You may or may not know this, but I am of the school of thought that putting anything in between two slices of bread (or bagel/pitta/whatever) makes it better. The sandwich is a lifestyle element and by gosh I embrace it. Literally most sorts of food can be made better with a sandwich.

Naturally however, it is easy to screw this up. So easy in fact that it may be just worth making your own sandwiches just to prevent this—store bought ones can just be so bad! But at the end of the day, the ingredients just have to be fresh (whether it’s steak, salmon or brie), high quality, lots of them (sandwiches are only proper if they provide a challenge to eat) and good bread. Really good fresh bread makes it even better.

And so, on that note. I present the most awesome breakfast sandwich ever created. This baby was inspired by the wonderful Wild Flour Cafe and Bakery in Banff, AB. In fact they basically created it, I just added a few things just to make it that little bit more awesome. For now I’ll just call it the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich.

They describe it (or did describe it when their last menu was up) as a herbed egg frittata and 7yo mature cheddar on sourdough. There was also the possibility of adding a slice of valbella ham, which was obviously well worth going for. This sandwich sounds simple, but the ingredients used are incredible. Especially the sourdough. The culture they have going there must be some sort of miracle culture because that bread just comes out so light, airy and tasty that it’s unreal.

So anyway, in going about creating my own version and improving the original, I had to deal with the limited and slightly different ingredients that I could find. No fresh sourdough (that’s a lie, I just couldn’t find any in the store, I should have just made my own), no one to make my frittatas but myself. But trust me, I more than survived.

So, what to do… preheat grill/oven/sandwich press/whatever cooking thing you use for sandwiches, and preheat frying pan or george foreman grill. The first step is to make the egg frittata. I totally don’t make it properly, but it works, and tastes good. So I’m happy. Beat eggs (I use 3 for 2ish sandwiches) with mixed herbs (oregano, basil and thyme especially), add a little olive oil, milk and salt and pepper to taste. If you’re using a frying pan, then basically make an omelette (make it a little thicker than usual if poss) or if you’re using a george foreman, then tilt it backwards slightly so you have a flat heating surface, and then pour the egg mixture on, close the lid and wait, maybe flipping it ever so often. Meanwhile get a few large slices of sourdough (or other large white loaf – Tiger bread here in the UK can work), layer some Valbella or smoked ham and then grate gruyere on top of the ham, add the egg frittata, a handful of baby spinach and then toast/oven/grill. I sometimes think the oven is better because it melts the cheese without making it soggy…

Finally, enjoy with hot sauce (important!) and tomato ketchup. The hot sauce was a gamble originally, but it works so well with the spinach. You want one that’s fairly hot, not too smokey, but has lots of taste. I rather like this one. Anyway, I happy I discovered such a magnificent sandwich, try it out, learn to love it and let me know what you think.

Went to London for the 2nd day in a row yesterday… I took this picture, did some shopping, ate some hawt (and hot) mexican food. It was pretty exciting and an overall win. I also found the Crumpler store too, it’s pretty good, which reminds me that I have a new huge bag by them. More to come…

I’ve recently become a member of The Wine Society and as such I figured it was about time to order a crate case (apparently crates are for beers…) of wine. Not really knowing all that much about different sorts of wine, other than that the ones that were normally expensive tended to taste better (unless they were on offer in Sainsbury’s, in which case they could be likened to coloured meths/petrol/water in a bottle), so, I went ahead and ordered a case of the Wine Champions Dozen. These were/are winners of a blind wine tasting competition, and seemed to be at moderately reasonable prices, so I figured it a wise place to start. FYI, the list of wines present are available here.

It arrived eventually (I still seem to think that delivery companies should attempt to get their act together and be more like amazon and actually deliver next day whether you expect them to or not) and I figured it would be a good idea to try a bottle out. So, first on the list of bottles to try is The Society’s French Dry White (see picture). This retails normally for £5.75 through the Society’s site.

