Month: September 2014

HOT COFFEE

Hot Coffee

 

HOT COFFEE

…………………..

 

Hot Coffee

I Love thee So

 

Do You Love Me?

It matters not

My love for thee, is the unrequited

Whether

You love me or not

Still thee do I Love



You’re warm You’re Hot

I love it hot

 

You taste

Oh so Good

 

I need you

whether or not you need me

Still, you’re always there

for me

Each and every morning of my life

you’re there

and I have thee

whether or not you want me

 

Your’e Hot

then warm

then cold



but you’re always there

I have you

two or three times a day

I have you

sometimes more

 

You comfort me and you’re always there

you’re coffee

sometimes Sweet

sometimes not

you can be bitter at times

but I love when you’re Hot!

Hot, just for me

Thank You


Thanks for the comfort

the taste

the consistancy



You’re Coffee



I Love it when you’re HOT



Coffee





Poem by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke



 

Red Beans & Rice at MANDINAS NEW ORLEANS

Mandina’s
 
3800 Canal Street, Mid-City New Orleans
 
 
Mandina’s is Awesome and Just about as good as it gets when it comes to wonderful, real restaurants that are un-contrived, but just cool in its oldness. I read about Mandina’s in a great little book about the best of New Orleans. The place sounded wonderful so I just had to go. Just getting there was great as I took a long Trolley-Ride on The Canal Street Trolley to get there. Took about a half hour. When I walked in the door, I knew I made a good choice. The place was jumping with regulars, and both the dining-room and bar were packed, “A Good Sign.” I bellied up to the bar and got myself a perfectly made “Bourbon Old Fashion” my drink of choice whenever I’m in The Big Easy, except when at Napoleon House where I opt for the House Drink, a nice “Pimms Cup.”
   I waited about 15 minuted for my table and it was well worth it. I got a Gumbo to start, followed by Veal Milanese with Red Beans & Rice since it was Monday and Red Beans & Rice day in New Orleans. A cool sweet old black man was my server, he was great. I had a wonderful time there at Mandina’s just taking in all the activity. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, and they were and it was great to feel and watch.
 Oh, by the way, there wasn’t a tourist in sight, other than me, but not really as I don’t consider myself a tourist but a visitor. Mandina’s is far from the French Quarter, it is filled with locals, and this is all the more reason for a tourist to go there, “No other tourists, just locals in a great place that is packed with people who love it, and all having a grand time. Go there, and you’ll have a grand time too, I guarantee!
 
 
 
 
My Yelp Review of Mandina’s from 2011 … Everything Still Applies
 
 
Hop on a Canal Street Streetcar to Get There
 
It’s a Nice 20 Minute Ride for a Wonderful Time at Mandina’s
 
 
 
 
RED BEANS & RICE
 
a  POBOY  (Poor Boy)
 
&
FRIES
 
The DINING ROOM at MANDINA’S JUMPS
 
 
 
 
 

SECRET RECIPES

SUNDAY SAUCE ITALIAN GRAVY

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

In New York Regular Coffee is King

COFFEE





Coffee and Cafes. Two things very near and dear to me. Million so others as well. In New York, we have the Best, “For getta bout it Seattle” !!! I remember 25 years ago and more when there were no Starbucks and just very few cafes in the hole city. More or less the only cafes were in Greenwich Village, Little Italy, and the East Village. There were hole neighborhoods, completely cafeless and if you wanted to go to one you had to go to the Village or Little Italy, nothing on the hole Upper East Side.

