Out of routine

Writing a blog requires a certain amount of discipline and routine in order to stay ahead - a bit like praying.

I've not been very good at keeping up with my blog and I'm not very good at praying either. I often have this guilty sense that I should be praying more, but it requires discipline. But it's the new year so what better time to pick myself up an try again. I was given a helpful book from my mother-in-law for Christmas: Celtic Daily Prayer. It comes from the Northumbria Community.

I decided that if I can have the routine of making a pot of coffee in the morning then I can make the routine of praying the "Evening Prayer".

So far, so good. Now I need to work on my blog.

Milk in your coffee?

The drive from Springfield to Chicago is a long one - made even longer with two small children in the back. The drive through Indiana was particularly painful because Indiana is particularly boring - to look at from the car I mean. I'm sure it's great when you get to know it.

Obviously we needed to take breaks to give little legs a run and big ears a rest from 'Ten Green Bottles'. But we didn't just want to make a McStop somewhere.

And then, 14 miles before we arrived at it, a huge sign on the side of the freeway advertised Fair Oak Farms. Also on the sign was the promise of gourmet coffee so we decided that was the place for us. Would you believe it? The gourmet coffee being served was Starbucks. But that's not the real reason why Fair Oak Farms gets a mention.

Before discovering the large and mostly empty cafe area and gift shop (I think they get more people in the summer) we went into the Adventure Centre. The lady at the reception desk, after pointing me in the direction of the toilets, told me a little about the experience. Fair Oak Farms is one of the largest dairy farms in the USA. You can go on a tour around the farm and see the cows, taste the milk, watch cheese being made, that sort of thing. But the highlight of the tour is a visit the the Birthing Barn where you can watch a cow being born. Now, not having much bovine knowledge, I enquired (slightly sarcastically) into the chances of seeing a real birth. If I'm paying $7 for the tour I want to see some action! I was stunned to hear that the farm has 30,000 cows. On average 80 are born every day! (I didn't ask how many died every day and what happened to them - 'cos of the kids, you understand).

Unfortunately we only had time for a gourmet coffee and a milkshake, but I can't wait to get back to Indiana one day.

One World Cafe

We stayed with my sister-in-law and her family for a few days. They live in Springfield. (I was excited the first time I heard they lived there until I discovered that there is a Springfield in pretty much every state. No funny, yellow families to be found.)

My wife's sister, H, is a teacher and her husband, J, has various roles in Christian ministry. I was interested to talk with J one night while the two sisters were out. We have a lot of similar feelings about 'church' - what it is, what it perhaps is meant to be, what to do about it, etc. Unfortunately we weren't drinking coffee at the time so, as this blog centres around views of life over a cup of coffee, I'll have to wait for another opportunity to go down that road.

However, on another occasion, J showed me around a new coffeehouse that just opened a few weeks ago. It's being run as a project between a number of Christian ministries in the Springfield area and is called Un Mundo Cafe. The cafe is located in a rougher part of the city and is hoped to bring together people from that neighbourhood with people who are into the coffee "thing" and may be passing through. The cafe is proud to use Fairtrade and organic products.

They are still getting the hang of running a coffeehouse. The service is a little slow (but friendly) and you may find that your latte is not quite as hot as you'd like. Apparently the owner wants them served "the way they should be" - just warm enough so you can taste it. She sees it as an opportunity to educate people about coffee. Hmmmm? I'm not sure how much the public want to be educated in the finer points of coffee, but I will make an effort to do some research myself about how a latte should be served. (I'll check online and talk to a few baristas.)

Anyway, I respect what they are doing at Un Mundo. Coffee is such a huge part of contemporary culture, that it might be a good avenue to go down in an attempt to relate a living Christ with society. The vision of Un Mundo is, 'To share God's love to all; from the coffee grower to the coffee drinker and beyond.'

Now, what if Church could be a little like...

My Ultimate Posting

This is a blog which revolves around coffee in some way.

Today I visited Borders bookshop.

I bought a regular latte then browsed the shelves.

I came across and bought the following book.

Enough said,

Egg-Not Latte

A traditional American drink around this time of year is eggnog. It's kind of a strange drink. I think, like marmite, you either love it or hate it. While living in the States a few years ago I got into it. Eggnog is made from milk, cream, egg, nutmeg and probably some other stuff - some people add various spirits, however I live an alcohol free life. You can pick up eggnog from the milk section of the food store. Unfortunately I've not found it for sale in any grocery stores in the UK or Ireland, so I make sure I have some when visiting family stateside. In fact, I'm drinking half a glass now. (You don't really want to drink more that half or you're likely to hurl.)

I noticed a couple of weeks ago at a Starbucks in Dublin that they serve an Eggnog Latte. I don't think it's made from real eggnog, just a flavoured syrup. Anyway, I decided to wait to experience this taste in its true home.

Yesterday, after a lunch with my wife's brother and sister and their spouses [I think the plural of spouse should be spice], we walked through my wife's home town of Oxford, Ohio (another university town). Stopping off at Starbucks I waited for what was starting to feel like an unnecessary length of time to make a drink - an eggnog latte. Leaving the coffeeshop I took a sip. And then a second to confirm what my tastebuds where telling me:

It wasn't worth the wait.

E=mc2

When we where first married we lived in Rocky River, a lovely suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. There where a couple of great coffeehouses in the area which, now that I think about it, I really quite miss.

There was also a great bagel place, part of a chain in parts of the mid-west, called Einstein Bagel Bros. Not only did/do they serve great bagels and delicious muffins, they also have my favourite flavour of coffee - vanilla hazelnut blend.

