Ground up Fridays roast last evening for this mornings coffee, and it was very good.
I do believe, tho, that the coffee from this mornings roast will be the best, yet.
About 20 minutes over moderate heat, moving constantly after the heat of the first few minutes and gritting my teeth til I got to the color I wanted.
Some gloss, and the most even roast I believe I have achieved thus far.
The construction of the Nuvo roaster is designed for even heat and to lessen the risk of burning, and seems to be true to its promise.
But, it’s a leap of faith.
I’m not finding the electronic thermometer terribly useful, or maybe I’m just not using it properly.
After dropping off a big bag of hats and scarves yesterday morning, took Lily up to the nature area north of me for a walk...only to find our favorite and a second area both “closed for deer management”, with big orange “caution, lethal weapons in use!” signs.
“Deer management”.
One much less appealing area was open, and we were the only ones there so I just turned her loose and let her rip.
Sweet Lily, she slept hard last night and is still pooped this morning.
2 hours on the phone last evening with a longtime friend, she the closest physically to her elderly mother, and their family are foregoing the usual gathering with multiple households this year.
They are sharing the cooking, however, distributing what each makes among the various dinner tables so that nobody has to do it all, and I think that’s an excellent idea.
I will be the only guest at my sons, but we are going to do that and I believe safely...I will take homemade rolls, scalloped corn made with the dehydrated sweet corn I bought last year in Pennsylvania , and pecan pie bars.
A local butcher shop that Doug and I used to frequent regularly in the before always has fresh Amish turkeys and turkey parts, so I picked up two large thighs for myself which I’m going to roast today.
Roast turkey...yum!...and bones for a little soup.
Eyes seem to be healing up well, and I will soon be done with the 4xdaily drops...in the right eye, the left eye being down to just the Prednisilone 2xdaily.
Lots to keep track of, and I start a 4 hour timer on my phone each morning so that I don’t forget.
Each time the timer goes off, I realize I have been busy and forgotten.
If one suffered from senility, dementia or some other neurological impairment I would guess they would have to have someone keep track and administer drops for them.
It’s not been difficult, but has required close attention that I am glad I can do for myself.
We age or we die, right? Do what you can to stay healthy and active, make adjustments as required.
Can’t wait to see the grands today, and show them my new eyes that basically have soft contact lenses implanted inside them.
The wonders of modern medicine.
__________________
🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
"Eye Drops"
One could just suffer from aged synocism. As the dear inlws grew older they did many a thing that made us shake our heads then and laugh and reminisce now.
When dad had the surgery he didn't like getting the eye drops and mom didn't like giving them. So dad got all 20 drops at once most of which ran down into his ears
When mom got the surgery she skipped the drops entirely as perscriptions were just another way for the doctors to make extra money. Then she insisted on keeping her original eyeglasses and swore the doctor actually made her eyes worse. (We did end up getting a new prescription)
Needless to say neither of their eyes healed nor performed as well as they could have.
We promise our kids we'll be less stubborn but probably won't as we will likely have forgotten
Starting to get my Thanksgiving contributions prepared, this morning in and amongst other choring I roasted some pecan halves in this skillet I’ve had since 1972.
I don’t know if the grands will eat them, but my son certainly will and I want to set them out and tell my grands the why of roasted, salted pecans at Thanksgiving.
The why being that my mother always made them, to eat alongside the pumpkin pie and whipped cream that she made herself.
My mother, born and raised in Mississippi, had pecans in her blood like we raised in the Midwest have sweet corn in ours.
Pecan trees grew in the backyard of their home, and when we would visit we would bring back huge paper bags full that we kids would shell...and eat ...on the drive home.
Like the grands have never been west of the Mississippi, so have they never been to the Deep South, where our direct ancestors moved from eastern Tennessee by flatboat thru Natchez and into Amite County in 1806.
I’d like to take them down there, show them the house still standing and the cemetery on the hill behind with the oldest marked grave in Mississippi.
