"The Opposite of Coffee"

OK I’ll admit it – H and I are serious coffee snobs, and Melbourne is to blame with its 5000+ cafes and passion for proper Italian coffee and baristas. I’m not talking about drive-through Starbucks coffees either because, despite what they say, frappuccinos and pumpkin flavored beans aren’t coffee. I’m talking about heavy-bodied, bitter-sweet espressos topped with the perfect reddish-brown mantle of crema. And in the mornings, a heavenly (soy) latte served in a glass on a saucer (refer to picture if you're unfamiliar). In Melbourne, there’s an art to making and serving coffee.

Unfortunately for us, Jacksonville doesn’t possess this flair. Perhaps it’s the lack of Italian culture or maybe the tropical climate…. Who knows? But as H and I have discovered in the last month, there’s some seriously bad coffee here!

Our first coffee was at a small café near Riverside. The espresso cup came out with around 30 ml of dark brown liquid. The portion was correct as was the cup. But there was no crema and no rich flavor. Instead we were served a mini cup of hazelnut flavored, Hawaiian drip coffee. Oh dear.

The following week, we broke down and reluctantly entered the Starbucks lair for a latte. I mistakenly thought that they could handle an ordinary soy latte. WTF!!! I thought as this sickeningly sweet shit sprayed out of my mouth. Did I order some bastardized version of chai? No. Apparently when you order a soy latte here, it’s made with vanilla flavored “soy product” packed with a gazillion calories and enough sugar to make your teeth ache. Natural soy milk is delicious – nutty and subtle. Yes it’s an acquired taste, but it’s a taste you’ll never acquire if you drink this syrupy shit! I won’t even go into the portion sizes….

That day H and I bought our own coffee grinder and a pound of over-roasted, fair-trade organic beans from Native Sun. At least our homemade drip coffee is a bit better than mediocre. Here’s hoping it will taste better when our Bodum arrives.

Folio Weekly (the independent street mag) just came out with its Best of Jax issue. Best Coffee went to Shelby’s Coffee Shoppe in Neptune Beach. Off we go to the beach! H scurried to the counter and breathlessly ordered 2 regular lattes with a double shot of espresso. The fact that it’s a “shoppe” rather than a shop or café should have raised alarm bells. Anyway, out came our flavorless lattes in large paper cups (we didn’t order takeaway btw) with this weird head of light over-aerated foam that gave the appearance of a milkshake rather than a coffee. H wept.

Here’s a good time to stop with our coffee adventures and give a quick café latte lesson. Of course a good shot of espresso is the foundation of a latte, but it’s also how the barista handles the steamed milk. The aim in steaming the milk is to aerate it and give it the consistency of whipped cream without burning it. The combination of frothed and steamed milk is then poured and gently ladled onto the espresso in the cup, as if folding it in. One must also be careful in getting the temperature of the milk right. The best milk temperature is between 60 C and 70 C because it gives the best flavor to the coffee and doesn’t scald your tongue (80C is the temp at which milk boils.)

Lesson over. So when all hope was lost, H decided to try one more place around the corner from our apartment called the Bad Ass Coffee Company. To our relief/surprise, we actually got decent coffees. Their espressos are better than the lattes – mainly because the lattes were served a bit too hot and were too "milky". However compared to our previous outings, we definitely have a winner. The beans are all Hawaiian, and the staff couldn’t be nicer. Now if only I can get them to make an unsweetened soy latte….. I’ll work on that!

“Not for all the tea in China”

Forget dueling pianos (there’s an Italian restaurant near us that actually advertises such a thing on Saturday nights…)! In Tinseltown, we have dueling Chinese chefs. The result is that Jacksonville’s best Dim Sum restaurant (or so they say) has been closed for the last 2 days. Last night on our walk, H and I witnessed one such altercation as the chefs/managers had a verbal throw down outside the restaurant refusing to open doors while perplexed potential diners looked on in horror….

What to do?! Could this mean that H and I will never sample the best char siu bao that JAX has to offer? We’re holding our breaths and will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Well I’ve taken a wee break from blogging so I should probably give an update on the dueling Chinese chefs. It appears that all issues have been resolved (well at least enough to reopen for business.) H decided to pop in yesterday for a take-away menu, and I now have quite the dilemma. Do I order the Fried Bean Curd Delight (fried tofu with mixed vegetables) or the Crispy Tofu with Vegetables???

