A Day of Tank-fullness

First off, the electricians came today!

Serious rejoicing over here.  

So glad to finally be moving forward with the game room addition.  

No ground has been broken, but having the electricians upgrade our ancient electrical panel was step one.

I knew the power would be off today...what I did not consider was the insane amount of housing shaking demolition which would be required to
1. remove the old electrical panel and 2. make room for the new, larger electrical panel...

Tank the Chihuahua, was a shaking mess!  

He was trying everything in his power to get away from the loud banging.  

His strategy consisted of sitting in my lap while shaking in fear, then standing up, turning in hurried circles while shaking and then sitting  down again....over and over and over again.  

I swear his left eye was twitching when I snapped this photo:

I would have left the house completely, but they needed to come in a few times and check on...some stuff.

Around 11am I decided what I really needed to get through the rest of the day were a few shots of espresso and Tank desperately needed an outing.  

If only I had video of his transformation from pathetic, scarredy cat to Mr. Muy Loco when he saw I grabbed the leash and harness. 

I could see in his eyes he was screaming "We're leaving?! Thank the Lord!!  Get me out of here!"  He may have been doing cartwheels, it was hard to tell.

The 7 minute car ride felt like an eternity since I didn't bring his kennel and he couldn't hold still to save his life.  

He was dashing back and forth between the two front seats gazing out the windows, like a junkie looking for his next hit.  

He would only sit still if he was in my lap, preferably with his hands on the armrest like in the picture above, or with his paws on the STEERING WHEEL.

Stop the madness!

Finally, at our zen like destination, The OC Mart Mix, home to Portola Coffee Lab.

Sweet Relief!

Also, he didn't bark at anyone!  Who is this impostor?!

My Instagram post for the next picture was "Some dogs get a water bowl"

Don't worry I didn't let him have any of my latte.  He would have had a drink if I would have allowed him, but trust me, he did not need the caffeine!

I only let him hang his head out the window when driving through our neighborhood, going far slower than 25 miles per hour.  

Look how far he leans out!  Daredevil.

Rett got home from school.  Kisses, kisses.  

Finally, someone to distract Tank from the day of insanity.   

Wait till the all the crazy construction begins.  Oh the chaos.  Who would like to have an over night guest?  I promise he is no trouble at all...

March 19, 2013

Ritual Roasters Bag Change

That's right, they are not using the paper ones anymore.  

This is the new hybrid bag; more of a foil pouch.

Remember the old style?  

The seasonal espresso is still Lover's Quarrel.

The beans smelled fresher, more intense, when opening this bag.  

Though, that also could have been my anticipation of greatness. 

Honestly, the taste is so smooth.  After my latte is gone I crave another cup of this.  

I don't say that about every cup of Joe, truly, I don't.  

I briefly considered it was my cravings, but since each week we use a different bag of beans, I feel I have some small amount of perspective.

Other espressos sit heavier on my stomach, which sounds weird to say, but not these, these are perfection....ugh, even talking about it makes me want another swig....perhaps, I'll have to fill the void with that stash of dark chocolate I've accumulated.

March 18, 2013

Listening Session: Civil Wars Unplugged VH1

This morning I sat in the listening room waiting for my latte to be delivered by my darling husband. 

By the way, he has nearly mastered the leaf, as you can see.  

I was so busy snapping photos of said masterpiece and enjoying the fantastic flavor, I didn't realize he put a new album on the turntable.

The first song was one I know and love: I've Got this Friend.  Such a great sound and I love when I know the words to a piece.

It wasn't until song two, which I did not know by heart, that I realized the record playing was not our copy of Barton Hollow. Song two is Kingdom Come from the Hunger Games soundtrack; not what I was expecting.

Honestly, the clapping at the end of the songs should have been a dead give away this is a live version...did I mention the coffee??

At this point, I tune in to the music and take note of the fact, it is also an acoustic version. I ask my personal DJ husband "What IS this album?!" He proudly tells me Civil Wars Unplugged VH1.

Have I been under a rock? When did it come out? How do I not know about this? I have so many questions.

He shushes me.

I'm not kidding; there is no talking in the Listening Room, when "someone" is trying to listen.

Song three, even more baffling:  Portishead's Sour Time. I'm not familiar with the original, but the Civil Wars version is lovely, as is everything they do, so far as I am concerned.

Next up all the songs I expect from the Civil Wars: Poison and Wine, Barton Hollow and 20 years. Listening to them repeatedly  means I am very familiar with how these songs sound on MP3, which is good, decent.

