Back from holidays
May 15th 2007 -
Ah, that was nice. I spent a week at Emerald beach (near Coff’s Harbour) in the excellent company of Dave, Fiona, Jimbo, Simon, Evan, and Sara-Jane. Brilliant. Totally relaxing, beautiful weather, really fun company. I made a short film with Sara-Jane, composed a song with Evan, played computer games and beach cricket, and played a whole lot of classical guitar. Just a marvellous week off, and one that passed just as quickly as I was afraid it would.
The food was a particular standout, I think. Dave and Fiona in particular like to do interesting dinners, so there was home-cooking almost every night with various people’s involvement – I did the cooking for the BBQ, but failed to come up with anything for a proper dinner. Something for next year, I think. We had pancakes for most breakfasts, and I went slightly crazy with chocolate and put on approximately 3 kilos, mostly lost now thanks to the usual no-sweets thing.
However! One thing that particularly stuck with me was coffee. The Canberrites brought their own espresso machine, and made cappuccinos every morning. I got more and more into coffee and less and less into V, and by the end of the holiday my coffee addiction was more or less complete. I bought an espresso machine, a Sunbeam EM4800, which is a slightly newer version of the Canberrites machine. So far it has made several really excellent coffees. I’m no expert, but they’re at least as decent as the ones I was getting from Delifrance! Of course, the coffee I’m buying is also rather decent, which is probably more of a factor.
Claire Says:
May 16th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Thank goodness. There’s nothing worse than being a coffee addict and others not being one, and you feeling all dirty for being an addict to something that’s not especially good for you in large quantities. Speaking of which, watch those espressos – three double shots a day can sort of send you over the edge (i’ve been there). Still, proud of you for skipping the nasty instant coffee phase and shooting up to coffee perfection. Not even that dull old plunger stuff! (I have plunger at work every day, and every time I go past a coffee shop my inner voices go mad for more hard core coffee). So that’s me.
Jen Says:
May 16th, 2007 at 7:16 am
marco would be proud, a machine of your very own. Coffee never tasted so gooooodddd.. just smell those roasted little brown beans (oops- sounds almost dirty doesn’t it?). from one junkie to the next…
Marco Parigi Says:
May 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I’ve made cappuccinos in a weeekly friday ritual at work, for a couple of years now. This using the basics of a “dripolator” coffee machine, a microwave to warm up the milk, and a wizz stick to generate froth. I suggest for you not to go down the path of “instant” coffee if you can help it. Life’s too short for bad coffee.