You know, I realize...
...that I never really wrote up anything about our vacation, and, at this point, I probably won't unless and until I get back to Washington, clear out the six months' backlog of India notes, and then discover I have nothing more to say about life in general.
But, in a comfortable post-Sunday-brunch haze, I do feel compelled to share the absolutely most important lesson of our three-week grand tour, which is this: buy one of these. If you pay premium shipping, you might even be able to get it to someone by Xmas. Elixir of the freakin' gods.
We had one of these in our lovely flat in Tuscany, and sorely missed it when we headed north. I'm happy to say that was the biggest anguish of the trip. Italy: mind-bendingly good coffee, no bagels. Germany: decent bagels, stuff I wouldn't soak pans in to wash them down with. I don't know if they're just trying to secretly use up stockpiles of expired Mischkaffee, or what.
Anyway, be warned that the finish on the moka is shoddy -- I opted for the pink enamel "donation for breast cancer organizations" one, less for the do-gooderism (though I approved), and more because I didn't want a pitted and scratched surface (and it isn't. It is, however, pink. Can't have everything). But they're easy to use, easy to clean, and produce a superior brew to some $1500 machines I've sampled. Go large: the "six-cup" version refers to those cute little Continental thimble cups and will do for about two American mugs (though, boy, am I wired). Throw in a frother and some ground Starbucks, and you'll have a can't-tell-the-difference latte. Get some illy instead (also available from Amazon), and you'll have a really good cuppa.
Merry consumeristmas.
But, in a comfortable post-Sunday-brunch haze, I do feel compelled to share the absolutely most important lesson of our three-week grand tour, which is this: buy one of these. If you pay premium shipping, you might even be able to get it to someone by Xmas. Elixir of the freakin' gods.
We had one of these in our lovely flat in Tuscany, and sorely missed it when we headed north. I'm happy to say that was the biggest anguish of the trip. Italy: mind-bendingly good coffee, no bagels. Germany: decent bagels, stuff I wouldn't soak pans in to wash them down with. I don't know if they're just trying to secretly use up stockpiles of expired Mischkaffee, or what.
Anyway, be warned that the finish on the moka is shoddy -- I opted for the pink enamel "donation for breast cancer organizations" one, less for the do-gooderism (though I approved), and more because I didn't want a pitted and scratched surface (and it isn't. It is, however, pink. Can't have everything). But they're easy to use, easy to clean, and produce a superior brew to some $1500 machines I've sampled. Go large: the "six-cup" version refers to those cute little Continental thimble cups and will do for about two American mugs (though, boy, am I wired). Throw in a frother and some ground Starbucks, and you'll have a can't-tell-the-difference latte. Get some illy instead (also available from Amazon), and you'll have a really good cuppa.
Merry consumeristmas.
1 Comments:
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Anonymous said...
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- 12:11 PM
Post a CommentThe object of my philia swears by the caffetiere (the general term for the item you are flogging here), even going so far as to pack two of them in hand luggage when we went stateside for the last 4+ months. It has a "lived-in" look, but obviously in the most gemuetlich sense of the phrase (and, even more obviously, in the heretofore-unused, culinary sense of the phrase).
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