Very tight race.

It was an extremely tight race over the past 2 months, ups and downs, thicks and thins, straight stretches, and wild curves.

The Mustache-off between Jeremy R Jansen, Nicholas Brown, and myself, Samuel James, has come to its conclusion, 2 months in the waiting, and I am proud to hold the title as Mustache champion.
It's going to be a lot of shoe to fill, but I intend to keep this little furry trinket right where it belongs.

A show of hope for all man, a sign of the future for all children, and a statement for all to see.
I am Mustache, hear me roar.

Growing up, I wanted a batmobile, a leather jacket, and a mustache.
Those where dreams I could never have until this great day.

I thank you all for voting me your peoples champion, but I also thank my fellow competitors for their devotion to what never was a real "competition", rather a brotherly appreciation for a long lost mark of men.

Let your upper lip grow men, let it be free as the wild grass in the fields to the west, free as the migrating fowl, to set up shop wherever it is fit.

Let there be mustaches.

Manic Mother Fuckin' Mania!!

Maybe not the most appropriate post title when trying to big up the newly opened, and staffed up with true hippie speedballers, Manic Coffee, at 426 College @ Bathurst.

But it is MF'n mania o'er there, so I'm allowed to.

It has been 2 weeks already since we opened, and I have worked the shop every single day, yet somehow it doesn't even feel like its been 2 weeks.

I'm really feelin' it at the shop, it's getting better every day.
New equipment arrives, new products, new coffees!
We learn something, or have to re-evaluate and go back to square one all the time, and the same awesome customers keep coming back.

I think people in that area were really waiting for something like this, something that would not only fill the void, but overflow it with excellence.

New staff members slowly squirming in, getting some intense, but empowering training.
It's been great to see a person acquire a taste for espresso within a couple of days, to see those epiphanies happen, where the eyes widen, the light goes on, and they know something they had been struggling to figure out.

I feel like it has also made me go back to basics with how I make espresso, and relearn some things I had only known in theoretical knowledge, but was unable to fully use in practice with the equipment, and environment I was in before.

I have also been really stoked to work with my good buddy Nick.
Shout outs buddy!!
It's been really awesome to have talked a lot about coffee with Nick in the year previous to us and Matt opening this shop up, and then now working together, it feels pretty good with the two of us on bar, I feel like lots of great drinks go out, that makes me happy.

Anyways, most people reading have already been by for a coffee, if not, please do, you wont have a better cup anywhere in Toronto.

And you won't see better mustaches, or hear more Queen anywhere else.

Bye.

Surprise!

Surprise!
I found out over lunch today that I will be venturing Chicagowards this time tomorrrow evening.
What a wild couple o' weeks I have ahead of me.

I hope to accomplish on this trip:
-Intensive training
-Big Sur and the Oranges of Heironymus Bosch
-Cupping some ill direct trade single origin coffees
-Haceinda Esmerelda
-Meet Jeff Watts?
-Fat ass Chi-town pizzas
-couple millimeters growth on the stache?

Then I come home, beat my brains with training for the Nationals, and work away at opening Torontos finest coffee shop with my good buds Matthew Lee, and Nicholas Brown.
So stoked.

Get ready Toronto!!!! Manic Coffee is gonna show this city how real coffee tastes.

MIAstache

No, Nick Brown didn't back out, he's just MIA.

shakebloardung

It was the best of music, it was the blurst of music.

spotted

A personal sighting on youtube.

2:14 into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBUcPpJn4jI

I skate, who cares.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8032571127102547954


Picture and video courtesy of McCellphone.

Home sick home.

So we're "totally not in San Francisco" now.
Back in Toronto, which is fine with me.
I like it here.

What I don't like is the inevitable sickness that comes with a journey from the west coast to the east coast.
It's a guaranteed fact, you will get sick, every time.
Rather, I will get sick every time.
Especially when there is a drastic change in weather, accompanied by 40 hours of being awake, and slumbering in an American airport to the soothe of "ATTENTION, SFO international currently at homeland security threat level orange, please report any suspicious behavior to airport security, or dial 911 from any airport payphone", every 10 minutes.
Comforting.

I found a little salvation in drinking beers at the 24hour food court, but I've got an irregular digestive system, and 2 beers turns into 100 farts, which as rad as it may sound, can become a little uncomfortable.
Good way to keep people away from you though.
The sour malt barricade.

So the trip back was pretty hell, I just wanted it to be over, so I tried to not even think about it while it was going on, and as soon as I put my foot on Canadian ground, my throat swelled up, and now I'm a total bag of shit.
I woke up this morning with a fearsome headache, which I convinced myself that it was a building pressure in my head, which would surely cause my left eye to pop right out onto my pillow.
Seriously painful, then my hands went tingly, and my skin started to burn hot, and all I could do was kick my feet, and wriggle them together to take my focus off the pain, and then like a miracle I vomited a clear jelly substance, and the pain vanished, and I slept until 3pm.

Work on Monday ought to be a blast!
I sound like that ugly green nicotine demon in those nicorette commercials.

Shitache Hotel

This morning started of as a real lazy susan.
Slept in til' 10 something, which hasn't happened yet this trip.
We've been early to bed, early to rise everyday, and its been feeling pretty good so far.
You get a lot done when there's more than 8 hours in your day.

