Squash Season

Sheila reminded me that it will be squash season shortly and that we should be getting some. My problem is that I am reasonably indifferent to the squash as something to eat.

Soups are one thing I do like to make with squash and I was thinking of trying to recreate my bacon squash soup. I made it about five years ago in Lillooet.

1. Bake any winter squash - I prefer the flavour of baked because of the caramelizing of the sugars.
2. Fry up bacon - a fair amount, for a large squash I used about a pound of bacon
3. Take out the fried bacon
4. Fry some onion and garlic in the bacon fat.
5. Put everything into a food processor with some stock and puree
6. Add salt and pepper as needed.

It is a great simple but hearty soup.

Coffee

I am wondering what to do about coffee? I am finding that the typical price for a good coffee is about $15 to $17 per pound. Meanwhile the lower end arabica coffee can be bought for about $5 per pound.

I bought some Melita coffee this week for a much lower price than the beans we have been getting at Starbucks. But the coffee has a bitter aftertaste. It really is not a workable option.

I have trouble spending so much for coffee. I can not understand why the price difference is so high. I can understand the difference between arabica and robusta beans, but within the world of the arabicas I can not see the reason for the huge difference.

I would be willing to pay a premium for good coffee, but a 200% premium seems out of line.

What are the good coffees out there that do not cost a fortune?