The BB cafe

[Kazzl]

The BB cafe is open for business!
Welcome all to a new chill and chat place for everyone on the forum.

The BB cafe is whatever you want it to be. There are comfy sofas, tables and chairs, coffee machines, a kitchen stocked with everything. There's a pool outside, a bbq area, an annexe with comfy beds for a quiet sleep, tv, dvd, books and whatever else you would like to have here.

Most of all, it's a place to meet friends and fellow travellers for a bit of company. Talk over problems, tell jokes, share your day, escape into a world of your making. Grab a coffee and pull up a chair ... 

So, with a nod to the wonderful Carole King (Hard Rock Cafe) ...

Now if you're feeling just a little bit lonely
Don't sit at home just mopin'
Come on down to where the friendship flows freely
You know the door is always open

At the BB cafe
Come to the BB cafe
They will help keep your blues at bay
At the BB cafe

Important Message from ModSupport: 
The main intention of the BB Cafe is to encourage light conversation. Please look after your fellow community members by nuturing the BB Cafe as a place to escape some of the more pressing issues in life and save those conversations for personal threads. 

[smallwolf]

Same ... I learned a lot about what goes into it and now have a much greater appreciation for the difference between a good coffee and a bad one. I'm not really a wine or coffee snob, but that morning really opened my eyes to the level of detail that separates the two.

[Eagle Ray]

Yes, I’ve never been fussy about coffee either. But seeing what’s involved in proper barista made coffee made me realise it’s not a simple thing. Even just getting the weight right for the coffee to make the espresso and learning how important it is how compacted or not the coffee grains are. And getting the temperature right, frothing the milk correctly so it ideally doesn’t have bubbles etc. The person I did the training with kept making me repeat the process to get it exactly right.

I just found a recipe for lemon gluten free baked donuts. It looks interesting.

[sbella02]

Hello everyone at the cafe! I've been a bit MIA for the past few weeks but I'm having a read through and trying to catch up on everything now - gluten free donuts sound interesting ER, have you given them a go yet? I'd love to know how they turn out.

I did barista work for several years, and you're so right, it sounds a lot easier than it is! It gets fun and (somewhat) easier the more that you do it, but in the beginning, it feels like it's this impossible technique that you'll never get right. I always liked doing fun latte art!

[Eagle Ray]

sbella, I haven’t tried the donuts yet. There’s a few exotic ingredients I can’t get hold of from the very limited local supermarket in my town. My lemon tree is bursting with lemons, so I think in the meantime I will make some lemon cakes for which I do have the ingredients. I noticed today that some of the lemons are giant-sized. The lemon tree is going gangbusters while the mandarin tree, which would normally be full of fruit, has hardly produced any this year. The orange tree has produced fruit but very late, so they’re just beginning to ripen now. The fourth citrus which I suspect is a lime but has never fruited, has lots of flowers at the moment. Maybe if I’m lucky I may get limes this year 🤞

I love the art on coffee these days. A cafe in the city specialises in doing unique art, so beyond the love heart or leaf that you often get, such as cute animal faces. The trainer was teaching me to make a leaf at the end. I really wanted to go on to do some cafe work but I was just too unwell. Even just doing the barista course itself I had to finish half an hour early as I could no longer stand and focus. But I love learning practical skills like that and maybe one day I will implement it, though need more practice first!

Today I ate a very yummy piece of gluten free carrot cake from my local bakery. It was full of all sorts of goodies including things like pepitas, but it was so yummy I ate it all before I’d realised what all the ingredients were. Now I’ll just have to buy another piece to find out 😂

[smallwolf]

I have not done any courses like that, but I have tried the art. And I have made a mess of it. For myself, I prefer my coffee without milk or sugar...

[TrueSeeker]

I miss a nice cup of coffee. I'm sticking to decaf for now but it's definitely on the list to try again.

I made Mexican chilli shepherds pie yesterday and making roasted pork pieces with sauerkraut and potato gnocchi today. Weight is still holding so hopefully I can do a "healthish" sweet main on Thursday. Fingers crossed 🤞😋

[smallwolf]

dinner tonight ... beef burger with feta cheese, caramelized onion, and fried egg. 

[Eagle Ray]

TrueSeeker, the Mexican chilli shepherds pie sounds unique and yummy. And smallwolf, the beef burger sounds tasty and like a great appetite satisfier.

Tonight I just baked some chicken, potato, leek and capsicum in the oven - very simple!

[Eagle Ray]

P.S. I meant to say TrueSeeker that your pork pieces with sauerkraut and potato gnocchi also sounds delicious. Do you buy the gnocchi or make your own? I eat mostly gluten free and I'm not sure how readily available gluten free gnocchi is. I don't think my local supermarket would have it but it is probably available elsewhere, but I did just find some online recipes for it. I cook with more pork these days as I found out I'm allergic to beef and lamb in 2022, along with the casein in dairy, especially cow dairy. So in recent times I've made more meals with pork which I didn't do much before.

[TrueSeeker]

I have tried gnocchi long time back but potatoes here aren't as starchy as in other countries so it's harder to do and need to be extended with other ingredients. I sometimes use just boiled potatoes instead of gnocchi and it's still good. You can also try caraway seeds, garlic and onion with your pork pieces, it makes it more fun.