"Up with the Birds"

I just realized that we have been in Jacksonville for exactly 3 weeks! That’s it – 21 days. But it feels like an eternity with Melbourne being a distant memory. Granted it’s very likely that I’m suppressing immense grief for leaving our home, friends, job and school…. Anyhoo, I’m not slowing down; I won’t let myself slow down (at least not yet). There’s too much to see, do and organize. Here’s a rundown of the last 20 days in no particular order:

• Found out mother was in a car accident during our travels (luckily she’s now on the mend
• Cruised around town in PT Cruiser and happily dispensed of it 10 days later
• Moved into our lovely serviced apartment after 1 very long night in the airport Microtel
• Welcomed our two cats from Australia after their comfort stop in San Francisco
• Explored San Marco – twice. Cute from a distance but way too much tchotchke up close!
• Stumbled into 5 Points, which makes Little 5 Points seem huge
• Met the lovely owners of Scribes Café and had the tastiest reuben
• Found a feline vet when our little cat was suffering from extreme jetlag
• H did his part for the flailing economy by taking advantage of a Banana Republic sale
• He then embraced FL culture (and colors) by buying a pastel orange oxford for work! It really suits him btw
• Still deliberating about which whole foods market is better – Fresh Market or Native Sun?
• Decided that the city’s “best” authentic Indian is really, really ordinary and not that authentic. (Needed a microscope to find the paneer in my palak paneer)
• Scared by the portions at the Metro Diner but happy to have a brunch place
• H started his new job
• Got drivers license and managed to register to vote by a whisker
• Found a nice walking path that we’re enjoying most nights. It actually rains here!
• Almost finished a large bottle of Bombay Sapphire – G&Ts are a bit too lovely in this tropical climate
• Went to dinner in Ponte Vedra with friends of the PUs
• Explored Avondale and discovered $5 happy hour martinis at Sterlings (nice crab cakes too)
• Agree with Folio Weekly about Burrito Gallery having great burritos
• Went to a hot yoga class
• Then uncovered the dodgy “shiatsu” underbelly of the city and seem to have gotten blacklisted by the one and only “guru”….
• Grandmother was diagnosed with congestive heart failure but is still fighting
• Found an acupuncturist, who I’ll definitely be seeing again since there’s no shiatsu
• Got a library card
• H got his drivers license, we got insured and bought a new, pretty Honda – all in one day
• Went to Jacksonville Beach where H bemoaned the fact that the Atlantic ocean is brown
• Toured St Augustine during Bike-tober Fest and found it more than a little scary
• Still looking for a Tai Chi class….
• Job search underway -- postings are few and nerves are frayed
• Trying to psych myself up to make cold calls re employment opportunities – not quite there yet
• Contacted the MS Society about volunteering and have already had one volunteer gig
• Getting creative – started this blog and have been taking heaps of photos
• Staying disciplined with daily meridian exercises and meditation
• Happy with local Total Wine & More – found an excellent 2006 Alsatian Gewurztraminer
• Have given H one shiatsu treatment
• Rekindled my love for gua sha
• Finished 1.5 books and gave up on 2 others
• Have done our bit to support NPR (Made sure $ went to national programming instead of local because of the surly volunteer who took my call and money)
• Wasting way too much time on Facebook!
• Discovered I fit into size 0 cords from J Crew – who knew? Got a pair in v. bright persimmon (I should mention my australian matchstick jeans are size 9....)
• Wishes the elliptical fitness machine at the gym wasn’t so dull and difficult. Have to make sure the new cords still fit once it cools down (if it cools down?)
• Voted!!! How sweet is Florida’s early voting? Here’s hoping FL doesn’t fuck up again. Here’s hoping my candidate doesn’t fuck it up either…

I’m exhausted after that little recap or maybe I’m just exhausted. It’s supposed to be windy and rainy today so perhaps I’ll just curl up on the sofa with the cats, some books and nice cups of jasmine tea. Yes – a rest day sounds like a great idea to me!

