I can't seem to keep up with all these blogs I created. So I'm just going to move everything to one blog. It is at www.valsgallery.com/blog. Please follow me there. I will be posting the adventures of coffeegurl there too. Also, since I'm not so wordy, I have been posting micro-blogs on twitter. Follow me at http://twitter.com/Coffeegurl.

Thanks for reading this blog!

I went down to New Orleans for a work conference. I had a good time, but there wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted to do. That always seems to happen. Some day I'll go back.

I did get a can of Chickory coffee while at the airport on the way home. It has a very different flavor -- subtle and good.

I also tasted a great beer, Abita Amber. Turns out it is a local microbrew. Unfortunately it isn't sold around here. They did have a place in KC by the airport. But I'm not for sure I want to drive to KC for beer.

How far have you traveled for beer or coffee?

Aimee's Coffeehouse

My band, Harmonica Geller, played with our friends, The Petroglyphs, at Aimee's Coffeehouse on Mass. St. in Lawrence Saturday night. We had a lot of fun and I thought we sounded really good. Our music is based on the songs of Laura Cossey. She's played around here before and is working on a CD. We decided to get back into playing some, so we started with the place we go to a lot.

Of course I had a soy latte, very good!

We probably will play the third Saturday in February too. So come out and see us.

Campfire stories

Saturday night we went out on the town. Henry's for a soy latte (it was excellent) and the Peculator, a local art gallery, for stories. Yes, I said stories. They had their 2nd annual campfire story telling event. We had it inside around a campfire made of candles and it was fun. If you ever get a chance to go to one of these do.

They had some "performers" who told stories, some fictional, some autobiographical. They had some singers and some poets. It was a magical night.

Can't wait until next year!

I'm sad to say that I got no coffee for Christmas. I also didn't try anything new and different. I'll try to change that for 2009. Send me coffee!

Coffee at home

I've been grinding beans and making coffee at home before work. Mmm, much better than work coffee. Currently I'm drinking Steve's Secret Allegro Blend from Roasterie. The Roasterie is a great brand of coffee roasted right in Kansas City. Here is their website: http://www.theroasterie.com/. Maybe they'll give me a tour of their plant sometime.

Burnt coffee

I grabbed a cup of afternoon coffee here at the office and took a swig. Eww, burnt coffee. I decided to do a search while I was waiting on the computer to do it's thing and found out that "burnt" coffee is actually a delicacy.

Aparently this summer Starbucks brought back their "burnt" flavor to serve all day. It's not really burnt, just some say it might taste that way(http://consumerist.com/5018413/starbucks-to-bring-back-burnt-coffee-due-to-customer-demand). I'm sure it's an acquired taste.

At Yahoo Answers, (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070618063507AAkUSvt) a former barista explained that "burnt" coffee is actually coffee that has been left on the warmer for more than 30 minuetes and the coffee oils have been evaporated away leaving the more bitter flavor of coffee.

Now you know. Go make some coffee.