Coffee, coffee, coffee

Just wanted to share with you all something special to me - my variation of the method for a good cup of coffee from a french press. I love coffee, it's really one of the many things close to my heart; coffee has so many flavors and dimensions and I think a french press really takes the roasters efforts and delivers it superbly to you. 

There is a generally agreed upon set of procedures for using a french press, but there are also a lot of details that vary from procedure to procedure. My own variation here is the product of years of using the french press, through trial and error, for what works best with me for the equipment I have - like I said in the video, I don't have the best equipment, but I work with what I got. Hopefully this could help out people who are just starting out with french presses, those who don't have a top-notch grinder and/or kettle - coz I don't.

Sorry about all the errors, I recorded it in one take. Happy coffee drinking! 

Music: "Just You and Me" by Zee Avi. She's an amazing artist! 

Happy National Tequila Day!

Tequila Sunrise! With a hearty breakfast.

National Tequila Day... I was on Twitter this morning (@auhaaron) and I found out that today was National Tequila Day! So I figured, why not! Why not join in on the celebration! Hahaha. 

"What's life without whimsy? - Sheldon Cooper

I looked in the fridge and found out, sadly, that I had ran out of orange juice! Looked on our fruit stand and next to the bananas (we go through bananas like nothing, by the way) there were two big, juicy oranges. Shoot! Improvised, and squeezed those suckers up. Added some gold and grenadine. Cooked eggs, kosher sausages, rice, and said "¡Sabroso!"  ;)

Some Beautiful Things

This blog, in addition to sharing my life status with you all, is also really my chance to share with you all some things that I find absolutely beautiful, things which capture my heart, things that captivate me and sometimes things so profound... things that illuminate me more about the human condition, the human experience, and, even deeper too at times, things can't merely be evaluated by my brain and can only be contemplated, felt, by the realms my heart, truly transcendental forms that elevate my soul whether it is art, or landscapes, or music, or just... experiences.

First off, I recently made an addition to my plain layout to this site a couple of weeks ago - I added the sunset banner. I took the picture about a year ago during a serene Santa Monica sunset.  Santa Monica is one of my favorite beach spots, beautiful shores.  I recommend everyone to check that place out.  I haven't been to many LA beaches, but someone told me Venice beach is pretty amazing too, got to go there one day.


I've also been listening to some amazing musical performances the last couple of weeks, many times right before I head off to bed. Nothing better than amazing music before sleep.

"We Are Young" by Fun. Cover by Andie.

I absolutely love the way Andie sings. She lives in Australia, and I love her Australian accent by the way, it's pretty sweet to my ears. And then there's her music... just wonderful.  She's made many covers on Youtube of many popular Top 40 songs, and many covers too from bands I haven't met yet, but she does amazing takes on them.  I love how she truly performs her own original rendition of the songs, which she executes, I think, so boldly and wonderfully... she hears and sings melodies, tones, notes that the real versions of the songs don't have... and I love them and her for that. I love when she really rings out her high notes!  Her range is broad and her control is superb. And unbelievably to me at first is that she's only 14! (if memory serves right)... I'm so excited to follow her journey and see how her voice will mature... from my following of her so far for the past year, she's grown in her craft, much more refined and balanced tone. Here's more covers I've been loving from her:

"Payphone" by Maroon 5. Cover by Andie.

"New Romantic" by Laura Marling. Cover by Andie



"Islands" by Young the Giant (Live).

Young the Giant is a new band I'm still hearing out, and "Islands" is an amazing sound. The on-set location is perfect with this song, and the acoustic bass sounds heavenly.  It would be pretty amazing to see this live performance actually...live. 

"Something In The Way You Are" by Kimbra

Hey Kimbra's also from Australia too! I've been listening to her album "Vows", and it's a really nice record, really a breath of fresh air for me.  She's amazingly creative in her production, and her voice... Oh I love her roughness in this song. Her control is masterly, she's smooth icy some places, then just the right amount of vibrato other parts, and the way she rings out her voice... on top of that, her edgy "umph" is so apparent here... wowza. Beautiful. 

