I am originally from Chicago as is the Weber Grill. I proudly have 2 in the backyard. Charcoal only.

Years ago, my parents acquired a cast iron grill for their Weber, and I have been searching for one since. The search is over. Finally. Check Cast Iron Grate and salivate. I am.

Have a great weekend.

Interesting article in the Seattle Times, Starbucks tests new names for stores.

How do you compete with saturation? Change your name. Will be interesting to see how this works. Anyone remember all the “Seattle’s Best” stores that were shut down after the Starbucks buyout?

Friends ask me all the time if I live in Starbucks. I am pretty equal opportunity with my coffee shops. Some Starbucks stores are great while others are blah. I do frequent the local stores for unique product, atmosphere and free wifi.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE (7/24): 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, the “not-a-Starbucks” Starbucks, opens this morning in Seattle’s Capitol Hill. The new pilot store will offer traditional coffee and tea beverages, and will also feature bottled beer and wine, with no official Starbucks branding. Here is Jason Brooks interviewing Major Cohen of Starbucks at the new store.

Have a great weekend!

Red Stone Flower
2009, Glass, Stone and Metal
Never needs watering.

One of my favorite organizations is Pratt Fine Art Center, a nonprofit arts center offering arts education to everyone. Pratt specializes in the fire arts, stone, painting and printmaking. Fire arts is everything from hot glass to blacksmithing and from jewelery to bronze casting.

Pratt has teamed with Swanson’s Nursery in Seattle to support Pratt’s classes and programs with Gallery in the Garden. It is worth checking out if you are in the area. If you are lucky you can buy my piece, Red Stone Flower and support Pratt!

Map to Swanson’s Nursery.

Enjoy the excellent weather.

An early weekend type post.

For the 2 readers outside of Seattle, Sounders FC is our new MLS team. They are playing well and captured a local buzz. Games are packed. Nice traditions are being established. Great for the team and Seattle. I was even fortunate enough to attend the inaugural game. The team has a couple of friendly matches with Barcelona PC and Chelsea and has teamed with glass artist Dale Chihuly and his team for commemorative artwork. Very cool.

I have been blowing glass as a hobby for just over 3 years. The glass community is fairly tight and close knit. I know a few people on Chihuly’s team and they are a very talented bunch. I am a neophyte in comparison.

Check Jose Romero’s Sounders FC blog @ The Seattle Times: An afternoon at Dale Chihuly’s sweet boathouse/glass art studio

GK Kasey Keller, Dale Chihuly and GM/owner Adrian Hanauer

I came across the Handpresso while shopping at the Seattle Flagship REI store. It is truly portable. Hand pump operated and uses the standard Easy Serving Espresso (E.S.E.) pod. This is a device that I would actually take into the backcountry. Pack-in/Pack-out does not work well with loose coffee grounds. Way too much mess. Pods are better in that situation. I have used them like tea bags on past backpacking trips and it works fairly well. The Handpresso is an ideal for a car camp or low key camp trip.

Available @ Amazon, REI and other fine stores…

Coffee Drinks Illustrated by Lokesh Dhakar is an impressive illustration of the variety of espresso drinks. Being a coffee fiend, I like it. Looks like he is channeling his inner Edward Tufte.

I found this via LifeHacker.

Taking a little break from blogging. Post July 4 will have lots of good stuff on xRM, behavioral interviewing, the cloud, and of course, coffee.

The Wings of Freedom Tour was in Seattle this past weekend. The B17 Flying Fortress and B24 Liberator buzzed the neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday. Very cool to see these historic aircraft in flight — especially over your house. The rumble is incredible. Would have not liked to have been on the other side with hundreds of these guys overhead.

Check their schedule. This planes will be flying all the way to Chicago over the coming months.

Amazon’s private brands have seeing renewed attention. Rollout of Pinzon in the UK and trademark applications for “Amazon Basics”. Pinzon has a bed, bath, kitchen and dining focus. The private brands have been around awhile. With other retailers making the move for cost-conscious wares, the fact that Amazon has been doing this is suddenly news.

More interesting to me is the addition of Tom Douglas by Pinzon. Tom Douglas is a Seattle celebrity chef and runs Palace Kitchen, my favorite and most recommended restaurant. I have been going there for years. The service is fantastic and the food excellent. My take is that the quality has to be there for him to put his name on it. Good news for the brand.

Check TechFlash for more: Amazon to take private label products international.

Happy weekend.

It is the little things that bring a smile to my face…Selling by speculators and supply from the Brazilian harvest dragged ICE Futures U.S. arabica coffee to seven-week lows.

Have a great weekend.