Off the beaten track part 2

After lunch i decided to do more walking and came across this wonderful vending machine owned by suntory

Tommy Lee Jones looked pissed off,and you would be too if you tasted the canned iced coffee out of this machine,but it had to be done so i can now cross it off my list of to do’s.
Im back in Asakusa after an adventure on the subway in peak hour,it felt like i was playing rugby again stuck in a scrum but instead of big men pushing against you it was a bunch of old nannas as strong as an ox and it was quite hilarious.
As im walking around trying to find the asahi brewery and kannon temple,i found this coffee training centre from the bach coffee company,but it was closed for the day,so i had a little peek in the window,looked really cool with the roasters and lab.

After that i decided to jump back on the subway and head to Ginza for a quick look and see what happens and found this cool place which wouldve been an awesome little cocktail bar

This place was pretty cozy and had lots of cool old equipment on display,a nice little get away from the hustle and bustle of the side walk,nice atmosphere and no english menus so i grabbed an iced coffee again,the best find of the day was again in Asakusa i wish i had made it back in time to eat here……….

Off the Beaten track part 1

So im looking through photos on the computer and came across my tokyo pics that i totally forgot about.
I found a few interesting cafes in tokyo off the beaten track while i was wandering the back streets of Ginza,Akihabara and Asakusa.

I found this place in Asakusa but it wasnt open at the time as it was too early in the morning.

Cafe Paulista I was told was one of the oldest cafes in tokyo,and was the first to bring coffee to japan.
It was quite interesting to have a coffee in there,it was very quiet in atmosphere full of business men with gorgeous girls,almost seems like a scene out of a movie,the tables and chairs were quite short,i felt like a giant walking in,with my shorts and t shirt and heavily tattooed self,the whole room stopped and looked,as thoughts of previous movies as old boy run through my head i was sure as shit i was going to get jumped and every one in suits will be on me like no ones business,but unfortunately that wasnt the case,just my over active imagination and the heat getting the better of me.So i ordered a nice iced coffee to cool me down for the next half hour as i get ready to hit the road.

As i was walking round Akihabara looking for a bite too eat, i came across this cool billboard amongst all the electronic advertisements for cameras,sex shops and icecream,after taking it i wander off around the corner and found this little gem

The Pole Shop Cafe in the backstreets of Akihabara was a cool little find so i found an excuse to pop in there and get out of the heat while i had another iced coffee,maybe the coffee will make me forget that im hungry i dont know.
there was a few people in the booths talking amongst themselves chain smoking malboros and laughing,im starting to enjoy a bit of people watching and trying to capture the whole essence of the conversation without knowing a lick of japanese was quite entertaining.
After watching the guy use the air roaster and do a roast i set off to find lunch as i couldnt put off the cravings for ramen.

After slurping my way through the ramen off i go

Spring

What the hell is going on with this weather on the west coast?

I was looking forward to more snow falling here in B.C. during february,but no…

All we get is warm rain now,which is melting the snow,which is quite annoying,this time last year we saw a decent dusting throughout february which kept the runs nice and soft.

Although on the other side of the country its in the minuses,toronto is -25,i think i watch the weather channel toomuch these days and its starting to annoy me when its snowing everywhere else.I guess not riding in the last 2 weeks is getting to me, and the thoughts of being in fernie with all that champagne powder and hardly anyone up on the hills gets me slightly wound up,although i wasnt fortunate enough to experience the waist deep powder they got a few weeks before,i did get to ride knee deep stuff

walking back home from a session,i wish i had someone with a ski doo to tow me round through all this snow as it was all untouched wouldve been a laugh

cedar bowl

hardly anyone on the hill was a plus,being able to do big carves without danger of taking anyone out was one hell of a ride

Mourning in the world of coffee

Ernesto Illy dies at age 82

Trieste – illycaffè’s honorary president Ernesto Illy died yesterday at the age of 82. Throughout his career, Dr. Illy has openly shared his discoveries—not only to advance the interests of his own company, but for the benefit of all people who enjoy and appreciate the authentic Italian coffee experience. Dr. Ernesto Illy had a mission — spreading the gospel of quality espresso and coffee for the greater part of his scientific life, often praised as “Espresso Evangelist,” the “Espresso Doctor” and of course, “Papa Bean.”