Anyway, Einsteins Bagels have yet to cross the Atlantic (please come!) so we wanted to make a point of stopping at one during our trip. In fact, such was our desire to get a cup of vanilla hazelnut that we sought out a hotel for our first night that was located near and EBB. And so, bleary-eyed with jet lag I made my way to West Lafayette (a university town in Indiana) on Tuesday morning for breakfast. I wasn't disappointed and I bought a couple of bags of beans to bring home. (Readers are welcome to come over for a coffee taste sensation.)

I have to say, I do like American university towns. The leafy campus, the buzz of students, cool bookshops, and of course great coffeehouses. Plus, I think, an essence of sentimentality because it reminds me of visiting my wife (then my international girlfriend) when she was at university - the place where I first experienced coffeehouse culture.

Cafe Americano

I'm in the USA visiting the in-laws for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm going to try and write a few postings while I'm here, starting with...

Soup of the Day

Some of the teens we work with are going to learn to knit this weekend. I won't be teaching them, but I do vaguely remember some rhyme about a bunny going around a tree or something that taught you how to knit?!? Wait...I think it's coming back to me...

In through the bunny hole and once round the tree,
Out through the bunny hole and off pops she.

Wow, I'm not sure what part of my brain I retrieved that from. (I wonder if there's any other interesting stuff lurking around in there?)

Anyway, the students are learning to knit so they can make scarves to take to some homeless people in the city. So I tagged along with my wife to a department store to buy lots of wool. While there we stopped for a break at the intriguingly named Chocolate Soup Cafe.

On inspection of the menu I was pretty disappointed to only see vegetable, tomato, mushroom and, of course, potato and leek soup. No chocolate soup at all!

I ordered a regular latte and a scone.

It was while I was paying that I noticed the huge chocolate fountain. I think they pour the melted chocolate on fruit or pancakes, that kind of thing. I asked the girl working there if she was ever tempted to stick her finger in the lovely, running chocolatey goodness. (I was!) The girl replied that she can't stand chocolate - not even the smell. I didn't bother asking the obvious follow-up question.

This has got me thinking though. Maybe the men and women who receive the scarves would like some soup too. Perhaps we should do something about that.

Cafe 101

I heard about a new cafe that has opened in London, just around the corner from St Paul's Cathedral. I decided to pay a visit.

As I walked down the stairs to the basement location I immediately noticed how light, bright and large the cafe was. Lots of big windows for people to see out and in, bright furniture and the sound of people enjoying being together. It didn't have the atmosphere of most coffeehouses I visit - lower lighting, jazz/chill music, slightly moody. This was different and I think that was intentional.

I purchased a regular latte (all teas, coffees and some snacks were Fairtrade) and took a seat in a swivel chair in the corner giving me a vantage point to take it all in and do some people watching. Around me, scattered on tables and display stands, were leaflets, brochures and books. I flicked through a few and it wasn't long before I recognised a few faces in the photos. In fact, as I looked around the cafe there were a few people that I had seen before even though I had never been to this cafe until now. That's because this was the new cafe at 101 Queen Victoria Street, the international headquarters of The Salvation Army - the Christian movement in which I minister.

I think the cafe is a great idea and is open to staff and any members of the public. Along with the drinks, snacks and light meals, Cafe 101 serves up information about Salvation Army ministry around the world through excellent displays, internet points and literature. I was particularly taken with one booklet which described in a concise manner who The Salvation Army is, what it does and why. Here's a couple of extracts:

On Believing...

"Belief in God is the source of the love that motivates our worldwide ministry. It is also the source of our strength. We are an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Our message is based on the Bible. Our belief in God, given expression through worship and prayer, leads to our belief in human worth and human potential.

This motivates our actions, which aim to change individuals, and ultimately the world, for good."

Along with over 15,000 worshipping churches around the world, with a membership of more than a million, The Salvation Army is also involved in mission at the 'front line'...

"Worldwide, our diverse expression of God's love shows itself in help for millions of people every year, through 539 hostels for the homeless, 211 emergency lodges, 202 children's homes, 212 homes for the elderly, 39 homes for the disabled, and a further 725 residential homes for various purposes; 25 general hospitals, a further 12 specialist hospitals, and 346 mobile medical clinics. We operate 1,877 schools, attended by more than half-a-million pupils and staffed by 15,000 teachers; 107 vocational training centres and 72 colleges and universities. We run 1,480 day care centres answering all manner of needs, and 220 addiction dependency programmes. We operate hundreds of disaster rehabilitation schemes, visit over a quarter-of-a-million prisoners every year and trace more than 8,000 missing people annually. We estimate the total number of people we help every year is more than 18 million."


Wow. 18 million! That's Australia.

Sometimes when you're focused on doing your own thing at a very local level you forget about a bigger picture. This was one latte that helped me put in perspective what I/we do. I have to say, I came away from Cafe 101 feeling good about being a Salvationist.

Victoria Rains

While staying in London we decided to take a train into the city to look around. As it was raining we didn't get very far. In fact we intentionally decided to only go as far as Victoria station. Although not known for being a top tourist attraction it's actually quite a cool place to hang out. It's always so busy and has lots of shops, some of which we don't have in Dublin (such as Krispy Kreme!!! Mmm, doughnuts). It also has over 25 places across the station where you could get a coffee. (Yes, I did go around and count them.) Included in this total were three Starbucks outlets proving the claim that the Starbucks strategy is to flood an area with stores in order to force other coffee shops to close. But I guess there's room for everyone at Victoria.

There were also a couple of sushi bars, but I didn't check them for coffee. I didn't want to know. That would just be wrong.

I did, however, buy a souvenir coffee mug from K.K.