Hugo D. Driscoll Blog

Friday, May 27, 2016

Book #86: The Heart of the Matter

This book. I don’t know what I expected coming into The Heart of the Matter. I’ve already read The Power and the Glory, which I currently have ranked 27 out of the 85 novels I’ve read so far, and I knew Graham Greene was an exceptional writer. But I didn’t quite expect to like this […]

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LPN’s May Natural Beauty Faves

Oh, spring. Filled with flowers, outdoor yoga and skincare switch ups. This month I’m sharing my latest and greatest finds with you – and what I’m using now.

Make sure to connect with me over the weekend, as I’ll be in NYC finding all things good and natural. Follow my journey on Snapchat (add snap.kate) and on my Instagram (@livingprettynaturally).

Bottega Organica Rejuvenating Face Scrub

What to say about this beauty, other than I am loving it wholly and fully. Sea salt and lemon for scrubbing, lightening and brightening. This is a glow getter. Mediterranean sea salt combines with purifying thyme and lemon to cleanse and purify the skin (no more dead cells here)! The organic shea butter, beeswax, carrots and apricots nourish and soften. The result? Walking away with some seriously soft, dewy and glowing skin.

Where to Shop

Online at EcoDiva Beauty (worldwide) for $88 USD

Annmarie Skin Care Earth Minerals Foundation

This is no newbie to the pages of LPN, but today it deserved a comeback. This month I received a new order of some of my favourites from Annmarie Skin Care (as you know, one of my favourite brands). Why is it brought back? Because my love for it is still full force and you need to know about it. I use this foundation daily (when I’m not testing new product) and it is brilliant, uber coverage, uber natural and get this — LIQUID. Yup, it’s a liquid foundation. You mix this powder with a little facial oil (comes in the package, but not pictured) and create a perfect creamy, flawless foundation. Yup. An official, “scream from the rooftops” item on my LPN LOVES.

Where to Shop

Online at Annmarie Skin Care Earth Minerals Foundation for $49.95 USD

I wear the colour sand, but check out the sample kit first to see what is best for you.

DoTerra Essential Oil Blend in Balance

I love essential oils, and this year I jumped into exploring the world of DoTerra, thanks to inspo from a fellow yogini here in Oslo. Mornings are beautifully entered into with some Balance diffusing around the room – and it’s also a brilliant addition to your at home yoga or meditation practice.

The balance blend is Spruce, Ho Wood, Frankincense, Blue Tansy, and Blue Chamomile with Fractionated Coconut Oil. It’s a fantastic blend to diffuse just to ground down and feel connected to mother earth. Lavender and Balance blend are my faves at the moment for lowering the shoulders and stressing down.

Where to Shop

Online on Living Pretty Naturally’s DoTerra Shop – Lavender for $28 USD and Balance Blend for $26.67

DoTerra Essential Oil Petal Diffuser

I’ve also recently purchased this new diffuser from DoTerra. It’s a powerhouse, filling up a large open landscape apartment within a few minutes. It’s also pretty and soothing, with a light that you can choose to have on or off (great if you want to fall asleep to a little chamomile or lavender aromatherapy).

I’m also loving that it can go for hours — 4 at its top! Absolutely perfect for when you’re entertaining too!

Where to Shop

Online at Living Pretty Naturally’s DoTerra Market for $62.66 USD

Annmarie Skin Care Repair Serum

Yup, here she is again. Again, because I did my own order this month, I had a lot of product to re-add to my routine. This one I’ve missed for a while. I’ve been without it while I’ve been testing new products these months and I wanted to reconnect with it (yup, reconnect with a face serum – ha) while I was in between serum testing. It’s just as I remembered. I use it for treating sun spots, “age spots” (basically hyper pigmentation) and acne scarring. It’s base is aloe vera, which is fantastic for these purposes as well as general anti-aging.

I wear this serum under my facial oil morning and night. After I’ve applied my serum, I then use my facial oil and finally I spritz with a hydrosol.

