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Coffee Cycles, Java Jive and Guarding my Romance with the Bean

I love coffee
And sometimes I hate it 
Sometimes it scares me
And sometimes I crave it


It's a complicated relationship and in the end, my love for those little organic brown beans, home-ground in my grinder, poured into my french press to steep for 4 minutes, then mixed with agave and soy milk, wins. The love you take, is equal to the coffee you make.

As a mom who is health conscious about her own health and the health of her family, I am always questioning, redefining and rediscovering new ideas about whether things are good for us. And things change. Soy, dairy, butter, wine. My Chinese acupuncturist just told me that butter can help lower your cholesterol? Theories on health and food seem to change everyday so sometimes you've got to trust your instincts and come up with unique and individualized methods for living your life.


Coffee Memories


1. Surprising my dad when I was 5 or 6 by making him Folgers Instant coffee in a cup. It seemed like magical astronaut food, the way it sparkled then dissolved,  and when I tasted it, I thought it was totally disgusting. He drank it black, and like, 10 cups a day. Pisces.


2. Coffee hard candy -  when I was a kid, there were a few random instances where I ate wrapped candies that were filed with a chocolaty inside - a kind of fudgy center that I thought was DIVINE. That was my first magical experience with the flavor of coffee, and perhaps caffeine, though I didn't know about the effects of caffeine back then.


3. Cutting class in high school (Pali High) and hanging out at Mort's with my girl friends, getting refills and adding non-fat milk and sweet 'n low, which sounds absolutely dreadful to me now. Independence.


4. Cafe Roma. It was THE place to have coffee when I was going to U.C. Berkeley. It was near the music department (Morrison) and I would go to Roma, order a cappuccino while classical music played and I read Machiavelli and Virginia Wolfe. Oh how cosmopolitan I felt, so smart, so free and cultured. And here, for the first time, the coffee was GOOD.


5. Europe - The Cafe Culture Continues. To sit on a Greek island, drinking a frappe, having a handsome Greek man whip it up for me. To sketch in my book and sip an espresso in Central Italy, having an attractive Italian lawyer approach and offer me a cigarette. To devour the Prado in Madrid and then to fervently discuss Picasso's work over a Café con leche. Coffee is art, romance, intellectualism language, travel, the world.

6. Waiting tables. Ugh - delivering coffee is the cardio of any breakfast joint restaurant waitperson. So many re-fills. When I was waiting tables at First National in the Palisades, oh how the customers kept me on my toes with their never-ending demands for refills. I even wrote a song about it... one of my earliest which I will have to record sometime soon. From "Waitress":


I don't want to me your waitress
You may think that I cam rather bold
Don't you know I couldn't really careless
If your cups of coffee's gettin' cold*
  
7. And then there is that kind of horrid coffee you get at the auto body shop, the kind that's been sitting in a put 1/4 full for 7 hours. People come in and add some powdered white mixture and a few sugar packets. This is almost a non-coffee coffee. It's like some kind of anti-matter that keeps people in motion with none of the ceremony and glamour of the cafe culture.


And here I am about to turn 48 and evaluating my life and my health on a daily basis. So many conflicting reports. Coffee (and caffeine) does it cause cancer? Save you from cancer? It's dehydrating AND has anti-oxidants. It's good for the brain, yet can wire you too. According to Slate:

"Caffeine at doses of 65 mg or more can help relieve headaches, but habitual caffeine use can spur chronic headaches, too. Coffee makes you more alert, but it can also provoke insomnia, anxiety, and even tremors at high doses. Regular drinkers seem to have a decreased risk of developing diabetes, but for anyone who already has the disease, a hefty cup of coffee can make things worse. Up to three cups of coffee per day may slightly lower the risk of heart attack, but drinking a large dose might also trigger a heart attack if you're already at risk."

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2011/07/caf_or_nay.2.html


 My 3 Part Coffee System

I have come up with a system that keeps the allure and romance in my coffee. I notice that I have three kinds of coffee in my life. "Recreational Coffee" is the coffee I have on a rainy sunday morning with the New York Times Crossword. It's the coffee I drink while taking a break from ice skating in San Fransisco's Union Square or the coffee my friend Tom and I drink at Maxwell's in Venice when we are catching up and enjoying some intense coffee talk.

Then there is "Working Coffee". That the coffee I press when I am setting out to pay bills, animate a video or mix a song. It's a thinking helper, a friend while I am working and a tool to keep me focused and alert.

And finally there's "Rocket Fuel" coffee. That's the extra cup I really don't need, the one that wires, that propels me too far, the one that dries me out and the one I drink instead of eating some string cheese and an apple when I need some energy.

The trick is to learn just how far I want to propell myself and to identify which kind of coffee I am having. Labeling things and being present with what I am ingesting, feeling and/or doing is the key for me to stay healthy and grounded.

Like other things in life  (for me... chocolate and ice cream) coffee is great and yummy when I start, and the trick is knowing when to stop. There's the rub. For me, drinking too much coffee strips away the magic qualities of coffee and then it's a downhill crash.

So here's my plan. I take breaks from coffee! I use it in cycles, monitor it, appreciate it and acknowledge when the "Recreational Coffee" has become "Working Coffee" and when the "Working Coffee" has turned into "Rocket Fuel".

And perhaps coffee is different for women than for men. Women roll in cycles, cycles of the moon, hormonal cycles. Maybe that's the best way for us to use and enjoy coffee in a lovely and healthy way. As a mom, I can over-extend like crazy and coffee can seem to me like a bad drug, pushing me beyond my limits. So, herb tea, green tea, hot apple cider, hot water with lemon and honey, coconut water, WATER...I drink them all and by drinking them all, I save a special place in my heart and protect my very romantic and magical relationship with COFFEE.