   Anyway, Coffee and Cafes are a huge thing these days and part of many a life.
Coffee and cafes, let me tell you about some of the best and my impressions. Hey, I’m a guy who has been frequenting cafes for years, each and every day, just about. I haven’t Jumped on the Band Wagon in the past 5 or ten years. I’ve been riding it for 30.
   Number “One,” in New York,  a good Cup of Joe is King, “Regular” not
Grande Caramel Latte and overpriced crap like that. Not the esoteric overpriced espresso, Cortado, Machiato, Blue Bottle, and Site Specific Coffee, and blends that try to break down and make too make of a good simple thing. You know what I mean. A “Cup of Joe,” is King. Used to be Five Cents at coffee shops all over the city. Well that’s going way back. Hey don’t get me wrong, I love Espresso, Espresso Machiatto, and the great Cortado they serve at Abraco. It’s just that I gotta tell you, a “Regular” is King and let’s hope it always will be.
   Abraco is utterly awesome. Maybe the Best Single tasting coffee in town, is their Cortado. Man it’s tasty. Just out of this world. But I have some problems with Abraco, as I’m not someone to pay a Premium for what I call “Hit and Run Coffee”
What is “Hit and Run Coffee” you ask? Well, let me tell you. Hit and Run Coffee is a coffee that you get at places like Caffeteria, Abraco, Third Rail Coffee, and tiny little Coffee Bars that have little or no chairs and tables and maybe just a small counter space for standing. Listen, I’m not in the habit of paying  $3.50, $4.50 or “More” for a cup of coffee, having to stand at a counter, drinking it in short time and leaving. Ending up $5.00 or more less in my pockets. Well you may think, “What’s $5.00?” Right? What’s Five Dollars? Imagine if you have 5 $5.00 coffees a week for one year. Do you know how much money that adds up to? Relax, I’ll do the Math for you. That’s $1,300 my friends. No small sum? Multiply that by 5 years and you’re talking $6,500, or by Ten Years and we’re talking $13,000. That’s a lot of Friggin Cash my friends. Hey I’m not saying you should not go out and have coffee. I do all the time. Heck, on my days off, I sometimes end up in cafes three times in one day.  I spend about $1,508 a year on coffee, $7,500 in five years or about $15,000 in ten. That’s a lot. But I get a lot. Heck, I used to spend about $2,200 a year on coffee,  $10, 000 or more in 5, or about $20,000 in ten years. But I have cut back. I’ve seen the light. I hardly ever spend $5.00 on a coffee any more. All I need is the $2.00 variety. A good honest “Cup of Joe,” a “Regular.” And I need to get my money’s worth. If I just wanted a good cup can easily make a great one in my house for just “15 Cents a Cup,” but I go and have one at a Café for 15 times that amount. Why? The extra $2.35 I pay for the coffee plus tip, is to be able to “Sit” down and relax in a nice pleasant atmosphere. I’m not gonna pay 27 times ($3.75 Average price coffee at Upscale Coffee Bar) to stand at a counter and not being able to sit down and relax. At home I can  make a tasty cup of Coffee from the Highest Quality Coffee money can buy with the coffee I buy at  “Porto Rico Coffee” on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, just a half block from my house. No, I pay all that extra money to sit in the pleasant environment of a nice coffee. Also to see other people, maybe a friend or the possibility of meeting someone new and interesting. I read, I write, I hang with friends, I relax. I can not do that at a overpriced “Coffee Bar” that doesn’t have any place to sit.
  And speaking of Porto Rico Coffee, it mystifies me that people are so foolish as to pay $11.95 or more for a mass-produced commercial pound of Coffee from Starbucks instead of going to the “Best Coolest Place in Town” to be some of the World’s Finest Coffee at Porto Rico Coffee, people who have been doing this for more than 100 years, not 20. It just doesn’t make sense. By the way, the coffee I buy at Porto Rico is just $5.99 and $6.99 a pound, half the price of a pound of Starbucks Coffee.
   Anyway. It’s all up to you. I’ll  stick with my Regular “Cup of Joe” with a Espresso and Cappucino thrown in here and there, and as a special treat a Cortado from Abraco every now and then. And I’ll get to sit down and relax with my coffee each day, putting an extra $1,000 a year in my pocket, or Airfare and a few nice meals when I go on vaction. How bout you, “Hit and Run”and pay more, or Sit Down and Relax, Pay Less, Save, and put a Thousand Bucks a Year in your pockets, or $10,000 in ten ? 


by “DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE”






