The Leeming Effect - stop dragging my timeline around · Sunday April 11, 2021 by colin newell
Around two decades ago I was in the parking lot at the University of Victoria – likely on a Saturday – doing some extra chores.
I finished up about mid-day and was about to set off for some downtown routine to-do items when a strange man appeared in front of my car. He was quite distinguished and around 60 years old – give or take.
I tapped the brake to a stop and he stood by the drivers side window as I rolled it down.
“Hello…” I said, if offering some help to someone appearing very lost.
“Hello…” he paused, and continued. “Do you know someone by the name of John Smith?”
“Why yes, I do…” relieved that this interaction was about to start making sense.
The man looked up over the hood into the sunshine, squinting and paused for around 30 more seconds.
He then returned his very serious looking gaze to me. Another pause of around 30 seconds began. This time the seconds seemed to tick by much more slowly.
“You have coffee at the Finnerty Express most weekdays do you not?” he pointed out with crystal clarity.
I now felt like I was having a very cautious conversation with a CSIS officer.
“Uhm, yes… yes I do… and…”, I slipped back into the conversation.
He then addressed me by name, which surprised me. “Colin, you are Colin, yes? I shall see you for coffee next week…”
He turned on his heel and vanished as quickly as he appeared.
I had a funny feeling that his presence manifested itself at that moment to impede my progress downtown.
In some small (or profound) way he was interfering with the passage of time or my timeline, that if not interrupted, would have lead to some major or minor catastrophe.
These are regular (I guess if you can call them that…) encounters with regular people who, for the moment, are a form of guardian angel arriving just in a nick of time to prevent something really bad from happening.
And yes, the very next week, “David” appeared for coffee – and has appeared for coffee ever week (vacations occasionally interrupting) since that fateful encounter 20 years ago.
Today a young man stopped me at the Root Cellar farmers market in the very same fashion.
He was drawn to a very special sweat shirt that I was wearing. It was the classic blue sweatshirt from the very old and no longer in existence Victoria College from well before 1963! I won’t include the entire conversation (and for the record I was in no hurry…) but he had so many questions.
So this is what it felt like to be a pop star encountering a fan that I could simply not shake. But in this instance, the shirt was the attraction.
He was with his wife or girlfriend but it seemed that the Victoria College shirt took center stage.
Nothing mattered but the shirt I was wearing.
Within a minute or so of answering a barrage of questions, the answers to which he did not appear to be absorbing, I broke away to go through my grocery shortlist.
Within a minute he re-appeared and the questions began again. I quietly and calmly answered and then satisfied, he returned to his shopping… as if nothing had happened.
In an odd coincidence, the elderly man at the beginning of this story was a Victoria College student and a faculty member!
I could not help feeling that I’d just had some kind of alien encounter – but in a good way. I mean, I am, by and large, a science guy, but very occasionally, lost in the glint of bright sunlight or hidden in the shadows of a rainy Victoria afternoon, rests something very likely between science… and the Twilight Zone…
Colin Newell lives and works in Victoria B.C. Canada and has been writing about coffee and food culture for what feels like an eternity…
Long lost Gibson Guitar Les Paul Gold top stolen from ago · Saturday March 20, 2021 by colin newell
A very long time ago (1985) I was a Gibson guitar player – The Gibson Les Paul guitars are awesome for Rock, Blues, Jazz, pretty much whatever you want to play.
And I played this one in a few eighties bands… in a life a long time ago.
That said, I was not a big fan of this for some reason. It might have been the colour or the weight.
Ah, the weight! It was like carrying around a large dog draped around your shoulder – like a Lab or a Bull Mastiff -
The sound of the Gibson Les Paul is unmistakable – it snarled like a cornered tiger and effortlessly took charge of any musical performance it was involved with.
But the weight got me down… literally… and one day I sold it to a notable and successful gigging musician and session player. That was in 1990.
The new owner traveled the World with it – and the old Gibson took on a new life of its own. Click photo for bigger view
Then one day in 1992, it was in the locked trunk of of the owner, “Sean’s” 1980 Buick in underground, gated parking beneath the Seagate Apartments on Esquimalt Rd. He came home after an afternoon practice and had left it for around two hours before he had to head out to another practice. Two hours in a locked basement garage. It could have been an inside job, an unscrupulous neighbour… someone that clearly did not appreciate the fact that this particular guitar playing fellows livelihood depended on those 6 stringed instruments. Guitar be gone.
Anyway – occasionally I make a shout out to the World about this missing guitar – likely in the wrong hands, maybe getting played, maybe not or in the hands of someone that is not aware that it is hot.
Click Photo for a bigger view.
Anyway – here is the picture of the guitar stolen years ago – and somewhere out there, this guitar is waiting to come home to its owner. If you see it, please send it on its way.
The original owner thanks you!
This was a 1971 or 1972 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with hard case stolen from the Seagate Apartment parking lot in 1992. The serial number is 171568 –
Any intel on this item would likely be rewarded with cash or whole bean coffee! Or both!
The Soul Commotion - photos and music from the 1990's · Friday March 19, 2021 by colin newell
Soul Commotion from the archives!
