BEAVERS

BEAVERS

Mar 24, 2025 | ENVIRONMENT, WORLD

Beavers live where there is enough water to dive, they build the entrance to their burrows underwater for greater safety, then if the water level is not sufficient, they build a dam.

We learnt the ‘beaver – dam’ association of thought from an early age, do you remember any cartoons in particular?

I mention cartoons because the beavers I want to talk about are definitely characters.

The beavers I want to talk about live in Brdy in the Czech Republic.

The name of this area: Brdy comes from brdo meaning hill, precisely because it is a hilly/mountainous and wooded area.

The presence of a military zone in this area meant that the area was not affected by any urbanisation, thus preserving the naturalistic aspect: flora and fauna.

Having become an environmentally protected landscape for Brdy, it had become necessary to repair a drainage canal built by the army and restore the wetlands.

Huge and extremely expensive works, the plans for which had run aground under the weight of bureaucracy and waiting for appropriations.

But the beavers magically solved the issue by building a dam!

Zero cost and a great lesson to be learned.

Nature teaches us about life in harmonious balance.

‘Beavers always know what is best. The places where they build dams are always chosen in the right way, better than when we design them on paper,’ these words are from Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemia office of the Czech Agency for the Protection of Nature and Landscape (AOPK). 

What can I say?

I would use the words of Jules Verne:
Nature’s creative power is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction.

Do you know another similar case?

DIRTY COFFEE

DIRTY COFFEE

Nov 9, 2024 | WORLD, WORLD

Dirty coffee literally the result of the brewing that is going crazy is indeed a dirty coffee.

But it is not the coffee that gets dirty, on the contrary: the coffee dirties the milk.

Remember the recipe for Dalgona Coffee? 

Again, cold milk and coffee are needed, the milk must be very cold while the coffee must be very hot because it is precisely the contrast between the temperatures that creates the dirty effect.

And in this case too, the inspiration comes from the East.

Dirty Coffee inventor Katsuyuki Tanaka of Bear Pond Espresso ベアポンドエクスプレス in Tokyo.

Dirty Coffee

Japan, then.

Inevitably, one thinks back to Toshikazu Kawaguchi川口俊和‘s trilogy and Before the coffee gets cold. 

In this case, however, Katsu brings with him his part of life in New York‘s East Village.

Katsu tells how it all started with a New York Times columnist.

How is layering achieved?

Iced milk: must be prepared by filling a transparent glass with whole milk. The temperature of the milk must be very low to create this thermal contrast with the espresso.

Coffee: prepare a ristretto espresso.

Pour carefully: pour the coffee over the cold milk little by little and gently. The espresso will sit on top of the milk, slowly descending to create an attractive layered effect.

Don’t stir: for a perfect Dirty Coffee just refrain from stirring the drink.

Are you of the type: I discover a new preparation and immediately feel inspired to try it?

Will you tell me about your Dirty Coffee?

HANOI TRAIN STREET

HANOI TRAIN STREET

Sep 21, 2024 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, WORLD, JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, WORLD

Hanoi Train Street is something I discovered thanks to the TV showBeijing Express.

Unfortunately, I only ‘travel’ through others, thanks to the stories and images shared in several ways.

For this reason: images, I like Beijing Express.

Since it is broadcast on pay TV I have to wait for the free version, so only a week ago I happened to see Fru sitting at a table in a bar in Hanoi Vietnam for a coffee.

What could possibly be strange about that? It is true that I here celebrate the coffees of all those who give me the privilege of sharing, but why am I talking about a coffee seen on TV? 

This indeed wasn’t a coffee of the ones I like to call ‘calm.’

Train Street … the name leaves no mystery, but did you know that train tracks literally pass along a street in Hanoi just a short distance from buildings?

Hanoi Train Street

It was a discovery for me and so I couldn’t help but try to find out more.

The railway in Hanoi was built by the French in the early 1900s and buildings sprang up later in time.

In the second decade of the 2000s the narrow space between the tracks and the houses, also considering that the speed of the trains doesn’t particularly decrease as they pass through, became a tourist attraction growing to the point of being extremely dangerous.

The mania or perhaps we should say the urge to take pictures feverishly seizes many people and the Instagram wild created a risky as well as uncontrolled crowd.

This is why the authorities in 2022 closed access to tourists.

But you know: business is business.

Once upon a time, they used to say: ‘once the law is made, there’s always a loophole’ … so the buildings have been transformed into cafes that can safely accommodate visitors, with timetables and rules to follow.

So after telling you about The Happiness Trains we are now chatting about the Trains how? You tell me.

COFFEE ON THE ROAD

COFFEE ON THE ROAD

Aug 17, 2024 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, WORLD, JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, VIDEO, VIDEO, WORLD

Coffee on the road, can you tell me?

I hope you are one of those who are travelling to fantastic destinations these days.

How did you find the coffee?

Better? Worse? Long, short, black, macchiato?

With these words I always remind the scene from You’ve got mail. 

We are very sedentary and we only moved within our territory, but each time we’ve had a nice coffee.

