Occasionally we all need to let our hair down don't we? this is not for the faint hearted, the weak hearted or those who are easily shocked, so click on the link only if you dare!!!......................................................https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4228578324957&set=vb.1600309553&type=2&theater
Come and join us in wonderful Romania you could be the next star at John's bar!!!
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
Friday, 21 September 2012
Thursday, 20 September 2012
THAT'S WHAT IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT
It really is the little things in life that can lift your spirits the highest isn't it?
Sometimes those little things can come from the most unexpected sources and happen in the most unexpected places too.
To be honest, times are a little tough for us at the moment and occasionally it is difficult to keep smiling
We have spent almost the whole of last week on our computers night and day just trying to spread the word abut Romania, and yes, to be honest, trying to drum up some business which has been really slow this year.
So, having been in the house all that time, last night we scraped together some change (and it really was that!) and went down to the bar for just one drink each (total cost for two beers and one tuica is about £1.10, so honestly it wasn't too frivolous of us was it?)
After a slow amble down the road, we got our drinks and sat down with about a dozen friends who were already there.
A short while later, Momo arrived.
Now, what can I say about Momo? He is a man I have enormous respect for. He has a severe curvature of the spine which bends him over all of the time, and makes it difficult for him to walk. He has a speech impediment which makes it very difficult to understand him, and to be honest, he is a little smelly so he is made to sit apart from the others in our local bar. This man though, walked all of the way from the other side of old Yugoslavia to get back home. (That's a walk of over 900 km, through some pretty inhospitable country) Doing it he lived on nothing but nuts and berries he could pick from the side of the road. His strength and determination are an example to everyone of how to overcome personal adversity to be where you want to be.
(I learnt this morning that Momo is actually 84 years old, I can only respect him so much more now)
He lives on a small pension, and every day he goes into Deva to collect yesterdays dry bread from shops and restaurants, which he uses to feed the stray dogs he meets on the way home. They know him and they wait to get their daily bread from him, always wagging their tails in delight to see him.
When he feeds them he always says, "Please don't bite me", as if they would.
For a couple of months now Momo has been playing a game with us, giving our friend John the free children's toys he gets out of a snack packet. Now John is in his mid 20's and we aren't really sure what made Momo start doing it, but he always gives those toys with a smile and a little giggle and it has been a real delight for us to have this connection with him.
Last night Momo decided to give me the toy for a change, laughing loudly while he did so. It was a white plastic lollipop shaped toy that when you switch it on it flashes alternatively red and blue, a little like a light on top of a police car.
We joked that we should use it in our car to clear the way when we are in a hurry.
As we sat enjoying our drinks slowly, the evening wore on and it became darker and darker, so obviously the lights in the toy could be seen more and more clearly.
I switched it off and left it on the table in front of me.
As we sat talking a few more people came into the bar to sit on the terrace, including a two year old boy, Alex, and his grandmother Rodica. Alex is a lovely boy, full of smiles, and he and his grandmother sat next to us while he drank his fizzy orange drink.
Alison was talking to Rodica and playing with Alex, and I looked at the toy on the table and thought that it was wasted on me, so I lifted it up and handed it to Alex, switching it back on as I did so.
"Vrai?"......("would you like it?")
Alex's face lit up brightly, just like someone had also flicked a switch on inside him, just as I had done with the toy. He had an enormous grin on his face as he reached out to take it from me. Alex spent the best part of the next hour playing with that toy, smiling and laughing.
Momo had left before Alex arrived, but I wish he could also have seen the delight that Alex took in having that simple toy and watching it's flashing lights, he would have loved to see it.
We walked back up the road to home with Alex and Rodica, and we were all smiling and laughing all of the way.
What had started out as being a 'low' time for us yesterday evening turned into a real highlight, typical of the magic that is Romania, and is the village and the people of the village.
We also have to say thank you to another good friend, Sebby who bought us a couple more drinks while we were there, returning a favour we had done him some time ago.
That hour or so in the bar though did so much to lift our spirits and to remind us what life here is really about. It's about the people,and the children, and the smiles on their faces, which are so infectious. They are smiles that you carry home with you in your heart and they are smiles that sustain you through the night.
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
Sometimes those little things can come from the most unexpected sources and happen in the most unexpected places too.
To be honest, times are a little tough for us at the moment and occasionally it is difficult to keep smiling
We have spent almost the whole of last week on our computers night and day just trying to spread the word abut Romania, and yes, to be honest, trying to drum up some business which has been really slow this year.
So, having been in the house all that time, last night we scraped together some change (and it really was that!) and went down to the bar for just one drink each (total cost for two beers and one tuica is about £1.10, so honestly it wasn't too frivolous of us was it?)
After a slow amble down the road, we got our drinks and sat down with about a dozen friends who were already there.
A short while later, Momo arrived.
 |
| A sneaky picture that we took of Momo last winter |
(I learnt this morning that Momo is actually 84 years old, I can only respect him so much more now)
He lives on a small pension, and every day he goes into Deva to collect yesterdays dry bread from shops and restaurants, which he uses to feed the stray dogs he meets on the way home. They know him and they wait to get their daily bread from him, always wagging their tails in delight to see him.
When he feeds them he always says, "Please don't bite me", as if they would.
For a couple of months now Momo has been playing a game with us, giving our friend John the free children's toys he gets out of a snack packet. Now John is in his mid 20's and we aren't really sure what made Momo start doing it, but he always gives those toys with a smile and a little giggle and it has been a real delight for us to have this connection with him.