Where to Shop

Online at Annmarie Skin Care for $59.95 USD

Living Libations Maidenfern Blushing Balm

Now this is a cool little addition — a blushing balm. Don’t be thrown off by the tiny size of this jar, a little bit takes you a long way. Living Libations have cleverly crafted with cayenne, cinnamon and peppermint to give you a natural blush (your own microcirculation gets a kickstart, helping you look like you’ve just walked out of a yoga class and are ready for the day). Naturally coloured with from the juice of roots, it is also immediate in its brightening.

I’m loving this on my cheeks and lips. It’s the perfect daywear and purse companion. Instant pick-me-up.

Where to Shop

Shop online at Living Libations Online $20 USD

Henne Organics Rose Diamonds Lip Exfoliator

So it seems I’m really into scrubs this month… well, yes, I am. Spring is all about shedding. Shedding the crap we don’t need anymore – whether it’s attitudes, dudes (ha) or dead skin (ew). Adding to my faves this month is the lovely Hennė organics who is back with another beauty of a product: a lip exfoliator. I’m loving this blend of organic sugar, coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, vanilla, jojoba seed oil, vitamin E, red chokeberry and rose oil that smooth out the dry bits on the lips. Simply rub in a circular motion on the lips for 30 seconds or so, and rinse. If you ever deal from dry lips or you find your lipstick sits in lines in the lips, use this in the AM before applying your lip balm or lipstick.

Where to Shop

Shop online internationally at EcoDiva Beauty for $24.25 USD

Sending you lots of love and light from NYC.
Looking forward to updating you on my trip there and all the lovely little bits I will experience.

from Living Pretty, Naturally http://ift.tt/1seRwrl

Thursday, May 26, 2016

LA Coffee Watch: Tatiana Ernst Is Our New Staff Writer

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A bit of internal housekeeping to let you know about today here at Sprudge Media Network, as we’re very excited to announce a new member of our team: Tatiana Ernst, Sprudge.com’s new staff writer for the Los Angeles area.

Born and raised in LA, Tatiana Ernst’s reporting specializes on coffee, food, beverages, and the delicious intersection thereof. An avid traveler, Ernst tells us she’s captivated by city life all around the world. When she isn’t trying out new coffee spots, she’s capturing the ever-changing landscape of Los Angeles (and the world) with film photography.

There’s probably no coffee beat in the world more demanding and fast-moving right now than Los Angeles, and so we’re really excited to be growing our regular coverage of LA coffee content on Sprudge. Some of our favorite Tatiana Ernst stories to date include this visit to the quirky & delicious world of Semi-Tropic in Echo Park, a deeply chill hang at Mega Bodega in DTLA, this snapshot of the growing food & coffee scene at Demitasse Hollywood, and a glance over the hill at Coffee Source in Studio City.

Look for much more from Tatiana Ernst (@tatianaernst on Twitter) and #SprudgeLA in the coming weeks and months, and thank you for reading Sprudge Media Network.

The post LA Coffee Watch: Tatiana Ernst Is Our New Staff Writer appeared first on Sprudge.

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Camber Coffee And The New Curve Of American Microroasters

What does it mean for a brand to come out of nowhere? Or out of Bellingham, Washington?

It’s been a whirlwind first six months for Camber Coffee, a new microroasting coffee project from David Yake, Andrew Bowman, and Todd Elliott. Hatched in the belly of a cocktail bar—The Real McCoy in Bellingham—the first bags of their sophisticated, well-received coffees dropped in the winter of 2015, and the roaster has slowly begun building a roster of clients around the United States. Camber, who are advertising partners of Sprudge, have quietly amassed an esteemed following both in the Northwest (including being served at Canlis Restaurant, Analog Coffee, and Royal Drummer, all in Seattle) as well as at high-profile shops like Cognoscenti Coffee, G&B Coffee/Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles, Mazarine Coffee in San Francisco, and Barista in Portland, Oregon.

