Bella Culinary Adventures

Kattie and I had an adventurous afternoon picking these delicious blueberries in Garibaldi. I’m making a blueberry tart with a shortbread crust and she’s making pancakes and cobbler. Like mama like daughter.

The Charlie Russell Museum, Great Falls Montana.

Scott's Coffee Diary: what am I drinking today? This morning I brewed a full pot of the Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters Dark Guatemalan coffee in my Chemex, still my favorite pour over brewer. It does take a bit longer than my usual morning coffee makers, whether the automatic espresso maker or my new toy, the Aeropress. A full liter of coffee takes 6-8 minutes to finish dripping. But the rewards are that it makes three large mugs of coffee all at once, and after I decant into the red thermal carafe, it stays piping hot for several hours. The second, third (and fourth, if you use smaller mugs than my favorite Salty Raven mug here) takes only about ten seconds to pour. So as today's schedule called for reading up on next week's column, I decided I needed a ready supply of refills. As I've written before, the Chemex uses proprietary thick filter papers and a built-in brewing cone that combine to slow the draw down of coffee from the filter, resulting in a very full extraction. But the papers, and the recommended grind size (coarser than for a Melitta or other pour over), help reduce any bitterness that can come from a long extraction. The result: a full-bodied, rich cup of coffee that won't give you the shudders, even with a super-dark roast like this one. The second image shows what I mentioned a couple of days when I noticed the crema on top of my Aeropress cup of these same beans: that rich layer of bubbles came out on top of my third cup from the red carafe. As I mentioned previously, this is typically the sign of a fresh dark roast, because the oils on the surface of the beans are still lush and unoxidized. (Oh, that pastry? From our local supermarket's in-store bakery. It's a round of Danish dough topped with a caramel sticky topping with pecans. Yes, I had another after I finished that one. Come on by, we have a couple left.) Specs: 55.1g of coffee, ground to my preferred 45 on the Breville Smart Grinder, with 1008 ml of water at 94 C. (Why 1008? Reaction time: I was aiming for 1L of water and I did a slight overpour. Slow reaction times are all part of life when the caffeine is still in solid form.)

Scott's Coffee Diary: what am I drinking today? This morning I brewed a full pot of the Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters Dark Guatemalan coffee in my Chemex, still my favorite pour over brewer. It does take a bit longer than my usual morning coffee makers, whether the automatic espresso maker or my new toy, the Aeropress. A full liter of coffee takes 6-8 minutes to finish dripping. But the rewards are that it makes three large mugs of coffee all at once, and after I decant into the red thermal carafe, it stays piping hot for several hours. The second, third (and fourth, if you use smaller mugs than my favorite Salty Raven mug here) takes only about ten seconds to pour. So as today's schedule called for reading up on next week's column, I decided I needed a ready supply of refills. As I've written before, the Chemex uses proprietary thick filter papers and a built-in brewing cone that combine to slow the draw down of coffee from the filter, resulting in a very full extraction. But the papers, and the recommended grind size (coarser than for a Melitta or other pour over), help reduce any bitterness that can come from a long extraction. The result: a full-bodied, rich cup of coffee that won't give you the shudders, even with a super-dark roast like this one. The second image shows what I mentioned a couple of days when I noticed the crema on top of my Aeropress cup of these same beans: that rich layer of bubbles came out on top of my third cup from the red carafe. As I mentioned previously, this is typically the sign of a fresh dark roast, because the oils on the surface of the beans are still lush and unoxidized. (Oh, that pastry? From our local supermarket's in-store bakery. It's a round of Danish dough topped with a caramel sticky topping with pecans. Yes, I had another after I finished that one. Come on by, we have a couple left.) Specs: 55.1g of coffee, ground to my preferred 45 on the Breville Smart Grinder, with 1008 ml of water at 94 C. (Why 1008? Reaction time: I was aiming for 1L of water and I did a slight overpour. Slow reaction times are all part of life when the caffeine is still in solid form.)

WOW!

Release party for the first-ever sparkling rosé from @knudsenvineyards in Dundee! If you know the Oregon wine country license plate, it’s based on a view of these vineyards. Always a beautiful day in the @dundeehills.

Fort George Brewery in Astoria is the perfect spot to stop for lunch. I love fish and chips but the tuna has the battered crunch and the meaty texture I prefer! Scott has a lust for kimchi and this burger hit the spot. The chairs are made from old beer barrels and the chandelier from different size jars. Sweet and comfortable.

A beautiful day to spend at the beach.