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Only a few minutes to start for a new day,

just want to know

how are you ?

Coffee Diary 07

Wow! what makes you look so bad?  Mr.sandwiches is even better than you. Are you in rush? or in a disaster or what?

Yeah yeah yeah...only 15 minutes to go, I don't have any extra seconds to dress myself up, see the departure gate? people are already boarding, although I would love to sit aside, sharing the leisure moment with my pal, this time is soooooooooo......

Never mind, we have so many transit in our life, but the memory will always been kept deep in our heart......just like the happy & exciting adventure I've here, at this moment, in this country.

Sherlock Holmes

If I am talking about Sherlock Holmes, which scenario will appear in your head? this one? this one or that one? It's interesting to have these three pictures right in front showing the different presentation of Sherlock Holmes in different ages. 

The one on the left is a recent T.V. show of this famous novel, cool + freak  Sherlock (by Benedict Cumberbatch) with mature + calm Dr. Watson (by Martin Freeman). Carriage in the past replaced by taxi, telex become SMS, home made laboratory finally got an official one. And the most fresh performance is both of them are younger in age.

The second one is a movie, Sherlock's (by Robert Downey) character is exaggerated a bit, more romance and psychiatric, together with decent + reliable Watson (by Judy Law); more dramatic approach, scene of excitement every minutes.

Well, the last one is the original detective fiction, usually comes into two volumes, sometimes four, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the first story was written in 1887, A STUDY IN SCARLET. Most of the adventures were told as a record by Dr. Watson, an injured, retired soldier who shared Sherlock's flat in 221B, Baker Street in England. He was greatly attracted by Sherlock's weird character, his intelligent, the special deduction method which solved lots of mystery cases for his client. 

From a stranger to a room mate, then an assistance to the best friend that Sherlock can put his life into his hand. This, is the core that connects everything in the novel and best of all, whether the T.V. or the movie version, this message is clearly delivered. 

Whether you like a more subtle classical expression, or a more dynamic / modern way, Sherlock Holmes is for sure the master of private detective that worth to read.

Google Friend Connect

Recently we discover some google friend follower disappear, originally we thought it's because of technical issue that blogging site do happen very often. Today, I spend some time to review our whole blog......omg! Google Friend Connect retired in March already for non-bloggers, that's the reason why they've gone. What then?

We have to use google+ , hmm...another new stuff (not new to others but me) that I did try to find a minute to figure out, but simply want to pick up a bit later! Now, no more choice and wish me luck :D

Be yourself

If you can't fit in, be yourself, no big deal!

Pinterest - love it or hate it?

link here

I believe some of you know what it is or already is a fans of Pinterest.  Truly speaking, it is a very attractive & fast growing platform that everyone can create their own pin board, easy to use, lots of nice stuff and full of fun. You can "pin" any of your favorite image found in the internet world to make your collective booklet, original source link will be attached automatically so if other people want to view it or re-pin it, they will be linked to the author's web page directly. So the overall process is not only share beautiful image within the community but also create traffic to the web page of the image owner......what a lovely idea.

But eventually problems raised, some photographer or blogger or artist just don't want this "sharing", they think it is a violation of copyright = to share their photo or artwork online (although which is already being viewed online thru' their own web site) without asking their permission is unacceptable, even the image will link back to them at last or even it's because of people love it so they want to share with others. Well, we can't say it is anything wrong because the author do have their right to what they've  posted, and it's true that there are a small group of people do make use of this channel to promote their own blog or even make money. So.......someone do hate it!

How can we get a balance? Use an html code to prevent "PIN" button work? Complain to Pinterest whenever discover your image being pinned? It seems it's more easy to do another way round, for author who don't mind this sharing that can bring them traffic as a benefit, put a "PIN IT" button in page, so "Pin fans" will know they are welcome to share what they like. In another word, "Pin fan" just don't pin if this button is not appear in the page you are viewing, respect the author's or simply send an email to ask for a sharing permission, a bit complicated, but every one will be happy.

Coffee Cupping ???

剛剛收到一個電郵，是Hunter Douglas Designer Club 同 Caffe Habitu 搞一個Coffee Cupping 的通知．令我想起月初“拉衫尾”跟一位好友參加了人生第一次Cupping，足足搞了三個小時，除了覺得新鮮有趣，見識了不少之外，也令我更加肯定自己是BB班水準．

 十多名參加者當中，有咖啡從業員，單品及紅酒愛好者，一般都頗年輕；導師是個正積極考取這專業資格的少年人．相比他們的認真，我倆實在有點hea!

由簡單的咖啡介紹，認識什麼是Cupping，基礎味道的分辨，如何在咖啡乾濕狀態下比較它的各種表現，以其平衡度決定評級．．．等等，實在是一門頗專業的學問．如果真的對咖啡品賞渴望有更深體會的朋友，我絕對推薦這些體驗講座．至於我自己呢？暫時還是想享受一下BB班的自由，hea住飲咖啡，畢竟專業是要認真對待的啊！

Just received an email from Hunter Douglas Designer Club, originally I thought it must be another new product launch or discount week...well, what a surprise of "Coffee Cupping" invitation! A talk presented by Caffe Habitu. This reminds me I did join one in early July, by a kind invitation from my friend, truly speaking, the very first time in my life. Thanks Julianna.

It took a total 3 hours time for this exercise, around 10 persons gathered in a small room full of coffee aroma, some were already a barista, some are red wine or coffee addict, fairly young but serious, compare with us two, ha ha ! a bit hea ! The lecturer was a young man who is going to have this professional qualification after some more examinations, cool!

Started by a brief introduction to coffee type & origin, followed by what is the meaning of Cupping, what are the basic aroma (up to at least 36 types), how to "feel" the behavior of coffee in dry & wet condition, what is the proper cupping manner, what are the concern of overall balance to dictate the final grading...etc, etc. A really professional era, I have to say.

If you do wish to taste "deeper" to your cup of coffee and know more in the coffee world, I shall highly recommend you to attend these Cupping gathering, which are quite hot and shall become more popular in Hong Kong now. 

And myself ? I tend to stay in my junior stage at this moment, to taste my "Hea" style coffee, because professional is professional, it must take time & heart to treat it sincerely.