Bitter means over extracted, and that's the most common mistake people make. Always use at least 2 coffee measures (which are 2 tablespoons each) of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water. I'm guessing that the popularity of the pod machines is that they guarantee the right ratio of coffee to water.

Burnt means over roasted (see "Charbucks"). I never ever roast coffee past the second crack, because I don't like it to taste like charcoal. Coffee should be sweet without sugar, and if yours isn't, you're doing something wrong.

Grassy means under roasted, and this is rare nowadays, but try a cup of any mass produced old-style canned coffee, and there's a good chance you'll taste this. It's a sour, nasty taste.

I use a Behmor 1600 roaster, but you don't need a purpose-built roaster, I started with a whirly-pop popcorn popper with a thermometer in it. I roast 8 ounces at time (which turns into about 6 ounces roasted) and that lasts me about 2 or 3 days.

My first tomato came ripe two weeks ago.  It never made it more than 6 feet from the plant where it grew because I ate it like an apple, fresh and sun-warm.  I'm getting one or two a day, enough for my use and occasional delivery to friends.  My lettuce - leafy varieties - is doing fabulously, yielding me large salads daily.  The beans are well on their way to a harvest, the herbs are lining up for a bountiful harvest, and the onions and peppers will be ready soon.

And I can avoid the high cost of trucked-in supermarket produce.

Near a harbor of course there were many opportunities of all kind, fish and produce.

Near where I currently live, I have noticed a farmers market in the parking lot of a store front church (once a grocery store) so that it is large.  They have good produce and are close by.

Anyway that reminds me of some stories my mom told of her brother, my uncle, when he came back from WWII.

After he got off the boat, he went to a small grocery store near the harbor and bought fruit and vegetables (not the cooking kind) and sat on the curb in front of the store in his dress uniform and with his bag beside him and ate them.

the aroma of the brewing coffee is enough, by itself, to set off happy synapse firings in your brain. a good carafe, to store the extra coffee in, is a must; it keeps the coffee warm and prevents evaporation, which is what causes bitteness.

Tim Pawlenty, the former two-term governor of Minnesota, has ended his campaign for President after a disappointing third-place finish at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. Pawlenty wound up a distant third behind the winner, Michele Bachmann, and Ron Paul.

Pawlenty's candidacy was very much predicated on winning Iowa, a neighboring state to Minnesota. He hoped the momentum from that early victory would slingshot into other states. He spent months in Iowa and put up the first TV ads of any candidate there. But he never gained traction, either there or nationally. link

I'm thinking of buying some of the fresh-roasted smooth shade-grown blends from some friends' orchards and shipping them back.

Depends on the price... sometimes shipping from Colombia is absolutely nonsensical. If I can send some Sello Rojo up here, I'll let y'all know, and we can work something out!  Kdog and Jim, y'alls is free. Degenerate gamblers have to stick together. Dadler, still playing? It means free coffee...