You too?

If you could be inspired to send me a photo of one of your coffees, I would be HAPPY.

In the meantime, I will tell you about a virtual trip to places totally unknown to me thanks to Tomislav.

First of all, I congratulate him on winning the International Fiction Festival award for his Wonderful story about a girl with Papovka.

Caffè in viaggio

The first ten pages of his comic are published in the UK, then five pages in Macedonia in the magazine Devetka.

The comic will also be published in Serbia in the comics magazine Balon, in the magazine Strip Prefiks in Croatia, the first six pages translated into Slovenian will be presented by Supernova, the magazine Athanatik from Montenegro, and the publisher Koloseum from Banja Luka.

And the next target is the Bulgarian magazine Duga.

Tomislav told me about all these publications, accompanying them with a coffee for each of the places.

If you click on the words in bold you will find each of the links.

So starting from Serbia, here is the coffee in Niš Serbia and the Turkish-style spoon from in Niš.

Caffè in viaggioCaffè in viaggio

From Kikinda, also Serbia, I have no café but I was enchanted to see this wonderful tree-lined boulevard. 

Caffè in viaggio

Carpe Diem Cafe Zagreb Croatia what can I say? A perfect name.

Caffè in viaggioCaffè in viaggio

About Timișoara Romania we had already chatted, but can we give up these cappuccinos? 

Caffè in viaggioCaffè in viaggio

And finally Turkish-style Bulgarian coffee and Turkish sweets in the Balkan as Tomislav called them.

Caffè in viaggioCaffè in viaggio

Layla, on the other hand, was in Italy for six weeks studying in Orvieto and the photo in her story depicts Office Coffee – coktails. 

This is her video story 

Very nice, isn’t it?

What about you?

COFFEE IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE THAT OVERCOMES CULTURAL BARRIERS

COFFEE IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE THAT OVERCOMES CULTURAL BARRIERS

Jun 29, 2024 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, WORLD, JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, WORLD

Coffee is a universal language that overcomes cultural barriers: a hot cup can unite people from every corner of the world.

I take the cue from this quote to confirm how coffee here has given me the opportunity to communicate with people living in areas hitherto unknown to me.

Tomislav keeps going on to update me about his project, remember I told you about his comics, but also about the photos of his coffees that he never fails to send me?

I am very grateful to him and thanks to him I discovered that in Temisvar there is a statue dedicated to Romulus and Remus.

These are his coffees!
Turkish coffee in Subotica and ‘morning coffee’ with candies from Macedonia as Tomislav called it.

Il caffè è un linguaggio universale che supera le barriere culturali: una tazza calda può unire persone provenienti da ogni angolo del mondo.Il caffè è un linguaggio universale che supera le barriere culturali: una tazza calda può unire persone provenienti da ogni angolo del mondo.

Lela constantly teaches me about her Georgia, and through her love of Italy she uncovers many interesting crossovers, such as L’Antica Trattoria Toscana and Georgiana. 

What better combination than food?

Speaking of food, Lela described their cheese to me: Sulguni სულგუნი, სულუგუნი which comes from the Samegrelo region and is reminiscent of our mozzarella. Do you know it?

I believe that being able to chat about any subject and listen to life’s monents, interests, and those little things that simply make up the days is absolutely interesting and instructive.

The small differences, nuances, languages, traditions, environments, which are a heritage to be preserved and passed on.

Have you ever met, known, discovered people through the ‘bridge’ represented by coffee?

A hot cup can unite people from every corner of the world.

Coffee is a universal language that overcomes cultural barriers: a hot cup can unite people from every corner of the world.

Or perhaps your point of sharing has been different.

Whatever corner of the world you come from, feel welcome and free to tell!

COFFEE CITY

COFFEE CITY

Feb 17, 2024 | WORLD, WHO CARES, WHO CARES, WORLD

Coffee City is a lakeside community located on a peninsula jutting into Lake Palestine in East Texas.

With three sides of the city bordered by water,  this is a popular location for fishing, boating and other water sports.

As soon as I saw the picture with the sign I couldn’t believe my eyes, so imagine what a surprise when I understood it is real!

Looking for information, I fell in love with this kind of metaphor: the history of this location can fit in a pecan shell.

Coffee City in fact only materialised in the 1960s after the construction of Lake Palestine.

Yes: construction, because Lake Palestine is an artificial lake created by the Blackburn Dam.

This reservoir spans portions of four counties in the state of Texas: Anderson, Smith, Henderson and Cherokee.

I smile because for us Anderson and Henderson tend to sound the same, and Smith … well it’s kind of like the equivalent of our idea of top common name …

Back to Coffee City, which is apparently home to a residential community with no history but a recent unfortunate news: it seems that there were 250 inhabitants and 50 policemen in … what can we say?

Perhaps it is better to focus on the Coffee City Fire Department: firefighters in the US are an institution par excellence.

In Coffee City there is also the Bella Italian Café! 

I couldn’t find any particular connection to Italy, but it’s still a tribute, how about that?

While we think about it I’ll let you admire this view … 

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