Last night Momo decided to give me the toy for a change, laughing loudly while he did so. It was a white plastic lollipop shaped toy that when you switch it on it flashes alternatively red and blue, a little like a light on top of a police car.
We joked that we should use it in our car to clear the way when we are in a hurry.
As we sat enjoying our drinks slowly, the evening wore on and it became darker and darker, so obviously the lights in the toy could be seen more and more clearly.
I switched it off and left it on the table in front of me.
As we sat talking a few more people came into the bar to sit on the terrace, including a two year old boy, Alex, and his grandmother Rodica. Alex is a lovely boy, full of smiles, and he and his grandmother sat next to us while he drank his fizzy orange drink.
Alison was talking to Rodica and playing with Alex, and I looked at the toy on the table and thought that it was wasted on me, so I lifted it up and handed it to Alex, switching it back on as I did so.
"Vrai?"......("would you like it?")
Alex's face lit up brightly, just like someone had also flicked a switch on inside him, just as I had done with the toy. He had an enormous grin on his face as he reached out to take it from me. Alex spent the best part of the next hour playing with that toy, smiling and laughing.
Momo had left before Alex arrived, but I wish he could also have seen the delight that Alex took in having that simple toy and watching it's flashing lights, he would have loved to see it.
We walked back up the road to home with Alex and Rodica, and we were all smiling and laughing all of the way.
What had started out as being a 'low' time for us yesterday evening turned into a real highlight, typical of the magic that is Romania, and is the village and the people of the village.
We also have to say thank you to another good friend, Sebby who bought us a couple more drinks while we were there, returning a favour we had done him some time ago.
That hour or so in the bar though did so much to lift our spirits and to remind us what life here is really about. It's about the people,and the children, and the smiles on their faces, which are so infectious. They are smiles that you carry home with you in your heart and they are smiles that sustain you through the night.
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
APPLES
I understand that Britain is suffering from a shortage of apples this year.
Well it isn't true in our garden here in Romania, we have an abundance of apples from 3 old trees that have hardly ever given fruit before.
Ironically, we have always planned to make cider for ourselves, because you can'y buy cider here in Romania, so (because of the lack of fruit from the old trees in previous years) we planted five new apple trees in Spring. I think the older trees must have realized and got the hump, because they have given us so much fruit this year we aren't sure what to do with it all.
Anyway, today has been all about collecting the apples. We have already eaten a fair number directly from the tree so today is about collecting those that are left before any bad weather sets in.
I think we have, as a rough estimate, about 1 Ton of apples to collect, in three different varieties.
It would take an expert to identify each type of tree and I am no expert, but one tree gives relatively large red/green sweet apples, one gives small green sweet apples, the other gives small green sharp apples.
I have done some internet research and I think that these would make a nice mixture of apples to make cider with, which we are definitely going to do.
Unfortunately we don't have all of the right equipment to make cider in large quantities, so we are going to adopt a simple American method using kitchen equipment to make a couple of batches.
I know, I know, we are Philistines. British, from the home of the best ciders in the world, with all of these apples and we are going to use an American recipe???. This time though it is a matter of 'needs must'.
Homemade wine as well as a home made spirit called Tuica are very popular in Romania, and as a result the equipment needed to produce large quantities of home made booze is relatively cheap.
Fruit pulper's, fruit presses, large barrel's, demi-john's in all sizes, botlles, corks, airlocks, are all readily available, however I'm afraid that we just don't have the money to buy everything we need this year, so we are stuck with the kitchen appliance method.
Using this method though there is no way we will make use of all of the apples we have, so, rather than letting them go to waste we have offered them to our friends in the village, and it turns out that they can make a version of Tuica from them.
Now Tuica (pronounced Tsweeka) is a home made hooch, normally made from Plums. It's a sort of strong plum vodka, normally made to be about 40% proof, but can occasionally be as strong as 70-80% proof. It's powerful stuff, but it is absolutely delicious, if something of an acquired taste.
If you can't make it for yourself (and let's face it, not everyone has a Still at home do they?), a 100ml measure of it can be bought from the local bar for 2 Lei.
Time for an amount and cost comparison I think.
A standard single measure of spirit in Britain is 25 ml, so 100 ml is the same as 4 single measures in Britain, i.e 2 doubles.
Now a cheap shot of Whisky, say, in a pub in Britain costs I believe in the order of £2.50 in bars in and around London (I know it is variable across Britain but this is just a comparison exercise after all), so four Whiskies (i.e 100 ml) would costs around £10.
Well 100 ml of Tuica in village bars costs 2 Lei, roughly the equivalent of 40p!!!!!
Is it a surprise that it is a popular drink amongst the workers in the villages?
Now don't get Tuica confused with the poisonous stuff they are finding at the moment in other Eastern European countries.
That is a blend of industrial alcohols that the makers know are poisonous, they just don't care about it.
Tuica is made at home by experts and is checked by experts, and a duty is paid on it before consumption, and it is safe. After all, the guys who make it want to drink it too, so they are going to make sure it is good.
The making of Tuica is a social occasion and can go on for two or three days, during which much of last years brew will be tried. The plums, once nicely matured and soft (and as I have said sometimes apples) go into a large barrel to be heated and they are stirred for hours, sometimes days, depending upon the size of the barrel. Effectively this does all of the pulping and pressing for you as well as reducing the water content of the juice and taking out a lot of the poisons that might be there. Only when the resident 'expert says it is ready is the fire put out and the juice extracted and strained to leave the pulp behind.
The juices are then distilled, once, twice, three times, until an acceptable clear spirit is obtained and Tuica is produced.