The Barton Hollow album on vinyl is fantastic, but *this* acoustic, unplugged version, on vinyl, is SO...magical, ethereal even. I want to listen to it again tomorrow, that is how much I liked it.

It doesn't end there; the last song on the track list is a remake of Billie Jean!!! 

OMG. 

I had no idea. I was in complete shock, mouth open for at least the first verse. Just wow.

I found the YouTube video for you here. The vinyl is even better, completely superior sound!

Definitely my new favorite album.

March 13, 2013

I see progress

Do you see it?

Starting at the top left and moving counterclockwise.  I think he's getting better at it.

March 6, 2013

Saturday Morning Gifts

Our first morning with the Mazzer, we had Kaytie and Cousin Jen over for coffee.

Cousin Jen busted out her long dormant latte art skills, which seemed quite superb to me, but then, you know the latte art I have had in my life recently.

AND Kaytie brought us a gift!  She noticed we were missing an album from our collection.  So sweet!

I snuck a few shots of Dr T, shh, don't tell.  He's quite camera shy lately. Luckily, his defenses were down, not having had his morning cup of jo yet.  Heehee.

Great sounding album and eye catching cover art too! *swoon*

February 16, 2013

Introducing the Mazzer

Came home to packages on the doorstep.  *said with a singing voice*

I'm guessing the two on the left are pinball related *eyebrow raise*.  No idea what's in those. We'll let that slide for now.

The big boxes, on the right, however, I've been waiting for with much anticipation. 

It's our new coffee grinder, *squee* well, new to us.  We bought it from a friend who moved up to a more sophisticated model. 

Yes, there are people crazier than us! 

I find that strangely reassuring.

February 15, 2013

Coffee Bean Showdown

Did I mention Dr T signed us up for the Bean of the Month Club?

Oh, you didn't know such a thing existed?

Well, there's this place called Ritual Roasters, up in San Francisco, and they have a coffee club. We're signed up to get a bean delivery twice a month.  Our first bag, Lovers' Quarrel, arrived about a week ago. 

Super yummy. 

Now, I have a tough time comparing espressos without tasting them side by side.  We usually get our coffee beans from Portola or Kean, both tasty.  Since we only have the one grinder, we use up a whole batch of beans before cleaning and then filling with the new bag of beans.

Well today we had just enough beans for one last cup of Lovers' Quarrel before grinding up beans from another local coffee shop.  This time we tried a bag from Cafecito Organico, which is inside The Lab in Costa Mesa.

Wow. 

Comparing the two cups of coffee side by side was a teensy bit mind blowing!

The Cafecito Organico was good, but the Ritual, was spectacular! 

It was so much more complex in flavor, I could actually taste bananas...from now on we'll have to do the side by side taste test when we switch over to a new bag. 

SO excited for this development in our coffee journey.

Writing all this has made me want another latte...it's a vicious cycle.

February 11, 2013

Inkblot Latte Art

As far as taste goes, the lattes around here have been superb...the latte art, not so much.

I really have no room to complain since my lovely husband makes me a yummy drink every morning! (This new machine is a win-win.  Frankly, I'm dreading the day I have to go back to making my own coffee.  Oh, the tragedy of my life.)

But what is with the latte art?! 

Is there some secret message he's trying to send me?? 

What is this?? 

I guessed the Millennium Falcon. 

He let me go on guessing for the longest time and finally stated, not so convincingly, "It's a tooth."  That's all the explanation I got.  Perhaps, it was the latest version of an inkblot personality test, where I reveal more about myself with my guesses.  If so, I bet, that Star Wars answer doesn't bode well for me.

Instead, I choose to believe he's sweet on me, SO sweet it gives him a toothache, thus the deeper meaning of The Tooth.
           

February 7, 2013

Pride and...Coffee

I thought today I would be blogging about all things Pride and Prejudice, Happy 200th birthday, but instead here I am with a post related to coffee. 
It seems Dr T has made another coffee related purchase.  We now have a knocking box, a mat, coffee equipment wash, grinder cleaner and something called filtro osmotic scale reduction.  Oh Seattle Coffee Gear, I don't know if we can continue to be friends.  Hopefully, this is the last of the shipments.
Jane Austen, to make this up to you, I promise to watch my limited edition Pride and Prejudice DVDs as atonement (most likely during the Superbowl this Sunday, heehee).  Now I feel better.