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KINDLE UNLIMTED SUCKS

Kindle Unlimited Sucks! Yes Kindle Unlimited Sucks, plain and simple, and there is now question about this .. At first I just thought it Sucks from an author’s standpoint. A authors whose books wear selling pretty well in 20014 …  Selling well until Amazon had the bright idea of this thing called Kindle Unlimited, a sort of Netflix for Books .. Well Kindle Books anyway. Kindle Unlimited is a monthly subscription service, whereby a subscriber can get unlimited downloads of Kindle Books on Amazon, 10 books at a time for the cost of $9.99 a month … If you’re an avid reader, this might sound good to you, good if you can get  and read numerous books a month for $9.99  … Yes, good if you can get books, or more like, good if there was a good selection of books for you to get (Download) and read … But guess what my friends? The selection of books Sucks “Big Time.” There practically is none. The selection is “Pitiful” scandalous actually. Anyone who has signed up for the free month of Kindle Unlimited no-doubt already knows this. I don’t know what the figures are, but I’d wager to say that percentage wise the number of books available on Kindle Unlimited against the Total Number of Books sold on Amazon is far less than 1 % .. That’s dismal, to say the least .. Think I’ll see if I can find out the figure somewhere, and if one of you dear readers happens to know, please let me know by leaving a comment in the comment box. Thanks for that!
 
Anyway, I first starting hating Kindle Unlimited in the beginning of the month (August 2014). Anyway last Christmas Season my book sales spike to pretty good numbers for the first time. Nice! Yes it was. The first 4 months of 2014 sales were so-so … Then all of a sudden in May 2014, sales of my book Sunday Sauce started spiking  in a big way. They went from about 20 a month to more than 600 … I was loving it .. In June and July I was selling close to 850 units a month with about 50 borrows from Kindle Prime subscribers that are worth 2 Bucks a Pop .. Sweet! Then came the dreaded month of August 2014 … Dreaded for me anyway .. All of a sudden, my sales dipped overnight, and “Drastically” !!! My sales went from around 33 a day, down to a meager 3 !  “What The Fu_k ???” I didn’t know what hit me. Seriously, I didn’t .. I didn’t ever know what the Hell Kindle Unlimited was … I soon found out .. I went on the Forum for Kindle Select Authors and soon found out. A number of authors had seen sales drop dramatically as soon as Kindle Unlimited came on line. They were in the same boat as me .. Others were not. They were the fortunate ones, their sales had soared. Soared upwards that is .. Well goody for them, but not me and others. Some authors said their sales went down but their “Borrows” were up dramatically. Up enough for them to be happy .. But how bout us other guys? Guys (and Girls) whose sales not only went down, but went down drastically, and overnight? And all because of Kindle Unlimited .. I posted on the KDP Forum, “I Think I Hate Kindle Select.” I wasn’t really sure cause as a number of authors stated and suggested for everyone (authors) to wait and see when the dust settles.
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Dodo Bird
 
OK, so I would. I didn’t have a choice … I was reading some articles and forums about this whole KU thing and how it was affecting authors, either badly, like me, and for some, it was good.  Amongst all the talk, some were thinking that if your book was priced at a higher price-point it might tend to attract KU Subscribers to download it more than over titles that were cheaper, like mine at just .99 Cents … The subscribers would feel like they were getting a better deal by getting more expensive books free as opposed to getting a cheaper book free. Makes sense to me!
So I started experimenting. I had to get my sales up after the KU bashing. So I raised the Price to $9.99 hoping to attract more KU Subscribers to download my now more expensive book. Nothing !!! I tried putting it to $5.99, Nothing! So I put it back to .99 Cents and figured I’d wait out the storm … 
Well it’s August 31 and the first dreadful month of Kindle Unlimited is over .. But Kindle Unlimited is till there, and new subscriber will be going for the Free Month of KU  .. Hey, I did myself. Mainly as an author who saw his Kindle Sales Annihilated as a result of Kindle unlimited, I wanted to get it to see how it all worked and what was available. Boy i’m glad I did. I signed up for my Free Month of Kindle Unlimited, went on and started looking for books. Guess what? Well I think you already know? There’s hardly anything there. I couldn’t find any books I wanted to read. Well a couple. But I don’t think I’ll even find ten. Why? You know. The selections Sucks. There’s hardly anything there. The selection is quite pitiful and I’d have to think the majority would agree, especially those who might read 6 or more books a month and thought KU might be a great deal. Not !!!!!
 So, I’d have to say, it looks highly likely, that eventually this thing called Kindle Unlimited will one day in the near future go the way of the Dodo Bird, and off into extinction .. Time will tell. What do you think?
 
 
 
Daniel
2015
Update :  I wrote this early in 2015. I wasn’t happy with Kindle Unlimited at the time. Now (May 2021) I could care less. I’ve written a couple more books and my sales have grown.
Daniel
 
 
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