"Lights" by Ellie Goulding. Live acoustic. 

Moving across the world to England, we find Miss Ellie Goulding.   This songs been a smash on the American radio stations, and I'm so happy for her.  I really enjoy her song "Guns and Horses" too, but I wanted to share her live performance of "Lights" most.  She changes key for the chorus, so hearing her studio version for a long time, when hearing this for the first time my ears were completely interested, and rightly so.  More roughness, rawness in this performance... and so much passion and sincerity and enjoyment as well. She loses herself in the song, and that's really where, I think, you can really tell the depth of a musician, or for that matter, any type of passionate person. It's not something you can fake, I think, even with  amazing talent. 

Wine Review, Italian Barbera - Kyle Meyer 

So a couple of blogs back, I mentioned how I started tasting wines (from the standpoint of a coffee lover), and I'm so interested in the art now that I'm so giddy to start tasting more and more wines! I guess I have been bitten by what wine lovers call "the wine bug".  I really like this Kyle guy, extremely descriptive, and, to me, he shows his great love for wine... He seems like a friendly guy, not uptight, but at the same time very, very respectful for the craft, I can tell he takes it seriously, but also enjoys it too. I haven't have the Italian varietal Barbera yet, but I got to try it in my life.  I guess this sharing isn't so much about the wine, but more of a show of the love of wine, how one can get so in love with the art. 

Austrian Reds - Kyle Meyer

One of the things that taste does sometimes, and it happens to me too when I drink certain coffees, is it's uncanny ability to conjure up some vivid memories causing it to come out as some wacky descriptors, but that's the fun of something like coffee and wine, and I love that. 

Barbara Review - Gary Vaynerchuk

First impression, man, this guy's energy! Hahaha the first couple of seconds are really in your face, but I love the enthusiasm. You should see me when I'm drinking amazing coffee... it would probably make you laugh but I don't care, some coffee/wine just has to be rightfully appreciated - a lot of hard work goes into that cup of love - and if it's so good as to tear down all my composure exposing my bare feelings, then so be it! 

So those are some beautiful things that I've been Youtubing, reading, experiencing.  It's definitely summer for me. At the least, now I have a well organized list of the things I want to rewatch on my blog hahaha! 

4th of July

Fourth of July was real good to me, as it should be for all Americans out there. The day marks our independence for our country, the day when our story of an underdog won against not only opposition from other countries, but from the difficulties of what it meant to be independent and the struggles of starting from the ground up. I'm proud of the history of my country and still believe in her great capacity to be a shining light for the world, as it has been time and time before.  Definitely, the 4th of July to me is a reminder too, to be like how my country did and strive for the independence from all the powers trying to hold me back from being my full potential.

My 4th of July was amazing to say the least. I spent the day with my family at Folsom Lake, you really have to appreciate Sacramento - for being a city in the center of the state, far away from the ocean, we really make use of our man-made lakes and the one river running through it, lol. Chill, chill, chill. And perfect weather to accompany the lake-side chilling, too.

A whole block filled with people lit with over-sized sparklers. A grand  finale to the 4th of July. 

The night was crae. I can without a doubt say that my block is one of the best places to be in Sacramento for 4th of July.  One of my neighbors holds an annual block party for Independence Day and the general public is invited.  This year was definitely one for the books - the fireworks were legit (as in, they actually went up in the air), laser dance lights through the darkness everywhere, there was even a famous radio station DJ on the ones and twos providing dope music for people to dance to in the streets (and I definitely took advantage of a DJ on deck, it's such a shame when a DJ plays and people don't dance!).  It was pretty much a club ;).  One of the best parts of the night was the grand finale - everyone was provided an over-sized sparkler and asked to light it at the same time... perhaps 300+ people at once and the whole street was lit!  Crae crae. Hmm, if I had to try and convey the mood the party feel had, I would tell you to listen to "I Like it Like that" by Hot Chelle Rae ft. the New Boyz. Did I also mention it was a summer night? :) Hahaha I'm sorry, I just can't get enough thinking back to the memories.

