This was lovely, Wil. And so so Finnish, your tree surgeon masters, companions.
I do not drink coffee, never have (Irish family, tea was at the center… ‘I’ll put the kettle on’ being the first things someone would say if you wanted to talk). Ok, I did come to like a creamy thick espresso during the year I was on a project in Rome, my Italian colleagues every afternoon with their ‘let’s take an espresso’ invite, a nice stroll to some tiny café - I had no choice, and soon came to look forward to it. But regular coffee, any beans any which way? No.
But: Now I am intrigued by this pot coffee thing. You make it sound so good. So I think I should try, at least once.
Haha, ah, thanks Jack. Personally I’ve never been all that into tea. Ive fallen in love with coffee though over the paast decade in the Nordics (particularly since i’ve gone zero booze)
I have been baking banana bread for many years, bc in our house we love bananas but always seem to have a few that sit too long (Marilyn is very very picky itr) - overripe! So into the freezer they go, and we end up with 3 to maybe as many as 8 or 9 there at any time (we are down to three right now bc I made your bread on the weekend with 4 of them).
Consequently, a steady supply of frozen overripe bananas means baking bread with a few of them becomes a necessity at some point (freezer space!) - and the fact we love banana bread turns that necessity into our good fortune.
But while I have fiddled around with lots of variations over the years - nuts of all kinds, cranberries, raisins, frozen blueberries, coconut - with good success, I admit I had never thought about cardamom, let alone miso.
But why? My thoughtlessness lol. Because I became a cardamom lover some years back on a long trip to Syria, where I discovered Turkish style coffee (forgot to mention that in my story about espresso in Rome), as whenever you were leaving a Damascus restaurant (anthro note: Syrians seem to eat out in groups - hardly ever saw just one couple at a table), you were given a tiny cup of thick very strong coffee with cardamom seed in the bottom, which gave it an amazing flavour. And you downed that cardamom-dosed coffee like it was a shot of vodka, handing the empty cup back to the wait staff, and walked out happy.
Yet I never considered using the fabulous flavour of cardamom in my banana bread… until your recipe post. And the miso was just a wonderful added note. We are down to the last third of the bread, but still have more frozen bananas in the freezer, they have to be used ☺️
That was a wonderful story. I love how you described the coffee. My Nonna used to make Italian coffee just that way in a saucepan... but she did pour it through a small strainer into the cup to catch those few suspended grains!
I'd make pot coffee whenever friends and I would go hiking and camping out in the middle of nowhere. It was always delicious. I also had a friend who spent time in Turkey and introduced me to Turkish coffee. Though similar to pot coffee, is a little different.
I thoroughly enjoyed your newsletter. As it brought back many fond memories for me. Thank you, Chef.
This was lovely, Wil. And so so Finnish, your tree surgeon masters, companions.
I do not drink coffee, never have (Irish family, tea was at the center… ‘I’ll put the kettle on’ being the first things someone would say if you wanted to talk). Ok, I did come to like a creamy thick espresso during the year I was on a project in Rome, my Italian colleagues every afternoon with their ‘let’s take an espresso’ invite, a nice stroll to some tiny café - I had no choice, and soon came to look forward to it. But regular coffee, any beans any which way? No.
But: Now I am intrigued by this pot coffee thing. You make it sound so good. So I think I should try, at least once.
Haha, ah, thanks Jack. Personally I’ve never been all that into tea. Ive fallen in love with coffee though over the paast decade in the Nordics (particularly since i’ve gone zero booze)
On another front, I made a loaf of your cardamom miso banana bread. Delicious! 5 stars.
Too kind, sir.
Something more about the banana cardamom miso…
I have been baking banana bread for many years, bc in our house we love bananas but always seem to have a few that sit too long (Marilyn is very very picky itr) - overripe! So into the freezer they go, and we end up with 3 to maybe as many as 8 or 9 there at any time (we are down to three right now bc I made your bread on the weekend with 4 of them).
Consequently, a steady supply of frozen overripe bananas means baking bread with a few of them becomes a necessity at some point (freezer space!) - and the fact we love banana bread turns that necessity into our good fortune.
But while I have fiddled around with lots of variations over the years - nuts of all kinds, cranberries, raisins, frozen blueberries, coconut - with good success, I admit I had never thought about cardamom, let alone miso.
But why? My thoughtlessness lol. Because I became a cardamom lover some years back on a long trip to Syria, where I discovered Turkish style coffee (forgot to mention that in my story about espresso in Rome), as whenever you were leaving a Damascus restaurant (anthro note: Syrians seem to eat out in groups - hardly ever saw just one couple at a table), you were given a tiny cup of thick very strong coffee with cardamom seed in the bottom, which gave it an amazing flavour. And you downed that cardamom-dosed coffee like it was a shot of vodka, handing the empty cup back to the wait staff, and walked out happy.
Yet I never considered using the fabulous flavour of cardamom in my banana bread… until your recipe post. And the miso was just a wonderful added note. We are down to the last third of the bread, but still have more frozen bananas in the freezer, they have to be used ☺️
Jack, I appreciate this so much. So thoughtful of you to leave this generous message.
That was a wonderful story. I love how you described the coffee. My Nonna used to make Italian coffee just that way in a saucepan... but she did pour it through a small strainer into the cup to catch those few suspended grains!
Thanks so much, Celia. The strainer is a smart move of course.
An excellent story, thank you….and that is exactly how my little Latvian grandmother made her coffee!
Thanks India! One of many shared cultural traits between Latvia/Finland I’m sure.
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
My pleasure of course!
I'd make pot coffee whenever friends and I would go hiking and camping out in the middle of nowhere. It was always delicious. I also had a friend who spent time in Turkey and introduced me to Turkish coffee. Though similar to pot coffee, is a little different.
I thoroughly enjoyed your newsletter. As it brought back many fond memories for me. Thank you, Chef.