Libations Friday! 19 June 2009

Coffee Photo by once and future @ flickr

From Denny: OK, I was flat out fascinated watching the coffee art videos and have included a few here to amuse you as well! I could have stayed on the ifood.tv site for hours, mesmerized at technique and designs - but somebody had to write this blog! :)

Coffee Art Videos - How to Make Rosettes - from ifood.tv


Latte Art 5 ROSETTA IN ONE CUP by Scottiecallaghan.com - Awesome video clips here






Amazing Coffee Art - Watch more amazing videos here


A super simple easy recipe from ifood.tv:

Spiced Coffee Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole Columbian coffee beans or 3/4 cup ground coffee

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

6 cups water

How to make Spiced Coffee

Place coffee beans in container of a coffee grinder, process to a medium grind.

Assemble drip coffee maker according to manufacturer's directions.
Place ground coffee beans in paper filter of filter basket; sprinkle with cardamom and flavorings.

Add water to coffee maker, and brew.

Serve immediately.



Guardian of the Inner Sanctuary Photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr

On to the poetry section for today! I was starting to play too much over at the Coffee Art videos, too much fun!

Of course, I’m not finished with the next installment of the Primordial Dragon story, though I can tell you the title: The Dreamers. It needs some serious polishing before I release it. You know how the saying goes, “If Mama ain’t happy; ain’t nobody happy!”

Since I’ve started back up with a bit of fantasy writing my mind was on the ancient and thinking in millennia as opposed to hours or nanoseconds like we think in IT time in this fast-paced century. Then I remembered I wrote a keepsake poem for the new millennium. It isn’t like any of us have the opportunity every day to write a special piece just for the new next 1,000 years and live to tell it!

I went at it with the idea of what would I want people to read 1,000 or more years from now, assuming it survives the ravages of time. Many people choose to talk about the culture of the time period to give it flavor to the generations yet to come, the time capsule idea. That was a lovely idea but something else was nibbling at the edges of my mind. I thought about my usual “What if?” scenarios of which I am so fond. (I have a busy rich imagination, sigh…)

Well, I said to the only guy in the room: me, why not go for the gold? Why not write something to help chart a path for humanity to aspire for the next millennium? Think big; change comes. Think small; life is hard. I gave it a whirl like always. What began as a concept became a blessing for humanity!

Take note that this was written in the first year of the new millennium, what the Chinese call the Year of the Snake who represents Wisdom. If you have studied the Kabalah (Jewish mysticism) and the Tree of Life this makes even more sense to you as it touches on most of the spiritual energy principles constantly coming our way in the Universe. It is our endeavor as mankind to gain awareness of - and learn to interact with - that energy in a positive manner in order to benefit fully.



Imagine by alicepopkorn @ flickr


Ode to People of the New Millennium: A Blessing


May we ride the powerful waves of Eternity with ease.
May Joy live securely in our Hearts’ pockets.
May Success visit us daily.

May Knowledge chase after us as the dancing autumn wind,
Biting our heels with glee.
May Understanding peek into our thoughts and live with us
As our loyal best friends.

May Wisdom choose us, well respected, truly desired.
May Kindness be hailed as a great strength and new personal Discipline.

May Strength be paired only with Goodness.
May we comfortably pierce the thin veneer of lies, illusion, and misdirection
To Heartily, willingly view revealed Truth.

May we Shun a life of greed, pride, bickering and jealousy.
May we Endeavor a life philosophy of contributing “to the greater good of All.”

May we No longer Fear those who superficially appear different.
May we come to Know deeply that we are all One kind: before God.

May we choose to Give Love and Receive Love.
This is our Destiny fulfilled.


Denny Lyon
Copyright 24 January 2001
All Rights Reserved

Have a great weekend, everyone! Keep smiling!

Libations Friday! 12 June 2009

Photo by once and future @ flickr

From Denny: With the economy still in the dumps along with our wallets, this video can perk up the coffee lovers. Demoed is the less expensive way to get that coveted coffee experience we no longer can afford on a daily basis like we used to do. There are quite a large variety of coffee makers available for any budget.