Download here – Track-1-Small.mp3
Way back in the 1990’s I did a photo shoot for a Gospel R&B band that rehearsed at Glad Tidings Church. The objective was to get some tight band shots for use in promotional materials. I shot a few rolls. The band leader was not excited about the results. So I put them in my film archive with the other 12,000 film images I have taken over the years.
Now 27 years later I am opening the archive. I also have a copy of the bands 4 song EP that I am digitizing for them – and I will scan all the other photos. Above is a sample track for downloading or listening.
Enjoy!
Nice buns - sourdough style. · Tuesday October 20, 2020 by colin newell
Pull-apart rolls have always been part of our childhood, whether they were dinner table accessories during Thanksgiving, market bought for summer BBQs, or served at school alongside baked beans and mac ‘n cheese. These sourdough rolls take the classic soft roll and improve on the texture and, most importantly, the flavour.
Working with sourdough has opened quite a few doors for me. It is the current faddish bragging right – but sourdough items are nutritious in a way that makes them worth the extra effort and planning.
Plus, this particular recipe has a sweet, buttery, and curiously tangy profile that keeps you coming back for more.
You’ve been warned!
This is a simple recipe. Follow the steps and the weights!
Take your sourdough starter. Create a functional levain. Away you go!
Disclaimer Note: This is not a masterclass on starters and levain. The assumption is: you know the difference.
Fed Levain –
24 grams ripe sourdough starter
60 grams all-purpose flour
60 grams water
12 grams white granulated sugar
Roll ingredients
440 grams all-purpose flour
180 grams warm water
115 grams whole milk, cold
75 grams butter (softened)
23 grams granulated sugar
10 grams fine sea salt
Instructions
Fed Levain – Add 24 grams of your ripe starter to a bowl. Add 60 grams all purpose flour and 60 grams warm (but not hot) water. Stir to combine. Add 12 grams (or less if you are inclined) granulated sugar to this mix. Combine. You can leave this on a counter for 2-4 hours until it starts to rise up in the bowl. Depending on your timing, you can put it in the fridge overnight. It will still need 2 – 4 hours to “come to life…”
When you are happy that your levain is perky and ready, get your main roll ingredients out and a suitably large mixing bowl.
Here is the order in which I add things – it may vary from the standard but the end result is the same.
Add 180 grams of warm water to your mixing bowl (Use a digital scale to make sure everything is exact!)
Add your levain. Gently mix these two together.
Add your milk.
Add your sugar.
Add your salt.
Add your 440 grams of all-purpose flour to this mix.
For this recipe I use a kitchen-aid mixer but you can do the following by hand if you want.
Mix for three to five minutes until the dough starts to unify and hang onto the mixing hook.
Add the butter in “tabs” or “portions” – just not all at once. Keep mixing until the butter is incorporated into the dough.
At this point you can leave the dough in the mixing bowl or transfer it into another vessel.
This will begin a 4 hour “bulk ferment”. If you have started all of this early in the day, the bulk ferment can take place in the bowl on a countertop in a reasonably warm kitchen – 71 degrees (F) or 21C. Things develop faster in a warmer space and slower in a cooler space. If you started this process in the early evening, you can bulk ferment overnight in a fridge for 8 hours or more.
Whichever way you choose, you need to do some stretch and folds on this dough to develop the gluten. If I am making bread during the daytime, I observe the following schedule: I do “pull and folds” or “Slap and folds” every 20 minutes for an hour. That is three “pull and folds” in one hour. And then two pull and folds over the next hour. And then one pull and fold in the third hour.
Obviously this is impractical if you are doing a refrigerated overnight bulk ferment. If you do an “overnight” then in the morning you should do a sequence of pull and folds. YouTube is a great resource for various pull, fold and slapping techniques for dough.
However you decide to do the bulk ferment and pull/fold combinations, you will still end up with a bowl of dough that has “risen” or increased 60 to 80% in volume. This is when you ready the dough for “segmentation” into 16 suitably sized balls (60g give or take) of dough for a greased (buttered) 9 × 13 glass casserole dish (2” deep generally).
I used a bench scraper for cutting off pieces of dough – but anything reasonably sharp will work.
Organize these balls of dough into the buttered casserole dish and don’t worry about them avoiding social distancing.
They are going to expand anyway – and when they are done, they’ll pull apart easily.
The Proof
For some, this is the hardest part of prepping dough for baking. How much time should pass during proofing before the dough is ready for the oven? You are going to need a minimum of 2 to 3 hours in a moderately warm kitchen (21C) and maybe longer. I did 4 hours of proofing and my buns were fine. The question remains: How do you know when the dough is suitably proofed?
My method is the poke test. The dough should raise by 60 – 80% by volume and pressing your finger gently into the dough should yield a slow 75% spring back. If it quickly springs back 100% it needs MORE proofing. If there is no spring back, then it is over proofed!
Baking
Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C) with a baking rack in the middle of the oven.
In a small bowl, whisk together one egg and a tablespoon of whole milk until frothy. Using a pastry brush, gently paint the egg wash onto the proofed dough in a thin, uniform layer.
Slide the pan with dough into the oven and bake for 25 minutes at 425°F (220°C). After this time, rotate the pan 180°, turn the oven down to 375°F (190°C), and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the rolls are golden brown. The internal temperature should be above 196°F – 210°F (93°C-96°C).
When baked, remove the pan from the oven, let rest 5 minutes, then turn the rolls out to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