A lot of other things happened post-4th of July, but I'll blog that later. Stay up peoples!

"Call Me Maybe"

I absolutely love this video.

I love the original make of the song too, but I think this performance was just all about having fun, having a good time (if you caught that, COOKIES for you), and just enjoying life in the company of people who want to have worry-free, good fun too. It's good, wholesome fun. And for me, it's one of many videos that inspire me to live life out like the vibe it's sending.

And one last thing - KAZOO. 

Contradictions

This will be my 100th blog post, spanning over four years of being here on Blogspot, two and a half of those years out of high school and in college, three years of them being a youth group leader, one year of them being employed and the past two years being unemployed. Two of the years as a coffee lover, one month of it being 21 years old, and all four of them being completely single...lol.

I look back on it all in the blink of an eye and I'm extremely thankful that I'm here, alive and all. But more than that, I'm amazed because there were times when I used to think "How will I ever get out of this one" or, more sadly, "I wish I would just be done with all this". I've really got God to thank for that though, He never ceases to amaze me.

I once read a reflection by Mother Angelica, in her writing "The Healing Power of Suffering", in which she talks about "interior suffering":

"It is in our souls that God does His most magnificent work. The world may look upon the aged, the sick and the retarded with sympathy, but God's work in their souls, through the power of interior suffering, is doing a greater work than when He created the Universe. Only in eternity shall we see the beauty of the soul and only then shall we realize what great things were accomplished by interior suffering." - Mother Angelica, "The Healing Power of Suffering" 

It's incredible to me to find out the realization that, when I look out into the universe, at the stars, all the beautiful landscapes, at the sunrises and sunsets, that through all that beautify, God is actually doing "greater work" within our souls. And to tie the knot, I'll take my liberties and quote one of my favorite writers C.S. Lewis:

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.". - C.S. Lewis 

I get so fatigued sometimes by my own personal suffering that I have to remind myself constantly that God is in control of everything that happens to me, that he fashioned all that I've gone through and fashions what I will go through, He allowed and only allows what I can handle to happen - all for my benefit. And that He loves me (and loves you, too).


I forgot who actually came to this thought but the statement is: "people make actions based on fear". I don't want to be like that anymore. For a long time I've been contradicting myself - saying and believing one thing and acting the other way, and I won't lie it's been based on fear. I don't want to be a living contradiction  to myself anymore. As I look back on this blog, it's the one thing I've been secretly ashamed about to myself - through a lot of my blogs it's been creeping beneath the surface of my skin, in between the lines in the words I wrote. 

Perhaps I will never be completely fearless... but I want to make sure that by my 200th blog, or 1000th blog, I'd like to be able to write that I am no longer a contradiction to myself the way I used to be, that I lived despite all the fear.

Concerts in the Park & Party

I love my city.  Every Friday for the summer Downtown Sac hosts a "Concerts in the Park" event free for all ages. Local bands play, radio stations attend, and the weather is perfect. Nothing beats a Sacramento dusk. This past Friday me, my bro, sis, and a good friend of ours Alyssa checked CIP out for the first time.  I liked it! Just a chill friendly vibe, cool rock music, and at one point a hype-man came up on stage, base came on blast, and the crowd got up and danced along. I imagine Coachella to be something like CIP (but about a million times better)... Hopefully I can attend a Coachella one year.

When the hype-man was up on stage, that whole front center was filled with people dancing!  Me included . 

Meg, Alyssa, and Patrick. We brought our own chairs. 

After CIP, a couple of our good friends Kim and Brent had their parent's 25th wedding anniversary - Silver! We went and had a wonderful time and we were so thankful we got to spend the night sharing in the wonderful celebration with them.

Kim, Patrick, Meg, and Alyssa 

They have a beautiful home and back yard. Coy fish! 

And a hammock. Go Megsies! 

Kim, Alyssa, Patrick, and Meg. 

I love hammocks. 

Alyssa and Meg. 

Patrick, Kim, Brent, Me, Meg, and Alyssa.

A picture with Tito and Tita, congrats! :) 

This seriously is turning out to be the best summer I've ever had.