Sitting on the table is one of my favorite coffee companies, Gevalia, from Sweden. Every flavor they make is carefully considered, tested and just plain awesome! We are big fans of the French Vanilla flavor when we want a flavor coffee in our house. They carry coffees from various coffee houses in Europe like Café Sperl in Vienna, Austria, a coffee house still remembered with affection. Clearly, this video also demonstrates how there is still a huge market for coffee consumption!

Video: Be Your Own Barrista

“David Gregg from Behindthebuy.com demonstrates to Harry Smith a variety of home baristas so that designer coffee experience doesn't have to burn a hole in your pocket.”


Watch CBS Videos Online

From the Café Moto site comes our coffee drink recipes for this week. Their funny motto over there is “we drink all we can; the rest we sell.” You really need to check out this site!

Most of us love Café Latte. I like the way they describe the process. Find out the practical tips of how good coffee is achieved in the following offerings!



Photo by Joshua Reppeneker @ flickr

ESPRESSO

We'll put this one first as it is the basis of most coffee drinks.

RISTRETTO: "Short pour." Usually 1 ounce for a single and two for a double. The original Italian espresso.

LUNGO: "Long pour." This is the typical American espresso and is 1.25 ounces for a single and 2.5 ounces for a double.

CAFÉ LATTE

Steam 12 to 14oz. milk between 120 F. and 140 F. Prepare a single or double espresso. Pour espresso into cup and then tilt the cup and pour the milk slowly down the side. This lifts some of the espresso to the top of the cup and gives it a swirled, marbleized appearance. Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon.

ESPRESSO CON PANNA

Espresso topped with whipped cream.

From Denny: I love the name of this one; sure made me laugh! Also, it’s a great lead-in to my silly poem. Maybe I can claim I was drinking a Hammerhead coffee when I wrote it…?

HAMMERHEAD

An American creation meant to get you wired fast and furious, hence the reference to the shark. Good, strong coffee poured over two shots of fresh espresso. Leave room for cream. Usually ordered by very fast talkers with jittery eyes.

Now for the poetry section, or should I say, silly poetry section:

Do you ever just want to jot down something utterly silly, total nonsense, of not much redeeming cultural value yet somehow it just must be significant? I mean, after all, we are all great writers of soon-to-be historical mention, right? OK, probably not, but it’s fun to dream on…

I talked about anagrams this week. As a writer I do like to play with my words like little kids play with their food (future artists at play). Every now and then I like to play with words in a visual sense where the poem only looks good on paper. Reading it out loud is fine but the auditory loses out for the finer shades of meaning only viewed visually. I like to play with words that sound alike but are not the same subject.



Photo by k0a1a.net @ flickr

Ditties are good for the soul; they help loosen up any emotional rigidity or the results of a bad day. In the following little ditty I played with the sound of the words “I, eye and aye (archaic word for yes).” Creating this little poem was a lot like reading those old vaudeville jokes of “who’s on first?” It’s a short-cut reference, using the sport jargon of baseball, and about the confusion that can happen in a conversation when you don’t know who exactly is being referenced when the speaker uses “him” or “her.”

You could read this poem on a couple of levels, like a philosophy student, or even as a conversation with God or just as silly fun. There is nothing more fun than writing on several levels simultaneously, sort of like playing multi-dimensional chess. The more simply you write, often the more meaning can be packed into it. Also, people can enjoy it on any level.

Life is like that: take a chance, make some choices and live out loud. Choose a word you enjoy, inject a little humor and you are off to the poetry races! Have some fun!



Photo by zedzap @ flickr (such a cool photo!)


Eye I


She eyed me
I eyed Him
He eyed Us

We saw

Eye: aye
Now
You see 2
Who saw whom?

I eye: aye



Denny Lyon
Copyright 13 September 2008
All Rights Reserved

Have a good weekend, everyone! Live out loud!

Libations Friday! 29 May 2009

An Expresso Cocktail and a Dragon Poem for today!

Photo by once and future @ flickr

Welcome to Libations Friday!

