First, yes, SpoTOAST now has an official name: SpoAP! This for a number of reasons, a main one being that it makes more sense.
More importantly, we have a time and a place for our highly not-so-serious AeroPress contest! SpoAP will take place at Madeleine's, downtown Spokane, Sunday, February 26th, sometime after the cafe's closing time. Probably around 4 PM. Want to sign up to compete? Amateurs and baristi should do so right now! We have a limited number of spaces available, so reserve your spot!
Afraid you just aren't much of an AeroPresser? Don't be! This contest is aimed at people of every skill level, and our goal is to spread some good-coffee awareness more than anything. Plus, you have a month to find your favorite beans and get in some practice. Despite what we have speculated on earlier: Kenyan beans are not required, but they are recommended, as they're used in the official World AeroPress Championship for a reason.
That's pretty much it. Expect more to be revealed soon, including a couple of surprises. For now, though, sign up!
Over the last month Team SpoCOOL & Friends™ has been partaking in a project called "Whole30". This is, as the name suggests, a thirty day challenge where you eat strict paleo. We're talking really strict, too, not just the sissy normal paleo stuff. In a nutshell it goes like this:
For thirty days you may eat: Whole, unmodified meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, some fruit, and good fats.
For thirty days you may not eat: Sugar or sugar substitutes, processed foods, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy, white potatoes, or anything you probably would find fun. Yeah.
More details are available on the Whole30 website.
As a challenge goes, this one is obviously harder for those who don't usually eat a lot of meat. If you can get past that, the results after a month are pretty impressive. Those who participated all shed pounds faster than what you'd expect from any regular diet. (Around 60 lbs between four people, twenty-four days in.) Energy levels, meanwhile, increased.
That's not to say this wasn't a challenge. It was, and you soon learn to look at the ingredients list while shopping, even when you wouldn't expect there to be any ingredients listed. Take turkey bacon, for example. Should you go into your regular grocery store, you'd think you could just pick up a package easily, but uh-uh. Compare two seemingly identical packages, and you'll find one to simply contains meat, while another is drenched in sugars and fake smoke flavorings.
In that sense we got a good reminder not just to start checking out ingredients, but to buy meat from a butcher. Common sense? Probably, but it's easy to be lazy.
You're not supposed to "paleo-fy" less than healthy recipes—"paleo pizza" is out, for example—but when having a craving for cheese, we did find there were some dips that actually filled the hole without trying to be a substitute like "vegan cheese" or whatever. Have it with a coconut bread, and things all of a sudden looked kinda good. One could argue that to be "paleo-fying", I suppose, but hey, whatever gets one through the day.
Coffee is also a savior. Drink it black or add some coconut milk, and you'll be good.
Like the Whole30 site mentions, while thirty day of ultra-strict paleo might sound hard, it's not exactly like quitting heroin. It's a challenge, but in the end it made a positive change, and there were surprisingly few cravings. We plan on keeping on a paleo track, albeit one not as strict as the Whole30. We're not going to give up Veraci or anything else as foolish as that. There are rumblings about a mac & cheese at Latah Bistro after all.
Thus we recommend anyone looking to do a bit of a reboot to check out Whole30. A few links to help you: