Getting That Perfect Cup At Home

Coffee.  You either love it or you hate it.  I used to be a hater, until one fateful overnight drive from Boston.  The only thing that could keep us going were truly miserable cups o' joe out of a vending machine.  When you start at the bottom, you can only go up.  It took a genuine cup a day later to make it official, I was converted.  I quickly progressed from coffee with sugar and milk, to straight black, the stronger the better.  The Mr. also prefers his black and bold, but with a couple lumps.

It wasn't until we moved here that we were properly introduced to what would become the coffee we have always been subconsciously searching for.  Sure, obviously we have espresso in the United States but with all the macchiatos, spiced lattes, mochas, and sugar bomb Frappuccinos the good stuff doesn't get a lot of screen time.  For most people, it's a bit of a fringe drink.  Very Euro.  Very small.  Too strong.  Not a proper cup of coffee.  For me, it was love.  And it wasn't only the espressos, but even the "standard" pressure brewed coffees were a revelation.  I'd rather have a small, perfectly smooth and strong cup, than a big mug of filtered Joe any day. It didn't take long to determine who pulled the best espressos in town.  Our cafe is a great place to grab a cold beer and watch the people walk by, but their espressos were nearly a quarter grit.  The Chinese restaurant around the corner, however, pulls a brilliant shot and they also serve them with my favorite biscuits.  Before long, having an espresso or a coffee after dinner at a restaurant became as necessary as dessert.  We played with the idea of picking up an espresso machine for home since going out is a rarity, but at nearly 600€ a pop it looked like our fine coffee drinking would be reserved for a night out or a mid or post ride stop at a cafe.

All that changed last Friday night when we went to a friend's house.  After a delicious and relaxed dinner of raclette and dessert of chocolate cake, she offered us some coffee.  That's when we learned about Nespresso.  We didn't know anything about Nespresso.  We figured that it was something like a Keurig machine, that has captured the hearts of so many people back home.  Well, like we say here in Luxembourg, nee! (pronounced "nay", not "ni" as in the Knights Who Say).  Nespresso is a whole nuther animal altogether.  It takes the same concept of pre-measure and packaged servings of finely ground coffee, but brews them under high pressure instead of with the filtration method.  What you get is the capability of having a lungo or espresso at home without the cost and labor of a traditional machine.  All you do is pop one of the nifty capsules in the machine, choose what serving size you want, push the button, and Bam!- a few seconds later you have a perfect cup of espresso, complete with the rich crema foam.  Sure, coffee purists may scoff at such a method, but in my opinion we're not all interested in becoming baristas.  We just want a delicious cup of espresso without the time, hassle and expense.  There are many different machines you can choose from that come in a variety of colors and price ranges and have different capabilities.  The highest priced machine is just a hair cheaper than a tradition espresso machine, but also automatically brews cappuccinos.  It will even pre-warm your cup for you. Lower priced models have fewer bells and whistles, but many still warm milk for cappuccinos and lattes. 

They have 16 different varieties of fair trade coffee.  Five to six grams of the finely ground coffee are packaged in the aluminum Grand Crus, which are air tight and designed for a perfect short pour or long pour espresso, depending on the variety.  When the capsule is clamped into the machine, it is perforated and the super heated water is forced through with high pressure.  When the pouring is finished, opening the machine releases the spent capsule and the process is complete.  It takes at most 4 minutes including the time for the machine to heat the water.

There are Nespresso Boutiques all over Europe and the machines are sold in the States at many stores like Macy's and Crate & Barrel.  For those who do not live near a boutique, such as anyone in Northeast Ohio, there is a club from which members can order the capsules online to be delivered at home and receive other benefits such as coupons and seasonal promotions.  They are still rather new to the market in the States, but over time the brand is hoping to expand across the Atlantic.  Of course, espresso at home may still be too fringe for the American crowd.

If you're wondering what happens to all those aluminum capsules, that is really up to the consumer.  Nespresso makes recycling them a very easy process.  They will give you free bags to collect your spent capsules, which can either be dropped off at any Kiala collection point (there are 40 in Luxembourg alone), returned to one of the Nespresso Boutique shops, or handed to the delivery person who is dropping off your next order.  There's really no reason why you can't participate in the recycling process.  More information on the company's environmental policies can be found here.

Is the Nespresso thing for the yuppie crowd, the latte liberals?  Yeah, I'd say so.  When you walk into one of those boutiques everyone is dressed in designer suits and sipping samples at the bar while talking about global finance.  Well... that probably has something to do with being in Lux City.  But, the salesperson will talk about the design of the machines, instead of their functions.  The coffees are described as luxurious, sultry, and sophisticated.  It's definitely marketed as a status appliance; not gonna lie.  But here's the thing, these machines are for people who enjoy espresso and want an easy way to have a nice cup with their favorite biscuit at home.  Espresso isn't something you pour into your travel mug and gulp in the car on the way to work.  It's a drink to be enjoyed over conversation, after a good meal or a long bike ride.  Of course, the cycling crowd has a special affinity for fine coffee.  There's something we love about pausing halfway or finishing a ride with the perfect cup.  For those who's only option is the corner Starbucks or the place that serves every cup with .5cm of grounds in the bottom, investing in a Nespresso may be the way to go.  Anyway, where better to enjoy your well earned java than at your own table ?

At the risk of being labeled a snob, I say you get what you pay for and sometimes it's worth paying a little extra for something you relish.

Cracking Open Some Tastiness In Vianden

One Sunday every October there's a big hoopla in the picture postcard town of Vianden.  People from all over park anywhere they can wedge their Audis and shuffle down the hill all for the sheer purpose of celebrating walnuts.  Yep, walnuts.

At first glance, it may seem hard to believe that walnuts are worth celebrating.  Despite their nutritional benefits, I wouldn't put the walnut is at the top of the shindig worthy list.  I mean, pistachios, sure, and cashews most definitely, but walnuts? Eh.  But, walnuts have a special place in the hearts of Vianden and every year you get a whole Sunday all about 'em.  Despite any doubts one may have about a walnut festival, I promise that if you give it a chance you may find yourself having a new found appreciation for the Nutcracker's victuals.

Ok, no, the music isn't good.  Don't go for the music.

The food is where it's at.

They take the lowly walnut and turn them into some pretty delicious things.  There's walnut cakes and there's walnut candies, and pâté, and nougat, and sausages, and breads.  The breads in particular are something else.  You can buy a loaf of bread the size of a small child.  There are countless varieties of sausages also made with walnut bits, some as tall as you and some molded into the shape of a pig.  Then, there are the beverages.

Every single stall, and there are countless stalls, sells walnut brandys and liqueurs.  The bottles come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  You can buy it in a half meter pipe or you can buy it in a motorcycle.  It's stuff one sips after a nice meal, not something you dump into the hip flask.  But, as the festival revs up that's exactly what some folks do and things can get pretty rowdy.  So, the festival shuts down at the rather early hour of 7pm.  That's probably for the best.  I'd say grab your walnut provisions and head out long before to beat the traffic.  It's a lot easier to climb back up the hill without cars, shuttle buses, and staggering revelers to deal with.

The festival itself isn't really the draw, it's what you can buy there that is worth the hike and the crowds.  So, next October if you're in the area, I'd recommend popping down to Vianden to pick up some nut-tastic treats.  They're something unique to the region and the season and definitely worth giving a try.

While the walnuts themselves aren't anything to write home about, the other treats at the festival are worth the trip.

Reaching Stage Five

I watched the online talk with trepidation last Wednesday.  As the day dawned, the murmuring began.  "Today the USADA will release its report."  I was uncomfortable about it.  A lot of people were going to be hurt and upset by the end of the day.  Reputations of certain, (some of them) respected individuals would be forever tainted.  Cycling was going to get a lot of unpleasant heat.  It was going to be a tough day.  I was out most of the afternoon, when the USA was just starting to rub the sleep of of its eyes.  That evening, I was sitting at the pub with friends enjoying a mid-week pint when the phone started buzzing.  The floodgates had opened.

As you know, I was pretty well informed about the likely contents of the report from previous research.  The names of those that testified had been leaked months ago during the Tour.  I'm still reading through the report itself, but so far there hasn't been any "wow" moments.  I realize that's not the case for many people.  Cycling fans, Armstrong fans, pro cyclists, teams, and even journalists have been dealing with their grief.  You can see those famous "Five Stages of Grief" being played out in comment sections on news sites, Twitter, cycling websites, sports pages, and personal blogs all over the world.  Some people are still in denial, despite the mountain of evidence.  Many fans will "Support Lance" no matter what.  Some insist on avoiding the topic all together.  In fact, many may never progress beyond that point.  Then, there are those going through the anger stage.  Finger pointing has become a favorite coping mechanism of late- it's the fault of the journalists, it's the fault of the fans.  Some have entered the bargaining phase, citing the rampant doping in the peloton of that era or Armstrong's charity work.  Others, and understandably so, are depressed.  Vows have been made to never watch the Tour again.  They can't stand to see another cyclist or race right now.  They've thrown out their yellow bracelets.  They're putting their Lance memorabilia on eBay.  At some point, though, maybe by the time July rolls around, most will be firmly at the end of the process and will accept that the contents of the report are the truth.  Cycling wasn't clean in the 90's.  Beloved riders were involved.  Lance lied and helped to organize the largest doping ring in sports history with tax payer money.  He isn't a role model.  He isn't a good guy.  He will probably never admit it.  There's nothing we can do about it.