And I have been doing surprisingly well without the weed too.
I miss it a little less every day.
I guess sometimes you need to detox..........(Ben, finish this one up for me would'ya)
I aint never gonna quit though, but maybe I'll save myself a few bucks a month if I cut er down a little.

We made a real day out of 'er today though.
I started it off pretty rad.
We were on our way through the bullshit tourist strip down at Powell and Market, to the BART station, where it's just swarms of fat Americans walking with their eyes NOT on the prize, and brains full of the desire to vacation to San Fran, only to hang out in a 2 block radius, and shop at the same fucking stores they can go to back home.
We've all walked through the same sea of stupid.
It's a frustrating game of stop and go, jerk and dash, "ghahhh" and "FUCK!!!"
So when some unsuspecting dipshit with her head turn 45 degrees away from the direction she was walking got a serious face full of my left shoulder, I was all but apologetic.
I actually felt good about it, even though it was more of her own doing than mine.
I would never mean for it to happen, but there is something so rare and special about shoulder blocking a woman square in the jaw.
There was an even rarer moment of silence, when she looked at me, in total shock, without any words, and I wasn't sure if I should apologize, or injure her even more with my belittling stare.
I chose the belittling stare. The kind that says "you fat American dunce, your face is on the front of your body for a reason, so that you may see the dangers than lie ahead of you, you don't have whiskers like a cat, to alert you of things off the side of your face, if your face and my shoulder should ever meet again, I'll gladly introduce you to a verbal thrashing, and maybe a shove!"
I think she got the point, as no words were exchanged, and I carried on with my business.

The business I was trying to tend to was getting Annie and I down to the Mission for some lunch.
We made plans to check out a place called the Pork Store Cafe.
What an awesome name by the way. What an awesome restaurant too.
There was like 30 different lamps, all hanging from the ceiling in no particular order at all, and a nice bottle of Maple Syrup on the table.
Nothing makes me more comfortable than MAPLE SYRUP.
It deserves to be spelled with capital letters. It is the lifeblood of any true Canadian.
An ounce a day keeps the lonesomeness away.

Now, I will say that for a place called Pork Store, there was a disproportionate amount of non pork items on the menu.
But maybe thats OK, because the pulled pork sandwich I ordered was a 10 outta 10.
I highly suggest anybody who knows the real truth about pork, go visit this place.

Pork is your friend.
Its the cleanest animal on the farm.
It's the cutest.
It requires the lowest cooking temperature of meats.
It's the tastiest.
It's the most tender.
And I like that it is a formidable opponent to a human, when it comes to "eat or be eaten".
A pig will eat you given the opportunity, and I respect that kind of challenge to my authority. At that point, it becomes "game", like a bear, or a mountain lion.
It's kill or be killed, and if I was going to be killed by a cow, or a chicken, I would be pretty fucking bummed out.
Hats off to the pig.

Then we walked our sluggish bellies along 16th street, to a store called Needles and Pens, where Annie bought a shirt with a sketch of some funny shoes on it, and I bought another book.
I bought the book You Can't Win, by Jack Black, of post civil war times, not School of Rock times.
It was right beside the Charles Bukowski book I tried to read in Barcelona, except I spent too much time smoking hash to be of mindfulness to actually READ it.
Which reminds me, Ben, do you have that book, I wouldn't mind giving it another go.

Anyways, I bought the book, because it sounded like a good read, and I like the title.

A good title is important.
They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but I think you can judge it by the title, which happens to appear on the cover, so I call bullshit on that statement.

Then we went to Ritual again, because I wanna have as much mind blowing espresso as I can, before returning to Toronto, where it happens only as often as I go to Mercury, or Matthews apartment.

I really don't want to think of what is going to happen when I come home, and every espresso that I make will only fail in comparison to what I have had at Ritual.

Even more saddening was when asked by the Barista what machine I work on, and I replied sheepishly "uhhhh, Elektra", he said "hrmm, never heard of it"
That sucked.

What wont suck however, is the day trip we are gonna make to Berkeley tomorrow!
Goodie!!
We booked a tour of the Scharffenberger chocolate factory, we're gonna go to the Buffalo Exchange, which everybody whos been to one knows, is the greatest thrift store on Earth, and then we're gonna do some hippie watching at the University, and hopefully smoke weed with some freedom fighters!!

Oh yah, and this hotel actually does suck.
I killed a cockroach on our TV stand this evening.

Bye!

7-7-7

So my buds came up from San Jose yesterday, and it was really rad to spend a whole day with some dudes, doing some skating, and having a car.

We bombed some scary hills, and when I put my foot down to brake, the sole of my shoe peeled off!
Thats how steep the hills are.
New rule.
I dont bomb hills that cars have to park sideways on.


We also drove out to Treasure Island, because apparently "its full of spots, like mad banks and Puleo type shit"
The only thing we found was a lack of human inhabitance, used fireworks, and a traffic jam on the bridge when we decided that Treasure Island was stupid, and came back.

So I took the dudes to the Mission, cuz the Mission is the illest shit in SF.
I took the dudes to a Mexican spot I've been to before, and when we walked in, we saw Mr. Negative Poopypants.......Kenny Hughes.
I've never seen somebody make such a "ghahhh, I can't escape skateboarders anywhere I go" face.
Yah, duh, you're in SF retard.
Anyways, I guess Jarrod knows him from Barcelona, so he said hey, and Kenny just got ruder.
Thats alright though, his punishment for being a douche is having to skate for Zoo York, or whatever company nobody cares about.

