Urban Adventure: Coffee & Roses

I had been reading and hearing a lot about the pour-over method of coffee brewing, and as a lover of all things tasty, I knew it was something I had to try. 

I recently discovered Not Just Coffee, a coffee bar in Charlotte that crafts cups of pour-over coffee using freshly roasted Counter Culture beans. This tiny little shop was nestled only a few minutes down the road from me, and just happened to be right across the street from one of my favorite Charlotte landmarks - McGill Rose Garden. 

This was easily shaping up to the be the perfect Saturday morning excursion...

Photos from the Not Just Coffee Facebook page

The idea for this morning out was filed away into memory, and last Saturday, Paul and I decided to roll out of bed early and see what the pour-over hype was all about. We were pleasantly greeted by some of the best cups of coffee we've ever sipped.

Pour-over is a method of brewing that is meant to get the absolute best out of the bean. "The difference is that instead of flooding the cone with water and letting the coffee seep and drip, you pour hot water in a thin, continuous steam for one to four minutes," explains Oliver Strand in a New York Times post. "When you control the flow of the water, you control the extraction."

Paul and I each picked our coffee from the menu, settling on the Gemelos from Guatemala and the Konga from Ethiopia. Then we watched the intricate process as our barista ground our selected beans (roasted only a few days before); poured a bit of water into the cone-shaped filter; placed the ground beans in the wet filter to let them "bloom"; and then poured a slow and steady stream of water through the beans, where coffee dripped into our individual cups below.

Each of our cups of coffee was pleasant with annunciated and distinguishable flavors. Mine was lemony and light and Paul's was sweeter with the taste of caramelized sugar and dark fruit. It was some of the best coffee either of us have ever had - truly "not just coffee," but a drink experience.

To really savor the morning, we took our cups of hand-crafted coffee on a stroll through McGill Rose Garden, where we enjoyed the lovely colors of late spring and the distinct aroma of each type of rose. Popping in just after a pruning, we walked through rose-strewn paths, and we were able to collect enough clipped blooms to fill vases around our home with reminders of our morning.

Take some time to stop and smell the roses and savor a sip...

Not Just Coffee

510 E. 15th St., inside Area 15

Wednesday-Friday 7am-4pm / 7pm-10pm

Saturday 8am-3pm

McGill Rose Garden

940 N. Davidson St.

Tuesday-Wednesday 10am-4pm

Thursday-Friday 10am-6pm

Saturday 10am-3pm

free, but donations are accepted

Aileen's Graham Cracker Pie

When I was a little girl, spending my summers and time after school at “At-een’s” house, I saw her and Granny jot down numerous recipes onto scraps of paper pulled from notepads, purses, Granny’s address book, and Aileen’s end table mystery drawer. These scraps of paper then disappeared from my consciousness, and into my tummy went livermush, dumplings, cobbler, custards, and graham cracker pies.

I had forgotten about these scraps until Granny and Papa had passed and Aileen moved out of her house and into an assisted living home. This is when I discovered the recipe drawer and the history that these tiny torn papers held. Every sheet was like a page pulled from the annals of time, from our family’s own personal history book – reminding me of stories from my childhood and revealing things to me about the people I loved and their far-away lives – things that came long before me. There were layers to this drawer, to what I found on each of those cards and papers – meaning stacked liked a three-tiered German chocolate cake with coconut icing holding the middles together, and I was cutting down through it.

I spent a lot of time going through everything I pulled from that drawer and turned it all into a family recipe and recollection book several years ago. I'll share some of it with you here, starting with this recipe for Graham Cracker Pie.

Graham Cracker Pie is still my favorite. It’s really just a vanilla cream pie, but it came to be known as “Graham Cracker Pie” because, to me, that was what it was all about – the graham cracker crust. Aileen would make me extra graham cracker crumbs and sugar to eat with a spoon and have it ready for me when I got off the school bus at her house.

Me and Aileen

This is the recipe just as it was written...

CRUST

1 bx. craham crackers,crushed

¾ stick margarine, melted

½ c. sugar, more to taste

Bake crust at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

FILLING

1 lrg. can milk

3 egg yolks

1 c. sugar

2 T. flour

2 T. margarine, melted

2 t. vanilla

Cook until thick.

MERINGUE

2 T. sugar for each egg

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Announcing.... The Verabelle Website!

I can't believe I haven't done this until now, but finally, FINALLY.... I have an official Verabelle website! Oh my gosh, can you believe it?! EEK!!!! It's your one-stop shop for everything Verabelle, from both of my Etsy shops to my Goodwill blog posts to my event calendar. You can even purchase a Closet Makeover right on the site or read all of the past press about Verabelle. So go there right now and check it out!


Oh, and I thought if I did all that, then I better just give my blog a makeover too. Check out that new banner and the fun list of past posts - "What Would You Like to Read?" 


I hope you enjoy the  new look, and there is even more more to come!

 page view of the Verabelle website's front page

Obsessed with Letterpress

Every since I was a kid, I've been into stationary and anything paper. By the time I was in middle school, I had more pen pals than I could count on my two hands, and my playroom walls were covered in letters, notes, and cards received from them all.


As an adult, my paper obsession has grown more sophisticated, from Lisa Frank to letterpress. I love the look of a freshly pressed card. With their colorful indentations into thick, fibrous paper, you can see and feel the handiwork of the artist. And when you look closely, you can tell how many strokes of the press it took to achieve the design, each layer a trace of an artist's deliberate movement.


Here are a few recent letterpress cards that I've picked up, one for my father, one for a friend, and one for my wall.

I Have So Much to Tell You postcard: ragamuffin press, Penland NC
Greetings from Atlanta postcard: Concrete Lace, Atlanta GA
Thank You card: Concrete Lace, Atlanta GA

My Summer Wish List

Between all the craft shows I've been attending, my constant browsing on Etsy, and new ideas for sewing and cooking, my wish list keeps growing. Exponentially. Here are some of the things I've been pining for this summer. What a shame my birthday is a whole three months away...

Reusable Vegetable Bags by wonderthunder on Etsy

Tupperware Light Fixture by ButsNGus on Etsy

Bracelet by tiedupmemories & Necklace by baltica, on Etsy

The Color Album by The Ditty Bops

Prints by inaluxe on Etsy

Self-Healing Rotary Mat by Olfa

She Sells Tank by Edme & Esylite on Antropologie

Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker & Fee Brothers Orange Bitters

Foster's Market Cookbook & The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook