The Siphon Bar – a $20,000 Cup of Coffee July 30, 2009

I read this article recently in Fortune magazine.  Since I’m loving the Clover coffee from Dancing Goats in Decatur this is another that I really want to try.  When it comes to Atlanta.

From Fortune magazine:

An extraordinary brew

If Dr. Seuss had wanted a cup of joe to go with his green eggs and ham, this would have been his coffeemaker of choice. Manufactured by Lucky Cremas, a subsidiary of Ueshima Coffee Co. of Japan, the 40-inch-long contraption is an eye-catching combination of bowls and baubles, buttons and tubes that conspire to craft a cup of coffee with all the complexity of a Grand Cru Bordeaux.

From the New York Times:

SAN FRANCISCO

WITH its brass-trimmed halogen heating elements, glass globes and bamboo paddles, the new contraption that is to begin making coffee this week at the Blue Bottle Café here looks like a machine from a Jules Verne novel, a 19th-century vision of the future.

Called a siphon bar, it was imported from Japan at a total cost of more than $20,000. The cafe has the only halogen-powered model in the United States, and getting it here required years of elliptical discussions with its importer, Jay Egami of the Ueshima Coffee Company.

5 Year Anniversary July 24, 2009

Today we celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  We gifted each other works of art.

This is Hilary’s present to me.  It is one of the best presents ever.  First of all there are skull and cross bones all over it.  S&CB is one of my favorite logos.  Maybe I’ll get it tattooed on Man Day at Ink & Dagger.  Then it says “You Rock” which is a cool reference to the movie “True Romance” where Alabama writes to Clarence “You are so cool.”  Then right next to that you can make out a cob of corn.  Like I said this is one of the best presents ever.

Then this is my present to Hilary.  OK so Hilary’s present was a much cooler piece of art.

Belly at 26 Weeks July 23, 2009

Here’s the latest picture of Hilary’s belly at 26 weeks.  We had a recent ultrasound also and we found out that Sofy already has hair on her head, peach fuzz but hair nonetheless.  Dirk continues to moon us during the ultrasounds.

Joe’s B-Day Celebration at Tesoro

Joe celebrated a birthday at Tesoro in Decatur.  Good fun, good times, and good food for our budding entemologist.  Happy Birthday Joe.

Remaking Paris – The New York Times Magazine

I found this article in a recent issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Remaking Paris, By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF, Published: June 8, 2009

Until he took office, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France never seemed destined to be a patron of architecture. In the weeks leading up to his election, more than a few architects I spoke with in Paris disparaged him as “the American,” a reference to his supposed lowbrow cultural tastes. But the French presidency has a way of infecting its occupant with visions of architectural grandeur. Georges Pompidou is better remembered today for the elaborate populist structure that bears his name than for his Gaullist policies. François Mitterrand created nearly a dozen new monuments in Paris, including I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre, a gigantic new national library and the Bastille Opera House. And now Sarkozy seems determined to outdo even Mitterrand.

One of the first things Sarkozy did after he moved into the Elysée Palace was to convene a meeting of prominent architects and ask them to come up with a new blueprint for Paris. “Of course,” he said, “projects should be realistic, but for me true realism is the kind that consists in being very ambitious.” His job was to clean up the city’s working-class suburbs, and at the same time build a greener Paris, the first city to conform to the environmental goals laid out in the Kyoto treaty.

Trading Places – Article from The New Republic

I found this incredibly interesting article in an old issue of The New Republic.

Trading Places – The demographic inversion of the American city.

Alan Ehrenhalt,  The New Republic  Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Thirty years ago, the mayor of Chicago was unseated by a snowstorm. A blizzard in January of 1979 dumped some 20 inches on the ground, causing, among other problems, a curtailment of transit service. The few available trains coming downtown from the northwest side filled up with middle-class white riders near the far end of the line, leaving no room for poorer people trying to board on inner-city platforms. African Americans and Hispanics blamed this on Mayor Michael Bilandic, and he lost the Democratic primary to Jane Byrne a few weeks later.

Today, this could never happen. Not because of climate change, or because the Chicago Transit Authority now runs flawlessly. It couldn’t happen because the trains would fill up with minorities and immigrants on the outskirts of the city, and the passengers left stranded at the inner-city stations would be members of the affluent professional class.

I Love Art July 21, 2009

I found this at the WonderRoot parking lot.

Cheesecake Cravings

Sofy and Dirk wanted some cheesecake so Mom gave them what they wanted.

Puppets at GPB July 15, 2009

I volunteer at the Georgia Radio Reading Service, GaRRS, which is in the Georgia Public Broadcasting building.  I saw this glass case of puppets last week and didn’t take a picture.  So this week I had to take one.  It reminded me of growing up with The Muppets and Sesame Street.  Who knows what Sofy and Dirk will be watching?

Cat Mustache July 5, 2009

Frenchy put a cat mustache on Hilary as she was resting.