Then I took the dudes to Ritual, where we had some Macchiato's, and I couldn't resist chatting with Drew, who I had met the first time I visited Ritual.
He was on the machine this time so I also got him to pull me a shot, and it was the best yet.
I also got a mug for myself, and one for Nicky Brown.
Too bad I couldn't get the Ritual x Wu-tang logo tee that Drew had on.
It's sort of an employee thing.

Then we toured back to the car, where I got shoulder blocked in the neck by an old junky who was obviously not stoked on us skating past his stretch of sidewalk.
I didn't contest it, the shoulder contact was as close to Aids as I was willing to get.

We parked the car right at the 3 up 3 down long ledge thing.
It is crazy, more than I thought.
I didn't even ollie up it, let alone try any of the crazy shit other people have done up that bitch.....fakie flip?????
Eric got a nice 3 trick combo there, it was pretty sick, cuz as long as that thing is, it's barely long enough to do a trick up, one in the middle, and one down.
Oh, and Justin Strubing showed up for bit, and we exchanged funny stories about Jet Lag.
He did a back bluntslide for a few feet of the beginning of the top stair and transfered up.
Looked cool.

Then we ended it with a trip to DLXSF, cuz Jarrod needed some shoes, and Eric needed some pants.
Actually, Jarrod wanted some shoes, and Eric NEEDED some pants.
You could see his bum through all the holes in those shitty Levis.
DLX sorta sucked this time though, we kinda got the "hurry up and buy stuff and get out" vibe.
Actually, I dont even know if they cared whether or not we bought stuff.

Then a game of skate was had, and the dudes headed back on their way to San Jose.

It was a good day.

whoaaaahh, half way there, whoahhhohhh livin on a prayer!!!

Ok, so we have moved out of our first Hotel, which I can say was great, and moved to a slightly lesser quality hotel, which still is nothing to whine about.
It's just one of those shared bathroom joints, so Im gonna shower with my socks on.

Today is gonna be a good one though.
Coming up to visit from San Jose, are some friends I met while in Barcelona last year!
Jarrod, Eric, Gabe, and English George are on their way here as I type.
Poor George though, there wont be any brothels here for him to spend his fortunes at.

Anyways, I wanna challenge Ryan Allan to come up here and have a burrito eating contest with me.
It's gotta be somewhere in the Mission though, cuz I went to a Taquiera around our hotel last night and there was a gigantic cockroach just chillin on top of the guacamole!!!
Gnar bar at level 11.

If you dont attend the challenge Ry, I'll just assume myself the victor.
Im glad my name isn't Victor though, it's kind of a psycho name.
V is a freaky letter.

Not as freaky as Jason Jesse's murder desk.

Oh Ben, skate trivia question I thought up.
It may be too easy, cuz I know you and I will get this in a second, but give it a shot.
What skateboard company used the phrase "self medicate" as their slogan for a period of time in the 90s?

Later.

No shit, all golden.

Ok, so first off, I apologize for the last posts Mac bashing, and to those I may have offended.
You love your Mac babies, and I will grow to love this one some day as well.
It’s probably more of the internet connection I’m using having no balls, than it is the computer. For what these things cost, they oughta have a 3rd ball.

SF continues to be great, and so does my daily dose of Mexican food.
Although we haven’t been eating ONLY Mexican.

On Bens recommendation we hit up the Squat and Gobble, we sat in chairs like westerners though, no Nammer squatting.
Shit was delicious, I think Nutella should be an integral part of every restaurant menu.

Stanley Steamers rank pretty highly, and I gotta thank Nick, and Jeremy for reviving my love of hot dogs before this trip.
If it were a month ago, I wouldn’t have eaten a hot dog on a dare, but I’m back in the game, and the tubesteak is king.

One of the best things about eating food here is how much other free shit they give you with it.
Taquiera spots always give free chips, Chinese spots give you free rice, soup, AND spring rolls, which I gotta say, are fucking amazing, the ones we got today were crispy rolls with curried cabbage in em…..mmmmmm.

Also in the category of delicious, resting at the very top of the heap, is Tartine Bakery.
I don’t even know how they can make baked goods that good.
I’d bring home a huge box of stuff for everybody to try, but you all know how long baked goods last around me.
They don’t even last long enough to spell the word LONG.

I finally got to go check out Blue Bottle Coffee as well, located on a small side street, tucked behind a garage door, with just enough space to make coffee, and send you on your way.
I was lucky enough to catch JoEllen kicking it around the shop, even though it was her day off, and also lucky enough to have a pretty decent shot, and the legendary San Francisco “Gibraltar”.
Everybody there was really nice, and asked tons of questions about coffee in Toronto.
I gotta say though, Ritual still takes the cake when it comes to espresso.

So with that said, we headed back down to the Mission, for another shot at Ritual, and another Gibraltar.
My shot this time wasn’t as good, not as fruity or floral, and I shook a little in my shoes when I caught the barista giving the portafilter a Mike Tyson strength “smack” with the tamper.
The cool thing about this visit was that they were doing a bit of inhouse roasting, so I finally got to see some roasting go down.
I didn’t lurk though, as I didn’t recognize anybody from my last visit, and I just wasn’t in the mood for breaking more ice.