Born in Trieste in 1925, he obtained a degree in chemistry from the University of Bologna in 1947. In 1956, control of the company passed from Francesco, the company’s founder and his father, to Ernesto, who started a research laboratory that soon became the source of numerous new inventions and patents, allowing illy to become a leader in innovation and technology. It was Ernesto, a scientist and researcher, who established cooperation agreements with universities and research centres, promoted premium quality coffee around the globe, and who brought Italian-style espresso to the rest of the world. From 1963 – 2004 he was Chairman of illycaffè S.p.A. in Trieste, and now holds the title, Honorary Chairman.

Dr. Illy’s impressive resume of past positions and honours include:

* ASIC (Association Scientifique International du Café, Paris) Founder and Senior Vice President of the organization.

* P.E.C. (Physiological Effects of Coffee, Paris) Served as Chairman in 1981.

* I.S.I.C. (Institute for Scientific Information of Coffee, Paris) Chairman since 1991.

* Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Industry) Granted the title by Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in 1994.

* Centromarca (association representing brand-name companies, Italy) President since 1996.

* Specialty Coffee Association of America (S.C.A.A.). Awarded with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1997.

* Monte Carmelo, Brazil — 2002 awarded honorary citizenship for contributions to the area.

* I.C.O. (International Coffee Organization, London) September 2002 elected Chairman of the Promotion Committee.

* Flor del Cafè, Guatemala- 2004 made a member of the order by Anacafè (National Coffee Association of Guatemala).

How to murder a cocktail

Its been so long since the last time i wrote about cocktails.
So ive been surfing for some videos or so of cocktails just to get some inspiration from bartenders,and what i found almost made me sick,bartenders killing classic drinks such as this offering from mojo.com with their version of the irish coffee.doesnt really have that much substance on the drink apart from slapping it all together

Compared to this offering from Angus Winchester,Mixologist extrodanaire and i believe he’s into molecular mixology as well,which is crossing over from food,coffee and now into cocktails which is quite exciting.

Angus’s delivery and short history on this drink (daquiri),is a pleasure to watch,to see a talented bartender deliver this drink well with the step by step guide on technique,a good way to learn if your a budding home mixologist.

A good book for any budding mixologist would be Craft of the Cocktail by Dale De Groff,a great read and a must for any working bartender

Home Coming

So i took a trip back to Australia,and it has been a while since i have been home.
i caught up with an old friend,who inked me a few years back,he has since moved from inner vision in surry hils to tatudharma in chippendale.
so i dropped in on nathan at the studio to say hi and hang out for a while.
after a while chatting nathan asked what i was up to on the weekend and i said i had family things to do in katoomba and he said….
id love to tattoo you before you go back to canada as i havnt seen you in a while and it might be a while before i see you again and that he was booked till march….
so after talking it over with kylie we came to an understanding and i was booked in to get inked.
but that meant driving back to sydney from katoomba early in the morning for an 8:30 am session.
i tell you what,theres nothing better than running on a couple of cans of v and the idea of getting tattoed to get things racing,mind you its been a year since i had my last bit of ink done from zulu tattoo in dublin from justin and sean,and i was amped.
so i decided to get something done on my knee cap and let nathan go at it.and seeing as i was off to tokyo he tattoed a hannya mask on my knee.

and so it begins…..

shading….

halfway mark…..

unfortunately i dont have a finished picture uploaded yet but nathan did a great job,especially tattooing over old skating scars so i will have pick of those soon as i take a pic,so a huge thank you goes out to him on a job well done