That grave being the widowed grandmother who came down the big rivers with her daughter, son in law, and three grandchildren under the age of 3, if I remember correctly.
A toddler and twin 1 year olds, I think, and I suspect that Grandma’s job was to mind the little ones while the women poled the flatboats and the men stood guard with shotguns to protect them from Indians.
Yikes. What an adventure that must have been.
Don’t know if I will get the kids south, but I can share a small bit of their Southern heritage with roasted pecans at Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow...rolls, scalloped corn and pecan bars.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
Pecan bars are baked, Lily has been walked, roll dough is having its first rest...
When Lands End had all of their outerwear 50% off last week, I took the opportunity to replace my go-to jacket for cold weather chores...such as hauling firewood in from outside, shoveling snow, and walking Lily in the winter months when my 30 year old Thinsulate jacket was not yet required.
My new, more girly, medium weight jacket in a favorite color arrives today.
Mo go-to jacket these past 6 1/2 years being this Eddie Bauer, Sherpa fleece lined sweatshirt jacket, that of course was Doug’s go-to for these chores and which I took on after his death as I took on the tasks he always did.
I consider this jacket as having been a transition piece for me, from the before into the after.
Over sized and in a Tall, to allow for coverage for him, ahem, when bending over, I can still see him in that jacket...scarfed and hatted up, with heavy gloves on, as he set about doing whatever.
It has been washed many, many times, but still has a lot of years left in it, so I’m going to wash it one more time and take it to the Mission where I am certain it will find a good home with someone who needs it...which I no longer do.
It’s time to pass it on, as I also a couple of weeks ago did an entire drawer full of his favorite tshirts that I had just not been able to get rid of.
Some I made into a rug shortly after his death for one of the older grands on his side, some I gave to his kids and grands, my son and SIL, the rest have occupied an entire dresser drawer all this time.
Sent them all home with my son for he and his, all now big enough to wear many of them and which their girl child will enjoy sleeping in.
Also sent with my son the Irish wool jacket sweater Doug loved and kept for the days of most bitter cold, when heavy wool socks on his feet and that sweater were what kept him warm.
I thought I might wear it, but have not, and he would like the thought of my son wearing it on cold winter days.
Somewhere he is smiling wryly, pursing his lips a bit and nodding in agreement.
It’s time.
__________________
🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
I still need reading glasses, as they told me I would, but the clarity and brightness of my vision overall is not something I anticipated.
The new plastic lenses don't stretch like the one's from birth. Therefore, the focus is set and you need glasses for reading, a small price to pay for the miracle of eye surgery.
I'm not a very religious person, but when I think about the complexity of the human eye and how it exceeds in every way what we can make with a $100,000 TV camera lens, I just can't believe that was random evolution. That's just one thing. Memory? Musical skills? Hearing? Color?
The only issue I still have is random black things at the very edge of my peripheral vision. I think I just saw a bug when there's no bug there. Makes me look. I told the doctor my theory was in Quantum Physics, we have an infinite number of parallel universes all occupying the same space. Maybe one just got too close and I saw it briefly. He doesn't fall for a theoretical discussion, and just says, "I can fix those with a laser if they bother you."
I still chuckle about how many nurses asked me which eye were were doing today. Then they marked an "X" on my forehead with a black light marker. I guess they've had a few "oops" moments in the past.
There's a newspaper story on the bulletin board on my doctor doing cataract surgery on a zoo tiger. He admitted fear.
As an eye doctor explained it to me years ago, the "floaters" and "flashes" we see as we get older are caused by something at the back of the eyeball, not by the lens. Therefore, I think they are unrelated to cataract surgery.
I know about all those contact lens habits. Two years after my surgery, I still have occasional moments where I do or think something that was part of that routine.
Good stuff Maggie. I'm glad to hear you giving up Doug's jacket; there is bound to be someone that could really use that extra layer this winter, and I think Doug would want that for someone. Maybe you've heard of the story behind "Paul's Boots"? It has taken on legs that took them much farther than his wife ever thought could happen. I see Doug's jacket serving a similar purpose.