Just up the street from Ritual is 826 Valencia Pirate Supply, which we missed out on last time, due to inventory, but boy oh boy, we made ‘er today.
Fuck, what a cool store.
We were lucky enough to be in the store while they had a childrens writing workshop going on, and a group of kids were constructing a story about Pirates, Ninjas, and Teddybears.
I read some of the books the kids had all made, and there were some cute stories about how Peter Pan killed Captain Hook, and the “cursed booty”.
It’s a lot cuter in their words though, because nothing is spelled correctly, and some words are even backwards.
There was also a drawer full of beard trimmings, and a poster of 10 good uses for lard on a ship.
My favourite use was “ #6. Little lard boy sculptures”

SF is really weird.
Good weird.

Yesterday was a good day too.
It was Independence day here, and there was a giant skateboard critical mass type thing that went all the way from Pier 7, to 3rd and Army, which is a fucking hell of a skate, but I participated, because why not.
The cops even motorcaded the whole thing, and I’m sure a lot of people cursed skateboarding forever as they waited at green lights while a parade of hundreds of skateboarders blocked their way.

After all that, Annie and I went to a little 4th of July house party with our bud Terry, where we watched the fireworks, drank some beers, and finally got to smoke some weed.
Not just any weed either, we got to smoke weed from a Volcano vaporizer.
I’ve never used one before, but after last night, I am convinced that $700 is a small price to pay for what you gain in a higher form of weed smoking.
I think I took like 5 hits from that fucker, and I was baked, like REALLY baked.
I was gonna buy a new bike when I came back from SF, but forget that, I can really go for a ride with the Volcano! WHOOOO!

The house party was full of great company as well, a whole list of skateboard, arts, and musical talents.
A bit unexpected, but really cool to smoke weed and drink beers with Dan Wolfe, Satva Leung, Aesop Rock, Jeremy Fish, Eric Norin, Matt Irving and his wife Lindsey, among many other fecal face dudes and dudettes who I wasn’t familiar with, but pleased to meet either way.
I’m really glad we got to meet Matt and Lindsey, they were a beacon of red and white light, sporting maple leaf pins on July 4th, and quite literally 2 of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
It seemed as though almost all of them have some connection to Toronto as well.
Satva and I talked about my good buddy Yasushi for a while, and the hilarious faces he makes when he lands tricks, like he’s surprised that he can even ride a skateboard.

Oh and we went to the HUF store, and the first thing we saw, front and centre was 2 shirts Dennis did for Mishka.
Big ups buddy!

Ok, bye friends, miss you all.

Things I miss.

-Garrison
-Weed
-My buds

First few.

Alright, so we're here in SF, our travels went well, not even a whiff of disaster like the last time I flew....ghahhhh

This is also my first post using our new computer.
I still hate it.

Sf is pretty cool though, the weather is equally that, cool.
I think its gonna heat up though.

Today was our first day actually out doing stuff, we took it easy the day we flew in, prepped up for a busy Monday.

So we got up this morning, I made myself a coffee in the hotel room with my own travelling coffee kit, as pictured below.
And made plans to head to the mission, for a good few hours of fun.

First oder of business was Ritual coffee on Valencia.
This place came on high recommendation from many reliable sources, and met my every expectation.
Although they no longer pull the acclaimed Stumptown Hairbender espresso, in favour of using their own blend, I was still impressed.
It was quite bright, in a really pleasant way, intense, but still delicate...it didn't hurt.
Really sweet, like fruity dark chocolate. I will definately have another...........few.
After that I had a Brasil Boa Sorte from their Clover machine, which actually wasn't so great, but I picked up a 1/2lb of Kenya AA to make at home, which I will discuss in a minute.
Annie had a latte, which was still good, but I think the guy on milk must be in training still.

The folks at Ritual were all too nice as well, I think as soon as I asked "when did you guys stop pulling the hairbender?" they had me pegged as a barista.
It was all sunshine from there on, I had a nice chat with a guy who suggested I also check out Blue Bottle coffee, which I planned on, as well as a chat with Eileen, who must be a co-owner, or manager, or some other important title in the mass of 30 people they employ to have her own business card.
We talked Clover for a while, and how almost nobody orders Clover coffee at the Valencia shop, but their 2nd location is a whole other story.
After a good chat she kindly offered to lend both Annie and I bikes, which comfirms to me that being a barista is like being a Free Mason, once you're in the brotherhood, the only escape from accomodating baristas the world over, is death.
Ritual = Awesome.

Then Annie and I toured around the Mission for a bit, ate plates of Mexican food neither of us could finish, bought a book we've been looking for, sifted through Buffalo Exchange until Annie found a suede hat, and some white Minnetonkas, and lastly went all the way down to 826 Valencia (pirate store), only to read the sign "sorry, closed Monday for inventory".
Thats OK, I think I will go there the next time I go to Ritual, which could very well be every day until we leave.

After our tour of the Mission, we came home, and while Annie napped, I pressed a cup of the Kenya, and sat out front of the hotel to enjoy my coffee, my book, and shamefully, a mooched cigarette (I was fucking desperate OK, you can't bring weed on a plane).
I bought a book of short stories by Miranda July.
Normally I don't read, I don't have the attention span for most writing, but this shit is fucking hilarious, and I like that it's all short stories, very little commitment.
It's even funnier if you imagine her voice reading the stories, but a bit distracting, and I tend to veer off into imagination land the second I start pretending things.
Also distracting while reading is a drunken woman, in the presence of her husband, asking me if I think she has a cute butt, while I was sitting on the ground.
It's a hard question to answer. Do I lie and say "yes", and have her husband kick me in the face, or do I be honest and say no, and have her kick me in the face, and then maybe him too, for insulting his woman, and my travel insurance doesn't kick in until the 3rd!!
So I just decided to be honest and say "Im in a bit of a vulnerable position right now, and I don't really know how to answer", followed by the kind of akwardness that people can only walk away from.
It worked.