I opened this bottle hoping that it should be fairly good. But not really knowing how good it would be. My overall impression was that it was drinkable, not the best bottle that I had tasted, but great value for money, and I would buy it again. I guess as expected of a dry white wine from France it would be light, and easy to drink which was great, but in addition to that it had a slightly strong taste of alcohol, however I think was countered very well by the overall lightness on the palate of the wine. In general then, a good first bottle from the case, just remember to chill it well.

Well the time of year that is my birthday is coming up (30th April for all those uninformed…) and well this one is apparently meant to be a big deal and all. 21. Crazy huh? I think it’s pretty old, well only to the extent that I don’t feel 21, but since when did a number dictate how old you felt. Surely that’s a relative thing?

Hmmm, anyhow, I have been asked what I want by some people, and so far have given few answers, other than I want a (good) surprise. But that’s not really going to happen without a few subtle hints. So for anyone reading this who actually knows me (there might be one or two of you out there…), here are a list of some things that I would be very pleased to receive.

More wonderful things will undoubtedly be added here as time progresses, but for now that’s all I can think of.

Peace out y’all…

Update: (I thought of more things…)

Yay!

Moment of obvious realisation: Easyjet has Speedy Boarding (™ (probably)).

Okay, it’s totes been around a while and all, but really is it necessary? You pay dirt cheap amounts for dirt cheap tickets on a pretty dirty airplane where they’re trying to snatch every last bit of money off you for any small service possible. Even using a credit card or taking hold baggage. Crazy.

Anyway, so they (being Easyjet) launched this thing a while back and essentially you pay between £2.50 and £7.50 more (which in some cases is 50% of the flight price…) just so you can get on the plane a little bit earlier than everyone else. Great. You’re still in the same plane, you’re still sitting in the same seats, and you still get exactly the same service. What’s the deal. Even if you’re last in the Speedy Boarding queue then you’re a matter of minutes (if that) in front of the first ‘regular’ people. It’s just not worth it. Imagine if everyone spent that extra £7.50. Then you’re screwed. Although, statistically, not everyone will. But it’s the principle. You’re paying for a little bit more choice in where you sit. And maybe for the feeling of a moral high ground as you go through the gates a little bit earlier.

Well I’m not convinced. I get a perfectly good seat every time I fly. It’s not as if they’ve overbooked the plane. Everyone will get on. Eventually. And they’re not going to leave without you—especially if you do have speedy boarding. It’s just another minimal way of making money for the airline. Don’t fall for it. Unless you’re their target market, that is. If you are, you won’t realise it, it’ll be too late when you turn up at the airport thinking you’re just that much better than the next person. You’ll probably be wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt, looking like a massive douchebag. Then it’s too late. Or you could be old, or obsessively panicky. Either way, you will get on the plane at some point. You could even get some kids, young ones preferably, and get them to get you on early. You would save the money. Anyway, what I’m saying is don’t be a target market. At least not of Easyjet. It’s a bad(ly paved) road to go down…

Recently, being on holiday and all, I had the time to upgrade an old Powerbook G4. One of those 12″ ones, that were basically netbooks before the whole craze started. It was running some old old version on 10.3, which was probably pretty state of the art in those days, and still isn’t that bad. But it’s just plain crazy with no Spotlight and trackpad gestures (partly a hardware thing…). A little bit crazy how much I use some of these features…

But anyway, as it was a PowerPC machine (G4 1GHz – retro times indeed!) the furthest I could upgrade it was Leopard, which was pretty good. And going back to using it temporarily doesn’t seem that bad at all, in fact it’s pretty similar to Snow Leopard (obviously), except a little slower. Not bad for an old Powerbook! I thought it was best to do a massive erase (sadly not a 35 pass erase – however fun it looked) and install of the system, which meant that all the applications went walkies. But one thing that I figured out, that might be of use to some people (and this is actually the crux of this post) is that when installing iLife, I could do it (via Pacifist of course) with a new Intel MacBook Pro DVD. Crazy huh? For all the hype of not having Snow Leopard run on PPC machines, the included versions of iLife on the DVD are Universal Binary. That’s gonna change soon I guess. But anyway, that’s what I found out, and I was pretty happy that it worked. Would have been pretty irritating if it didn’t work as I don’t have a clue where to get a PPC iLife ’09 other than the actual standalone product…

But all is good, and all works well so far. Mission accomplished.

