refereeing a fight

my camera was sick and we sent it off to hospital lately.  thus, i feel as though my creative impetus had been on hiatus.  now it's back and here i am hitting the blogosphere again.  coincidence?  mayhaps.  

so what's been up?  i'm going to houston in a few hours to--get this--be a judge for a latte art competition.  me.  the guy who can consistently and perfectly pour the foam amoeba.  but you know what they say...those who can't do, judge.  or some such. 

anyway, catalina coffee in houston, where the event will take place, has quietly done a solid job

 becoming houston's most thoughtful espresso destinations.  a few weeks ago catalina's owner,

 max, called me up out of the blue (we had never met) and asked if they could order 50 lbs of Jacinto.  he explained they have an enthusiastically pursued guest espresso program and they have been buying stuff from around the country and featuring it until the order runs dry.  the espresso got there in good order and then...hurricane Ike.  max says they kept power for

 most of the time and that

 they were one of the few places around who had power, which, one can hope, means all the Jacinto got consumed and, one can further hope, enjoyed, by desparate, powerless houstonians.  

so one thing led to another and here i am making final preps and doing final roasts before going to houston to be part of this indieundergroundcoffeeevent.  $20 to pour.  winner takes all.  who knows but that the winner might just be a hurricane victim and this could be the most direct charity line from fundraiser to relief distribution in the history of coffee.   fun times in texas.  hey, even the weather has cooperated.  one thing about hurricanes:  they definitely bring cooler (read:  coffee buying and drinking) weather in their wakes.  

cheers, all.