Andrew Bowman’s background is in dining, and he’s a culinary school graduate. David Yake got his start as a barista at Parnassus Cafe on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. And Todd Elliott is a second-generation coffee professional with three decades in the business. They met as part of the team at Tony’s Coffee in Bellingham, where Bowman and Yake have stacked up accolades over years of work together, including a first place win in the 2014 Roasters Choice Competition at SCAA for Bowman, and a third place finish for Yake at the 2014 US Cup Tasters Championship.

Camber means, simply, “curve”, a reference to the “roast curve” coffee roasters use to track the development of green coffee as it slowly turns brown under heat. Their logo has been adapted from A Handbook on Arabica Coffee in Tanganyika, a 1960s coffee agronomy textbook given to them as a gift by John Gibb, owner of the Willows Inn on Lummi Island, where Camber is also served. More on them later.

David Yake (left) and Andrew Bowman, at Cerro Azul in Valle del Cauca, Colombia.

Yake and Bowman are the young bloods, while Elliott is the old hand—he’s been their boss over the last several years at Tony’s, where he’s the President and CEO. In some ways it’s a familiar story: young’uns at an established coffee company (Tony’s launched in 1971) yearn for something of their own, so they break away and do their own thing. Except instead of the usual storyline—boss finds out, boss gets mad, the dreamers ship out—Yake and Bowman brought their boss in on it. While all three remain tied to Tony’s, Elliott’s allowed the team to incubate the Camber micro-brand within Tony’s facility, and he’s even an investor.

“I guess I didn’t want to miss out,” Elliott tells me of his decision to help his employees’ coffee dreams. “Andrew and David, they’re family. I want for them to realize their potential, to follow their passions. And to be honest, I knew they were going to do this one way or the other…with or without me.”

For a seasoned professional (in any industry), a move like Elliott’s belies some degree of humility—but he’s savvy enough to know it’s also smart business. “Their success is my success,” Elliott says. “When I look back at my coffee career—and I’m well into the second half—one of the things that will matter most to me is how I was helpful to the development of the people I’ve worked with. The ripple effect…that’s how you can actually make a meaningful difference in the world.”

With improved access to green and less focus on the trappings of scale, are microroasters the future of coffee quality?

One person who thinks so is Charles Babinski, the American barista champion and proprietor, along with Kyle Glanville, of G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles. His cafes are inarguably two of the country’s best, and they follow a kind of modified multi-roaster model: featured roasters can come from nearly anywhere in the world, but the espresso menu is anchored by offerings from 49th Parallel, in Vancouver, British Colombia. Babinski–whom Yake describes as “one of the most generous people in coffee”—was an early champion of Camber, and having their coffees placed in his cafes after just a few months in business was a total coup.

“What Camber is doing is really special,” Charles Babinski told me over a Facetime chat from Korea. “It’s cool because small roasters used to have to suck for a long time to get good, but that isn’t true anymore. It used to be that the big specialty coffee companies had the keys to the kingdom—the direct relationships, the alchemical knowledge of roasting—but now, with the rise of good green importers and an analytical approach to roasting, a lot of the small companies are on par with the big guys, or actually better.”

And for an industry that’s walked a fine line between insisting on top quality and fetishizing small-scale craft—and often had to choose between the two—the more ready synthesis of these is a new moment. Babinski sees an argument for tiny brands like Camber buying high quality green and paying careful attention to how they develop it. “The idea that for a brand like Camber, the first few roasts they put out as a business being something we’d want to buy…it’s just really cool,” Babinski told me.

That sound you hear is every small roaster in America nodding their heads in unison.

So how then, does a young and unknown coffee roasting company get picked by Glanville & Babinski? “They just sent us some samples,” Babinski said, matter-of-factly. His team in Los Angeles receives a torrent of samples each month from enthusiastic roasters around the country, and they cup and evaluate them all. “When one stands out that’s good, we send a follow-up, and with Camber we felt like…it’s not just good, it’s a type of coffee we can sell.” For Babinski that also meant a coffee that is not a light-roasted, Scandinavian influenced, trend-chasing tea-like brew. Indeed it means just the opposite. “Camber’s coffees are rounder, fuller, and they taste good,” he explained.

