Latte Art

In the article “Latte Art, a new twist on coffee” posted on the website http://wayofcoffee.com/index.php/2010/10/18/article-latte-art-a-new-twist-on-coffee/, there is some very good information about latte art, which is becoming popular more and more popular in the coffee business nowadays.

The name “latte art” was taken from Italian word “latte” - milk, and it is the art on coffee created by milk. A barista making the coffee should be very well skilled to introduce people to good coffee and beautiful latte art.

There are many ways to make a beautiful design on a cup of coffee, but first the components of a drink should be made correctly. A shot of espresso should be pulled (like all baristas say) correctly to avoid bitter or sour taste of coffee. It has to be a concentrated shot of espresso about 25-30ml for 25-30 seconds. A barista also should know how to get the necessary texture using milk, so it would be good to make a design. To do that, he or she needs to find a moment when the milk is saturated enough with oxygen by using the wand on the machine and to find the moment when it spins breaking bubbles. One more very important moment here is not to overheat the milk, so that won't get a little bitter taste and bubbles too.

The most difficult process is starting when the espresso and milk are ready. The barista pours the steamed milk into an espresso to make a design. Making design, it is important to move hands correctly, which takes a lot of time to practice. But once you get the idea of how the process works you will get beautiful rosettas (leaves), hearts and everything else that your imagination wants to express.

I could do a lot of different designs on latte and recommend that you try it. It is fun to create something pretty and to make your family and friends smile.

Katie Couric Interview with Howard Schultz

Katie Couric began the interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, by asking him why he wouldn't call sizes of coffee like all other people "small, medium or large." Schultz said that after he visited Italy he understood the meaning that Italians used for coffee (for example, "doppio espresso macciato"), and it just made sense to him.

After this question Couric asked him why Starbucks was closing so many stores those days. Howard responded that he thought that one of the problems that they had was very fast growth.

Katie asked if they had a business plan for a recession. Howard's answer was that he believed the Starbucks was a "recession-proof", and the economy couldn't affect them.

Than Katie Couric asked if it was possible for Starbucks to lower their prices. Schultz simply answered that they are "selling more than just a cup of coffee."

I like Schultz idea of people connection. There are a lot of coffee shops, but people use to get their drinks and run somewhere. By having a nice place to stay I think people will do it and spend their time communicating. I also think it's a very great idea to give each of the workers insurance. It is what Schultz calls "responsible capitalism". My favorite his saying is "if you're an entrepreneur, you've got to dream big and then dream bigger." Even though I don't like their coffee because I think it is extremely unhealthy, I admire Howard as an entrepreneur. He created such a huge product that makes a day for a lot of people around the world. Hoping to have my coffee house some day, I think there are many things that I need to learn from him. The only thing I would recommend to him is to work on the quality of drinks (what he tries to do little by little) and on the healthy stuff which is extremely popular nowadays.

Two Teachers

In the articles "Suspended Teacher Defends Book Assignment" and "Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing", two different cases about the suspensions of two teachers for their "wrong teaching ways" are described. In the first article, there is a story about Connie Heermann, who was suspended because she introduced to her class a book of essays written by teenagers at-risk that included some swear words and sexual overtones. In the second article, the story is about Sydney McGee, who was also suspended for making an art trip with her class to a museum where to children were exposed a few nude sculptures.

In the first situation with Connie Heermann there were a few moments where she was not right. The book, that she introduced to her class, was not approved by the school administrators. She had chosen this book because she thought it might be helpful for her students, who were also considered at-risk, to fight their problems. Connie assigned it for students with the approval of their parents but without the final decision from the curriculum director. In the situation with Sydney McGee, the trip to the museum was approved by the district and was made not the first time. The problem appeared from one of student's parents who complained that the child saw a nude art. Sydney had very good ratings like a great teacher before that trip, and a lot of parents defended her. Some of them said that their children enjoyed the field trip, and nobody mentioned or concentrated attention on the nude art.

Both these situations surprised me. I don't really agree with Connie Heermann because I would have waited for approval if I had been she. Thinking that it is the only best book for her students she also could had just recommended that they read that and to avoid this problem. The other situation with Sydney McGee seems absurd to me. There are always some exhibitions with a nude art, especially if those are from the human past, like famous sculptures of ancient Greek or Roman. Plus nowadays, when we have so many dirty information on TV and in Internet, protecting children from the art seems naive.

