A week of groceries in different countries

Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet"

Mexico

Great Britain

USA

Australia 

Germany

Italy

Canada

France

Japan 

China

Poland 

Kuwait

Mongolia

Turkey 

Mali

India

Bhutan

Chad

Equador

Guatemala

click here to see the entire collection and other work by Peter Menzel

The Melksham Shake a la 'Harlem Shake' style

This is our contribution to the latest craze....

To Be Greek from ivan silverberg on Vimeo.

Thank you,


just felt compelled to thank all of you who visit, have visited and any future visits to come. Your presence here is appreciated and for what ever reason you have landed here, I hope you found what you were looking for. If not, feel free to have a look around. 


thanks again!

How to make Greek coffee

Greek coffee ("Ellinikos Kafes") is one of the simplest ways to make coffee. It is also known as Turkish coffee. Coffee has a very old history...

It travelled to Turkey from Yemen and from Turkey it became known in Greece. It became so popular that people started calling it "Greek coffee" instead of Turkish (or Arabic) coffee.

Differences
Usually Greek coffee gets roasted lighter than traditional Turkish coffee.
Another difference is that Greeks rarely add spices to their coffee.

How to make Greek coffee

The basic ingredient needed for a delicious Greek coffee is fresh roasted coffee, ground to an extra fine coffee powder (finer than espresso). You can also grind you own coffee beans using a traditional Greek coffee grinder or a modern high quality burr grinder.

Like Turkish coffee in order to make Greek coffee you basically bring a mixture of water and ground coffee almost to boil. Although Turkish people boil their coffee usually 3-4 times Greeks prefer boiling it 1-3 times.

The blends used to make Greek coffee have usually a high percentage of Brazilian coffees, and also some Robusta or a "secret" ingredient to add some more flavour (Colombian coffee, Ethiopia Harrar or Yemen Mocha).

In order to make Greek coffee we need a coffee pot known as briki in Greece. This special Greek coffee pot has a characteristic narrow top which facilitates the correct slow brewing of Turkish coffee and the forming of the famous "kaimaki", which is basically the crema-froth on top of the coffee.

Traditionally these pots were made of copper or brass, but nowadays they are mass produced using stainless steel which is more durable. (I still prefer the brass brikis for lots of reasons...). Use the proper size coffee pot to make better coffee and better froth. If you are going to make two demitasse cups of coffee use a 2-cups size coffee pot. If you use a much larger sized pot, crema forming will be much harder.

For one cup of coffee, fill the coffee pot with one demitasse cup of cold water, 1-2 teaspoons of Greek coffee, sugar to taste.

Put the pot on low fire.It is very important to use low fire and cold water to extract more flavour from the coffee. Use a gas stove-top or preferably a traditional tabletop burner.

Once the mixture comes almost to a boil and the foam covers the top, pour it into a demitasse cup slowly. You must do this slowly in order to retain the crema layer (froth) on top. If you fail to remove the coffee pot from fire on time, the coffee mixture will foam up quickly and it will get spilled everywhere! Be careful to not let this happen!

Small tip if you want to make two cups or more

There is an old trick used to maximise the froth on top of every demitasse cup, which basically involves taking the froth with a teaspoon from the coffee pot and then adding it to each demitasse cup, before pouring the coffee.

Serving:
Traditionally the coffee is served using decorative discs, in small demitasse cups made of fine porcelain.

You can also pair Greek coffee with a nice desert like cookies ("koulourakia"), "halva" or "baklava".

Things to notice

Some people bring the coffee to boil only once. Other people prefer twice and there are also some people who argue that bringing the coffee to boil three times is the absolute minimum.

Another point of argument is the stirring. Some people stir coffee, water and sugar only in the beginning and some other stir continuously till the end to make more froth.

Personal opinion

I prefer to stir the coffee continuously till the end and I also let it foam up twice.

"Why?" you may ask. It is just my taste! You can experiment and find what you like best.

What's most important is the freshness and the quality of your Greek coffee.


Karolos Tsiligirian is the author of the "Fresh Coffee Encyclopedia" and the owner of FreshCoffeeShop.com & CoffeeEbooks.com [http://www.coffeeebooks.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karolos_Tsiligirian
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1355499

How to save money on Petrol

With Petrol expected to rise even more by end of 2011 these tips might come in handy

TIPS ON PUMPING PETROL

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the petrol, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your litre is not exactly a litre. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the petrol, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your litre is not exactly a litre. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A one degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps. 

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour. Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. 

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your Petrol tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more Petrol you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. petrol storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the Petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every litre is actually the exact amount. 

Another reminder, if there is a petrol truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy Petrol, DO NOT fill up; most likely the petrol is being stirred up as the Petrol is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Alternatively, ditch your car and convert to one horse power...

Different nations, different views...

Europe according to Greeks

Europe according to Britain

Europe according to France

Europe according to Italy

Europe according to Silvio Berlusconi

Europe according to Poland

Europe according to Germany

Europe according to Turkey

Europe according to Russia

Europe according to America