Mitt liv som Tobin

When I first heard of "cafe americano," a coffee drink consisting of espresso diluted with hot water, I thought it was some kind of a joke, a crutch for Americans in Europe looking for something resembling their homeland's notoriously weak brewed coffee. The phrase "diluted espresso" just doesn't sound very appealing. Who wants anything diluted?

My first inkling that the americano could be a legitimate beverage occurred at Caltech when one was ordered by a colleague at the cafe. I was taken aback. This was an otherwise cultured individual with discriminating tastes... I monitored his expressions for signs of irony, but there were none; this colleague generally exhibits the best poker face, and I imagine he might undertake a radical action with a straight face just to observe the reactions of his comrades.

Later I returned to privately sample this questionable beverage, and I found it distinctly agreeable, with the flavor of espresso but the quantity one requires when working out a problem over coffee, and a flavor somehow superior to those other espresso drinks diluted with milk.

Brewed coffee can be very good, but outside of America's Pacific Northwest it tends towards the putrid; the Americano, on the other hand, provides a certain guaranteed minimum of strength and quality. Here in Louisiana it has become my caffeinated beverage of choice.

The UCSD Craft Center (some pictures) sounds awesome. I just picked up their catalog from outside the Grove Cafe, since hyperionab mentioned that they have a neon sign course. Sure enough, they do ("This course will introduce neon design and fabrication. Instruction will cover tube bending, pattern making, history, tube processing and installation. Students will learn all the necessary skills to complete a project in neon. Class will meet once a week for lecture and demonstration and students will sign up in class for an additional tutorial session."). It sounds incredibly awesome. But I'm leaving UCSD before the class ends. Maybe I'll take it anyway. There are lots of other cool things at the Craft Center: stained glass, glass blowing, weaving, photography, lampwork class studio, steel fabrication ("This course will cover basic techniques for cutting, welding, forging, and cold fastening steel"), mosaics, and small scale bronze and aluminum casting. Whoah! The ASUC Art Studio at Berkeley has a very nice photographic studio (even with a color processor) and ceramics studio.. but no steelworking or glassblowing or neon sign making. UCSD wins points here. I understand CalPoly SLO also has a pretty amazing craft center.

The Grove Cafe has rapidly become my favorite campus eatery, just because it doesn't exude the rampant commercialism of the other places. It's a student-run cafe with associated co-op charm and the atmosphere is made quite pleasant with an abundance of plants and the availability of yummy cheese danishes. Also, I think the employees are cute. I think Berkeley needs some student run fooderies on campus -- like the UC Davis "CoHo" or the UCSD "food co-op" and Grove Cafe. I propose that we storm the FSM cafe and take it in the name of the People. That would be fitting, wouldn't it? Amina Sutherland's column "The Gloves Are Off" describes my sentiments pretty much exactly.