Foodie Friday

I am starting to figure out this technology thing. NO WAIT - if I say that, it means something is going to change right away just as I get the old system down. Oh well...

I am using the 'blog now - post later' function. :) At this very moment, I should be sitting in a meeting having fellowship, training and a wee bit of fun socializing with other missionaries in Honduras at the annual Honduras Missionary Conference.

I did want to make sure I got a food post though. I know that you're all just on the edge of your seat waiting for the next tip on doing beans and rice in a new way. (s.a.r.c.a.s.m.....) :)

Speaking of beans.....................

Here's how we get them. I'd already used over 1/2 of this bag. We usually buy in bulk. :)


Here's what I have to do with them before I can even wash them.

CAN YOU SEE ALL THAT?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Closeup.

Those are rocks my friends. Plus dirt. However,the bugs ran off my counter before I could grab the camera. A few sticks thrown in for good measure.

We only pay about 10 Lempira a pound so a few extra grams of sticks and rocks won't hurt you. Oh wait - yes they can and I've had enough dental work done in Honduras to be very motivated to be thorough in my sorting and cleaning of the beans.

But look at what I get after all that effort!



Yum.

Sometimes we have to do this with the rice.

Oh, and the coffee.

Yes, the coffee.

Sweet Maria's we miss you. Although we are paying a whole lot less for our green beans. It just takes me an hour or so to sort through them.

In case you missed it in our various postings, we like our coffee. We call it our morning cup of 'cope'. Plus - since we don't go on dates much or do much else fancy - this is our 'it' time. Before we get to the roasting lesson (HA!), I'll show you the 'behind the scenes' work that goes into each and every cup.

(GRANTED - this is the effort and time that I do - the workers who run the fincas (farms), plant the coffee plants, grow, care for, harvest, dry, sort, bag, and ship the coffee can't be shown in this blog post as I don't have pictures of that. It's a long process.)

We sort our own coffee beans now. There's nothing 'organic' or 'choosing simple living' about it. It's a necessity.

This is a picture of the second sort. I usually go through them about three times because a rock in our grinder will make our grinder crabby.

This is the quantity after about an hour.


Actually we have roasted our own coffee beans for years (like 6 or so...can't remember). We USED to have an air popper to do this the fast and slick way, but mixing voltages, appliances, languages, and not realizing things get wired 220v(!) but are in looks set up 110v(!)...well - you burn up a much prized air popper. Then you try and replace it here with 2 EXPENSIVE appliances (all appliances are expensive) and let's just say those each lasted about a month. Grrr...

So you revert to prairie days. They aren't romantic to me anymore. Just a lot of time consuming hard work and I KNOW that I have it pretty, darn easy.

Anyway - the stove top method. It works. We just have a hard time getting an even roast. Especially when the wife tries to multi-task. Learned that lesson the smokey way.
*cough* *cough*

My one skillet. It does everything. EVERYTHING.


Add a shallow layer of green beans to the hot pan and let 'er rip. We roast over medium heat and stir fairly often.

Then you get this....

Then you get this...

Then you get to sweep this up off your floor but you won't bother until you're all done because that would be pointless.


It's chaff. It comes off the beans as they roast. We have had some VERY fun conversations about God separating the wheat from the chaff. Only coffee beans have been our visual aids.

Eventually you wind up with this.


(Yikes - looking at this picture here makes me think EVEN ROASTING is something I really need to work on. Hmmm...part of it is lighting, part of it is me. I'm getting better but it's a rather steep learning curve.)

After the smoke clears, you're ready to invite friends over for coffee. After you grind them and run them through the espresso machine and steam the milk of course. :)

Tomalo con gusto!!!

Come on down and have a cup...it was made with time, effort, and lots of love. You are welcome here anytime...

Faith