"In order to grow old, you have to experience everything, but in moderation."
Cuban Musician -  Compay Segundo (lived to 97 years old)


*Poppinksongs ©1986

 Did you see that Yellow Beetle Bug?

I wrote a song when Delilah was 2 and it was all because as we drove across town in my blue minivan, she kept whispering "yellow car" (tho it sounded more like "yeyo cah yeyo cah". I would think, "oh that's cute, she likes saying that" but then in about 30 seconds, a yellow car would approach, or I'd see one parked way down the road. She was seeing them before I was! And I had no idea that there were SO many yellow cars on the road.

 

Not only did we continue to search for the yellow cars on the way to baby group or the beach, but we started pretending that you get a wish when you see one. Pretty soon, the song was written on the road and when it came to recording the CD of course we had to put it on "Everyday Adventures". 

 

And it's so funny when ever kids come over, like when Eric Herman's girls came over to do some recording...they knocked on the door and asked "Do you have a yellow car?". And the answer is "no". I have a blue minivan, great for spotting yellow cars.

 

 

Here is a little excerpt from Sharla's kidfun blog.

 

Beep Beep!

3 Nov  by Sharla http://kidfunandmore.com/?p=349

  I’ve been meeting so many interesting people throughout the country who are sharing their ideas with us. How about the Yellow Car Counting Game? It’s a simple little driving game (perfect for KIDFUN). It came from Deborah Poppink, a Los Angeles-based mom, creative parenting advocate, and musician who records and performs as DidiPop.

Here’s how to play … every time you see a yellow car, you get a wish. She said, “I never realized how many yellow cars are on the road!” They started playing when her daughter Delilah was two years old and she began saying the word “yellow” and recognizing the color. She would whisper “yellow car”. I remember when Ryan started saying yellow – it sounded more like “lellow”. I loved it!

So the rules their family created were: Call it out every time you see a yellow car. You get one wish when you see a regular yellow car, two wishes for yellow Beetle Bugs and motorcycles and 1/2 wish for taxi cabs. What a good way to introduce fractions! And, you know, it’s fun to talk about wishes. Be clear they aren’t promises just lovely thoughts to dream about.

Learn more about Deborah by visiting www.didipop.com and www.YouTube.com/didipopmusic.

She has a new recording called DidiPop Goes to Hawaii, being released in December.

Room to Breathe: Outsourcing my lovely puppy.

How could I resist?

New Puppy. Oh how I fell in love at first sight with this little girl who is now called Treya. We met at the dog rescue in front of our local farmers' market and I couldn't live without her. I have not had a new puppy as an adult. Our last dog was a rescue, but she was 6 and was house trained and not FULL of energy CONSTANTLY.

Well, this little girl (who is now sitting on my lap as I type this... actually resting her fluffy head on my right fore-arm which keeps it warm and makes a little challenging to type!) is another BABY. Monday night, the second day she lived with us, I could not think straight. Delilah needed help with homework, Hannah needed me with her crayons, David wasn't home yet, the dinner was cooking and Treya was peeing on the sofa. I stood in the kitchen and cried into the broccoli. My girls gathered around me and said, "it's OK mommy".

Me typing with Treya on arms - Photo by 4 year old Hannah

But I knew I had pushed myself too far. I do have the habit of extending myself and I hear it is a trait of A type personalities and moms. When you have an A-type and a Mom combo (that's me), it can get very intense. The mantra from "The Little Engine That Could" comes to mind "I think I can I think I can". But my mantra must change to  "I think I better rest, I think I better rest".

I realized the puppy was too much for me. I called my mom, like I always do when I need fine spiritual guidance, and she agreed that it was too much on my plate. She had been looking for another dog to go with her older doggie Winston



and we decided that my mom would take Treya (named for Matreya, the future Buddha). My mom just had a big birthday and this is the perfect way for her to infused her life with new, young energy!

Winston and Treya

So, the story ends happily ever-after. The dog is in the family (it takes a village) and will be loved by all,  just trained and raised in a home without Winnie-The-Poohs and tiny sandals for her to teeth on. And the moral of the story is, sometimes I have to make tough choices. Love is not enough...it's a mater of being sensitive to myself, my time and my energy and my priorities. I don't want to neglect my girls when they need me in order to care for the dog. Not now anyway when she is ALL my responsibility. I'll wait til the girls can clean up pee and take her for a walk. I'll give my self some room to breathe. It feels wonderful to breathe. Try it now.

Work, life, parenthood and dreams bubble up in a blog

Hello out there. Here, I finally launch my blog. I used to write in my journal every morning. I have many, many, many black sketch books filled with ideas, poems, sketches, dreams and rants. Since my children were born, I haven't had a place (or the time) to get my thoughts out on to paper. Now that paper is scarce and I have gone green, a blog seems the perfect place for me to share. 

Also, becoming a mother has been the biggest love, challenge, adventure of my life. I have been lost and found so many times. Luckily I have a wonderful support system and ways of getting over and through the hurdles of raising children and balancing that with being true to myself as as an artist. It is part of my make-up to work through obstacles, find tools to help me get over humps and then to teach others how I did it. I hope this will be a place where I can have fun letting my mind be free to bubble up and where others (moms perhaps) will learn something and find truth in what I might be saying. I hope so!