For the coffee recipe today we have a spiked tall hot coffee.



Photo of similar coffee drink from Food Network

Denny's Expresso Cocktail

Ingredients:

Freshly made Expresso (diluted by half with hot boiling water, like in Italy when they give you their version of American coffee they dilute it by half with hot water, still very strong)

½ shot Tia Maria coffee liqueur

½ shot orange vodka or Cointreau
(French brand: Grey Goose Orange Vodka, bottled in the Cognac region of France)

Heavy cream

Directions:

Make sure this is a heat proof glass coffee mug like for Irish coffee. First pour in the coffee liqueur and the vodka or Cointreau (I prefer the Cointreau; my husband likes the vodka). Top off with unsweetened hot expresso. Now float a little or a lot of whipped cream on top. Serve hot to satisfied friends! This recipe is for one serving.

And on to the poetry portion of Libations Friday!



(Photo by wili_hybrid @ flickr of a dragon in Slovenia)

From Denny: What is it with humanity's fascination with winged beings, be they angel or dragon? In an online writing group there was a challenge to write about dragons. What fun! Everyone wrote about dragons as evil vicious beasts as from the Western mythology.

Well, I spent high school in the Orient where the mythology is far different, Chinese mythology, that is. Come on; it seemed every time I turned around there was a street festival with the lion and dragon dances performed for good luck and prosperity!

There in Taiwan the dragons are revered and considered an archetype for primordial creation itself. Blue dragons in particular were the bringers of fertility to the land to help mankind’s harvest. So, the online writing group challenged me to write about the good dragons!

As I started writing, it was evident I could do more with this little vignette, like parlay this into a book later. This scene is not complete but will give you an idea of the Asian dragons. Enjoy the little fantasy prose. What will you write about your dragons?



(Photo by LadyAmada @ flickr)

Primordial Dragon

An Angel appeared at my door, cloaked in midnight dark dress
Summoning me into The Presence, who would say No?
As I walked outside an eclipse was slowly advancing into place
The eclipse was eerie; uncomfortable, I wished to hide
I balked at leaving my home while the eclipse was in the sky
Pleading the Angel to wait, maybe it’s wise to go after a while?
The Angel sternly, No, now is the auspicious Time to travel
For we are in the Realm of Knowledge who waits in secret dark
Here we travel within the hidden Library to our destiny long planned



As our long walk ended, revealed was a vast smooth speaking lake
At the water’s edge standing two blue water dragons easily tethered
They furiously pawed the ground, their large claws spreading dirt
They said they were busy seeding for humanity’s harvest year next
Apprentices they were to the feared primordial dragon clan
Half grown, young skin shining royal blue in the quiet land
The Angel untied them, climbed onto his, behind the large boney head
My dragon advanced toward me, in fear I stepped back, wanting none
He lowered his glowing eyes to the ground, knelt down on all fours
I mustered my courage, climbed on to the seat he provided, to ride



(Photo by tehusagent @ flickr)



The young joyful dragons arched up, pulling their wings to spread wide
Dust stirred up high in swirls all around us as the dragons gathered wind
Their huge arched scaly wings beat the air stronger, faster, some more
When they jumped off the land they were standing, into the air we flew
The force was so strong I gasped for breath, he caught me in time, he knew
Patted a front claw to the top of my head to hold me from falling, yes, gently
Poised carefully, hovering balanced that sharp claw while we gracefully flew
Soon I relaxed on his neck, enjoying the wind rushing by, more confidence grew



Denny Lyon
Copyright 8 July 2008
All Rights Reserved

Thanks for visiting! Have a good weekend, everyone!

Bee Poetry: Pollen for tea

Pollen for tea
Originally uploaded by Steve Punter

From Denny: From a friend over at flickr who travels and photographs just about anything and anyone, then offers it up for free in the Creative Commons area. This is one great guy from the UK! Check out his photos by clicking on his name under the photo; it will take you to his flickr page.