I am giving a very rough description of the method of production , because, so far I haven't witnessed it personally. With 1 Ton of apples to give away though, I am hoping that I will be part of it this year, and I will write again when I have been.
I will also let everyone know how the cider goes. The recipe looks very simple, so lets's hope it works!!
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
Well it isn't true in our garden here in Romania, we have an abundance of apples from 3 old trees that have hardly ever given fruit before.
 |
| Our poor apple tree, so weighed down by fruit that it's branches broke |
Anyway, today has been all about collecting the apples. We have already eaten a fair number directly from the tree so today is about collecting those that are left before any bad weather sets in.
I think we have, as a rough estimate, about 1 Ton of apples to collect, in three different varieties.
It would take an expert to identify each type of tree and I am no expert, but one tree gives relatively large red/green sweet apples, one gives small green sweet apples, the other gives small green sharp apples.
I have done some internet research and I think that these would make a nice mixture of apples to make cider with, which we are definitely going to do.
 |
| Two older trees still waiting to be picked |
Unfortunately we don't have all of the right equipment to make cider in large quantities, so we are going to adopt a simple American method using kitchen equipment to make a couple of batches.
I know, I know, we are Philistines. British, from the home of the best ciders in the world, with all of these apples and we are going to use an American recipe???. This time though it is a matter of 'needs must'.
Homemade wine as well as a home made spirit called Tuica are very popular in Romania, and as a result the equipment needed to produce large quantities of home made booze is relatively cheap.
 |
| Just some of the apples picked so far |
Using this method though there is no way we will make use of all of the apples we have, so, rather than letting them go to waste we have offered them to our friends in the village, and it turns out that they can make a version of Tuica from them.
Now Tuica (pronounced Tsweeka) is a home made hooch, normally made from Plums. It's a sort of strong plum vodka, normally made to be about 40% proof, but can occasionally be as strong as 70-80% proof. It's powerful stuff, but it is absolutely delicious, if something of an acquired taste.
If you can't make it for yourself (and let's face it, not everyone has a Still at home do they?), a 100ml measure of it can be bought from the local bar for 2 Lei.
Time for an amount and cost comparison I think.
A standard single measure of spirit in Britain is 25 ml, so 100 ml is the same as 4 single measures in Britain, i.e 2 doubles.
Now a cheap shot of Whisky, say, in a pub in Britain costs I believe in the order of £2.50 in bars in and around London (I know it is variable across Britain but this is just a comparison exercise after all), so four Whiskies (i.e 100 ml) would costs around £10.
Well 100 ml of Tuica in village bars costs 2 Lei, roughly the equivalent of 40p!!!!!
Is it a surprise that it is a popular drink amongst the workers in the villages?
Now don't get Tuica confused with the poisonous stuff they are finding at the moment in other Eastern European countries.
That is a blend of industrial alcohols that the makers know are poisonous, they just don't care about it.
Tuica is made at home by experts and is checked by experts, and a duty is paid on it before consumption, and it is safe. After all, the guys who make it want to drink it too, so they are going to make sure it is good.
The making of Tuica is a social occasion and can go on for two or three days, during which much of last years brew will be tried. The plums, once nicely matured and soft (and as I have said sometimes apples) go into a large barrel to be heated and they are stirred for hours, sometimes days, depending upon the size of the barrel. Effectively this does all of the pulping and pressing for you as well as reducing the water content of the juice and taking out a lot of the poisons that might be there. Only when the resident 'expert says it is ready is the fire put out and the juice extracted and strained to leave the pulp behind.
The juices are then distilled, once, twice, three times, until an acceptable clear spirit is obtained and Tuica is produced.
I am giving a very rough description of the method of production , because, so far I haven't witnessed it personally. With 1 Ton of apples to give away though, I am hoping that I will be part of it this year, and I will write again when I have been.
I will also let everyone know how the cider goes. The recipe looks very simple, so lets's hope it works!!
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
Monday, 17 September 2012
ON COFFEE
I like coffee.
No, I love coffee.................ooh how I love my coffee.
For years whilst living in Britain and travelling a lot around the world I have tried and I have sampled many different coffees.........but..........I have never found my 'perfect' coffee.
I like it simple, black and strong and ever so slightly sweetened, too sweet it takes the flavour of the coffee away. After all, you can always add more sugar can't you, but it can never be taken away.
So? You'd think it would be easy to find the perfect coffee for such a simple recipe wouldn't you?
NO!
You couldn't be more wrong!
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the large chain coffee outlets who serve things like 'double de-caff Sudanese fair trade fine ground low-fat caramel machismo' black stuff with a mountain of cream on top, but it isn't coffee is it? If that's what you like, great, but don't call it coffee.
And as for de-caffinated coffee? ..............................................WHY?
Nothing wrong with small marshmallows on the side either, but they should never be on top of cream on top of coffee, save that for children's hot chocolate!
The simple black coffees you get from most outlets too are either tasteless or too watery or too bitter, never a happy medium.
OK OK I know coffee is a personal thing, I know that we all have all our own tastes and our own preferences, just as we do in everything in life, but coffee, coffee is important.
It's what gets you going at the start of the day, it's what keeps you going during the longer days and longer nights of toil.
It lifts your spirits (Talking of spirits it can go down very well too with a Tuica chaser).
Stop it Steve....too early in the morning.
Coffee supports you, caresses you and at times keeps you sane, so it's important! Get it?
So, here am I, typical English businessman, occasionally travelling to various countries across Europe on business and for pleasure, and always trying the coffee. Some I tried wasn't too bad either, but only ever abroad, never in Britain, not until I started to see small cafes with the 'Illy' sign outside (No I don't work for Illy, this is not and advertisement). It was at these establishments that I started to find acceptable, but still not perfect, coffee, which was always a simple Espresso or Double Espresso with tiny bit of sugar.
