The Merguez Frites Blog

Proxima Estacion Esperanza

2009-01-20T11:13:00.000-06:00

It is a good day

Chinese Coffee Update

2009-01-16T09:43:00.003-06:00

When I first traveled to Taiwan 13 years ago, coffee was very hard to find. In fact coming down from my coffee addiction was a painful event. With no skills in Mandarin, I spent the trip gulping down Isla Formosa's famed tea. Delicious, but you know...not the same to someone who at the time was addicted to Ethiopian Yergecheffe. I vowed next time would be different.

My subsequent visits to Asia have been pretty painless coffeewise as the market has totally changed. While not a super common drink, coffee consumption is picking up in China and not just the Nescafe variety. There are quite a few local coffee shops & regional chains in the larger Chinese cities, plus the obvious Starbucks that has made inroads. This, by the way is one of those situations where I say thanks be to Starbucks. When I'm in China I don't go about missing that much American food. I miss good coffee and draught Ale. Say what you will about Starbuck's contribution to America's cultural colonialism - I'm pleased as can be to order a 4 shot Americano after spending hours wandering the back alleyways of Xi'an. Creature comforts - we all have them. Guilty.

A couple of interesting developments have been coming out of the Chinese/Taiwanese coffee world.

From the country that gave us bubble tea comes Salted Coffee drinks. Developed by Taiwan's largest coffee chain, 85c the drink is basically a sweetened latte with salt in the foam. The combination of flavors plays upon the Asian desire for contrast. In an article on salted coffee in Time magazine, a Taiwanese is interviewed and describes a possible reason for the popularity as follows -

"Taiwanese are greedy," explains graphic designer Xena Wang, one of six friends who recently tried the drink for the first time. "We like to get all the tastes we can in one bite."

Now back to Starbucks. They just announced that they're going to be buying beans from Yunnan province in Southwestern China and will be exporting it to their stores worldwide. Called South Of The Clouds, I believe this will be the first large scale exportation of Chinese coffee beans.

The articles:
Taiwan's Salted Coffee
Starbucks Yunnan Coffee

Thank You Sarah Palin!

2008-11-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

wang shi zhi neng hui wei

2008-08-15T21:41:00.001-05:00

Damian Marley - One Loaf of Bread

2008-03-24T16:28:00.001-05:00

Serious

天涯歌女 (李香蘭)

2008-02-15T17:03:00.001-06:00

Song of the homeland

2008-02-15T16:54:00.001-06:00

Coming Soon...

2008-01-24T16:54:00.001-06:00

What are you doing today at 2:00 pm eastern time?

2008-01-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

If you're like me you'll hook up to the live stream from WFMU where Dan Stuart (Green On Red) & Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) will be yaking about the newly reformed project, Danny & Dusty and their upcoming NYC show. So glad to have Dan Stuart playing music again. See 2008 is starting off nicely.

Back from China

2007-12-13T15:26:00.001-06:00

Here I am wandering around Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province via bicycle.

Oui, j'adore les frites

2007-11-16T13:11:00.001-06:00

Just when you thought it was safe to eat French fries again comes this story of Hester Prynne styled big A banishment. Check this article

In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.

At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”
By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”
“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.”
Not so, said Danny Kleinman, a professional bridge player, teacher and columnist. “If the U.S.B.F. wants to impose conditions of membership that involve curtailment of free speech, then it cannot claim to represent our country in international competition,” he said by e-mail.

Remember when dissent was ok? yep, me neither. Things are tough though. We've got that damn quagmire of a war on Xmas going on.

In which CP sends readers away

2007-10-31T21:54:00.000-05:00

In another of "go to this link" posts. I present to you, Strange Maps. Dig in!

After that check out the Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection where you can sink into (among a million other obscurities) a map of a confucius temple in Chufou, China.

And yes...this is what I do with my free time. (while listening to this and this.)

le panique en Afrique

2007-10-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

May I please mention again how happy I am that the blog Awesome Tapes From Africa exists? Do yourself a favor and download the Kante Manfila tape that was recently posted. Sublime stuff.

Hipster Olympics

2007-09-28T13:40:00.001-05:00

There is no response to this

2007-09-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

France 5 - Studio 5 - Holden Sur le pavé

2007-09-03T15:53:00.001-05:00

K7 d'Afrique

2007-08-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

I'm grateful to WFMU for keying me into a great blog focused on obscure African cassette tapes. The guy who runs the site has been converting them to mp3s and sharing them with the nichified fanbase. The focus is pretty wide - featuring music from both francophone & english speaking countries.

I'm not sure what things are like in present tense Afrique, but I do know that from the 70s - 90s, cassette tapes were the main format for music (much of it bootleg.) I've collected quite a few tapes myself over the years from visits to music stands on the outskirts of Parisian flea markets.

