Archive for December, 2009
Recipe Ingredients:
1 romaine lettuce heart
4 to 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crisp, cool and chopped
½ pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
½ cup chopped walnuts
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper from a pepper mill, to taste
Salad dressing of choice
Chop the lettuce heart into 1- to 2-inch pieces with a professional cutlery set. Combine it with the bacon, nuts, and other vegetables in a large bowl. Toss mixture well. Keep the salad refrigerated until serving time. Toss it again with enough dressing to lightly coat the vegetables, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves: 6
Have you ever lamented spending four or five dollars for a coffee drink at your local Starbucks? If you have, you’re not alone. Buying a coffee drink every morning is an expensive addiction that can cost upwards of $1000 dollars every year. For those of us who can’t stand straight black coffee, there is a more affordable option in the form of an espresso maker. This will allow you to create lattes, mochas, and most any kind of coffee drink at home, and save you money and time on your commute every morning.
Espresso makers come from several different brands including Saeco, Solis, and Delonghi. Saeco espresso machines, however, are the gold standard for the industry and tend to be what other brands strive to parallel.
Sick of plan old coffee, but don’t want to pay $6 for a double mocha at a fancy coffee shop? Maybe it’s time to invest in your own espresso maker. Espresso makers can make a variety of drinks and save money, even if you get a premium model like a Saeco espresso machine. If you are considering this, you should get familiar with the endless horizon of espresso drinks that awaits you. Espresso can be prepared in so many ways there’s virtually no chance you won’t find a version you like. But if you’re a newbie to the land of steamed milk and black honey you’ll need to know the bare basics.
Latte: A shot of espresso is combined with steamed milk and is topped by a small layer of foam. The addition of milk gives the espresso a smooth, mild flavor. Flavors may be added for sweetness.
Mocha: A mocha starts the same as an ordinary latte, but it adds a portion of chocolate for a more decadent flavor.
Prolong the exquisite taste of a cup of coffee in the mornings. Brew your hot beverage instead of simply mixing powdered coffee with water. You don’t need to buy the most sophisticated or expensive machine in the planet just to enjoy a great cup-but that is also an option for the coffee aficionado. A simple brewer will get the job done; there are many simple and affordable coffee makers in the market that can also do a good job.
Types of coffee makers:
~ The French Press
~ Coffee percolators
~ Coffee drip brewers
~ Single cup coffee brewers
You’re seated in your favorite eatery, enjoying a quiet dinner-when suddenly you are rudely interrupted by an obnoxious customer beside you who, after delicately tasting their glass of 1999 Pinot Noir, rudely tells his server to take it back.
If you didn’t believe that anyone could take their wine that seriously, you probably won’t believe that some people also take their espresso just that seriously.
Really-espresso is just like wine, except hot.
There are professionals in the coffee industry who routinely perform the task of tasting coffee and espresso. The process is formally known as “cupping.” Coffee and espresso “cuppers” usually taste for defects, rather than good flavor.
Some rules of espresso tasting include; espresso must be consumed within one minute of serving, the espresso is observed for cream, smelled for aroma, and tasted for brightness and flavor. Professional tasters must not work with a cold, and one should not review more than four espressos in four hours.
For those who like their wine from a box and espresso from cheap espresso machines in the convenience store, the rules of espresso tasting may not matter. But for others, send back those espresso blends that taste like coffee grinds; just tell your waiter you are an espresso connoisseur.
Unfortunately lots of people will avoid drinking coffee because of the amount of caffeine that it contains. But this is not the only ingredient in it and there are plenty of others that are actually beneficial to our bodies. It has been found that the anti-oxidants contained within coffee help to boost our immune system to lend a hand in staying healthy. It has also been proven that anti-oxidants can help to decrease the likelihood of someone developing heart disease.
Plus these anti-oxidants will also help to reduce the risk of someone developing cirrhosis of the liver that can in some cases lead to liver cancer. But it should not be used as a replacement in place of you having regular checkups or screenings with your family doctor.
In research carried out by various places across the world the following was found that there were some benefits to be had from drinking coffee.
1. Diabetes: Research carried out at Harvard which analyzed data on 126,000 people over an 18 year period found that by drinking between 5 and 6 cups of coffee a day men reduced the risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes by 54% and women reduced their risk by 30%.
2. Parkinson’s: In a recent study, it was found that men who drank 4 to 5 cups of coffee each day cut their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by nearly half compared to those who consumed little or no coffee each day.
3. Heart Disease: This is one of the biggest killers of people around the world. In a study carried out by Scottish Heart Health on 11,000 men and women (aged between 40 and 59), it was found that the more coffee they drank the less risk there was of them dying from heart disease.
So as you can see from above there are many reasons as to why owning an espresso coffee maker is good for you. Why not start enjoying a cup or two each day from now on. I am sure your body will soon be thanking you for it!
Most of us know coffee as being a bitter beverage with an “acquired taste”. However, living in Seattle, I have come to learn that there are subtle flavor differences depending on the type of bean and roast that you choose. I just found out that coffee drinking and wine drinking are very similar in their scope and expertise level. Just like wine experts who can tell exactly where a vintage comes from based on the taste and smell, so too can coffee aficionados.
Seattle is just full of experts who un-sarcastically call themselves “coffee snobs”. They will only drink from certain coffee shops and none of them will be caught dead inside of a Starbucks. I’m comfortable with the coffee I make at home because it saves lots of money, and I have full authority to choose the beans that I prefer. I recently got a cappuccino maker and I absolutely love it. I’m becoming a major coffee drinker, and eventually I might be one of the “snobs” that knows way too much about coffee.