So, many years ago I set out to make my perfect coffee at home, and of course, being typically British at the time, that meant buying some sort of machine to do the work for me. I tried them all.
It started with that type of jug that had a plastic filter holder on top. Put the paper filter in, add a couple of spoon fulls of ground coffee from the plastic, conveniently re-sealable packaging that you bought it from the supermarket in, boil a kettle and then slowly pour the water over the coffee and watch it drip brown liquid into the nice clear pot. Then wait, until you can top the water up again without it spilling all over the work surface, and keep repeating this until you have a full pot.........by which time the coffee is already cold.....and the wait wasn't worth it any way.
I know, things have moved on a lot since those early days and there are many more machines available, many more complicated and expensive machines.
I tried them all at one time or another, caffettiere's that when I put the amount of coffee I like into them, poured the boiling water into, and then pressed the plunger, the bottom would come off!! Too much pressure you see........huh......science!, as well as ramblings about coffee, but imagine the mess that had to be cleared up. It even happened to me in a restaurant one evening.....(at least i didn't have to do the cleaning :)
Expensive percolators that you would stand and watch bubble away for what seemed like hours before you could actually drink the stuff.....it was entertaining (I'm easily pleased!) but never, ever the perfect coffee.
Cartridge machines.......huh........they should all be shot.
'Instant' coffee? Quick, convenient way of making hot dark liquid from dried poo!!!
So many different machines, gadgets, aids, all in search of the perfect coffee.
It all culminated in me buying, about four years ago, a VERY expensive coffee machine from John Lewis's (No I don't work for them either! Not any more anyway). I won't say how much I spent, I'm too ashamed. It was one of those machines that you put the beans into the top of, put the water into a separate receptacle, and then just turn it on.
It filled the work surface in my kitchen so much that there was nowhere left to do any food preparation, but who cared, the perfect coffee was coming! Who needs food????
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!! It went, very loudly as it began to grind the beans. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! it continued because I had set the dial to 'strong', which needs more beans, obviously, Duh!.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!, until finally, it stopped, then 'plop, plop, hisss, shhhhhhh, hiss, plop, plop' as the machine heated the water to make me, at last, that perfect coffee.
Imagine my delight the day I brought that machine home, this was it, it was going to be fantastic, at last my perfect coffee and here it was, doing the work for me. I watched and I watched fascinated by the chemical processes that were occurring hidden away inside this machine. It even had a Thermos jug which would keep my coffee hot for me, and dream of dreams........a timer!........Hey! I could set this up at night, set the timer and then come down from my bed in the morning to a heavenly aroma (in my usual zombie-like state) and just pour my perfect, freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee.......................
.......'Heaven, I'm in Heaven, la-la-la-la......hmmmmmmm'.............thanks Frank, that's enough.
Eventually, the machine stopped making it's oh so promising noises.
My coffee was ready, at last, here it was, I savoured the moment.
Lifting the jug from it's plate I slowly poured the beautiful black nectar into glass cup that I had especially chosen so that I could see and marvel at the perfect colour.
I filled the cup, then lifted it, slowly so that I could smell that beautiful aroma, mmmmmmm not bad.
I added just a tiny bit of sugar, and then lifted the cup to my lips.
It wasn't bad, not bad at all, coffee it certainly was, but it was bitter, too bitter, and there was an unpleasant after taste too that I never did fully understand (no it wasn't oil in the machine I followed all of the instructions to get rid of it and even after many uses it never went away).
My heart sank to the cold tiles on the kitchen floor, the problem is that it was sooooo close, but still not perfect.
I persevered, oh how I persevered, for months and months I persevered. I played with the settings on the machine. I played with them so much I ended up having no idea of where they all were (I found myself wishing that it had a 'restore factory defaults' button, but it didn't).
I bought different types of coffee bean, I blended beans myself, and the results weren't bad.
I tried everything, but never, ever achieved that perfect coffee.
I remember reading a science fiction short story once, many years ago, about aliens who visited Earth and set about perfecting everything. One of the first things that they perfected was coffee.......they made coffee taste as good as it smells......that's the real secret isn't it?
That's what I wanted, but I resigned myself to the fact that I would never find it, after all, even though I live in Romania now I'm hardly likely to bump into an alien with a jug full of perfect coffee am I?.(Well actually, anything is possible in Romania, but even here this is pretty unlikely)
So, one day, here I am on another visit to Romania. Actually, the coffee here isn't at all bad in most cafe's, at least I kept telling myself that. Either my taste buds are getting old or I really have resigned myself to accepting what I am given and knowing, perhaps, that perfection doesn't exist, other than in my other 'alf, Alison, of course!!!!
It was she, she who should be worshipped in all things for what she has done, who finally delivered the perfect coffee to me.
We were in a supermarket together, and there hanging on display hooks were some red enamelled jugs, with pouring spouts and long metal handles. She picked one off of the shelf, pointed the price out to me, which was roughly the equivalent of 75 pence (remember that, it's important!) and put it into out trolley, I just looked, smiled, nodded compliantly.
Then we went to the coffee shelves. Now coffee is popular in Romania, so the shelves are stacked with all sorts of different varieties of coffees, beans, instants, ground stuff, it's all there. I found myself looking at them and wishing I had brought my machine with me to be able to try some of the more expensive ones, but if I had bought it, it would have filled the boot of the car (who needs clothes anyway?)