I think in general, the situation with so extremely scared teachers and the district was the most absurd to me. People created so many rules to protect their rights that sometimes they don't even see how silly their attitude is. Sure, there should be some moral rules and regulations at schools, but they shouldn't scare teachers to go to class and teach, because many people are just afraid to say a word without being judged and punished. I think that there should be some wisdom and from teachers and from parents side.

Ban on Pet Sales

In her article "San Francisco Considers Banning of Pets Except Fish", Carolyn Jones is reporting on a proposed ban on pet sales in pet stores. This problem appeared to be because many people bring pets to shelters after facing problems related with animal's unexpected behavior. If abandoned pets stay at shelters for a while and don't get adopted, they have to be euthanized which is not humane. So there is a testimony about restricting pet sales at pet stores with the exception of fish. The testimony is not approved because there are still a lot of opened questions.

There were two articles in response to this problem.

Ken White, the President of Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA wrote one of the response. Even though this response confused me a little, I'll try to summarize it as far as I understood. Although the question about pet stores banning was silly for Ken because of the economical situation now and all problems related to that, this problem bothers him a lot. His main point is that banning stores or not we should think that animal's suffering and death are what we should ban at first, because there might be not only problems with animals return back to stores by unsatisfied owners, but also problems with cruelty toward some animals right at the stores.

Michael Yaki (Attorney and Political Consultant) in his response "Banning Pet Stores in SF: A Solution in Search of a Problem" also gives us his opinion on the same problem. From his point of view it is mostly governmental try to get people's trust. He says the true is that this question is important because some people just don't understand the responsibility they have to care if they want to have pets. Michael wants customers and salesmen to think before buying or selling animals. At the same time, the most important point that Michael wants to emphasize here is that the government, which has a huge budget deficit, should not spend money on solving this "trivial" problem because there are a lot more important problems now that government should take care of.

In general I agree with all the writers because I see all the points they make. Our behavior toward animals should be smart, and we have to understand our our responsibilities. If there is something wrong with our pets only we will be guilty. I also agree that it is silly to ban the sale of pets in pet stores, because we have teach children to care for animals, and home pets are the best way to do that. Plus we know how important the small business for American economy, so I'm sure banning the stores will have a strong impact on that. And there is one more point that I agree with. The government has economic problems now which are hard to solve very fast, so I believe that they try to do everything to have better look for people, for example, doing something what could show a result much faster.

TED.com - "Ideas worth spreading"

Nowadays, when the Internet is filled with a tremendous amount of information, it is so easy to improve our knowledge in any field we want absolutely free. The data are easily accessible, and we can learn a lot of things staying at home and watching useful videos. There is an interesting and very informative website that might help a lot of people to find out something new about their favorite subjects or even subjects that they didn't know anything about.

http://www.ted.com/

The website collects information about almost everything. Here, many bright and successful people talk about business, technology, psychology, entertainment and many other subjects. Some speakers introduce people to the stories of their success, and other teach how to be successful.

I like this website because listening to and watching these videos help me learn many new things at the same time that I am learning and improving my English. I use some information here for my Public Speaking class looking at these confident speakers and reflecting their behavior on stage to my own speaking. This website also helps me to extend my vocabulary and to improve my pronunciation. It is also a very good way to improve listening and understanding for foreign listeners.

So, I recommend this website to all ESL students because everyone can find here something interesting, and while watching good videos could improve their English.

Me!

Hello guys!

As I've noticed, I already know some of you, and I got a chance to be introduced with another part of you at this class.

My name is Yulia, and if you are not a first quarter at Foothill, than you probably have seen me many times on campus. During the last year I've participated at the Students Government of our college (ASFC) as an Activities Coordinator creating different events on campus. This year I'm putting my efforts at some other activities, but I highly recommend

you joining to the ASFC as a very good opportunity to learn English and to meet a lot of new friends.

I am a very active person, so most of the time you can find me doing something. I love snowboarding and rollerblading, drawing and dancing, practicing yoga and climbing, and sometimes running at some parks or gardens.

I am crazy about coffee and love espresso based drinks very much. While I was a student I've worked in a great coffee-house in Russia participating at competitions among baristas and training people to make an "ideal coffee"! I had missed coffee-making for two years since I moved here, and I couldn't find any place here where I would get "right" espresso, until I found Del Doge (an Italian coffee shop in downtown Palo Alto). Coffee is my passion, so I can talk about it a lot! If you want to know something about coffee, or my hobbies, or finally about myself, feel free to ask! I love people and communication with them, so I would be happy to answer on anything you ask!

Wish all of you guys have a wonderful quarter, and I'll see you around!