For his part, roaster Andrew Bowman sees a more profiled, fuller approach to roasting as a matter of intentionality—not just about eschewing those super-Scandi-style coffees. “My roasting approach is focused on bringing out sweetness, balance, and flavors that are unique to that particular coffee,” says Bowman—and it’s an approach that has clearly connected with many beyond Babinski.

So if the little guys—Nelsonville, Wisconsin’s Ruby Coffee Roasters come to mind—have leveled the playing field, and microroasters can access the same high quality coffee, pay meticulous attention to roasting, and put out a product that rivals any larger coffee brand, then logic demands an evaluation of the fixed costs. Green coffee costs the same if you’re in Brooklyn or Bellingham, but rent most assuredly does not. These days, to be a great coffee roaster, not only don’t you have to be in a major city, it probably behooves you to not be in one. None of this coffee is grown in Los Angeles, or New York City, or Chicago or Austin, anyway, but the rent you pay to roast and operate is tethered to the local market. The rise of the small town microroaster is a logical extension of the specialty movement.

Todd Elliott.

Bellingham isn’t quite central Wisconsin, though—a couple hundred thousand people live here, and there is a big state college, Western Washington University, where I went to several years of nerd summer camp as a teen. I wouldn’t call Bellingham a foodie destination—the burritos at Casa Que Pasa not withstanding—but for one major exception: Willows Inn, on nearby Lummi Island, part of the stunningly gorgeous San Juan Islands chain.

Michelin don’t come this way yet, but when that changes expect a star or three for chef Blaine Wetzel at the Willows. An apprentice of Rene Redzepi—whose Noma restaurant in Copenhagen has helped define what it means for a modern dining room to care about coffee—Wetzel is a two-time James Beard Award winner, pulling off a rare back to back victory as Rising Star Chef Of The Year in 2014 and Best Chef for the Northwest region in 2015. After your geoduck charred with kelp, Dungeness crab in pureed pine nuts, and spring lamb with meadow grasses, you can look forward to a cup of Camber Coffee, brewed on a Ratio Coffee Machine.

Willows’ owner, the aforementioned John Gibb, actually grew up on a coffee farm in Kenya—but that’s quite literally another story for later this year. He and Wetzel attended a series of intimate cuppings with Camber in Bellingham, “and the coffees won them over” says Yake. From there the Camber team has been closely involved in the evolution of the coffee program at Willows, a program that does justice to the extraordinary food served there. “I’ve spent a lot of time working with their staff,” Yake says, “and it’s always inspiring to see the complete buy-in they get from every single member of their team.” It’s a sentiment we’ve heard echoed by coffee pros lucky enough to work with professional restaurant staffs, including back at Rene’s place.

Camber is still, strictly speaking, a tiny new coffee roasting company. They still share space with Tony’s up in Bellingham, which has been an important advantage in moving forward. I asked Yake if they’d someday be opening their own Camber Coffee bar, because isn’t that what’s supposed to happen next? Maybe not. “We’re constantly dreaming about opening our own space,” Yake admits, “but for now we’re focused on making sure every roast is spot-on and providing the best service we can to our wholesale customers.”

For what it’s worth, Camber feels the growing pains. “When you have something new that you’re wildly excited about, there’s a lot of temptation to climb on the roof and shout and throw coffee at everyone below,” David Yake tells me. “But that wouldn’t be the best idea for a variety of reasons. We’re constantly reminding each other of the need to do things right, even if that means it takes twice as long.”

“We have the luxury of being patient,” says Todd Elliott, and you can practically taste it in their coffee. Enjoy Camber’s little secret while you can, coffee drinkers. Stuff like this only stays small for so long.

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge.com. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

The post Camber Coffee And The New Curve Of American Microroasters appeared first on Sprudge.

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Log Home Inspection: What to look for when buying a log and timber home

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” my dad use to say. The same goes when buying a custom Log or Timber Frame Home. It’s important to do a full log home inspection, inside and out so you can assess and address any potential problem areas. The exterior logs may not look perfect but that doesn’t mean you should turn your back on a once beautiful home. Some log homes just need a little tender love and care to bring them back to their original beauty. Log homes have some characteristics that are very different from conventional homes, so here are a few things to look for when shopping for a log house.