Then I woke up the princess, and made the bad decision to walk straight through the Tenderloin en route to DLXSF.
The Tenderloin is what Parkdale would be like if crack was free, or beter yet, if you got paid to smoke crack.
I even saw a black mans penis!
I don't think we will be walking through there again.

I was gonna post pics, but this computer is driving me insane.
Dennis, you were right, fuck a Mac, I shoulda bought a pound of weed instead.

Meatworks

Ok, so since everybody(3people) is complaining that the blog is sucking these days, Im gonna update it with cool stuff I guess.
Didn't this blog always suck?

Ok, so the newest most exciting shit that has happened since the last update is.

The Korean guy that has the convenience store beside Cherry Bomb, has bought the building and evicted Cherry Bomb, in an effort to open up what they think will be a successful espresso bar.
Classic case of keeping up with the Jones's.
Struggling variety store sees neighboring espresso bar doing non stop business from open to close, gets jealous, buys building, and evicts us thinking that it takes care of the problem of competition.

Key things neglected.
1.Getting good at making espresso would take FOREVER if you weren't learning from knowledgable people, which they wont be.
2.My bosses aren't going to just lay over and be shut down, they found a new location 5 stores up from the previous shop, so those bastards aren't going to win over any existing Cherry Bomb clientele, which is basically the entire neighborhood.

Anyways, all that aside, the past week, the shop has been closed, so I haven't been working the machine at all, its been kinda strange.
I have however been moving every single fucking thing from the old store to the new one, by hand, and its been 40 degrees!

The new store used to be a Polish Kolbasa deli, with a smoke house in the back, where they made the sausage, butchered up the meat, boiled cabbage....all things gross and meaty.
Needless to say, it stinks like meat, and I stink like meat from being in there.
Soooo much smoke and grease is soaked into the pores of the walls of the new place, but lots of paint, bleach, scrubbing, and about 5 lbs of espresso through that place, and it'll smell like normal.

My task today was to peel all the sealant sticker from the inside walls and ceiling of our walk in fridge, where they used to store meats, and sausage.
And then I bleach washed the greasy bloody floor inside.
It was pretty gnar, I was inside a closed cold storage room with a greasy blood stained floor, with rusty meathooks hanging from the rafters, and the best part was how the cooling unit was not on, and the fridge acted as a thermos, keeping an internal temp of what the thermometer read 34 degrees.
It stunk soooo bad, I came out of the room feeling like I has a slimey coat of meat stink on my skin.
Fuck.

So the shop will be closed until July 16th, if all goes to plan.
I hope I'm not super rusty when I come back.

So with the time away from the shop, Annie and I are gonna take our first vacation together in 4 years, and make our way to San Francisco for 12 days of gluttony and adventure.
I am planing on eating a lot of food, drinking lots of coffee from Ritual, as well as Blue Bottle, and digging around all the good shops in SF, to bring home the finest wares and spices the Pacific has to offer.

I'm gonna bring my board, the camera, and our new MacBook so that I can keep an updated Frisco blog while away.
Happy??

Fun Night! Fun Night!

Oh man, last night Matthew Lee and I had a night out on the town.

I ripped over to Matts on my bike, and then found out that instead of cupping a couple coffees and chewin' the fat, we were gonna go check out this indoor go cart track up at Downsview park.

The shit was AMAZING!!
I was so nervous at first because I haven't ever really driven a car, and I dont really know anything about taking turns or not getting in accidents.
So yah, I had a couple accidents with other cars during my first race, but in the second one I was drifting corners, making crazy skids and squeels, just givin' er.
I even have my own membership card and balaclava now!

Then we checked out The Rail skatepark nextdoor, it was pretty cool.
Everything is way smaller than it looks in footage, like piddly almost.
There was nobody there either, which sucks for the owner, but doieeeee, its summer, you don't open an indoor skatepark in the spring or summer.

And then we checked out the paintball shit, and that place was gnarly.
The floors in there are coated in what feels like hydrolic fluid. It was all gummy and slidey.

Then we hit up California Sandwich in Woodbridge.
Thats one hell of a veal sandwich for 7$
And La Paloma a few shops up has some pretty killer gelati.
I had the tirimisu, and Matt had some Pistachio Siciliana, it was unreal how good it was.

So big ups to Matt, it was a good time, and I got some IMV again, as well as a Kenya I'm really feelin.
Intelligentsia coffee is worth every fucking cent, buy it if you see it!

disqualified pride

Im not even gonna make a full post about the latte art competition either.

It sucked, thats all.

catnip

AHAHA I just found a piece of my weed in Garrisons fur!!!
Imagine the look on my face when I thought it was knotted fur, and it was actually some weed!

I wish weed would grow off of Garrisons side.

13,00 stokens.

getting closer

Ok, so finally I have some updated practice photos from last week.

As you'll see, its getting a little more tech, but still lacks that final polishing it needs to be a "perfect" rosetta.

You'll notice on most, there is a scarrish line near the end of the draw through.