January 28, 2013

More Coffee Talk

With every shot pull we get closer and closer to perfection.
Look at that crema!
Adjusting the grinder, as well as, weighing the grounds contribute to the crema consistency and therefore the final taste outcome. 
 
If the grounds are too fine and the pull exceeds time, it will have a bitter, burnt taste or if the grounds are overly coarse and it pulls too fast, the results will be watery and a little bit sour.
Oh, the pressure!

Also, we had a small delivery; a couple items the good Dr ordered online.  This time from Espresso Parts.

1 - A new frothing pitcher, which  will allow "us" to practice our latte art.  Notice the pointy spout?  Our current pitcher has a plain ole round spout.  You can't make latte hearts for your lovely wife with that.

2 - A new tamper head.  We like our current tamper but it's for a 55 mm portafilter basket (the dear departed Francis Francis).  Luckily, we have the tamper with an interchangeable head.  So it was just a matter of ordering the larger size to fit our new portafilters.

 

In my free time, I am watching videos from Seattle Coffee Gear.  Perhaps, I've seen them one to many times, since I've come to consider Pat and Gail to be dear friends...
This infographic explains it all...

 

January 25, 2013

Kitchen Scale and Beyond

Morning Coffee at our house is quite the culinary experience.  As with anything, there is room for improvement.  Moving onward and upward for us, at this point, means obtaining a kitchen scale so we can achieve dosing precision (said with a haughty English accent).  In layman's terms this means we want to weigh our coffee grounds. 
After standing in the aisle at Bed, Bath and Beyond for the greater part of 20 minutes, I decided on the Cuisinart...which wasn't in stock.  I took the display model and asked for a discount, 10% off is all they gave.  C'est la vie!

The problem with Bed, Bath and Beyond are all the other items I see when I'm there.  I didn't come to the store for these things, but they are calling to me.  My new solution is to take their picture and add them to the Consideration List.

Item #1 - more OXO Good Grips containers. I lurve the ones I have, but I'm quite certain I got them at Costco.  So $49.00 or $99.00 is not seeming like a gonga deal to me.  More research is needed.












Item #2 - Stainless steal canister with lids.  The price is the same for acrylic.  While standing there I check Target.com and they have the gigantic stainless one on sale for $16.99!  For flour, this would be ideal.  So no to these, unless I decide to move in this direction for pantry storage and want them to match. hmmm...
















Item #3 - Pugz.  I was never considering buying these, fyi.  Snapping this picture was just so I could send Liam a text during the middle of the school day asking if he thought I could train Tank the chihuahua to wear these.  His paws are always cold in the winter. I kid you not.  So yes, I passed.
Which means, by my calculations, I passed on over $200 worth of "nonsense in my basket" (I wish I made that phrase up, but I have to give credit to the brilliant Heather Hansen ;). 
In the end, I walked away with my double discounted kitchen scale, since I used a $5 off coupon on top of my floor model discount AND a set of biscuit cutters I couldn't live without.  That's it.  Yay me...less things to be accountable for later.  Shew!

January 22, 2013 

Enter the Rocket

Glad Delaney and Rett were able to help me with this massive box.  65 pounds of love.  A new espresso machine is my dream come true.  The timing couldn't be more perfect.  Remember the party to top all parties?  Well after dragging myself out of bed the next morning, which came way too early I must say, I found my old faithful to be not so faithful. (As a total side note, how do I not have a post dedicated to the Francis Francis?!  The only picture I could find was this one. ugh! *edited* found it)  I could have made due with my other lovie, but I really needed a latte after the previous night. 
Now I'm rambling, where was I? Oh, right, timing.  Enter my 40th birthday.  Such a huge achievement deserves to be commemorated, does it not?  And this...machine, is a monumental way to pay tribute to my 40 times around the sun.  We can celebrate, every single morning.  Bravo boys!

Look at all the shiny new tools! 

view full image

"My birthday present has arrived! Big love to my husband for surprising me with this epic gift. #rocket"

 

The kids had fun hanging out in the box, watching the ipad, while I got everything set up on the counter.  It's a win-win.

January 21, 2013

New Coffee Maker

Here it is on my counter top! Yippee! You can just barely see the Francis, Francis espresso maker is to the left. 

It's a whole coffee bar....just feeding Rett's belief that he is a barista. He knows how to operate both machine too.

August 14, 2009

Francis, Francis!

Making lattes on our machine. 

Since we do this everyday, I figured I take a picture. 

It's a Francis, Francis. We've had it for about 5 years. Love it!

March 18, 2009