"The Suburb Inbetween"

So here we go again – day 2 of the writing/blogging project. At the moment H and I are living out in the ‘burbs in a serviced apartment while waiting for our beloved belongings to arrive from across the Pacific. As of last week, the ETA to JAX is mid December so we have a while yet before we’re settled in our own (much cheaper) apartment.

I thought I’d be going mad living in a gated community miles from the city and inner neighborhoods. Surprisingly that is not the case at all. The few people we know -- plus some random people we have met in the last few weeks -- are all trying to get us to move into one of the “hip” inner neighborhoods. However, I have no desire. Shocking I know coming from a born and bred urbanite….

I actually like the security of our gated community with its large apartments, manmade lake and lovely swimming pool. We have well manicured footpaths/sidewalks that provide ample walking area. In fact, one path takes us to Tinseltown -- complete with Chinese restaurant (with Dim Sum Lounge), pizza joint, mega movie theater and microbrewery. We haven’t sampled any of these yet, but we know they are there -- within walking distance. H’s work is only a 7 minute drive away as is an organic whole food market. And for literally everything else we need – we have Town Centre Mall around the corner. It’s not your typical enclosed mall. Instead it’s an open area mall with proper shop fronts and jazz that’s mysteriously piped through the shrubbery. It’s all shiny and new and generic, but it’s a nice community where I feel as secure as I can at the moment.

Here I should also mention that H and I are in love with the modern amenities of our lush apartment – with its laundry room, dish washer and closet so huge that H leaves the door open because it feels like a whole other room. We don’t really know what to do with all this luxury and space after almost 5 years in a squalid 70’s flat but we won’t go into that now….

We have ventured into these popular inner city neighborhoods/downtown. They feel quaint and seedy at the same time -- probably stemming from southern zoning laws or the lack thereof. They may offer river views and limited alternative medicine, but they don’t offer enough to make me give up our current suburban conveniences and security. Come the weekends though and perhaps the odd week night, H and I will happily venture into town and explore/support these historic neighborhoods. (We have already discovered some gems of restaurants that are sure to be staples while in JAX.)

“I am going to make it through this year if it kills me!”

I have been saying that I would start a blog to document this horrendous shock to the system of moving from Melbourne Australia to Jacksonville Florida USA. So here goes…. I am not sure how this will turn out as I am not much of a writer. I’m also a horrible typist so I tend to lose lovely bits of prose as my fingers refuse to keep up with my brain. But I will give it a go (at least for a little while).

Where to start? Perhaps a little about me and how I have gotten into this situation. I am an American who has lived in Australia on and off for the last 13 years. My longest stint in the country was 5 consecutive years from 2003 until 3 weeks ago. Ageing parents, Melbourne’s exorbitant house prices and a desire to travel prompted my partner (let’s call him H) and me to return to the US. When choosing American cities, we focused on Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston – big, vibrant, left-leaning cities where indie bands actually tour. But the pickings were, well, non-existent, and then H got an offer to come to Jacksonville with his company. When the choice was move to the US in this uncertain economic climate with a job or without, it was a no brainer. So here we are in Jacksonville – honestly grateful for this opportunity!

Now with this blog/journal/whatever – it would be easy to bitch and moan about this town and totally mock it from the get go, but I don’t want to do that. This morning I was looking at few existing blogs about JAX and was inspired by the bloggers passion to make Jacksonville better/more livable, to create a cultural outlet for inner city residents and to present a hipper side to the city.

But I don’t think I can do that either – not yet. Why? Because I don’t love this city nor do I know it well enough. I had never been here before we moved here, have no friends and no attachments to it whatsoever. It’s totally new and I want to be objective and honest – present the good and the bad – as H and I uncover it. Three weeks in and we are honestly raw from the initial cultural bitch slap we have gotten. It’s so different from what we know, need and want.

Over the years, I’ve fallen madly love with cities that have wooed me with their elegance, worldliness and charm. Jacksonville by contrast seems conservative, dowdy and somewhat dangerous – a suitor that would never catch my eye/interest except for the fact that we have been thrown together by necessity. I am not sure what we’ll have in common…. But this is all superficial at this stage. There’s no initial attraction/chemistry, but I need to keep myself open and look for the good that lies below the surface. Perhaps then we can be friends or at least acquaintances.