Log Home Settling and Shrinking

First off, full scribe log homes are the most prone to settling but all log homes have a bit of settling and shrinking. Settling typically occurs over the first few years as the logs dry, lose their moisture and shrink. A properly built log home will take this shrinkage into consideration when building to ensure you don’t have major cracks or structural damage. Here are some signs to look for that may indicate the home didn’t settle properly.

Logs inside and outside the home: Logs shrink in diameter due to loss of their natural bound water over time. As they dry out, they may naturally crack. Some cracks are not a concern but larger cracks more that ¼” in width should be repaired or have some caulking applied.

Windows and doors: Log homes should be built with settling space above the doors and windows in order to prevent the weight of the walls from bearing down on them. If you notice bowing or the doors sticking when opening this may be the result of not enough space left for settling.

Staircases: If walls lose height, anything connected to them does as well, and this includes the stairs. Inspect stairs to ensure they are level and still properly connected to the home.

Electrical and pipes: Vertically installed plumbing pipes and rigid conduit may accumulate stress in two or more storied homes if not properly installed for shrinkage. It’s important to work with an electrician and plumber that has expertise with log homes as the procedures are slightly different compared to traditional log homes.

Log Home Exterior

It’s not uncommon for log homes to look a bit dirty and have some flaking on their finish, but if you notice black spots on the exterior surface, this could be a sign of mold or mildew. If possible, use a hammer to tap the logs. If you hear a hollow sound, this could be a good indication of rotting within the logs.

Log Finish Stains and Coatings

Logs can easily become deteriorated by weather. Different stains and coatings are designed to protect log surfaces from UV damage, while some also prevent destruction from wood-loving insects and pests. To test the effectiveness of your log home’s finish, spray the logs with water – if the water beads on the surface, all is well, but if it is absorbed by the wood, then the finish is no longer functioning properly.

Insect Infestation

Fortunately, most wood-destroying insects tend to leave behind little clues of infestation. The entry and exit holes can tell you what species of insects you are dealing with, while sometimes you may actually see the insects themselves. Both termites and carpenter ants shed their wings and burrow into the wood when they reach a new location, leaving behind tell-tale piles of wings and small bits of sawdust-like particles around holes. Be sure to research what damage-causing insect is in your area, as well as any tips on how to prevent infestations.

Proper Drainage

We talk often of the perimeter of your home having proper drainage, and it is crucial that no logs are touching soil or grass. As beautiful as your landscaping can be, it can cause serious moisture issues and bug infestations, when it resides too close to the exterior logs of your home.

Deck Flashing

When installed correctly, decks look amazing, so make sure the proper flashing has been installed and that there are no huge gaps between the exterior wall and the deck. When water drips off the roof and onto the deck it tends to splash back onto the house, so keep an eye out for water damage.

Gutters

Though not all that aesthetically-pleasing, gutters prevent water from running down the exterior walls and causing water damage to your log home. The downspouts also direct water away from the foundation, preventing water from going directly into the basement.

Overhangs and Exposed Logs

Overhangs keep snow and rain from saturating the foundation and off the exterior walls. They should be no less than 24 inches and at least 36 inches on a two story home. Logs that have been exposed to natural elements can turn grey and begin to rot over time creating huge structural damage to the home.

Missing or Messy Chinking or Caulking

Look for any spots where the chinking or caulk is missing or appears messy and unappealing. This could be an indication that other areas of the home may not be up to par care. The repairs should not be done with a “good enough” attitude and shouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb.

If you do notice there are some areas of the home that need some attention and repair, you can hire an experienced log home builder or trades person to help you in most cases. This article will provide you with a good overview of what you should be looking for and we recommended having someone who is familiar with log homes to accompany you, even a log home trained inspector, as log homes have different behaviours compared to traditional homes.

If you have purchased a log home and are looking to have some repairs or renovations done feel free to contact us info@artisanlog.com.

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