Alison was searching too, but in a different part of the display. She held up a non-descript small brown bag and asked,
"Can you see one cheaper than this?"
Now as you might imagine from what has gone before that, 'cheap' has never been part of my thinking when I have been searching for the perfect coffee. I just looked at her bemused, and she just looked back at me with that little knowing smile on her face that she always uses when she is being patient with me, and when she knows something that I don't. We looked together, but couldn't find anything cheaper so it too went into the trolley and off we went to the check-out.
When we got home and unpacked our shopping Alison set about making us some coffee, I watched, fascinated by the process, but with no hope in my heart that what was about to be produced would be anything more than bearable, and only just about drinkable.
In went some heaped dessert spoons full of the brown powder from the bag, there was no careful measuring of quantities, it just went in until Alison thought there was enough. She then cheated a bit, pouring boiling water from the kettle over it rather than just relying on cold water from the tap, because this would have taken longer. Either she was impatient to see the look on my face when I drank it, or she just knew I have no patience at all and I was thirsty. Either way it seemed to me to be a haphazard way of doing things, this was supposed to be coffee after all, a thing of beauty, a blessed thing that has to be treated with care and reverence, and not just thrown into a cheap pot and have boiling water poured over it!!
Then she placed the pot onto the gas ring and started to heat it. It got warm very quickly, and this is where real care has to be taken, because as it gets hot it rises very quickly to the top of the jug and if it boils over it makes a horrible mess of the hob (I learnt this one from bitter experience). She lifted the jug until it cooled a little and the boiling ferment inside calmed down, then placed it back onto the heat. Slowly but surely, and with repeated liftings and lowerings the brown scum on top disappeared and clear, glossy brown liquid appeared. the aroma was delicious, and my mouth began to water it smelt so good. I still had no hopes for it though, after all, a 75p pot and coffee that had cost around 50p? What could it do.
After juts a couple of minutes Alison declared the coffee ready and turned to put just a little cold water from the tap into the pot (apparently this helps the grounds to settle more quickly).
She placed the pot onto a place mat on the table, then went to get cups and some sugar.
We sat and we waited for just a minute or two, and all the while she had that knowing smile upon her face.
Then she poured the coffee, carefully,slowly, it flowed easily from the pot so she wanted to be careful that the coffee grounds stayed in the bottom. Once poured, she added just a little sugar (she knows me so well folks) and handed a cup to me.
I tasted it........................................I tasted it........................................I tasted it.................................... I simply couldn't believe what my taste buds were telling me .....................................here.........................at last................perfect coffee.
But how could this be possible, a 75p pot? A 50p bag of coffee??
It was just impossible wasn't it???
It only took a few minutes to make????
After all of the hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds that I had spent over the years, £1.25 had been spent producing a whole pot of perfection. This was more than one small coffee would cost in London, so it was impossible wasn't it?
Wasn't it? I tasted again, and it was true, perfection passed between my lips, over my tongue, down my throat and into my stomach and just kept on going down.
I had finally found coffee heaven, and I had Alison to thank, just as I have so many other things to thank her for.
There's an obvious moral to this story isn't there? Finding perfection isn't about the amount of money that you spend.
I have analysed it, and we still search for the cheapest coffee we can find whenever we shop, and no matter what it is, it always produces that perfect coffee. So it must be the fact that the coffee is boiled, none of the machines I tried ever really boiled the coffee, but it must be this that removes the worst of the bitterness and brings out the full flavour of the coffee.
That's got to be the answer hasn't it?............................Or is it possible?..................even faintly possible?.........................That (drum roll.......wish i could insert 'The Outer Limits' theme music at this point)..................could it be that Alison is actually one of those aliens from the short story?
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
No, I love coffee.................ooh how I love my coffee.
For years whilst living in Britain and travelling a lot around the world I have tried and I have sampled many different coffees.........but..........I have never found my 'perfect' coffee.
I like it simple, black and strong and ever so slightly sweetened, too sweet it takes the flavour of the coffee away. After all, you can always add more sugar can't you, but it can never be taken away.
So? You'd think it would be easy to find the perfect coffee for such a simple recipe wouldn't you?
NO!
You couldn't be more wrong!
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the large chain coffee outlets who serve things like 'double de-caff Sudanese fair trade fine ground low-fat caramel machismo' black stuff with a mountain of cream on top, but it isn't coffee is it? If that's what you like, great, but don't call it coffee.
And as for de-caffinated coffee? ..............................................WHY?
Nothing wrong with small marshmallows on the side either, but they should never be on top of cream on top of coffee, save that for children's hot chocolate!
The simple black coffees you get from most outlets too are either tasteless or too watery or too bitter, never a happy medium.
OK OK I know coffee is a personal thing, I know that we all have all our own tastes and our own preferences, just as we do in everything in life, but coffee, coffee is important.
It's what gets you going at the start of the day, it's what keeps you going during the longer days and longer nights of toil.
It lifts your spirits (Talking of spirits it can go down very well too with a Tuica chaser).
Stop it Steve....too early in the morning.
Coffee supports you, caresses you and at times keeps you sane, so it's important! Get it?
So, here am I, typical English businessman, occasionally travelling to various countries across Europe on business and for pleasure, and always trying the coffee. Some I tried wasn't too bad either, but only ever abroad, never in Britain, not until I started to see small cafes with the 'Illy' sign outside (No I don't work for Illy, this is not and advertisement). It was at these establishments that I started to find acceptable, but still not perfect, coffee, which was always a simple Espresso or Double Espresso with tiny bit of sugar.