I think I'm making too thin and dribbly a stream, and I just need to make a clean even line through it, one smooth clean draw through.

No shakey shakey.

Especially not this Saturday.

Anyways, it's improving, so thats the best thing.

Multiple 12oz rosetta pours.....

And these are some photos of what I consider my best 2oz macchiato pour ever.

I'm really happy I got a photo of it.

As well as a couple of nice shots I pulled in practice.

the things that make a house a home

This is a board that Albert made

Annie and I bought this at Value Village for a dollar

This is the new bed I bought for Annie


This is a calendar of cats in historic regal clothing

This was a thing I made for Annie one valentines day

Niall made this and gave it to us because he's so kind

Annie and I bought these at Value Village, Owls are so interesting

Thats a board Bobby Puleo painted, and a picture of a very alert siamese cat Dennis and Claire gave us


Thats a bunch of Annies weird stuff


Thats some birds that hang on the wall over our bed, our curtains match the birds

A board Todd Bratrud painted

We just got that owl at Value Village last week, and then I gave those wooden carvings to Annie for Xmas cuz we can't have a real bulldog

But we can have a real bullcat

Namaste.

Ok, so LOST last night?
I know everybody reading this watched it, its a prerequisite for our friendship.
Kind of kidding.

I am so depressed by how it ended.
Its totally a finale episode tactic to make us so depressed, that we will have to see what happens next season, and continue to be fans.

My theories are that the funeral was for Sawyer.
When asked if he was friend of family, Jack responded "neither"
Gotta be Sawyer, right?

I also just realized the possibility that the flashes of the future occuring during the entire episode where not what we would so easily assume them to be, rather that they could very well be Desmonds flashes?
We were all so stunned that it was a flashforward, as though we had never seen one before, but for the last 6 episodes or so, we have been bombarded with Desmonds "flashes" forward.
Just a thought.

It was rad to have a whole bunch of us buds all together for the final episode.
I'm glad we were all there!
Thanks dudes.

So today Annie and I went for a bikeride downtown to have some frozen yogurt, and go check out Livestock in their newly opened Toronto spot.
I'm really glad to see Livestock here in Toronto now.
The store is really nice looking, it's bright and clean.
I dont like when stores are really dark and emotional, it just makes it suck for shopping in.
I feel like a phoney celebrity in places like that, like Im just so cool, I need the lights dim, and all the pretty things spotlighted for me.
What a fucking insult.

Then we biked back home, and stopped in at Terroni for a quick pizza and a glass of Pino Negre.
I think I spent all day hippie speedballin in all forms.
I'm officially a master.
And I'm even listening to Tom Petty.
How HS is that!

Its so hippie speedball that Annie and I got a harmonica today.
So expect lots of annoying amateur harmonica solos at every bbq this summer.

Alright, Im gonna head down to the shop again for some practice.
Got the camera back, so new pics tonight I think.

jeepers creepers

Good ol' Rob Pontiac, with a Grand Prix of a 360 flip down that double set at The Rail(aka worst name ever).

Rob, your hair is starting to make you look very Nordic.

You should attach your trucks to a flying V, and wear a tusked helmet.

vino

If anybody is interested, and has a passion for wine, a customer of mine mentioned he was looking to hire a server, at an upscale wine bar where he happens to work.
Need money? Lots of it?
Upscale and Wine are 2 great things to include in your search criterea.

I may actually take the job myself, if it's only a couple shifts a week.
I can't say I have extensive wine knowledge, however, I know about flavour profiles, which could easily be paralleled with coffee.
Im a quick learner, I like wine, and I can serve customers like a champ.

It could just be way more than I am capable of though.
On top of working fulltime as it is, I would have to learn soooo much about wine, work late, and travel to the other end of the city.

We shall see.

Toronto Bullshit Society

Skated yesterday with Rob and Will of the Alcatraz camp, over at the newly reopened Dundas and Bathurst park.

It's an OK park.
OK, in fact that the only good thing about it is the smooth ground, which upon re-evaluation, I don't like as much as porous cement.
The smooth shit is just TOO smooth, feels unstable.

Saw some dudes I haven't seen in a while.
Saw some dudes I intentionally haven't seen in a while.
I don't think skate parks are the best place for me to go skate.
There are always people there who I don't wanna see, and just being around them makes me feel sick.
Even more so when they live in my neighborhood.

In other bummer news, Adrift skateshop officially kicked off the best guy on their team.
The week after he came home from an adventure in Asia.
Too bad for Che.

I wonder if they're gonna replace him with Lupe Fiasco?
Or maybe with another wall of limited edition t's?

The status of skateboarding in Toronto is pretty weak.
There isn't one good skateshop that can keep on top of their shit.
I went out a couple weeks ago totry and buy a board, and I couldnt even spend the $100 bucks in my wallet.
Everybody is out of stock, or only carries kiddy shit, or is closed mondays, or sells BMX bikes.

Whatevs.

Yah, so then Rob, Will, and I toured over to Chippy's for some fries.
Smoked some dirt in the park, had a bulldog come over for a toke, it was pretty awesome.
I'm all about Trinity Bellwoods these days.
Its such a mellow park.
Really clean, nice people, you could chill all day, no hassles. Its a rad park.

I wrote some funny things on the fry container, and put in on top of the garbage in the can, so somebody else could see it, and get a laugh.

