Any frequent drinker of coffee knows there is a fine line between a good cup of coffee and a bad cup of coffee. What they may not know is that avoiding bad coffee is pretty simple. It all comes down to freshness.

Although roasting coffee helps enhance the flavor of the bean, it also decreases its shelf life by causing it to loose flavor faster. While you can check the dates and buy limited quantities at a time, the best way to get the freshest coffee is by roasting the coffee yourself.

There are a couple of different ways to roast your own coffee. One of the easiest is by using a hot air popcorn popper. You will also need a large mixing bowl and a colander.

Start by pouring the coffee beans into the popcorn popper. You can use the same amount of coffee as the popcorn machine recommends for popcorn. Set the bowl under the chute so that it collects the chaff. (If possible you may want to take this outside so it doesn’t make a mess in your kitchen.) When everything is ready turn it on. It is important that you watch it closely to achieve the desired roast . A light roast will take about 4 min and a dark roast about 6.

When the beans are a little lighter than you prefer pull them out. (They will continue to roast until they cool down.) Pour them into the colander and agitate them until they are warm to the touch.

You can begin preparing a cup in your home coffee makers right away, but it important that you store the leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Once you taste the freshness of this coffee, you’ll never go back!

Roasting Your Own Coffee is a post from: Zickets

It isn’t often you get to see some of the tour footage from over seas. Here is a video of some of the tour with the Handsome Furs. These people aren’t used to Singapore.

They are still on tour if I’m not mistaken, so there are still more concerts to see if you are there and have the time.

Handsome Furs in Singapore is a post from: Zickets

Coming to Singapore with high expectations for the food is one of the most reasonable things a traveler can do. There is an extraordinary food culture here, and like everything else in Singapore, part of its greatness lies in its multiplicity. The city-state is composed of citizens who have origins in India, China, and Malaysia, among other places, but these are the ethnic groups who are best represented in the cuisine. It’s possible, however, to find just about anything you’re looking for in town, with a restaurant variety that is simply stunning.

There are many customs that are owned by each ethnicity, and general customs that apply to most every situation. In most cases, it’s easy enough to simply wait until you can observe how things are done, and then just join in. It probably doesn’t take very long, however, to see that there are some customs that are more mystifying than others, and plenty of visitors raise their eyebrows at the notion of offering food for the Dead. There are a number of cultures who practice this, and feeding the ancestors after they’ve passed over is found all over the world. Ancestor worship is, after all, the most common religion on earth, although it is not formally organized, being a part of many other more formal religions.

One of the more elaborate festivals for the Dead happens here at the beginning of April. Qing Ming is a Chinese festival that honors the Dead in the cemetery with joss sticks, candles, and food offerings. It is celebrated 104 days after the Winter solstice, or 14 days before the Spring equinox, so its placement absolutely suggests that it is a tradition that has roots deep in folk culture. It is very common for families to cook their own food for their deceased loved ones , preparing favorite meals when they were among the living. This isn’t a public event, and an invitation to participate, then, is one that would have great significance, and shouldn’t be missed.

Singapore Food Customs: Qing Ming is a post from: Zickets