Blogging pays off

Back in September 2009 I wrote a post about my husband's family on his mother's side. It was all about JR's great great great grandfather and his and his brother's experiences during the Civil War. It was inspired by JR's cousin Carrie's wonderful book because I'm not that clever.

Now, I spend a lot of time yammering on and on about history never thinking that people might not be the least bit interested (all of you who visit regularly, no matter what kind of drivel I write, are the kindest people I know) but sometimes all that pays off.

It pays off in the form of coffee! For a reformed coffee snob and recovering coffee roaster this is the best of all gifts. (To Julie: I wish I could share my bounty with you. As a coffee aficionado you would appreciate it. I'll save you a bit. Let's call it incentive. )

I received an email on June 23rd from one of JR's unknown cousins. He had read my post and was excited to see photos of his great great.....grandfather and read about some of his exploits. I received this email:

Dear Michelle, I was doing some research on the internet about my Hovland family roots and came across your blog. What a hoot to see my great, great, great, great grandfather Simon's (Sigmund) picture and read about his exploits. My family in North Dakota has lost the roots back to Norway and I would love to present a copy of your book to them. Is there any possibility of having it professionally copied at my expense? I could throw in some Kona coffee from our plantation as a bonus teaser! Much Aloha, Mikal

How awesome is that?

This prompted a couple of thoughts.
1. How come we had never heard of Mikal?
2. How were we related?
3. How could I wrangle a visit to Kona, Hawaii?
4. Do you think he'd notice if we came for a visit then stayed until retirement?

Altruistic? Yeah, I think not.

So I did what any digital librarian would do; I scanned in the whole book and sent it off to him on a flash drive. If I could have turned it into a java script page turning webpage I would have because the chance of having a bargaining chip was too good to pass up. Alas, I ran out of time. I settled for the flash drive and a prayer. I was looking out for my own interests. Any sort of food or drink is inspirational for me. I'm very gastronomically inclined. That explains the extra 10 pounds I'm carrying around. That and wine.

And while, I'm waiting, some what impatiently, for coffee to show up on my doorstep the most important things are that JR and I have made another connection to his extended family, I have once again justified my hording tenancies, and that blogging is the ultimate social media!

How has blogging changed your life? Do you think that it has made the world just a little bit smaller? Maybe, a little bit more friendly?

Let me know how it works for you. Take your time....I'll just sit here and drink my coffee.

Which showed up in the mail yesterday!!!! Thank you Mikal!

Love,
M

Morning Bliss

I did a little wordle for our friend Ms. Blissfully Caffeinated. As you can see one word stands out predominantly. Ms Caff has gone and had herself a baby. As my beloved late father would have said; "Ms. Caff took seriously what was poked at her in fun".

And a beautiful little bundle she did have. Unfortunately, she had a bit of a hard time with it. I doubt that contracting pneumonia was part of the plan. Things are looking up at the Bliss household though. The baby is home, the Ms is home and everyone is feeling better. I'm pretty sure this is in part from the amount of caffeine that mama has taken up drinking. The woman loves her some coffee.

And what's not too love. Coffee is my second favorite beverage. Yes, we all know what the all time favorite is, moving on. I love coffee so much that I learned to roast my own.

Many a day I cruised the green coffee brokers looking for some (sucker, idiot) kindly broker to take pity on me and send me a sample pound or two of green coffee. This green gold came from places all over the world, Ethiopia, Sumatra, Costa Rica, Hawaii. I waited somewhat impatiently for the UPS man to bring my lovely beans. I think he might have been a little afraid of me. I can't imagine why.

Now, this wouldn't be my blog if I didn't toss in some learnin'. So here is how you can roast your own coffee beans.

1. Find the oldest heavy steel deep-sided pan with a lid you can. This is going to get all black a crusty so don't go for pretty. You want something that will distributed the heat well.

2. Fire up your gas BBQ, HOT. Sorry, briquette users, they just don't get hot enough.

3. Put the pan on the hot BBQ so it can heat up.

4. Pour beans into pan. Cover.

5. Shake like you were making popcorn over an open fire. Really, get into it. Put on a little Salsa music if you need to. This could be claimed as your exercise for the week.

6. It will start making popping sounds like popcorn. This is called the first crack. When the water in the green beans bursts from the bean. Don't be fooled. They are not done. You are waiting for the second crack. Then start checking them for doneness.

7. When the beans are almost the color you like them pour onto a baking sheet to cool. They will continue to cook. If you have not poured them out soon enough put them into the freezer on the sheet pan to stop the cooking.

8. When cool. Grind and enjoy.

There is nothing like the taste of fresh roasted, ground and brewed coffee.

Ms. Bliss have a cup of joe, give that new baby and the two other sweet girls you have a big smooch. And GET WELL!

Love,
M

PS: Want to go see others who are wishing Ms. Bliss well. Go see the blog world equivalent of a get well/congratulations card over at Oscarelli.

PSS: It has been brought to my attention that some may want to try roasting coffee in their home. I sincerely don't suggest this. Roasting coffee creates a lot of smoke. So, unless you don't have a problem with your smoke alarms going off, the fire dept. showing up and your house smelling like fresh roasted coffee for months please use an outside grill. I learned this lesson from first hand experience but that is a story for another time.