ShawnDo » Journal

A couple more Houston visits

shawndo — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:29:34 +0000

I’ve visited Houston a couple times since the last time I mentioned it. A number of new photos that I’m preparing for an album. In the mean time, here are a few choice photos

Mini Cupcakes!

shawndo — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:20:17 +0000

That is all. Carry on.

Snow Day

shawndo — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:45:59 +0000

A bit of a snow today. They say there will be 12-17 inches in NYC before the day is done. I left work early and took a few snaps on the way home.

This is the view in the lobby at my office. Can’t see it in the photo, but there is a lot of wind and flakes in the air. I do have my waterproof snow boots on so bring it on!

Still in NJ between the office and the PATH (subway to NYC) Not too much snow. It seems they are doing a good job of keeping the walkways clear. Very happy about the waterproof boots. I ended up in a few ankle-deep slush puddles that would have gotten me good if I had normal shoes on.

In NYC now and while the snow isn’t deep, you can see the wind and general nastiness. Have to stop for a quick espresso on the way….

I was labeled a “regular” today at Joe. They rang me up for an espresso shot before I got to the register. Apparently hardly anyone gets espresso shots, which is probably why I was easy to remember. My portafilter is on its way to the shop to be modified, so my espresso machine is out of commission until it gets back. Joe the Art of Coffee will see me quite a few times until then

Espresso – Terza Parte

shawndo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:48:18 +0000

It’s been just under 2 weeks, and I’m still working on getting the technique correct. I’ve been going to the forums for help with troubleshooting. I’ve been correcting things here and there, but apparently other things must be going wrong. I think the next step is to have my portafilter modified. I’m a little stuck and don’t know where to go from here except for that. I’m risking my only portafilter and I can’t get a replacement until April (in case something goes wrong with the modification) I know my machine and the beans are capable. It’s just me that’s left!

This was an attempt to show the forum the level of roast of my beans, but maybe everyone’s monitors aren’t color-calibrated. Get on that everyone!
These beans were a little darker than normal espresso. They say that darker roasts need a lower temperature. Since my machine isn’t adjustable like that :( I have to get a lighter roast. The current bean I’m using is supposed to be more temperature forgiving, but I’m not having any success. It must be something other than the temperature.

Oh well, the troubleshooting continues. That’s all a part of the fun for me.

Espresso – Seconda Parte

shawndo — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:27:38 +0000

The espresso machine arrived and I spent a few hours yesterday and today figuring it all out. I think I’ve just got to the point that I can operate the grinder properly! It’s not as easy as it sounds. The coffee, the machine and even how hard you tamp the coffee are all factors in determining the correct grind setting. Too fine and the machine gets clogged. Too coarse, and you get a 4 ounce watery, bitter mess. Not to mention there are a few hundred possible grind settings on this thing! The whole first day, I thought the grind was too fine because water was leaking from the top of the coffee filter. It turns out I just wasn’t torquing the coffee filter enough to seal it against all that pressure. I was making it coarser and coarser when it was already too coarse.

Today I think I got the right idea. A perfect 2 ounces came out in 25 seconds. Still bitter and watery, but I was just trying to figure the grind on some older stale coffee beans. I’m in the general area and when I change beans, I’ll probably have to fine tune it again. Tomorrow’s goal is to get the temperature/timing right and work with some nice, fresh beans. I have a couple of pounds that were just roasted on Tuesday!
My main goal with this relatively inexpensive machine is to find out which features really matter to me. I was reading quite a bit and there were many features that sounded great, but I didn’t want to end up with a $2000 machine and find out I really don’t care about half of them. This machine is to get some real world experience to find out what I do care about. For example, one feature that I didn’t even think about before was the boiler capacity. I thought that I just wanted enough for a shot or 2 of espresso every now and then. In real life, to get the temperature just right, you are dumping a lot of water out of the boiler. The problem I was having before I gave up for the night was that by the time I got the temperature just right, the boiler went empty and needed to refill from the room-temperature water reservoir, which screws with the boiler temperature again! You silly analog world!
Anyway, it’s all pretty complicated, which I LOVE! Not to mention I am just getting started. Once I figure out the temperature thing, there are still all sorts of other things to learn about.

