Moka Pot

It has been over a year since this blog started, and I just noticed there has been no article about coffee! So I am writing about coffee gadgets I used at home.

First one is my espresso pot, aka moka pot.



It has 3 compartment; bottom water reservor, middle filter and top coffee reservor. This Youtube video explains well (better than a series of my pictures!)


I set the pot up with water and coffee inside on the night before so that I can just put it on fire when I wake up. My pot is a little larger than the one in the film and makes just enough for my portable cup, about 18oz.


Drawback of this pot is that you will have to wait for a while to cool down to wash. So if you are like my mother who can’t stand leaving dirty dishes home, do not use it right before you have to go out.

Japanese version of this entry is here.

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Majestic words

YOU HAVE TWO SHOULDERS AND TWO HANDS. USE ONE OF YOUR HANDS TO HELP OTHERS, AND THREE HANDS WILL COME TO HELP YOU.

Said Mr. G while giving me more advices on my cafe operation. I thought that was a great philosophy and does describe Mr. G very well. Words mean a lot especially when they are directly spoken to me.

Japanese version of this entry is here.

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Catching up with study

I haven't kept up with my Spanish study plan, and now it is time to return Spanish CD's to the library.

I copied all the CD's in the package and took disk #3 with me to listen to while driving to the library. Long (6 more CD's) way to go!

My full-time work at a factory helps me on conversational Spanish, but I still would like to learn the basic from CD's. That would help me at Snappy's as it is in the city with 30% Hispanics.

Japanese version of this entry is here.

Samurai band

I happened to see a band called Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki when I went to see my friend's band in Osaka. I had no idea what kind of band was playing after my friend's and was puzzled with shamisen (Japanese string instrument, looks like a guitar with 3 strings) song played while stage was being sat up. Then I was so impressed with their music and performance. You just have to watch them what I mean!

After their performance, their staff quickly came around to distribute survey forms with clipboards to collect comments and email address. Band members were still in their hakama selling CD's. Nice follow-up promotion.

At this event I saw a few other bands varying in age, level and popularity. Few things I felt:

1. The level of performance may not correlate to size of the audience.
=> Offering a good cup of coffee itself may not bring in too many customers at Snappy's.

2. Large audience may mean they are popular, well-known.
=> If people don't know where Snappy's is, how could they come?

3. In addition to advertisement, having a large exposure, such as at a popular event, is another promotion method.
=> Snappy's could offer (free) coffee at a large event. I have to think more about increasing the exposure.

4. You have to follow up the audience so that they return.

I thank Mako, Garma and Zenkichi of Fascist for helping me to attend this event.

Japanese version of this entry is here.

Chocolat

Just finished reading this book. I was too absorbed to the book to put it down, partially because theme of the chocolate store run by the main character Vienna was very similar to that of Snappy's; tasty products and friends in a small but comforting space.

"I sell dreams, small comforts, sweet harmless temptations to bring down a multitude of saints crash-crash-crashing among the hazels and nougatines...." (page 45)

I usually skip the movie after finishing a good book, afraid that would ruin my experience with the story. But this time I would like to watch it just to see how the shop is created in the film.

Japanese version of this entry is here.