P I C N I C

Today was a continuation of the last two days. During the dissasembly of the Vulcan stove I had to saw and remove a small pressure ring. To aquire a replacement ring proved somewhat difficult. I called 10 supply companies. The official Vulcan service company in Portland did not have the part, neither did RSK, Winks, the corner hardware store, Standard Supply, etc.. I finally found the odd sized brass compression ring at Napa auto parts. So anyway, all the equipment is hooked up.

While out I met Suzanne for lunch and a friend of hers stopped by. He has some interesting pursuits. He grows spirulina, which is a type of algae, in large fishtanks in his back yard. He cultures it in a water saturated with baking soda as the main nutrient. Several dozens gallons of incubation capacity yields a harvest of 2 oz. I’m not sure how often he is able to reap this quantity. He processes it into a tasteless green paste which is ‘reputedly’ very healthy. He was an interesting guy, in town from San Francisco.  He seemed quite knowledgeable about chemistry and molecular organization. He grows coca leaf and extracts cocaine in small quantities, as a hobby. He makes little cubes of sugar, tea extract, and lightly processed, presumably organic cocaine which you suck on for a little energy boost late in the day. He’s like someone out of a Phillip K Dick novel!

Michael, a co-owner of Anisha, where Kate works, and his brother are building a cart from scratch, much in the same manner which I have done. Custom trailer bed, 2×4 stud walls, a pitched roof with shingles, and a full little kitchen in a 7 by 16 foot space. They will make Polish dumplings and serve ionized water to the New Seasons shoppers across the street.

Hunting around in the New Seasons for lunch, Suzanne pointed me to the truffle box. The beef and cheese caught my attention, but the espresso was the real winner, made with Joel’s coffee.

I’ve been brewing coffee using a hybrid french press and drip method.

The coffee is steeped for 2 or 3 minutes in a pitcher. I weigh out the grounds and water. Sometimes Joels coffee is so light I have to use double the amount, or steep for longer.

I rinse the paper filter out before using to neutralize the taste.

It takes about 2 minutes to drain. I think I’m doing this mainly to fool around. Grinding to a certain grit using the espresso grinder would help, as well as not using paper, but only metal.

I met Elle and Lindsey downtown for lunch at Violetta, a food cart at SW Taylor and 8th, in director park. This is a new park, and it’s stunning. It’s one large seating area for Violetta, which will soon be opening a little restaurant in the park. The food is American comfort food, very similar to McDonalds (or perhaps I should say Burgerville), but it’s local and delicious. Elle got a lentil burger, Lindsey got squash and coconut soup, and we all split freshly fried beignets with chocolate sauce for dessert.

Joel is opening a coffee shop! It’s in the old half and half location, at W Burnside and 10th. As you can see, he’s in the demolition phase. I was offered a snack of some pasta when I stopped in, but I had just eaten.

In the bathroom are many little cartoons of various figures peeing and pooping. I love this one. Unfortunately I’m sure it’s destined to be repainted.

Chris and I spent two days this weekend camping and hiking around Cummins Creek. It was a wet and misty wonderland. We hiked in on the Cummins ridge trail then returned by hoofing it down the very steep ravine, into the creek bed. We made slow progress as the vegetation was thick.

For coffee we brought along a new Brazilian Serra Negra, which Joel had roasted. It’s a very light coffee and was refreshing mid hike. For dinner the first night I made sauteed potatoes with shallots and garlic, and a steak grilled over the campfire. Lunch and breakfast consisted of ryvita crackers, salami, carrots, and apples. Dinner on the second night was sauteed apples, garlic, and shallots with cous cous.

Joel uses a cargo bike built by Human Powered Machines to deliver his coffee. The cargo bed had recently broken and since we were driving through Eugene we dropped the bike off at the manufacturer to be fixed. On the return trip when we picked up the bike we got a tour of the shop by Jan. Afterwards he turns to me and asks, ‘are you the guy starting the food cart?’ I say yes, and he leads me and Chris into another room where he has set out a loaf of bread, baked by him just hours before. It was excellent bread and a great snack, especially with liberal amounts of butter. It was struan bread, made with leftover wild rice and barley.

Before picking up the cargo bike at the agreed upon hour we watched The Green Zone and then had lunch at the Hideaway Bakery. They make very tasty potato donuts. They also have an amazing wood fired oven that can hold 45 loaves of bread. What you don’t see in the photo is that the oven is about 12 feet deep.