Pollen for tea

Pollen for tea
Weight for weight
she carries
more home
on her legs
than I do in my
bags

Plastic sacks

And I do it at most
once
a day

Mostly
fat from tesco
and some protein from Lidl

She shops
till she drops

Nectar
in her gullet
and pollen
for her siblings

A worker
woman
less than a month and
she will be gone

Uploaded by Steve Punter on 21 May 09, 11.25AM CDT.

Libations Friday! 8 May 2009

New coffee recipes, new coffee site, original poem AND it's Friday! Does Life get any better? :)

Coffee Photo by once and future @ flickr

From Denny: With the “hurry up and wait all day” jury duty this week I didn’t get a chance to pre-load any of my posts. They were keeping us longer than usual as a Mexican drug lord was on trial, complete with over a million dollars in drugs as evidence and a SWAT team to protect his sorry criminal self from assassination. Let's hear the applause for where our tax dollars go: forced to protect mocking criminals while awaiting trial. Such is the downside of a civilized society dealing with the savage violent members.

So you can guess how many people wanted to be on that jury... I didn't really care if they picked me or not as I can't be intimidated and have no use for bullies. I was the last person to be paneled and once they found out I was a journalist I made the immediate cut. Many of the jurors complained that it was a bit creepy giving out your home address and other personal information in open court since the accused has the right to know where his accusers live. Talk about a law that needs to be changed - like yesterday!

Apologies for any inconvenience to my readers as I know you clock in from time zones all over the world. Usually I try to load at least one post a day by early morning my time (and Canada’s) so folks across The Pond in Europe have a read by late afternoon.

Hello to the folks in Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Greece as I’m surprised to find so many readers from Eastern Europe. Hello to those of you in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Denmark!

As to the folks in the Mideast - like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - and Asia - like lots in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia - Thank You for checking in for a visit!

Now on to the coffee portion! Found this interesting coffee site: BestOfCoffeeNews.com.

Here are some of their coffee advice tips:

Troubleshooting Coffee

Does your coffee taste bad? There are several possible reasons why the coffee doesn't taste right. Here are some possible solutions to common coffee problems.

• Stale coffee beans or stale grounds? This will create a recipe for bitter coffee. Get fresh coffee!

• A dirty pot? An unclean coffee pot makes bitter coffee. Follow the coffee maker cleaning instructions.

• Poor water quality? Typical city water may lead to bitter tasting coffee. Use clean water if possible.

• Using an incorrect ratio of coffee grounds to water? If the ratio isn't right, the coffee can turn bitter, or make the coffee taste like nothing.

Coffee Maker Maintenance

How to you clean your coffee maker? In order to be able to keep making good coffee, do this every month:

1. In case you have a built-in filter, take it out.

2. Fill your carafe with water and add two tablespoons of vinegar.

3. Pour the mixture of water and vinegar into the coffee maker and turn on the coffee maker.

4. Let it brew halfway through the brewing cycle and stop the machine for about 15 minutes. Resume the brewing process and let the brewing finish.

5. Now, rinse the carafe out and brew plain water through the system - twice. Rinse out the carafe, and you're now all done!

Here are two recipes from BestOfCoffeeNews.com:

This is definitely one I’ve not seen. I suppose if it’s made with fresh farmer’s market yogurt it could be outstanding, though I doubt I’d try it with what’s available in most grocery stores stuffed full of preservatives, additives and sugar.

Coffee Yogurt Drink

Ingredients

• 8 ounces plain yoghurt
• 8 ounces cold black coffee
• Sugar to taste
• Ground cinnamon

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a blender and serve in a long glass with a straw. Decorate with cinnamon. Serves 2.

***
This one sounds refreshing for a summer drink with all this mint!

Peppermint Coffee Cream

Ingredients

• 2 ounces white creme de menthe
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 8 ounces hot freshly made black coffee
• lightly whipped double cream
• mint chocolate cut into thin slivers

Warm a brandy glass. Add the creme de menthe and the sugar. Add the hot coffee, stir well. Pour the whipped cream over a spoon onto the top of the coffee. Decorate with the slivers of mint chocolate. Drink through the cream without mixing.

