Friend Food Pt. 3

I love putting these posts together because it always reminds me how much I have to be grateful for. In recent weeks we've been gifted all kinds of super tasty foods including these Mexican mouse melons that I guarantee are the cutest food I've eaten all summer.

Hope you've been eating/drinking/living well. What's been on your plate?

My neighbor Alison and I did a weekend morning berry exchange earlier this summer. She left a bowl of just-picked raspberries on my front porch before I woke up and I picked blueberries and left them on her porch mid-morning.

Alison also gave us some of her homemade vegan strawberry ice cream made with almond milk that was amazing.

And then there was the vegan tomato corn soup that my friend Michelle made from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's and Terry Hope Romero's cookbook Veganomicon that I couldn't have shared if I wanted to.

Made these sour cherries that I picked with friends from a neighborhood tree into cherry wine that's bubbling away in the utility room and will be ready to drink in several months.

Our next-door neighbors Michael and Mulysa gave us this enormous bowl filled with all different lettuces from their backyard. So good.

Our friend Mount has been supplying us with his incredible coffee ever since Tyler built a coffee dispenser for his roastery. Delicious.

Our neighbor Butch gave us this side of Chinook straight off the boat. He and his family go fishing most weekends in the summer and early fall and we always get a lot of the catch. I'll show you what me made with it in upcoming posts.

Friend Food Pt. 1Friend Food Pt. 2

Small Batch Coffee Bean Dispenser

My boyfriend Tyler Adams is one of the most resourceful people I know. Some of the incredible things that he's made (fabricated and built from the ground up) during the 10 years we've been together include a top loading glass kiln, countless tattoo machines, a backyard kiwi arbor and all sorts of other garden structures, loads of motorcycle parts (some really complicated ones too), a welded metal interlocking security system for a Land Rover (friends who are now traveling in South America), and the coffee bean dispenser above that Tyler made for Mount Burns and Julie Gebron of St. Johns Coffee Roasters. Tyler spent months on this one and it shows.

A few weeks ago we delivered the dispenser to St. Johns Coffee Roasters just in time for their business anniversary party. Prior to the dispenser Mount and Julie had done all of their coffee packaging by hand with a metal scooper. That got a little old especially considering that they've signed some big new accounts in recent weeks. (You can find their tasty coffee at all ten New Seasons Markets, several local Whole Foods Markets and Market of Choice locations as well now.)

Tyler's coffee dispenser's new home at St. Johns Coffee Roasters!

Mount filling her up...

Tyler and Mount messing with the lever.

Works like a charm!

I can't tell you all the ins and outs of the dispenser design but if you vaguely remember a guy with a notebook, scribbling things and making sketches while examining your local market bulk coffee dispenser during the past few months that was probably Tyler. All of this R&D paid off because the dispenser is now in full swing and saving Mount and Julie a lot of time.

If you have any interest in Tyler's coffee dispenser (it's a one-off for now but he might make more in the future) drop him a line at tyler at grizzlytattoo dot com or stop by his new tattoo shop after June 1st -- Grizzly Tattoo on North Williams -- and ask him about it.

St. Johns Coffee Roasters Organic/Fair Trade 503.445.2249 Portland, Oregon www.stjohnscoffee.com info@stjohnscoffee.com

Grizzly Tattoo www.grizzlytattoo.com 3949 North Williams Ave. tyler at grizzly tattoo dot com Portland, Oregon