Go to Chippy's and eat fries.
The guy working the deep fryer yesterday was the best person I have seen in a while.
He was living a metalhead fantasy.
I noticed him instantly. Goat Horn meshback, long hair, gigantic boils on his skin and face, clothes spotted with grease, awesome set of teeth, rocking out to speed metal.
He's wanted to work a fry machine since before Beavis and Butthead made it even cooler.
I know it.

Kitty Don't!!!

I dont wanna brag or nuthin, but I poured some pretty bitchin stuff today, latte art was very focused today, many rosettas, gotta practice getting perfect symmetry, and dark contrast against sharp clean velvety milk!!!!

Sugary Foods!!!! Salty Foods!!!

Too bad Annie has the camera!!
How am I gonna brag!!!
I need my boast!!
Boast or Bust!

Oh yah, and thanks to Chelsea for the potluck dinner.
I met the female version of me tonight at the dinner, and it was totally crazy.
And her boyfriend, whom I've never met, or seen in the shop, came in today to get a coffee, and I recognized him at the dinner!!! Universe is working in strange ways maaaaannnnnnnn!!!!
She works at a coffee shop, and does some baking.
She rides a road bike, me too.
She was wearing a plaid shirt, same here.
If my hair was long, it would have been similar to the hair she had. Not AS curly though.

She works at Jet Fuel over on Parliament.
I went there once with Chris.
I didn't really like it in there, but I didn't really dislike it either.
It was a balance of discomfort, and being fine.
Coffee was alright.
I'd like to try coffee from everybody at every shop to decide where I can go consistently.
Even though I know it's Mercury.
The hunt is fun.

uh oh BBQ!

Pics from a BBQ at Nick and Michee's new house!

Virgil, you homo.

coming back from the grocery store....

Start your day off by witnessing a man on a bicycle lapse into a severe epileptic seizure in front of your house, fall off the bike into your fence, start drooling blood, and convulsing.
I promise, it's very intense, and nothing else through the course of the day will phase you.

harsh, I guess?

Today was a good one, full of spontaneous action.

Went for lunch at the Golden Turtle, and despite claims that they serve up the best bowl of pho in the city, I will have to say that they don't.
Good, but not the best. They get points for broth clarity, but it doesn't cover the fact that there is a better contender for "Toronto's best".
Pho Asia 21 all the way.
It's close to home.
It's affordable.
It's fucking delicious.
102 Large.
100% of the time, its good every time.

Then Dennis and and I went to Ideal just up the street, to grab a coffee.
I don't even think I can give them a fair criticism.

* Edited for non-confrontationalism*

And to put this thing to rest, what the fuck is with being a hippie shop, in kensington, blabbing about organic/fair trade, and serving your to go coffees in Styrofoam!!!

It's harsh, I know, but it has to be said.
If nobody was honest, we'd all suck at what we do.

So after that, I was gonna bike up to Zucc's for the competition meeting, but I thought I'd call Matt and ask if it was Davenport or Dupont, and he was apparently a block away from me, so rather than bike my ass up there, Matt was ever so kind to lend a seat in his car to myself, as well as Miss Amber Roga, of various establishments in this fine city.
(Edward would have worded such a phrase less eloquently, I believe*)
Showed up in a France jersey, because of course I don't think with enough foresight to consider that an Italian business, in a Portuguese neighborhood may not be welcoming of the golden cock.
No troubles though.

Then we zipped downtown and caught newly opened http://www.justuscoffee.com/ on Queen at Portland, just in time for closing.
Aw well, another day.

So after all that, I witnessed a scenario at the Queen Bathurst streetcar stop, which involved a drunken man, his woman, and their giant dog, mouthing off at the shop owner of the smoke shop with the cigar Indian, who was wielding an extendabat, shouting wildly, with the legs of his pants torn to shreds, in what was apparently a scuffle turned dog attack, turned knife threat, turned cigar indian vandalism, turned police interference, turned arrest.
Intense.

Then I did some shit, and wrote this, and now its time to do the initial half of the namesake of this blog.


Jah Jah.

d'art

Went into the shop the other night to get some practice for the upcoming latte art showdown.
Im still struggling with getting perfect rosettas, but I suppose these things don't happen overnight.

I went in again tonight and put in a couple hours, got some more decent pics, nothing I was too excited about.
One really nice macchiato though.
I'll post em soon.

New shit

So Ben, Nick and Nick found this little gem, somewhere in the east end of the city.

Now somebody needs to do this.

Into this.

Yes, Rob Piontek now skates for the official Canadian adidas direct team.

Congrats Golden Boy.

Got Cahones for this spot?

serpentcat

AHAHAHA I just realized that Gary looks like a serpent when he is standing up!!
Look at photos 2 and 3 and tell me his long body and snakey eyes don't make you think he's a brown serpent.

hisssssssssss

Dancing Bear

If you've ever had the blessing of seeing this in person, you know what a rare and adorable treat it is.

A 25lb cat stands completely upright, while gorging his face into a can of chicken feast.
Avg. time : 15seconds - 60seconds.






Apologies for the no pants shots, these sorta thing are very spur of the moment, and must not be compromised by shame.

Busy

So much shit on my plate today.
Ok, well it's not all "shit".

Today is the 4th anniversary for Annie and I.

Im gonna go get a massage, or see a chiropractor I hope.

Annie and I are gonna go out for a nice dinner.

Gary just meowed at me.