Thanks for dropping in here, and hope you two are well.
I have washed his jacket up and have it by the front door to drop off... have not yet gotten there because of other things , but am thinking in the morning before I take Lily for a wild romp at the nature preserve.
He will be pleased to see this warm and durable jacket taken on by someone who needs it, and I’ve earmarked it for the Mission because of the population they serve and because they give donated items away.
He would say...it’s time, Margaret...and, he would be right.
Goodwill and the Thrift shop have their place for many things, but for decades the Mission has held a special place in our hearts with certain items regularly earmarked for immediate use with their population.
Over 100 years old, they are a respected, solid and apolitical service organization that Doug and I both worked with many times for one reason or another over the years.
We had a quiet holiday yesterday at my sons, with my daughter and SIL on Skype for a virtual visit, and Lily getting not one but two walks around their neighborhood.
__________________
🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
The Mission doesn’t take clothing these days, but sent me Saturday morning to a place very close by that does, so I hope that jacket finds a new home soon as winter has come to central Illinois.
Cold and windy with light snow today, plus windchills down into the teens.
Lily has had a walk, I’ve made a quick run to the store and we are in for the day.
Turkey vegetable soup with barley on the menu, and fleece lined slippers on my feet.
__________________
🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
2021 16' Caravel
2022 23' Globetrotter
Callao
, Virginia
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 118
I'm brand new to the forum, and so new to Airstreaming that I haven't actually picked up my Caravel 16RB (will be picking it up December 8). Being inexperienced I generally have no wisdom to offer the forum. I have roasted a lot of coffee though, and thought I would jump in and say hi to a fellow roaster.
Freshly roasted coffee has a excessive amount of carbon dioxide in it and needs to de-gas for a day or two at least. This is why many roasters sell their coffee in bags with valves on them. Three days is often optimal. Your results confirm this.
Coffee, when it roasts to a certain point, makes a cracking sound, often compared to the pop of pop corn popping. This is referred to as "first crack" and marks when the coffee is beginning to be roasted enough to drink. Later, there is a second crack, which is less audible, sort of a crinkling sound, and marks the point when the coffee is moderately to well roasted. Generally speaking, roasting very much past the point when the second crack stops produces a roast that is too dark for most people to enjoy drinking.
Welcome, kmrice, and thanks so much for your feedback on coffee roasting.
I knew of the degassing, and leave my beans on a paper plate 3-4 hours for that purpose before I put them into a loosely sealed small jar to cure for a couple of days before I grind them.
I don’t believe I have ever gotten to the second crack phase of roasting, but certainly through the first one and the somewhat mess that makes to clean up.
My last batch, and I haven’t roasted in a few days, was the most evenly dark and roasted of any I’ve done, and the chaf got so brittle that most of it broke up and went right through the holes in the colander I dumped the beans into to cool.
They made very good coffee, too.
It’s been fun learning how to do it.
Where do you get your beans, and what kind do you like best?
Maggie
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
I’ll bet I am not the only one trying out coffee roasting during this pandemic.
I not only don’t have an outdoor grill, I don’t have an exhaust fan in the kitchen of the little house.
One of the suggestions in this article is having a couple of beans roasted the way you want them, to compare to yours as they are roasting, also for looking for the edges to round.
Hmmm.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
2021 16' Caravel
2022 23' Globetrotter
Callao
, Virginia
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 118
I'm not currently roasting. We used to have a commercial grade extractor over our stove and a wood fired oven outside so I would roast inside without worrying about the smoke, or outside. Since we retired we moved to a home without a big extractor or a wood fired oven, so I am currently not roasting. Hope to get back to it soon.
I got all my coffee from Sweet Maria's in San Francisco. Great people, wonderful coffee, good mail order service. I only drink espresso, and used one of their espresso blends called Monkey Blend, or I made a blend of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with something else, sometimes Mexican Altura Coatepec. Sweet Maria's selection varies.
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, and pecan pie bars. 
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