***



Photo by Sarah Sitkin @ flickr

Now on to the poem. How many times do you find yourself amused by something small that happens in your daily life? Parents and grandparents experience this often. Do try to record those amusing real life incidents - if only to write about years later. Look at it this way: you can embarrass your kids at their wedding, entertaining the wedding guests with funny stories.

Though I don’t have children there are times when my husband is a great substitute. Most days he is the hard-nosed tough-minded businessman. And then his Irish side pops up out of nowhere to hijack his personality and he is like a daredevil nine-year-old on a sugar rush! He definitely keeps my life from being too serious.

No matter how annoying he gets I still enjoy watching him at play – or should I say watching him “in play” like some strategic game plan like you see in sports. It’s like a coach called Life handed him a playbook and told him to execute it! The way some people’s minds work when mildly stressed and the inventive solutions they create…

As you read this light-hearted and total silliness ditty, think of the amusing childrens' writer Dr. Seuss' “musical words” in your head and you will have the right frame of mind to be amused and follow the beat of the poem. Oh, and don't forget to write fan letters to my husband! :)

Have a good weekend, everyone! Thanks for visiting!




Pastel Drawing by Denny Lyon


The Husband Who Cleans

Lunching together at home my husband and me
One Friday summer at noon: Horror happened!
Spilled my red sauce dots, splat! All over ivory

My husband he comforted me, No big deal!
I’ll clean it later, good intentions he had
OK, I agreed, forgetting ‘til many hours that late

Like many a wife I circled back to clean
But not found those red dots! So astonished was I!
My husband proudly approached to show me you see
Pointed to where the red spot dots had been dining
And declared the ivory cloth so spotless and cleaned

I peered closer, doubting, to examine for wet
Found none, now perplexed, now downright puzzled,
What ever did you use to clean “It”?

He solved the problem, can’t you see?
Rotating ‘round the tablecloth one place setting
Grinning wildly, he lifted up the long S & P tray
He exclaimed, so proud he was to me, See? I cleaned!
The red dots they remained, new home, well hidden,
Under the accommodating accomplice S & P tray...



*Male Motto: If you can’t see it, then it’s clean!

*Disclaimer: My husband wants to make sure everyone knows it was the woman who was the table slob… He’s sensitive.


Denny Lyon
Copyright 18 July 2008
All Rights Reserved

Libations Friday! 6 March 2009

Libations Friday!

I'm feeling a bit cheeky today. That and I know it's past due time I get going on what you can expect on certain days of the week. We all like to know when to check in for our favorite segments, right?

Apologies it took me so long as I had to learn all the tech stuff since I started from zero in that department. Left brain things like this are tedious for me unless I can include some humor or visuals like photos, art and lots of color on the site to keep me engaged and my creative brain from going into snooze mode.

Of course, I just wrote a silly little poem a few minutes ago. Told you I was feeling cheeky as my Brit friends tell me.

Since I also love a great cup of coffee, some awesome green tea, a tall wheat beer or occasionally a devastating martini, I thought I'd crown Fridays as Libations day!



First the libations recipe for hot coffee to drink while you read the poem:

Dennys Version Arabian Style Hot Coffee

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons dark roast ground coffee

3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamon

1 pint water

1/2 teaspoon orange extract (no imitations)


Directions: Heat all these ingredients gently in a saucepan until a foam begins to form on the surface. If you are tough enough then don't put this thru a filter as you pour it into your mug ever so carefully so as to not to disturb the coffee grounds too much!

In Greece I used to drink their version without sugar. They were so shocked they revered me ever since. :)



On to the poem segment:

Dennys Not Haiku But Short Enough



On the Whim of a Grin


On the whim of a grin

Got off my sorry seated self.

Thoughts' arrival time delayed.

As promising patient parent

Wallet work waited.

Spring Fever!


By Denny Lyon

Copyright 6 March 2009

(Some day I may be awesome and famous,
you never know...! Hope springs eternal.)


Drinking Lioness Photo by jelleprin @ flickr
Wonderful Cherry Blossoms Photo by t_a_i_s @ flickr
Coffee Photo by INeedCoffee @ flickr