Techno Geeks Wet Dream

What a day…..
i spent most of today in akihibara,now this place is totally nuts,if your a tech geek then akihibara is your wet dream.
i went to check it out to see what it was like,seeing as this was my 4th day in tokyo i might as well.
i arrived at the station in akihibara and it was opening times for the shops.9 am and there were line ups at the door and so i decided to join in and it was like the running of the bulls as everyone rushed in,my bet was to escape the heat,but i could be wrong,as there was a huge sale on in town and everything had to go.
so what greets me as i stepped into akiba complex was electricals,you name it this whole building was just that.the ground floor was dedicated to mobile phones,nothing else,and there are so many companies inviting you to check out the phones.
holy shit there were some choices of what phone to buy,ones that pick up tv,movies,music,camera phone,you name it it was there.if you were after a phone it would take you a bloody long time to decide on one and when you do its already out of date.next floor was laptops,next was cameras and so on and so on.
so after all of that i decided to leave that building and grab a drink.
so at the bottom of this building there was a dude rocking it out on air guitar promoting a product which lets you play air guitar,when i get back to vancouver i will post pics of this dude.anyway he was holding this thing which was the head and part of a neck of a guitar,what i didnt know was it was hooked to a lil guitar amp and has a laser thingy that beams where the rest of the guitar should be,and every time he strums the laser it disturbs it and then i creates the sounds.you’ll understand when you see the pics.
so after having lunch with a few locals at a stand up ramen bar i decided to hoof it to roppongi,i spent an hour looking around but got bored quite easily as it was ultra hip and new that it kinda lacked character so of i go to harajuku.
now for people who dont know about harajuku,you need to check out the books fruits to fully understand what its about.its so cool with so many characters,japanese rockabillies,punks,girls who dress like strawberry short cake,mods and so on and so on.as it was getting towards peak hour in the afternoon and im getting quite hungry and tired so i decide to hike it home.when i got home the police were blocking of the streets so people can sit and set up chairs on the road to watch tonights fireworks.our hotel decided to throw a party and get everyone on the roof to watch the show.i have loads of pics to upload when i get home and put it in here for you guys to check out.

air guitar

no its not a vending machine for dirty knickers but…..

you do get some cool toys in there.

and what i really liked was this,my first ever encounter with a square watermelon,only in japan…..

and also this for that special someone…

Sumo

So this is what i found out last night,if you ever want to see anything for free in tokyo get the book tokyo for free….
as i was flicking through the book making notes on places to see round tokyo,one of them was tsukiji fish markets but unfortunately i didnt bring boots to wear with me to walk through the markets but i will try to go there when i have some plastic bags to cover my sneakers and do it ghetto style.
the other thing was sumo,yesterday a young sumo rode by me while i was walking round asakusa checking out places to eat.as so happens that there is a sumo stable close by.if you wanted to visit a sumo stable the best thing to do was ring to get permission to drop by and watch the big boys go throught their training regime and watch how they go about their daily routine,from the apprentices all the way to the champions.and i believe the sumos are pretty fast as well.
i did get a photo of these guys at a traditional communal bath

Tokyo

So im sitting here in a hotel in asakusara,wondering when in hell it will ever drop in temperature.
since i have arrived into tokyo i have consumed a lot of liquids,mostly what i initially thought of as disgusting when i first saw it in a vending machine in takashimadaira station.the machine had a huge sign called pocari sweat.so i was a little intimidated when i looked at it in the vending machine.
what the hell were they selling here?
thoughts of sumo wrestlers harvesting their sweat after a hard days wrestling and manhandling each other in the heat and then bottling the sweat to sell to everyone to drink kinda got me on guard.
but being so parched and dry as a nun,i took the plunge and dropped in 120 yen and the machine quietly dispensed my sumo sweat.
so upon opening the bottle and taking a huge swig,to my surpise all it tasted of was lemon.so i read a little more of the lable and the whole thing was explained to me.
it was like gatorade or any of the other electrolyte drinks on the market which was a huge relief.
i also noticed a lot of canned coffee that all the kids are drinking,mind you i tried it but it wasnt something i liked.

canned coffee….

this is what i loved the most…150 yen for 200mls of sake goodness

and i also liked this….
270 yen for half a litre can of asahi

Time flies

Where has time gone?

Febuary is done and its been a while since i posted anything.
A lot has happened since with the coffee kids auction where i gave up my services to train people as a barista at the cafe.
Also Wicked has been hopping with people as we are getting an influx of new regulars coming in and enjoying the ambience and the coffee,so ive been training new staff and re-training old staff as well and getting everyone calibrated so the consistency is the same across the board.

With March well on the way,a few of the old staff and also new ones,have been on my case to help them with getting prepped for the next canadian barista comp.With the central canadians coming up in April,i’ll be helping my friend Matt get ready for the comp in April,which means a trip to Intelligentsia in chicago to do a mock run to get some feed back.

The reason ive been a lazy arse is ive been hitting the mountain as much as i can while the snow is around,had some great powder days and took some great pictures last week,but alas i lost my camera somewhere in them hills when i went tumbling like a tossed rag doll,and didnt even notice it until i wanted to capture some awesome terrain pictures at dusk,and let me just say how pissed off i was,so i decided to bomb down the hill as fast as i can,which was kinda stupid as i was close to pulling a sonny bono.

Although the sheer speed and the silence was something else,so i finally got over it and enjoyed the rest of the session.