2011年6月24日 星期五

The cost of coke

he UN's world drug report

The cost of coke

Jun 23rd 2011, 16:59 by The Economist online

The price of cocaine varies greatly between rich countries

EVERY year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime publishes a report with lots of fascinating data on the production and consumption of illegal drugs around the world. This year's report highlights a few interesting trends: despite all the effort put into the war on drugs, the street price of cocaine in Europe has dropped relentlessly over the past two decades (even adjusting for inflation and impurity). This may explain why Europe is now almost as big a market for cocaine producers as America. The numbers we have picked out below show the variations in price between a selection of different countries, as well as consumption per person in those places.

2011年6月10日 星期五

FW: 我的咖啡奇緣 (謝金河)

我不是咖啡迷,不常在辦公室,經常是助理從7-11帶回一杯熱拿

鐵,平時品嚐咖啡也
是隨遇而安。遇到喝咖啡的場合,我都是加入一些牛奶,但不加糖,但這些喝咖啡的
習慣,最近卻被顛覆了。


大約一個多月前,一個周日中午,剛爬完七星山,吃過中飯,朋友提議去喝咖啡,於
是,他就帶領著我到菁山路,靠近仰德大道的一家看起來並不起眼的「吉佳咖啡」。
吉佳的陳老闆一眼就看出我是誰,就因為這個因緣際會,我上了一課很重要的咖啡
課。


在咖啡廳坐定,陳老闆就教我如何喝咖啡,他說咖啡不在價格高低,在咖啡豆是否新
鮮。他說喝到新鮮咖啡就跟喝果汁一般,一入口會有一些果酸,但入口後會產生回
甘,再由甘變甜,口感會愈來愈棒,因此,喝到新鮮的咖啡就跟喝果汁一般,什麼都
不必加,喝黑咖啡最好,這個觀念與昌吉街賣豬血湯附近一家一個小夥子開的「黑湯
咖啡」很相近。


陳老闆說,一般人喝咖啡會加糖,加奶精,那是因為咖啡豆已不新鮮,已經氧化了,
因此,會愈喝愈苦,只好用糖、奶精來蓋掉這個苦味。我問他說,為什麼他賣上等的
牙買加藍山大杯350元,小杯250元,一般咖啡連鎖店卻賣一杯卅元,差別在那裏,他
不假思索地就說這是已過了新鮮品味期的咖啡豆。


經過這個指點,我終於了解,喝咖啡貴在咖啡豆經過烘焙出來後是不是在兩周內喝
完,我在陳老闆店內買了半磅牙買加藍山,也買了半磅綜合咖啡,回家試了一下,確
有很大差別,當然兩者價格相差近10倍。這時我才知道我們在外頭喝的咖啡價差差別
那麼大,原來是咖啡豆的差別。


我的喝咖啡奇緣第一課就從此開始,另一個顛覆過去習慣的新觀念是,喝新鮮咖啡對
身體幫助很大,喝不新鮮的咖啡對身體傷害很大,最令我震驚的是,陳老闆告訴我
說,喝到新鮮咖啡,不但不會睡不著覺,反而更好睡。過去,我在晚飯後從不喝咖
啡,上周四、五,我在餐廳請朋友吃飯,飯後我請廳房用吉佳的咖啡豆沖煮出來的咖
啡跟朋友共享,為了證明陳老闆的觀點,我連續在十點鐘左右各喝了一大杯黑咖啡,
回到家仍然很好睡,證明了陳老闆此言不差。


從喝咖啡,我有了一個新體驗,那就是喝咖啡、喝茶、喝紅酒最後的道理都一樣。另
一個是吃最重材,像一般平價牛排館,可能賣一客100元,或150元的牛排,但是上等
牛排如神戶牛排,可能一客要3000元以上,價格拉很大。一般到自助餐店買一條魚,
也許50元,但是到上等日本料理煎一尾「紅喉」可能要1千多。同樣是魚,價格大不相
同,喝咖啡也是一樣,吃東西,食材最重要。


最近我看到一則外電報導說,每天一杯咖啡長壽機率高,這項研究是調查希臘愛琴海
以東的伊卡里西島,調查島上65100歲的老年人,他們每天喝45杯咖啡,結果有3
分之1以上的人可以活到90歲,這個島上癌症患者比西方國家平均人數少20%,比西方
國家患心臟病的人少50%,而且從不存在老人癡呆的問題。結論是:希臘長壽島百歲
老人秘笈:每天一杯濃咖啡,看起來喝咖啡好處不少。


現在我慢慢學會品嚐咖啡,每天早上帶一壼新鮮咖啡,什麼都不加,除了咖啡香,還
有神清氣爽的感覺。

2011年6月9日 星期四

The Singapore Sling

The Singapore Sling is a cocktail that was developed sometime before 1915[1] by Ngiam Tong Boon (嚴崇文), a bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel Singapore. The original recipe used gin, Cherry Heering, Bénédictine, and fresh pineapple juice, primarily from Sarawak pineapples which enhance the flavour and create a foamy top.

Most recipes substitute bottled pineapple juice for fresh juice; soda water has to be added for foam. The hotel's recipe was recreated based on the memories of former bartenders and written notes that they were able to discover regarding the original recipe. One of the scribbled recipes is still on display at the Raffles Hotel Museum.

Recipes published in articles about Raffles Hotel prior to the 1970s are significantly different from current recipes, and "Singapore Slings" drunk elsewhere in Singapore differ from the recipe used at Raffles Hotel.

The current Raffles Hotel recipe is a heavily modified version of the original, most likely changed sometime in the 1970s by Ngiam Tong Boon's nephew. Today, many of the "Singapore Slings" served at Raffles Hotel have been pre-mixed and are dispensed using an automatic dispenser that combines both alcohol and pineapple juice to pre-set volumes. They are then blended instead of shaken to create a nice foamy top as well as to save time because of the large number of orders. However, it is still possible to request a shaken version from bartenders.

By the 1980’s the Singapore Sling was often little more than gin, bottled sweet and sour, and grenadine. With the move towards fresh juices and the re-emergence of quality products like Cherry Heering the cocktail has again become a semblance of its former self.[2]


Notes

  1. ^ Campbell, Colin (12 December 1982). "Singapore Journal; Back to Somerset Maugham and Life's Seamy Side". The New York Times (Singapore).
  2. ^ Burkhart, Jeff (10 April 2011). "Sometimes a bartender needs to sling whatever works". mercurynews.com. San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2011-04-14.

Further reading

  • "The Genealogy and Mythology of the Singapore Sling", Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, in Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail, 2007, ISBN 978-0976093701

External links


Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/singapore-sling#ixzz1OnvOxqgh