So, many years ago I set out to make my perfect coffee at home, and of course, being typically British at the time, that meant buying some sort of machine to do the work for me. I tried them all.
It started with that type of jug that had a plastic filter holder on top. Put the paper filter in, add a couple of spoon fulls of ground coffee from the plastic, conveniently re-sealable packaging that you bought it from the supermarket in, boil a kettle and then slowly pour the water over the coffee and watch it drip brown liquid into the nice clear pot. Then wait, until you can top the water up again without it spilling all over the work surface, and keep repeating this until you have a full pot.........by which time the coffee is already cold.....and the wait wasn't worth it any way.
I know, things have moved on a lot since those early days and there are many more machines available, many more complicated and expensive machines.
I tried them all at one time or another, caffettiere's that when I put the amount of coffee I like into them, poured the boiling water into, and then pressed the plunger, the bottom would come off!! Too much pressure you see........huh......science!, as well as ramblings about coffee, but imagine the mess that had to be cleared up. It even happened to me in a restaurant one evening.....(at least i didn't have to do the cleaning :)
Expensive percolators that you would stand and watch bubble away for what seemed like hours before you could actually drink the stuff.....it was entertaining (I'm easily pleased!) but never, ever the perfect coffee.
Cartridge machines.......huh........they should all be shot.
'Instant' coffee? Quick, convenient way of making hot dark liquid from dried poo!!!
So many different machines, gadgets, aids, all in search of the perfect coffee.
It all culminated in me buying, about four years ago, a VERY expensive coffee machine from John Lewis's (No I don't work for them either! Not any more anyway). I won't say how much I spent, I'm too ashamed. It was one of those machines that you put the beans into the top of, put the water into a separate receptacle, and then just turn it on.
It filled the work surface in my kitchen so much that there was nowhere left to do any food preparation, but who cared, the perfect coffee was coming! Who needs food????
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!! It went, very loudly as it began to grind the beans. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! it continued because I had set the dial to 'strong', which needs more beans, obviously, Duh!.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!, until finally, it stopped, then 'plop, plop, hisss, shhhhhhh, hiss, plop, plop' as the machine heated the water to make me, at last, that perfect coffee.
Imagine my delight the day I brought that machine home, this was it, it was going to be fantastic, at last my perfect coffee and here it was, doing the work for me. I watched and I watched fascinated by the chemical processes that were occurring hidden away inside this machine. It even had a Thermos jug which would keep my coffee hot for me, and dream of dreams........a timer!........Hey! I could set this up at night, set the timer and then come down from my bed in the morning to a heavenly aroma (in my usual zombie-like state) and just pour my perfect, freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee.......................
.......'Heaven, I'm in Heaven, la-la-la-la......hmmmmmmm'.............thanks Frank, that's enough.
Eventually, the machine stopped making it's oh so promising noises.
My coffee was ready, at last, here it was, I savoured the moment.
Lifting the jug from it's plate I slowly poured the beautiful black nectar into glass cup that I had especially chosen so that I could see and marvel at the perfect colour.
I filled the cup, then lifted it, slowly so that I could smell that beautiful aroma, mmmmmmm not bad.
I added just a tiny bit of sugar, and then lifted the cup to my lips.
It wasn't bad, not bad at all, coffee it certainly was, but it was bitter, too bitter, and there was an unpleasant after taste too that I never did fully understand (no it wasn't oil in the machine I followed all of the instructions to get rid of it and even after many uses it never went away).
My heart sank to the cold tiles on the kitchen floor, the problem is that it was sooooo close, but still not perfect.
I persevered, oh how I persevered, for months and months I persevered. I played with the settings on the machine. I played with them so much I ended up having no idea of where they all were (I found myself wishing that it had a 'restore factory defaults' button, but it didn't).
I bought different types of coffee bean, I blended beans myself, and the results weren't bad.
I tried everything, but never, ever achieved that perfect coffee.
I remember reading a science fiction short story once, many years ago, about aliens who visited Earth and set about perfecting everything. One of the first things that they perfected was coffee.......they made coffee taste as good as it smells......that's the real secret isn't it?
That's what I wanted, but I resigned myself to the fact that I would never find it, after all, even though I live in Romania now I'm hardly likely to bump into an alien with a jug full of perfect coffee am I?.(Well actually, anything is possible in Romania, but even here this is pretty unlikely)
So, one day, here I am on another visit to Romania. Actually, the coffee here isn't at all bad in most cafe's, at least I kept telling myself that. Either my taste buds are getting old or I really have resigned myself to accepting what I am given and knowing, perhaps, that perfection doesn't exist, other than in my other 'alf, Alison, of course!!!!
It was she, she who should be worshipped in all things for what she has done, who finally delivered the perfect coffee to me.
We were in a supermarket together, and there hanging on display hooks were some red enamelled jugs, with pouring spouts and long metal handles. She picked one off of the shelf, pointed the price out to me, which was roughly the equivalent of 75 pence (remember that, it's important!) and put it into out trolley, I just looked, smiled, nodded compliantly.
 |
| A 75p supermarket Ibric |
Alison was searching too, but in a different part of the display. She held up a non-descript small brown bag and asked,
"Can you see one cheaper than this?"
Now as you might imagine from what has gone before that, 'cheap' has never been part of my thinking when I have been searching for the perfect coffee. I just looked at her bemused, and she just looked back at me with that little knowing smile on her face that she always uses when she is being patient with me, and when she knows something that I don't. We looked together, but couldn't find anything cheaper so it too went into the trolley and off we went to the check-out.
When we got home and unpacked our shopping Alison set about making us some coffee, I watched, fascinated by the process, but with no hope in my heart that what was about to be produced would be anything more than bearable, and only just about drinkable.