Espresso – Prima Parte

shawndo — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:56:07 +0000

I hate coffee. I’ve hated coffee for a long time. I decided that if you need lots of milk and sugar to make something taste good, that means it probably doesn’t taste good.   I feel the same about chocolate.
Several months ago, I tried some dark chocolate at a flea market in Brooklyn somewhere. Up until this point, the only dark chocolate I’ve had is the typical Hershey’s Dark Chocolate. Now that I think about it, it was Hershey’s that caused me to completely write-off chocolate in the first place! Anyway, this Brooklyn dark chocolate was a whole ‘nother world. In my mind, I went back and forth about 5 times, between labeling this an Amazing Ambrosia or a Bitter Blight!   In the end, I decided that it was simply complex and amazing.   Looking back, I think that seeded the idea that maybe all is not lost with coffee either.
When it comes to alcohol, I’m a light weight. After one drink, I’m just calm and lazy. After two, I just want to go home and do nothing. After three, who knows, but I feel pretty horrible the next day. I have yet to find video of me after 3! While trying to figure out how to modify this effect, I decided to try and drink some coffee before a big night out. I never drink coffee, so even a little will leave me wired. I decided espresso would be the way to go, so I could just down it in a shot, get it over with, and move on to 3+ drinks! This introduced me to espresso. It bitter and nasty, but I thought it might have some potential. I found a thread on egullet for some recommendations in my neighborhood. I reached for a sugar packet for my first “real” espresso. When I poured the packet into the espresso, the sugar crystals just sat on top of the guiness-like “crema” and didn’t submerge without some stirring.   Everything was a bit sweet, but I think that had to do with the ratio of the smaller portion size to the packet of sugar (I learned is called a “ristretto”). I came back the next day and had an espresso again with no sugar. Queue the O Fortuna! After the shot went down, there was an after taste of brown sugar. None of the bitterness I normally associate with coffee, even though I didn’t put any sugar in it. On top of all that, it’s only 1-2 calories!
And so the espresso hobby begins. I’ve been all over the city trying all the great coffee places. There are a decent number of them, but I am apparently very picky and can notice the lack of consistency at many of these places. Depending on who is on shift, the coffee quality/bitterness can vary significantly. I always thought this stuff was automated enough to eliminate that kind of variation. Apparently not espresso. There are all sorts of variables that the barista has control over. Another thing is that even though I like really good coffee, I hate coffee houses! If the atmosphere were more like a bar, I might like it. An espresso is a really small drink. (which I like, because it makes me feel like a giant when I drink it from the really small cup!) When I finish it, I hate having to go back to the counter to order another. Wait in line, then sit back down for 20 seconds. I’m also not really into the skater/new-age/hippie vibe at these places. If it were like a bar, I could just nod in the direction of the bartender/barista for another round.   I haven’t seen a place like that, and in any case, there isn’t one near my place. On to home options..
I’ve found the enthusiast forums, have the knowledge basics and am moving forward with a grinder and espresso machine. The grinder is here and it is pretty serious.

I also found a coffee blend at the corner store that is well regarded by the coffee enthusiast. I can’t wait for my machine to get here! I chose a relatively inexpensive one and if I upgrade some day, I’ll have a better idea of what features are important to me (As opposed to getting the monster espresso machine right up front) Hearken the new hobby! Of course there will be plenty of photos and maybe video.

on Chess

shawndo — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:06:50 +0000

I played chess as a kid. I never took it seriously and could probably play slightly better then your average person who didn’t take it seriously. I always kept a cheap chess board around in case I randomly ran into someone who actually wanted to play, which didn’t happen often. A nice chess set was always on my long-term wish list, but had a lower priority than several other things on the list. For the last couple weeks, as I do, my aimless attention has fallen on chess. I think this is more of a small/side interest and not a full-on obsession, but it was enough to prioritize the chess set on the wish list. After looking around NYC, all the chess shops are in my neighborhood. Washington Square park is apparently the archetypal chess-in-the-park place. So after a couple weeks of reading and playing online, I decided to finally get a nice chess set. Because of the quality of internet chess nowadays, this is probably more for aesthetics, but I still wanted one. I browsed the chess shops for a few days and finally decided on one.

While browsing, I noticed that all of these sets had heavy, weighted pieces, which was much different than anything I had growing up. I immediately associated that with the feeling I had when picking up my first nice, heavy watch. I also think I had some long-ago experience as a kid with pieces like this. Maybe I went to someone’s house who had a nice set or something. Anyway, the pieces are photogenic and here are a couple of shots. I’m still trying to figure out how to capture this, but in the photo of black pieces, you can just barely see the wood grain, which let’s you know it’s not painted, which is awesome!

Rowan-mania!

shawndo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:22:36 +0000

Down in Brownsville for Thanksgiving. Rowan also decided to make an appearance. I am playing around with the flash umbrella thing, and so far, things are working fairly nice. I plan on getting a getting a ton of photos this week. That is a lot considering these SD cards are really light! Look at that mug!
Update: I’ve completed the Rowan-Thanksgiving Photo Album

Love my couch; Photographic ramblings

shawndo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:25:41 +0000

I just wanted to take a photo of the couch and ottoman. I’ve had them almost a year now and I think it just gets softer and better looking as time goes by. Nothing like awesome leather. I’m also still trying to learn a little lighting (possibly the real reason I took the photo!) Ramblings: That highlight in the cushion is still stumping me. I know I read about how to do this right, but I can’t remember! Light, Science and Magic.. I’m fairly sure I need to “flag” the light from hitting that part of the cushion, but it seems that I’m blocking the whole light when I try do it. Back to the book. Maybe there is some polarizing to be done…

Apple Season! Small lighting rig

shawndo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:22:31 +0000

For the first time since I was a kid, I had some fresh apples. South Texas doesn’t really have apple orchards, and I never bothered to look for them since I’ve moved north. I happened to be at the Union Square green market last weekend and apparently apple season started in July, but it’s new to me! They had several varieties I’d never heard of and samples all over the place. It may be a psychological hippie-green-market thing, or it may just be the different varieties, but I swear these taste a kabillion times better than any super market apple I’ve ever had. My favorites were the purple “winesap” and the “honeycrisp” (Shown below) Just the names are enough! It’s an odd thing to be excited about apples..

Photography-based ramblings: In preparation for Thanksgiving, I added to my photo gear by buying some cheap lighting accessories. For less than $100, I bought a shoot-through-umbrella, light stand, umbrella swivel and a reflector. So with lighting gear and a variety of apples, here is the requisite Bowl Of Fruit! I’m just starting with the lighting thing, so I like the soft shadows on everything for now. The way it seems, tastes change the better you get and you start to like harder and harder shadows. Maybe harder shadows are more difficult to do properly and you appreciate the difficulty or something. Who knows, but soft is king for now! The light is pretty flat on this photo. I think I had the umbrella too close to the bowl and I also had the reflector on the right side. I really need to setup the whole tethered-camera thing so I’m not running back and forth to the computer to critique and try again. I have to try a few more things…..