Then, and only then will cycling move on.  But, it's going to take a while to get there.  The sport and its fans have to deal with their grief.  Hopefully, part of that process will be the continuing efforts of athletes to come clean and today's teams retiring the hangers on from that era.  Keep in mind, however, closure from something like this will not happen over night.

But, fans of the sport, remember this- no matter what Lance Armstrong did, no matter what those other guys did, no matter what some of the guys are doing now, cycling itself is still pure.  Sure, the pro circuit is not, not by a long shot. But, those guys didn't have a clue what riding a bike is all about.  They lost sight of it a long time ago and it just became a way to make money and get famous.

You and I, we know what it's all about, don't we?   It's a beautiful thing to swing our legs over that saddle, place our feet on those pedals and just go.  We can go wherever we want, we can go as far as we want, and we can go as fast or as slow as we want.  Cycling is the perfect union between man and machine and it is beautiful.  Every day you get out there on your own bicycle, be it to compete, get to work, or spend time with your family, you are experiencing the true beauty of the bicycle.  Drivers can't tarnish it, city planners can't tarnish it, and the corruption of the pro peloton can never, ever tarnish it.   No matter what stage of grief you're in, keep your eyes on that truth.  Beautiful and wonderful things always have something or someone out there trying to hold it down, but the truly perfect things will always outlast the onslaught.

Get out there and pedal on.  Throw off the baggage, the anger, and the activism.  Allow yourself to fall in love with your bicycle and your sport again.

Conclusions Reached

I read the book.  Yes, that book.

Then I read another book and another.  I'm currently reading this one.  Why?  Because I am and always will be a fan of road cycling.  I'm a fan of the performance, the art, and the intensity of the sport.  There's nothing quite like it.  Would I have loved to have been present during a race in which Merckx rode?  Yes, but I'm just as happy to be there watching Team Sky or anyone else.  I'd love to get to a women's race sometime because I'm 100% certain those races are where it's really at.

I'm "the cycling fan" in our circle of friends.  I'm the one that drags her poor husband and (leashed!) dog to all those bike races.  I'm the one that watches the Tour de France everyday, even during the boring flat stages, the one who is still mildly depressed about missing this year's Vuelta.  I'm the one that has caps, cowbells, jerseys, and water bottles hanging on her wall.  If anyone we know has an interest in what a peloton is and how the yellow (or the pink or the gold) jersey is awarded they know who to ask.  They know who to ask about Lance Armstrong and doping.  Unfortunately, a lot of people want to know about those things right now.

So, I read the books because I think it's important to know what you're talking about if you're going to have an opinion.  I needed to know the story in order to get one.

Was I shocked about the revelations in Hamilton's book?  Nope.  Talk and stories have been around for years about what went on at Postal under Armstrong's leadership.  There wasn't anything too new there- concealer on scars, cover ups, payoffs to the UCI, intimidation of witnesses, rage induced tirades, drugs by motorbike, etc.  No, I wasn't surprised.  Nowadays it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to human behavior.  However, I did find his inclusion of the details to be fascinating- how they covered up the drugs in their systems, how the testing procedures worked and didn't work, and what happens when things go wrong.  After reading all this stuff, I now feel satisfied.  I know what doping means and I know what it looks like.  I know that the drug tests are reliable and a positive is what it is.  That feeling of ambiguity I've always had about this topic is gone.

So, now that I have all this knowledge under my belt, I have my opinions.  Is he telling the truth?  Yes.  There's too many dates, details, evidence, and consistencies to come up with a different conclusion.  Did the top guys at Postal cheat? You bet.  Was the UCI corrupt? Yes.  Is the UCI corrupt now?  Yes.  Are these guys who have come forward with these stories ruining the sport?  Absolutely not.  It's going to take a while and it is painful to hear that favorite athletes and role models cheated, but in the end there is an excellent chance that all of this will lead to the beginning of a new era in cycling, when it becomes the cleanest sport in the world.