In went some heaped dessert spoons full of the brown powder from the bag, there was no careful measuring of quantities, it just went in until Alison thought there was enough. She then cheated a bit, pouring boiling water from the kettle over it rather than just relying on cold water from the tap, because this would have taken longer. Either she was impatient to see the look on my face when I drank it, or she just knew I have no patience at all and I was thirsty. Either way it seemed to me to be a haphazard way of doing things, this was supposed to be coffee after all, a thing of beauty, a blessed thing that has to be treated with care and reverence, and not just thrown into a cheap pot and have boiling water poured over it!!
Then she placed the pot onto the gas ring and started to heat it. It got warm very quickly, and this is where real care has to be taken, because as it gets hot it rises very quickly to the top of the jug and if it boils over it makes a horrible mess of the hob (I learnt this one from bitter experience). She lifted the jug until it cooled a little and the boiling ferment inside calmed down, then placed it back onto the heat. Slowly but surely, and with repeated liftings and lowerings the brown scum on top disappeared and clear, glossy brown liquid appeared. the aroma was delicious, and my mouth began to water it smelt so good. I still had no hopes for it though, after all, a 75p pot and coffee that had cost around 50p? What could it do.
After juts a couple of minutes Alison declared the coffee ready and turned to put just a little cold water from the tap into the pot (apparently this helps the grounds to settle more quickly).
She placed the pot onto a place mat on the table, then went to get cups and some sugar.
We sat and we waited for just a minute or two, and all the while she had that knowing smile upon her face.
Then she poured the coffee, carefully,slowly, it flowed easily from the pot so she wanted to be careful that the coffee grounds stayed in the bottom. Once poured, she added just a little sugar (she knows me so well folks) and handed a cup to me.
I tasted it........................................I tasted it........................................I tasted it.................................... I simply couldn't believe what my taste buds were telling me .....................................here.........................at last................perfect coffee.
But how could this be possible, a 75p pot? A 50p bag of coffee??
It was just impossible wasn't it???
It only took a few minutes to make????
After all of the hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds that I had spent over the years, £1.25 had been spent producing a whole pot of perfection. This was more than one small coffee would cost in London, so it was impossible wasn't it?
Wasn't it? I tasted again, and it was true, perfection passed between my lips, over my tongue, down my throat and into my stomach and just kept on going down.
I had finally found coffee heaven, and I had Alison to thank, just as I have so many other things to thank her for.
There's an obvious moral to this story isn't there? Finding perfection isn't about the amount of money that you spend.
I have analysed it, and we still search for the cheapest coffee we can find whenever we shop, and no matter what it is, it always produces that perfect coffee. So it must be the fact that the coffee is boiled, none of the machines I tried ever really boiled the coffee, but it must be this that removes the worst of the bitterness and brings out the full flavour of the coffee.
That's got to be the answer hasn't it?............................Or is it possible?..................even faintly possible?.........................That (drum roll.......wish i could insert 'The Outer Limits' theme music at this point)..................could it be that Alison is actually one of those aliens from the short story?
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
MONDAY AGAIN
OK OK I admit it, I haven't written for 3 days.
No excuses, just haven't been sure what to write.
We've also been busy on Twitter.
Somehow, someway, we need to convert interest we have in our websites (www.holiday-romania.co.uk and www.volunteerromania.eu) into bookings, and twitter appears to be the best means we have of generating interest in the sites.
The strange thing is that it doesn't appear to matter what we write on Twitter. We tried for a long time to be informative about Romania, about us and about the kids, but didn't get much interest.
Then my other 'alf (She who must be obeyed above all others) started putting up quotations about children and then children's jokes, all of which I re-twitted.
Guess what? Interest and hits on the sites!
Such a random thing to happen, what a daft world we live in.
Still no inquiries or bookings though, so what should we Tweet today?
The simple truth of it is that without the bookings and the income they generate our work with the kids here will have to stop for a while until we have some money again, and that is the last thing we want. We love that work too much, we love the kids too much.
This year we had a great family from America who all came stay and volunteer together. It was a bit of a dream come true as we had spoken before about how great it would be for whole families to volunteer together and here they were, and they were everything that we had dreamed a family could be, and more. They were absolutely fantastic with the kids, and they made full use of their time taking trips to places they wanted to see and staying in hostels, as a family.
We also had two young ladies from Ireland, both of whom were adopted as babies from Romania. This was their first trip back and it was a real emotional roller coaster for them. They made me realize something that I should have realized long ago, and that is that occasionally this programme can be more about benefiting the volunteers who come than it is about the children we work with. One of those young ladies wants to come back for a holiday soon, and bring her baby daughter with her and we can't wait to see them.
Oh! For those of you who have read earlier blogs and been waiting for photos of the mad karaoke and party nights. I'm afraid we didn't go, so you will just have to wait until next time for pictures of us, but I will post some up when we get pics from our friends who did go, we know they had a great time.
In the meantime here is a picture of me doing karaoke with the effect I was having on a younger fan. I think it was Eric Clapton's Cocaine that did it!
Steve
No excuses, just haven't been sure what to write.
We've also been busy on Twitter.
Somehow, someway, we need to convert interest we have in our websites (www.holiday-romania.co.uk and www.volunteerromania.eu) into bookings, and twitter appears to be the best means we have of generating interest in the sites.
The strange thing is that it doesn't appear to matter what we write on Twitter. We tried for a long time to be informative about Romania, about us and about the kids, but didn't get much interest.
