ypsi~dixit

E.Y. enjoyed reading her Peterson's Guide to Edible Plants on the bus this a.m. Boy, is it good. Every time I read it I learn something new--today, I learned that milkweed flowers make dandy fritters, and I closely scrutinized Water Hemlock and its deadly similarity to the other wild carrots. One mouthful of this, our deadliest species, can kill.

I also pondered the vast number of new spring plant shoots that make yummy asparagus-like dishes--pondered how to ID them before many leaves, much less flowers, emerge.

And read how to make tasty chicory coffee. I should try that, just out of curiosity.

My grandmother used to talk about roasting chicory roots and mixing them with coffee. She said it was really good. I have a lot of chicory in my yard and sometimes wonder if I should give it a try. Mostly to feel closer to my grandmother who has been dead for over a decade but also because she might have been on to something.

I read about chicory this a.m. Yep, root-roasting, just as you said.

According to Peterson:

"The roots make an excellent coffeelike beverage when roasted in an oven until dark brown and brittle, ground, and prepared like coffee; use roughly 1 and 1/2 tsp. Chicory for each cup of water."

Antique Engine Show comes to Domino's Sept. 1 & 2. It's free, and it's fun. Y. enjoys going and seeing all the old engines. One year there was a solar-powered piston, very cool.

And if you look around hard enough you might find some smeary third-generation Xeroxes with exclamation points, triple underlines, and Madonnas on them.

Check out the Frog Island Amphitheater Saturday Evening for the New World Music Tour featuring Styles Davis, City Goat, and the debut peformance of TreeTown Underground. Great local talent and the best venue at the Festival. Starts at 6pm, and it's free.
See ya there.

I am not sure if this fits into any of the topics, but I figured I would throw it out on your open mic section. Today I had a customer bounce from my cafe because we use foam cups for serving coffee. This is the first time that I am aware this happened, and it kind of bothers me. I know most people who care about the environment are opposed to foam, and I have always felt uncomfortable using foam, but I haven’t found a better alternative. I did some research about the issue, and found that when you use paper, the cups are coated in plastic, so they aren’t recyclable. Also when serving hot drinks you have to either double cup or get sleeves to insulate the cups causing more items to end up in the landfill. After looking at all the options, I decided to use Dart products because they don’t use any CFC's in their production, and they also invest a lot of money in developing recycling technologies for foam. From everything I have read they seem like a good company with a positive environmental focus. I guess my question to the readership of this blog is am I doing the right thing?



As far as the rest of my business goes, we recycle everything we can. All of the cardboard that comes in on shipments is taken to the recycling center one to two times a week as well as all of our canned and plastic containers. We use butcher paper and paper trays to wrap our sandwiches, and we ask every customer if they want a plastic bag hoping they will just take the paper wrapped items. The only items that I really question are the cups we use for drinks and serving ice cream which are foam, but I really can't come up with a suitable alternative.



I know it is only one customer that I have lost because of this, but it really bothers me, and I want to do my best to do the right thing. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Jim, maybe you should try personalized coffee mug parking hooks hanging over your work station. (Copying the scheme at the Corner Brewery). Coffee and Beer share consumption similarities. If a customer wants to be earth friendly and has a few minutes to really enjoy their indulgence, then they can purchase a 'Special membership" which allows them a place to hang their own cup/mug.
For carry-out? How about paper inside of foam. Biggest problem with carry-out coffee is poorly designed lids. Get a better cup-lid combo, pass the extra cost onto the customer, and everyone's happy without costing you a cent. Good Luck.

Jim: that's what this space is for; your question fits perfectly.

I think it's admirable that you've researched the issue and chose a non-CFC cup.

I like OG's membership idea, like in an old-timey barber shop.

You could also do this: produce a bunch of Cafe Luwak-themed portable lidded travel cups on CafePress. This is easy and cheap, and you can then order just the number you want on an as-needed basis (no giant boxes of cups taking up space). Make it like a club: "The Green Cup Club" (good advertising for Cafe Luwak when people see the cup). The deal is, your regulars receive/buy this reuseable travel mug in lieu of taking out a paper/foam cup. They bring it back next time for a refill.

Or, why not make the search for a good cup alternative into a contest for customers? This will not only publicize your committment to being green, it will strengthen community with your customer base AND might lead to a heretofore unimagined idea from some bright young person.

Laura, I like the way you think!

OG: Thank you kindly...but I was just building on your idea.

These are definitely some good ideas. For our in house service we already use glass coffee cups, so it is really figuring out the best way to do the to go cups. I have been thinking about getting travel mugs for a while, so now that Heritage Festival is over, I will start looking into that more. We already have a policy that if you bring your own cup, we only charge for a small, and that would probably be a good selling feature of the travel mugs for regular customers.

Hm. I'll have to remember the BYOC bonus. I usually have a bike water bottle somewhere on my person, which in fact I do use for coffee. I wonder if that counts.