À bientôt

I hate to post more and more about coffee, and drinks and Starbucks, but it just seemed like something worth mentioning. Partly because no-one knows it, and even urban dictionary doesn’t have the right definition, so I thought I would clear up some more coffee lingo…

A Kennedy – A filter coffee with 3 shots of espresso in it. Why it’s called this, I hope you know. Try asking for a Kennedy next time. The mixed reactions it receives makes up for the sheer caffeine content.

Black Eye – A filter coffee with 2 shots of espresso in it.

Red Eye – A filter coffee with only 1 shot of espresso in it.

Dirty Chai – A chai latte with a shot (or two, or three…) of espresso. It’s actually rather nice, and I’m quite a fan. However it’s an odd taste at first and maybe takes a bit of getting used to. The spicy-ness, the sweet-ness and the bitter-ness. Pretty good times. And it’s even better iced. Next time you’re at Starbucks, try out an Quad Venti Iced Latte Macchiato with Chai syrup, and 1 pump almond. It’s pretty gnarley.

Well not mentioning something for a while is bad. So I’m back. Now. On the same topic as before. Caffeinated beverages, or more importantly, coffee.

What’s happening in the coffee world with me these days? Well let me enlighten you. My current drink of choice, is the result of a few things; 1 – Price, 2 – Caffeine content and 3 – Refill-ability™. It goes by the name of a “Tall Almond Black Eye with hot milk“.

Essentially this is just a filter coffee with two shots of espresso, a little almond syrup and some hot milk. But there is oh-so-much-more to it than that. To get it tasting good, a few principles have to be observed.

1) Assuming you’re ordering this in Starbucks, don’t get Estima (whatever you do!), get whatever else is going (even if it’s the morally questionable (don’t ask me why) House Blend), I find Sumatra, or something fairly bold is best.

2) Only get one or two pumps of almond syrup. If it’s a tall, then it’s gonna have 3 pumps normally, which is a tad too sweet.

3) Espresso is espresso, at least at Starbucks it is. Regular or decaf is fine.

4) Only get a little hot milk (a quarter/half inch will do). Even better if it’s dry.

This basically fulfils all my criteria, it’s cheap (£1.12 ish with a discount and Starbucks Card), caffeine rich (240+150 = 390mg Caffeine per cup), and refill-able (free refills on freshly brewed (and the extras are normally included)). Win for me. Stay tuned for more interesting drinks combos…

I haven’t really ever written anything particularly Starbucks related in the past, probably because it might not be especially entertaining to read (however that’s a relative point, so I’ll not get into that at the moment). Though recently I have felt slightly compelled to mention a few interesting points about everyone’s favourite (or least favourite) coffee company.

Being an ex-(and maybe possibly future) employee, I have a different outlook and opinion on the company and its ethics. I’m not like the guy who comes in to play endless games of online poker (http://www.partypoker.com/) using the free wireless the store offers or the mums who meet every day before they pick their kids up from school and drink skinny lattes. So do bear that in mind with anything I say, but then again it’s not like I’m saying anything remotely controversial—so don’t worry!

Primarily, this post concerns dry drinks… Not as in non-alcoholic, but as in more foam or less liquid depending on how you look at it. Basically it’s a simple way of customising your beverage so it’s how you like it. But then again it’s so much more. It can tell you a little bit about a person. For example, people who come in and order a wet latte are generally pretty stingy (or maybe just a little picky, but there’s better ways of doing that) and want the most value for money so to speak (or skin on their milk if there’s absolutely zip foam). People who order a dry latte (or a wet cappuccino in that case) probably think they are being all ‘hip’ with the wet/dry lingo, but don’t really know what the difference between a (Starbucks) latte or cappuccino is. Then again, they could be ultra picky, but the same picky rule from before applies (they could do better, or worse depending on your perspective).

