant and environmental stewardship is as absent as your parents on your first big night out. IKEA’s wares, and the industrial location of its big-box stores (consumers have to travel by car to make their purchases, or even exchange faulty small parts), speak to a unfailing disregard for environmental consideration.
The hoo-haw around Ikea’s use of “chalk spray” graffiti to complement a TV ad campaign aimed at driving viewers to a website where they could enter a contest to win $15,000 worth of furniture – has caused them to back peddle faster than a RCMP officer at a taser inquiry.
The ads featured a yellow dotted line framing the slogan “Any Place Can Be Beautiful,” a website of the same name and “Aug. 10,” the date Ikea plans to deliver 5.5 million flyers to Canadian homes.
Although I have never been a fan of the crap that they sell, I am now even more resolved to never set foot in one of their soul crushing retail outlets. Shame on Ikea for stealing our public space and branding it for commercial gain.
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Summer Food Fun and Drink - we review a Bolivian cup of excellence · Monday August 10, 2009 by colin newell
Geir and Carson Oglend of Drumroaster Coffee gave me 1/4 of a pound of one very, very fine Bolivian coffee – COE. Lot#: 11 Félix Yana Mamani – Café Montaña
Cup of Excellence.
Félix Yana is a young coffee producer. Married a few years with three children, who will be going to school this year, Félix belongs to the Cooperativa San Ignacio, an organization that has been a Cup of Excellence winner in the past. Félix has participated in the competition before, and he understands the importance of the event. “It’s very important. I’ve participated before, but I’ve never won. For me the good thing about the competition is that it’s good for the coffee sector. It’s helped us improve our quality.”
This great coffee comes from Colonia San Ignacio, Carrasco La Reserva County – some 1600 meter above sea level in Bolivia – and we were astounded!
Café Montaña has a remarkably balanced cup with nary a trace of bitterness. It has a delightful milk chocolate overtone that is enveloping and comfortable – with some very distinctive tangerine notes. The Drumroaster coffee folks roasted this a tad on the light side – probably a minute or two after first crack – and they appeared to be getting the best possible profile on this bean.
If you live on Vancouver Island or know someone who is carrying this Bolivian COE – Café Montaña… jump at it!
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Summer Food Fun and Drink - writing contest on coffeecrew · Wednesday August 5, 2009 by colin newell
I have been having a creative writing contest over on my coffee website – turn out has been great and the voting is brisk. I need a few more readers and voters to keep the process fair and balanced.
So head on over here, read the stories – and cast your vote via e-mail.
I am giving away an $800 coffee maker and I want the most talented writer to win.
Thanks!
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Summer Fun Food and Drink 2009 - Sooke and Jordan River weekend · Sunday July 26, 2009 by colin newell
When you live on the heaven that is Vancouver Island, you often take for granted the sheer awesomeness of it all.
Except this weekend. I made the mental effort to dig every facet of this wicked place – because it is just not right to neglect a gem like this.
And this weekend we split the urban misery to drive out to our top secret romantic get-away – Point no Point – It is far away from everything – and yet only about an hour and a half from civilization.
Point no Point is a small series of cabins – all with private hot tubs (generally under the stars…) most of them a hundred feet from the ocean at most.
So you are lulled to sleep by the sound of moderately gentle Pacific surf buffered by the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
And if you work as hard as I think I do, Point no Point is ideal for an early get-away on a Friday – escape work at 3:30 or so… and you are in the hot tub by 6 PM!
All the units have full kitchens – but if you want some culinary pampering, check out the victuals (photo above) – and in this meal, I had grilled halibut with a cheese tart and melon sorbet. Andrea has a nice fillet of triple-A beef, on caramelized onions, deep friend carrot strings and a mussel stuffing.
1/2 liter of French wine and we are good to go. For dessert, the chocolate mousse at the Point no Point lookout restaurant is knock-out good!
A discovery in Sooke B.C. on Saturday mid-day was The EdGe restaurant. EdGe is a fusion of foodie personalities Edward and Gemma – and their edible vision of the World. Edward was the executive chef at the Sooke Harbor House for 12 years and his long time sweetie, Gemma handles much of the client flow logistics; hostess, menu interpretation and general inspiration and warmth.
I had the kitchen sink bowl (shown at right) which contained a scrum of homemade chicken sausage, white fish, salmon, shellfish, two kinds of peppers in a hot and sour broth. The price tag a staggering $8.95! Andrea had a linguine in a cream sauce with home made salami and mushrooms. We shared a glass of red wine, a Syrah I believe. Utterly delightful!
Finishing up in Sooke including several Americano and espresso from The Stick in the Mud cafe on Eustace off of Sooke Road. This is an absolute must stop when passing through the village.
We mused while sampling their 2% Jazz coffee: “There was a time when you could drive to Sooke and go back in time 10 years… or more.”
Now Sooke is easily as hip as Victoria.
If not more so.