So here's a link to my new favorite music blog: Awesome Tapes From Africa

Descendents News

2007-08-26T22:02:00.001-05:00

If you're a fan of the Descendent like I am - it's time to help a bro in need. Bass player, Karl Alvarez recently had a minor heart attack. Like countless musicians - he was without health insurance when it happened. Such a freakin' bummer.

Benefit Page is Here

Quick Pool Mix

2007-08-26T21:22:00.001-05:00

Sunday night action with Salba, Alva, Delgado and the like.

Manu Chao - Clandestino documentary

2007-08-12T20:54:00.001-05:00

If you speak Spanish you're in luck (entreviste en Español)
If you speak French, you're in luck (sous-titres en Francais.)
If you speak English, well...you're not really in luck, but at least you can enjoy Manu Chao's music and the incredible footage.

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part5

One Love and Goodnight

2007-08-12T19:46:00.001-05:00

The Sky Above, The Mud Below

2007-08-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Damn - with the release of this new album, Tom Russell may not remain my little secret anymore. But hey..I'm not one to want to deny an artist their due just so I can stand in the front row without effort. Bring on the grammy! Tom Russell is an American icon.

Tom Russell
Preorder At Hightone

Oh and then there's the Tom Russell train journeys. Of particular note is this one...

2007 Roots on the Rails:
Tom Russell's Tarahumara Train
On board the Sierra Madre Express from Tucson, Arizona to the Copper Canyon of Mexico and return
September 13-20, 2007
SOLD OUT - now accepting waitlist names
DAVE ALVIN
TOM RUSSELL
LAURIE LEWIS & TOM ROZUM
BUTCH HANCOCK
TERRY ALLEN

The Details

And here's Tom Russel with the topical, "Who's gonna build your wall."

You've got fundamentalist muslims,
you've got fundamentalist jews,
you've got fundamentalist christians
They'll blow the whole thing up for you.

But as I travel around this big old world
the thing that I most fear
is a white guy in a golf shirt with a cell phone in his ear.

Zhonghua car doesn't quite make the grade

2007-08-08T21:56:00.001-05:00

Those of you worried about future Chinese car exports affecting the domestic manufacturing base can rest easy for a little while after watching this clip. The Chinese car was tested in Russia and it received the lowest score ever recorded at the lab. There was an article about it in today's Wall Street Journal, but I don't have a link for you since WSJ doesn't allow access to their articles online unless you're a subscriber.

On Tour - It's Pringles Stix

2007-08-08T20:34:00.000-05:00

Dudes don't miss the hottest tour of the summer. Pringles Stix will be hitting 7 cities in the Southeast where they'll be introducing their crunchy sound to select VIP shopaholics. According to their pr firm, "PRINGLES STIX will have you Snacking To A Whole New Beat"

Pringles will hit the road on
August 20 to seven cities in the Southeast to exclusively introduce its
latest crispy cracker stick snack - PRINGLES STIX - in advance of the
product's national rollout in Spring 2008. Consumers will be able to sample
the four exciting new flavors, make their own music video with Electronic
Arts' Boogie(TM) for Wii, and enter for a chance to win a Wii Game Kit*.
This exciting event will entertain family members of all ages.

This whirlwind tour will hit 58 retail locations over 44 days in
Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Montgomery and
Birmingham.

PRINGLES STIX are crispy cracker sticks made from baked wheat with a
one- of-a-kind great taste. Stix come in a 6.8oz box with 10 individually
wrapped packs inside. They are available in four delicious flavors: Crunchy
Wheat, Vanilla, Honey Butter and Pizza, contain only 90 calories per pack
and have zero trans fat.

Don't forget to check out www.pringlesstix.com . Damn I know I'm already there.

the road to good intentions part b

2007-08-06T09:41:00.000-05:00

The BBC has a very interesting and sad interview with Joe Darby, the US soldier whistleblower on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses.

Joe Darby knew what he saw was wrong, but it took him three weeks to decide to hand those photographs in. When he finally did, he was promised anonymity and hoped he would hear no more about it.

But he was scared of the repercussions from the accused soldiers in the photos.

"I was afraid for retribution not only from them, but from other soldiers," he says.

"At night when I would sleep, they were less than 100 yards from me, and I didn't even have a door on the room I slept in.

"I had a raincoat hanging up for a door. Like I said to my room mate, they could reach their hand in the door - because I slept right by the door - and cut my throat without making a noise, or anybody knowing what was going on, and I was scared of that."

When the accused soldiers were finally removed from the base, he thought his troubles were over.

And then he was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers and Donald Rumsfeld came on the television to thank Joe Darby by name for handing in the photographs.

"I don't think it was an accident because those things are pretty much scripted," Mr Darby says.

"But I did receive a letter from him which said he had no malicious intent, he was only doing it to praise me and he had no idea about my anonymity.

"I really find it hard to believe that the secretary of defence of the United States has no idea about the star witness for a criminal case being anonymous."

Rather than turn on him for betraying colleagues, most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand. It was at home where the real trouble started.

The Article
The interview will be on BBC4 tomorrow (and archived online for a week.)