Kopi Cats

That’s a picture of an Indonesian farmer with a handful of civet feces – the source of the most expensive coffee in the world.

I first heard of Kopi Luwak years ago – I seem to remember it being mentioned on the old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but I thought it was a joke, an urban myth.  I was surprised to learn that it actually exists and is produced commercially in several Southeast Asian countries.

According to Wikipedia,

Kopi luwak (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or civet coffee, refers to the beans of coffee berries once they have been eaten and egested by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

The name is also used for marketing brewed coffee made from the beans.

Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection and digestion. Selection occurs if the civets choose to eat coffee berries containing better beans. Digestive mechanisms may improve the flavor profile of the coffee beans that have been eaten. The civet eats the berries for the beans' fleshy pulp, then in the digestive tract, fermentation occurs. The civet's proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated with other fecal matter and collected.

The traditional method of collecting feces from wild civets has given way to intensive farming methods in which civets in battery cage systems are force fed the coffee beans. This method of production has raised ethical concerns about the treatment of civets due to "horrific conditions" including isolation, poor diet, small cages and a high mortality rate. A 2013 BBC investigation of intensive civet farming in Sumatra found conditions of animal cruelty. Intensive farming is also criticized by traditional farmers because the civets do not select what they eat, so the beans are of poor quality compared to beans collected from the wild.

Although kopi luwak is a form of processing rather than a variety of coffee, it has been called the most expensive coffee in the world with retail prices reaching $700 per kilogram (just over $350 a pound).  The price of farmed (considered low-grade by connoisseurs) kopi luwak in large Indonesian supermarkets is from US$100 per kilogram  or about five times the price of a high quality local arabica coffee.

Bad Towns

Just a few miles north of the Boggy Thicket on US Highway 59 lies the town of Patton Village.  It is a notorious speed trap and the source of  numerous stories of malfeasance and corruption over the years. 

We haven’t heard much out of Patton Village lately, things have been pretty quiet, but I thought of them this morning when I read this story about Hampton, Florida, a town so bad that the Florida legislature was considering pulling their city charter.  You can read their story HERE.

Similarities between the two are striking.  A year ago, the former mayor of Patton Village was sentenced to five years in prison for abuse of official capacity and misappropriation of city funds.  The current mayor of Hampton (who ran as a reformer) was arrested after only two months in office – charged with selling oxycodone to an undercover agent.

Oh, Deer

Here are a couple of pictures I wish that I had taken. 

The first , shot about sundown earlier this week, shows a doe in the wildflowers near Somerville, Texas.

Not sure where this other one was taken, but it shows a deer resting in a field of wild verbena.

Bullet

The mayors of Houston, Dallas and Ft. Worth held a news conference yesterday to throw their weight behind the idea of a high-speed (200 mph) bullet train between Houston and Dallas.

Putting aside environmental issues, landowners losing property via imminent domain, etc., the idea does have some appeal - but I doubt that I would ever ride it.

The train would move commuters between Houston and Dallas in about an hour and a half vs. the roughly four hour drive up I-45.  That looks good on paper, but the current flight time between IAH or Hobby and DFW or Love Field is between an hour and an hour and fifteen minutes. 

I learned long ago that by the time I drove to the airport, found parking, took the shuttle to the terminal, went through security, made the flight, reclaimed my luggage and  caught a cab, I could make it from my home to a Dallas hotel quicker if I just drove.

Driving to Dallas also meant that I had a vehicle available while I was there, and I didn’t have to worry about lost luggage.

A Recipe for Dave

My friend and former coworker Dave Szostek has a birthday coming soon, and I could have saved this for that – but today’s a slow day, and when I saw this recipe, I immediately thought of him.

Dave had some cardiovascular problems a while back, but he hasn’t let that slow him down.  He is also the world’s greatest champion of the idea that everything goes better with bacon, so when I came across this recipe, I had to post it in his honor:

Bacon Wrapped Onion Rings

 

Start with one large onion.

I cut this into kind of thick rings.
Wrap each ring with a slice of bacon. You can even use turkey bacon if you want, but why would you?

Put them on a baking sheet and freeze for at least an hour.

Remove from freezer and dredge through this mix:
3 c. bread crumbs
3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. corn meal
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Beat 1 egg with 1 c. ranch dressing.

Dip dredged rings through this and again through the crumb mix, making sure the rings are completely covered. You can gently press flour mix to any bare spots.

Heat oil to 375'-400'. Fry rings for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove to paper-towel-lined baking sheet.

Serve with BBQ sauce or additional ranch dressing.

Top 100

My sister emailed me a link to this video, the American Film Institute’s 100 years of best movie quotes.  If you can spare 11 minutes, you’re sure to enjoy it.

Interesting that there are a few films that made the top 100 more than once.

What quote would you have listed that didn’t make the AFI’s list?

Wisdom Wart

Just back from the dermatologist with some good news. 

Honey had a mole on her cheek that was causing her to worry.  Since it was asymmetrical and the area had recently begun to itch – both warning signs of melanoma – there was real cause for concern.

The doctor took one look at it and said that it was nothing to worry about - what she called a “wisdom wart” – the sort of mole we all get as we get wiser and older.  She took it off and sent it for biopsy, but she was so confident of her diagnosis that we can’t help but breathe a big sigh of relief.