Then my other 'alf (She who must be obeyed above all others) started putting up quotations about children and then children's jokes, all of which I re-twitted.
Guess what? Interest and hits on the sites!
Such a random thing to happen, what a daft world we live in.
Still no inquiries or bookings though, so what should we Tweet today?
The simple truth of it is that without the bookings and the income they generate our work with the kids here will have to stop for a while until we have some money again, and that is the last thing we want. We love that work too much, we love the kids too much.
This year we had a great family from America who all came stay and volunteer together. It was a bit of a dream come true as we had spoken before about how great it would be for whole families to volunteer together and here they were, and they were everything that we had dreamed a family could be, and more. They were absolutely fantastic with the kids, and they made full use of their time taking trips to places they wanted to see and staying in hostels, as a family.
We also had two young ladies from Ireland, both of whom were adopted as babies from Romania. This was their first trip back and it was a real emotional roller coaster for them. They made me realize something that I should have realized long ago, and that is that occasionally this programme can be more about benefiting the volunteers who come than it is about the children we work with. One of those young ladies wants to come back for a holiday soon, and bring her baby daughter with her and we can't wait to see them.
Oh! For those of you who have read earlier blogs and been waiting for photos of the mad karaoke and party nights. I'm afraid we didn't go, so you will just have to wait until next time for pictures of us, but I will post some up when we get pics from our friends who did go, we know they had a great time.
In the meantime here is a picture of me doing karaoke with the effect I was having on a younger fan. I think it was Eric Clapton's Cocaine that did it!
Steve
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday..............
So what does Wednesday bring us?
Well, it's the middle of the week....................obviously!
While all of the other people in the village have been carrying on with all of the necessary chores they have to do we allowed ourselves some time to concentrate on other things.
We have been invited to a 20's, 30's' 40's, 50' and 60's fancy dress party on Friday night and we have been trying to work out what to wear.
We had some ideas but nothing fully sorted, so, when you are in that sort of a quandary here in Romania what do you do?
You head for the second-hand clothes store of course!
Yes yes I know there are second-hand clothes shops in Britain too (sorry don't know about anywhere else), but in these you really can find a real bargain occasionally. Prices start from 1 Lei per item and go up to about 5 Lei in most shops. If I tell you that at the moment £1 is worth 5.50 lei, then you might realise just how cheap we are talking.
Conveniently, most of the second-hand stores in town are situated quite close to each other.
This is an odd phenomenon in Romania, similar businesses do group together in specific areas of town.
There is one area that we call the 'funeral' area because that's where all of the funeral parlours are, and another that we call the 'flower' area, because that's where all of the flower shops are (not too far from the funeral parlours, obviously!). So it isn't too difficult to cruise through all of the shops looking for bargains, or in our case, just looking for inspiration.
So that's where we have been today, trying to get ourselves ready for the next part of our hectic social lives.
Deva is full of great places to go, great cafe's, bars, restaurants, there are so many places to choose from.
Avoid places called 'Nightclubs' though, unless you want to go somewhere where ladies perform in various stages of undress that is!
Places to dance here are still called Discos, or just stick to the bars, you can dance and sing in all of them anyway, and they only close when you leave!
Well we ended up not buying anything today, but we will be back again soon, trying to snap up a bargain or two. As for the parties, we have them sorted, but we are keeping it all secret until the nights.
You will just have to wait for the photos and videos won't you?
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
So what does Wednesday bring us?
Well, it's the middle of the week....................obviously!
While all of the other people in the village have been carrying on with all of the necessary chores they have to do we allowed ourselves some time to concentrate on other things.
We have been invited to a 20's, 30's' 40's, 50' and 60's fancy dress party on Friday night and we have been trying to work out what to wear.
We had some ideas but nothing fully sorted, so, when you are in that sort of a quandary here in Romania what do you do?
You head for the second-hand clothes store of course!
Yes yes I know there are second-hand clothes shops in Britain too (sorry don't know about anywhere else), but in these you really can find a real bargain occasionally. Prices start from 1 Lei per item and go up to about 5 Lei in most shops. If I tell you that at the moment £1 is worth 5.50 lei, then you might realise just how cheap we are talking.
Conveniently, most of the second-hand stores in town are situated quite close to each other.
This is an odd phenomenon in Romania, similar businesses do group together in specific areas of town.
There is one area that we call the 'funeral' area because that's where all of the funeral parlours are, and another that we call the 'flower' area, because that's where all of the flower shops are (not too far from the funeral parlours, obviously!). So it isn't too difficult to cruise through all of the shops looking for bargains, or in our case, just looking for inspiration.
So that's where we have been today, trying to get ourselves ready for the next part of our hectic social lives.
Tomorrow night as well is our regular Karaoke night at John's Bar (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Johns/179682178760013).
Apparently it is going to be different night too, because an old friend is returning from France and we all want to make it a special night for her. Lots of plans being made for that one, about what songs we will sing, how we will dress, etc. Maybe, just maybe, we will put some photographs, or perhaps a video on the blog so you can all see how great a night it is.Deva is full of great places to go, great cafe's, bars, restaurants, there are so many places to choose from.
Avoid places called 'Nightclubs' though, unless you want to go somewhere where ladies perform in various stages of undress that is!
Places to dance here are still called Discos, or just stick to the bars, you can dance and sing in all of them anyway, and they only close when you leave!
Well we ended up not buying anything today, but we will be back again soon, trying to snap up a bargain or two. As for the parties, we have them sorted, but we are keeping it all secret until the nights.
You will just have to wait for the photos and videos won't you?
Steve
www.holiday-romania.co.uk
www.volunteerromania.eu
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