Are Hamilton, Millar, and all the others that have been caught and admitted to doping terrible human beings who can't be trusted?  No.  They're cheats.  But, let's get a little perspective on that, shall we?  The fact of the matter is, like that quote in Breaking Away, "Everybody cheats."  Sure, we're not all competing in professional sports or taking illegal drugs, but unless only saints read this blog I'm pretty certain we are all guilty of cutting corners and cheating at some point in order to get ahead of the game.  They may have been legal cheats or illegal, but the fact of the matter is none of us is blameless in life.  In actuality, the people that admit they've screwed up, lied, or cheated are the ones we should admire.  It takes a lot of guts to stand up in front of the world and admit you traded on your integrity to win a special colored shirt or a trophy.  It takes a lot of guts to admit you're scum.  Would you?  Would I?

Do I think dopers are terrible human beings?  No.  I think they're fallible human beings who couldn't resist temptation.  Whether they get caught or not, they sell out for a win and they contribute to the problem.  They take away the chances of honest athletes.  They put themselves and others at risk.  They do all this to win a bike race.  They have a problem and they need help.  But, pro cyclists aren't your average human beings.  They live and want to live an extreme life.  No one can say the guys that compete at their level aren't tough athletes.  With that lifestyle comes unique challenges, ones most of us never deal with.  We have to respect the fact that they're still people that have the capacity to make huge mistakes just like the rest of us.  If I was told that I'd have to do something unethical (that everyone else does) to keep doing the only thing I thought I was good at in order to stay employed, pay the bills, and put food on the table I'd like to think I'd have the courage to walk away.  However, I'm not naive enough to believe that I wouldn't give it some thought.

What do I think about Lance Armstrong?  Well, to be completely honest with you, I feel terrible for the guy.  He's a deeply troubled soul who is full of anger.  In order to cope with his demons, he turned to sports.  But, it wasn't enough.  So, he did everything he could to win and transcend cycling to become one of the most famous athletes of all time.  He summed up his feelings with a couples quotes,

"Two things scare me. The first is getting hurt. But that's not nearly as scary as the second, which is losing."  

"When I was sick, I didn't want to die.  When I race, I don't want to lose.  Dying and losing, it's the same thing."

So, in order to avoid his greatest fear, he became desperate.  He cheated, like a lot of guys in that era, and then he took it further.  He perfected it and he made it the strategy.  He broke laws, he organized drug trafficking, and he passed money under tables.  There's no getting around it now.

I think he also fears being disliked.  How dare them!  If someone criticizes him, they don't get one ounce of leniency.  They are called some pretty colorful things and you can bet he won't forget for a second that they are out there somewhere disliking him.  Carrying that around everyday can't be easy.  So, do I think he's a horrible person?  No, I think he's someone to pity and that's about it.  He's a human being desperately seeking peace at all costs.  But, I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a nice guy either.  He let his issues take over his life and a lot of people are paying for it.  Yes, I do think that he needs to answer for the laws that he broke during those years.  Since it involved federal funds, witness intimidation, and fraud I think it's more serious than your typical sports doping case.  The whole ball of wax needs to be addressed from the corporations involved to the sport's governing body.  It could get even uglier than it already has.  But, I think it is worth it for the sake of cycling.

All this aside, I will still flick on my television next spring when the season starts again.  I'm still going to drag my husband and dog to the races even when it's pouring to witness a few seconds of that glorious intensity.  But, I have a slightly different take on it now.  I'm now a supporter of particular athletes and teams.  I support the ones that uphold honesty and purity in the sport.  I support the guys that admit things were done, whether they were personally involved or not.  I support all the cyclists out there, men and women, who get on their bikes and race their hearts out on nothing but "pan y agua."  I'm behind the ones that pledge to it.  That's where the sport exists in all truthfulness and that's where it can grow from.


What about the others, those teams that continue to use dishonest means or the athletes who continue to ride unreformed or deny their involvement?  Well, let's just say I'm not going to waste my breath supporting or otherwise.  Whether they cheated or not has no direct effect on my life.  I don't lose any sleep over it.  I'm not going to argue with people or take any more time than I already have researching or dwelling on the matter.  I know the story now and it has made me a more knowledgable fan, a better fan.  Those who have the real problem are the athletes themselves.  

I hope, for their sakes and the sake of the sport, that it doesn't take too much longer to sort all this out.  As is the case in other aspects of life, the truth hurts, but recognizing and accepting it is necessary for progress.

And that's my opinion.