april flurries

yep, it's april in alberta. the weekend before last it was 18 degrees, the sun was shining and even our new patio furniture was being used for the first time. peopple were sitting out in the warmth enjoying haven iced coffee.

but on Saturday afternoon and within the space of a few hours, the winter gods had popped back to edmonton, obviously having forgotten something ("did I leave the oven on? is the door definitely locked?"), and proudly dumped several inches of snow. from sunglasses to scarves in a matter of minutes. bad weather kills business - i hope they leave soon.

yesterday julie made up some food for local radio station, CKUA. It's an 80-year old public service that needs to drum up cash in order to carry on as a broadcaster. cafe haven sent over nibbles to provide fuel to the volunteers working the phone lines. the hummus and crudite platter was complimented by julie's yummy home-made pita chips. All this was toppped off with her fantastic carrot cilantro salad.

brewing coffee
a challenge all of its own. i've been fine-tuning the grind/ water volume/ coffee volume and all sorts of other variables on our new Fetco Extractor brewing machine in order to create the best cup of coffee for the customer. a lot of it comes down to using a decent ratio of coffee beans to water and to be using decent beans roasted well. the latter is a no-brainer: Transcend coffee is top notch. It's the brewing that needs to be scrutinised. Thankfully my friend Chad who works at Transcend intends to help us nail the optimum taste. if cafe haven wants to proudly claim as offering 'the best coffee in sherwood park' then we better be sure it is!