Im gonna deposit a cheque.

Might go buy a gift for Annie, which is in turn a gift for myself(no nothing gross).

The shit that sucks is.

I have to pay a lot of money for the gift.

People tipped really shitty at work today, despite being an insanely busy day, aww poor babies angry cuz they have to WAIT for good coffee. Duh, whaddya thinks gonna happen when you walk into a 200sq foot store that has 25 people shoulder to shoulder?

Talked to the bank today, they told me the $760 I deposited to pay off my Mastercard balance of $758.13 accidentaly went to my chequing account, and that's why I now have a new bill with an accrued interest of $18.51. "sorry"

I cut my Mastercard into as many miniature pieces as possible in an aggressive fit of rage.

Im running low on weed.

Fuck, I dont even wanna go on, the cons will start to outweigh the pros, and I'll ride my bike off a bridge.

One free coffee to whoever gets this one first.

Whodis?

Support group round 1

First ever Toronto Barista support group went down at SweatBet t'other night.
I think maybe some dudes didnt "get the memo", cuz out of the supposed bunch of us there were supposed to be, only Liz, Amber, Nicky Brown, Matt Lee, and mineself showed up.
All good though, we got good and drunk, talked mad shit, had some silly bike mishaps, and got some great coffee, care of Matt and Intelligenstia.
That IMV is fucking incredible!~!
Good thing Nick and I didn't lose it on the bike ride home. Just on my kitchen floor, in the Gary fur jungle.

Jesus though, I've never had so much great coffee, as I have over the past week/s.
With Matt coming through on the Intelly, Annie bringing me some of Novo's great Panama from her Vancouver trip, and Nicky bringing back some Novo Yirgecheffe from Grumpy(NYC), which by the way is the champion of blueberry.
Such great coffee.
And it doesnt even have rocks or finishing nails in it!!!
Much lighter than anything else available in this dark obsessed city, cough cough*

Im gonna miss it when its all gone.

Im also gonna miss Niall and Lukas!
Those dudes (www.shedoesntloveyouanymore.com) had their final Toronto show last night, and of course all were in attendance.
When you're as awesome at being a rad dude, as you are at your artwork, you can guarantee a good turnout.
Good luck bros, NYC and Van await.

OK, off to work now.
New photos soon.

The psycho I banned

Way to ruin my shift, jerk

Day Off, Coffee Scoff.

So its my day off, lovely Thursday.
Sleep in til' 11:30.

I decided in the shower that I would go deposit my paycheque, and while I was at the bank, I would finally go check out the new Balzacs cafe in Liberty Village.

Last week Young Chow and I went on a late night psychebike mission to the 24hour Dominion to get some premium icecream and snacks.
On the way back I stopped and took a look into the closed Balzacs cafe, and was actually impressed by how it looked inside. I promised myself I would go for a coffee the next day off.
Pretty fuckin sweet floors I gotta say.

Im gonna go back and get some photos, and get a coffee when there is a good barista working, although, from the quality of what I got today, and the Mahlkoning autogrinder, I suspect that such a barista may not exist at this shop, but who knows?

Anyways, yah, so my cappuccino today was not so great, I think the girl behind the machine just started working there, and hasn't yet finished training. By a "double" for my capp, I didn't mean 2 double baskets.
I got like 4 ounces of blonde espresso, and from at least 12 ounces of fresh Harmony organic homo milk, about 2 ounces of spooned out bubbly foam standing tall above the cup like an abstract sculpture.
Thats a whole lotta excellent milk, to be just wasting for a spoonful of bad foam.
Poor cows.

Seriously though, why would any place that roasts its own, has multiple locations, is conscious of aesthetic, and uses (very expensive) organic milk, have 1 person working the bar, who clearly has not been trained on how to properly, and effciently make coffee.
No diss to the girl, she's only doing as much as she knows.
I get the feeling a lot of coffee shops are started up not out of a love for coffee, but a lust for money, and a belief that the equipment will just work itself, without hiring a consultant to train their staff, and explain why it is they should be doing what they are doing.

All I hear is birdies "cheap cheap cheap"

Aww, who am I to whine about not being able to get a good coffee wherever I go.
I don't think I would consult anyways, it's kind of like selling your soul, selling all the knowledge you've worked so hard to obtain and experience, to some swine that just wants a piece of the pie, without having to get his/her hands dirty behind a machine.
Those places go out of business anyways, and then they blame you for poor consultation.
You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink.

Ok, thats all today.

Garrisummmmm

The other day a customer piped up about how much she loved the song playing in the store at that very moment.

It was that "do you realize.....that you have the most...beautiful face in the world.." song.

For some reason I can't quite remember what the band is called, but they must not be very good if I cant remember their name.

The guy has kind of a sissy voice.

Anyways, I piped back with how I also like the song, but its because I like to sing it to my cat, to which she almost spat out her coffee in laughter.

Now whenever she comes in, she is sort of laughing at me, and I think its because she still finds it funny.

Enough lady.

Not funny anymore.

Not even really funny to begin with.

Its just true.

I sing it cuz its true.

Garrison does have the most beautiful face in the world.

He's such a handsome cat, I think he should do films.

El Posto Numero Uno

The Life of Samuel James, in blog form will now be available on this page.

Stay tuned for hits and misses, stories and glory, coffee and lefthanded cigarettes, cats, food, shortboarding and so on.

Welcome.