Breville Bes860

Breville Bes860

I haven't done a blog on coffee or coffee equipment in ages so i thought it was time to do one. I have had a lot of coffee machines and grinders over the last five years. I started off with the nespresso, then went to a basic espresso machine. From there i went to a Breville es800 and now the bes860

 I had this machine for  about 2 years and i loved it, while on Ebay i found a bargain of a unit. The Breville bes860

It is bigger that my old one because it has the built in grinder. It is a burr grinder and works really well. 

You have two places to adjust the grind, first on the left side is for coarse or finer, then on the front is for finer adjustments.

 The hopper holds up too 600g of coffee, i weigh out what i want and grind accordingly.
It has a good consistent grind.

I like how the tamper is magnetic so i always know where it is. I don't like the weight of it but what can you do.

When making a coffee you need to use the pressurised insert otherwise it doesn't make a good coffee and i think that is a design flaw but it can make a really nice cup.

It froths up milk really well compared to the old machine. If i don't pay attention i end up with a cappuccino instead of a latte'. I still can't do latte are nor stencils sometime..i know pretty shocking but i enjoy a good coffee and having fun at the same time.

Anyway thanks for reading
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kind E-Gards
Dale Stewart

Beyond Basic Specialty Coffee

Beyond Basic Specialty Coffee

I remember the first time i spoke to Ken, it was a couple of years ago.  He is like me good looking and passionate..He is so passionate about his coffee and food and also takes so much pride in what he does. It doesn't matter what day or time i go to Oak room  and its consistent. He has brought his passion and love to Port Melbourne. Its a lovely looking cafe that is freshly painted, just wait till summer and you taste his cold drip coffee, you won't want to leave. We went for lunch on Saturday and I am sorry because a few photo's did not turn out well as it was a beautiful day.

 

I think it is a butterfly coming out of a cup, our friends thought it was the steam from the coffee. They said it was the best coffee they have ever had.

 

Kim and i shared a Filter coffee from Panama and it was a Ninety Plus.
The coffee was amazing it was sweet, fruity and so amazing. I just love how you get the flavours you do. People ask me why i will pay $20 for a cup of coffee and i ask why do you pay $20 for a cocktail? It is the quality and how rare it is. They have a limited edition of some beans but i have never been disappointed with the quality of coffee.

 For lunch i had a Black fish burger, i was told the fish had arrived 15 minutes before we got there. The burger was amazing and as i said the fish was fresh and cooked to perfection, sweet and juicy. The bun tasted strange but not in a bad way, more like i could not describe it. If you are in Melbourne you need to try it...seriously

Kim had the pork belly sandwich and it was cooked so it fell apart in your mouth, it was perfect. The salad was fresh. 

Our friend had the Quinoa salad and she said it was fantastic. Like with all the other food it was fresh and tasty, it had a bit of everything in it.

 They have a selection of pastry's as well. We had a coconut chilli doughnut. It was not overly sweet but tasty with a hint of the chilli afterwards. It was different and i would eat it again.

We had a almond and lemon doughnut. It was completely different to the other doughnut and we really enjoyed both of them.

After a massive lunch you can go down to Saint Kilda and walk off all that amazing food

I would highly recommend Beyond basic to anyone in the area and we will go back.

Thanks again for an amazing meal.

Kind E-gards

Dale Stewart 

Always eating out

Always eating out

I have had a chest infection for the last few weeks, being a guy we wait as long as possible before going to the doctor to get antibiotics. But friday night we had a pizza dinner at kims bosses place and i had to go. Last time we did it was about 2 years ago and i did what i normally do and drink way too much then make a fool of myself, not remember getting home and waking up with a nasty hangover. This time I was on the antibiotics so no alcohol..well ok only 1.

We had a selection of fresh home made pizzas, like pepperoni, salami, chili and vegetarian. It was a warm evening. There was bread with dips, cheeses and all your other party favourites.

We ended up going home about 11pm. 

Saturday morning we got up at about 11am still not feeling too well and needing amazing coffee we went to Oak room for lunch.

I had my pour over coffee and a hamburger, it was amazing because the meat tasted like shredded beef or maybe just being tired i hallucinated it.

 We went to springvale to get a drink on the way home. I did not have this drink it looked like it would put my in a sugar coma.

Saturday night we went for a drive because it was a beautiful warm night. We ended up driving for two hours, we went to the forest and saw a wombat. It was so cute as it kept chasing the headlight on the car.
Sunday morning we went to my parents place for breakfast, after that we went to catch up with friends who we haven't seen for ages.
We went to a cafe called Code Black Coffee, It was a large cafe' and very dark.

All we ever seem to do is eat and drink coffee :), but its what i enjoy doing.

After we had lunch we went for dessert. We went to a popular gelatti place N2 Extreme

I had the centre one and that was a mango gelatti. Kim had a Matcha one, the flavours are sweet, but not over the top. I had to take a pic of the lego.

It was a relaxing weekend
Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Renovations / Improvements

Renovations / improvements

When buying a property you always think hopefully we won't have to do any renovations. I don't mean ripping out walls or anything extreme like that. But you always end up painting, putting in skylights, wall mounting t.vs. Its the never ending process to make a place feel like a home not a house. Sometimes all it takes is just changing a small part can make the place look that much better.

Wall mounting Tvs

It is not hard but you need the correct tools. Once it is done it can look really good if all the cables are hidden properly.

The benefits of wall mounting tv's on external walls it is easier to run speaker cables for rear speakers. Internal walls are more difficult because you have to drill holes . I use bullnose plates for cables and desk grommets for power cables.

What i did here was buy conduit and paint it the wall colour to hide the cables

 Our ensuite had one towel rail so I took one from the spare bathroom and moved it so we had two rails. Our spare bathroom had three rails so it means the door opens all the way so it was a win win situation.

 The other thing we have learn't from previous renovations that buy the best paint, if you buy a cheaper one you will have headaches and if you are going to the trouble of painting you don't want to redo it again.

I will put up some pics of the painted rooms soon.

Thanks again
Kind E-gards
Dale STewart

Petra Tou Romiou

Petra Tou Romiou

Last friday night we went to Petra Tou Romiou, we got a Scoopon deal and then read the reviews... The reviews are pretty bad but we had paid the money so we went anyway. It said it was a buffet but it was more of a set menu.

I started my meal with a greek Amstel and i didn't even know that existed and it was really tasty, not what i expected.

For starters we had Pita bread and a mix of dips Tzatziki, Tarama, Eggplant and capsicum 

It was very fresh and tasty we ordered more pita as it was not enough.

We had some Saganaki and that is sheep cheese with lemon. I am not a huge fan of cheese but i really liked it. It needed the lemon as it changed the flavour completely

The meat Platter had a sausage, beef and chicken some rissoles and chips  It was fresh and tasty I really enjoyed the rissoles.

The seafood platter has a bit of everything, prawns, shrimps, octopus and again we were not disappointed. It was cooked well and not overdone

.

For desert i had Baklava with almonds in it with fresh ice cream.

What goes better with Baklava some greek / turkish coffee

It was a great night and we would happily go back again.

Kind E-Gards

Dale Stewart