What I used to order fairly often (this was when working by the way) was a quad Venti 1 pump almond extra dry cappuccino (try it, it’s quite nice). Essentially this is like an quad espresso macchiato with a venti cups worth of foam on top (and a little almond). A little too expensive seeing as most of it is air and a venti cappuccino is £2.60 (not including the 2 extra shots (15p each) and the syrup (35p)). Ordering this on the cheap could be done pretty easily as an espresso macchiato in a venti cup with XX foam + 2 shots + syrup. Paying by Starbucks card would also get you free shots and syrup, making the drink a much more manageable £1.35 I think… Anyway, back to my original point on dryness—the main reason I liked my drinks extra dry was that there was less liquid (quicker to drink) and in a busier Starbucks, they tend to make drinks over-wet in my opinion. They’re good skilled baristas, don’t get me wrong, but at high volume times, you might not get the absolute freshest (micro)foam in the world, so free-pouring (the action of not using a spoon to pour cappuccinos and (espresso) macchiatos) would not be possible, and so the foam and milk would not be mixed (creating a light airy silky milk) but in almost 2 distinct layers (using a spoon to achieve this). Not nice. So basically my theory in ordering an extra dry drink was to force the barista to make new (very dry) milk and then free pour it, creating a good (reasonably dry) cappuccino. This would generally work. As a result: Moses 1, Starbucks 0.

But then try ordering this at another store. This is where the confusion comes in… Fair enough they know how to make your drink, that’s their job, but they just do it differently. Going from the 2nd busiest (or busiest) store in the UK, to a smaller one (without even a queue!) has a surprising effect on the dryness of drinks. Whereas before in the busy store where jugs of milk used to be put on in ‘batches of anticipation’ which worked out really well when it got crazy busy, now milk is put on as needed and the barista’s outlook on the extra dry cappuccino has changed. They would happily make fresh and free pour any cappuccino (which would be excellent), but given a dry cappuccino (or even an extra dry cappuccino (shock horror!)) then it would be made exceedingly dry and then not even free poured, but basically the foam spooned on top (NB this was my experience for a dry cappuccino, I don’t want to know what an extra dry one is like…). Fair enough some people may like it like this, but then again you’re getting to the point where you are buying a cup of foam. Not always the best thing. Moses 1, Starbucks 1.

But basically the point of this whole mini discussion is to highlight the differences in a barista’s interpretation of a dry drink. Depending on the store, it will (strangely enough) be made differently. The main point to take home from this is: ‘Don’t buy a cup of foam’.

Now that it’s term time once again I’ve gone back to my one post every month or so if I’m lucky. I might try and do better, but I’m never one for promises here…

I do have lots of lovely pictures of bikes and jeans, but I just can’t get round to posting them as it just takes a little time. But maybe, just maybe soon.

The only real rant that I have at the moment is the whole living in Scotland and going to an English University thing. Basically, because I do such a thing (probably clearly considered obscene by the Scottish government) they penalise me… Just because I want to read engineering at one of the best places possible (hint: which isn’t in Scotland) I don’t get as subsidised financially…

Consider this:-

If I were in Scotland, I would not have any fees, and get a meagre yearly non income assessed loan of £915 (try surviving on that…)

If I was to live in Scotland and go to an English university, then I would pay the tuition fees (£3225 a year) and get the same meagre yearly non income assessed loan of £915.

Even if I lived in England and went to university here, then I would pay the tuition fees, but then get a yearly non income assessed loan of £3564.

Just consider the figures… I was just pretty shocked when I found out I was getting a solid £300ish a term, when others in the same situation here got £1000+

Fun times…