Like No Other Market?

I was driving around the other day getting some last minute shopping done for my wife's birthday when I saw a sign for Fairway that I had never noticed before. It looks like they are opening one up right near my house. I'm very excited about this. Hopefully I'm going to be able to get some of the things I've been missing since moving out of Manhattan.

NP: King Of The Ladies, Extreme

Morimoto!

Last night I took my wife to Morimoto for dinner (personally I like the trifecta of Morimoto, Del Posto and Craft Steak taking up 3 of the possible 4 corners - and basically the entire block - of that section of 10th avenue. A lot of great eating can happen there). It's my wife's birthday, so we braved the freezing weather (maybe Greenland is colder at this time of year) and headed on out.
When we got there, we were lucky enough to meet the man himself. Although I'm not really sure what he thought of my wife telling him that she was "a big fan" of his. (A big fan of what? His battles on Iron Chef? - btw I can't imagine why they still feel the need to overdub his voice on the Food Network - the man speaks perfect English.) Anyway, it was nice to meet Morimoto and he thanked us for coming, so that was a very cool way to start the evening.
We got there a little early, so we went down to the bar to have some drinks before sitting down. I had a glass of Square One Sake (I had never had Sake before and figured this would be a great time to try it) and my wife had a mixed drink (can't remember what it was - but it was citrus-y and served in a martini glass). While we were sitting at the bar, we were able to look over the menu and plan out our attack. In the end, we decided to split everything and try as much as we could.
We started out sharing a couple of appetizers. First up was the kakuni - a ten hour pork with congee and soy-scallion jus. This was easily the best thing we ate all night. So, I guess it was technically all downhill from here - luckily it wasn't that far down. After the kakuni we had spicy king crab - with tobanjan anoli and micro cilantro. This was at the recommendation of a friend of mine. We liked it, but it was the least memorable part of the meal. Next time I'd be more likely to try the Japanese lobster fritters or beef curry bread.
For the next course we split the roasted ocean trout, which was served with miso, truffles, a turnip puree and a nice fat crispy prosciutto chip on top. This was awesome. After all this cooked food, it was time ot move on to some sushi. Hell, we were at Morimoto after all. We both had some spicy tuna roll (which I had just seen Morimoto show Bobby Flay how to make on an episode of Throwdown) and a shrimp tempura roll. They were both excellent, but I enjoyed the spicy tuna best (it's my favorite roll). I also had a couple of pieces of sushi - nothing too out there - just some tuna and salmon, but both were terrific. It was probably the best sushi I've had yet. What was especially nice was that on the salmon, there was a tiny slice of lime, which made it taste really damn good (you took the lime off before eating it).
Oh yeah - with all of this, I was drinking Grüner Veltiner, Forstreiter, "Grande reserve", Kremstal, Austria 2006. I loved this wine and would definitely buy it if I could find it. It was desribed to be as along the same lines as a Viogner. I was looking for something white, and it was either the Grüner, a Riesling, a Pinot Gris, a Chardonnay or a Savignon Blanc. I figured I would try something new. It was nice and crisp, but also very fruity without a lot of acidity or minerality. I liked it. Mmmm.
Finally we got some dessert. It was a birthday dinner afterall. We had the white chocolate semfreddo, which came topped with green tea sponge cake cubes and also came with some burnt orange ice cream, candied kumkwat rind and a nice stripe of chocolate down the center of the plate.
My only regrets were: 1.) Not realizing I could have gotten a glass of the Morimoto Aged Sake (and didn't need to buy an entire bottle) when I got my drink. The descriptions of them just sounded really nice. 2.) Not going for the special blowfish sashimi appetizer. I was actually going to go for it, but when I found out it was $50.00 for 3 pieces of sashimi, I felt my money would be best spent elsewhere. We are in a recession after all, aren't we?

NP: Spoonman, Soundgarden

Another One Bites It

Although it's been spoken about for months, today it was officially announced that Circuit City would be shutting its doors forever. Bankrupt with no bailout on the horizon, so they're going out of business. 30,000 jobs lost and no one to back the 2 year extended warranty I got on my newest digital camera. Ah well. It's all very sad. Soon, all we're going to have will be Wal-Mart, Starbucks and McDonalds.

A Brand New Year

The past year has brought about many changes in my household. A new child. A new house. A new State. Everything seems to take more time and little things (like writing on this blog) have taken a back seat. I'm sure I'm going to lapse again into a non-writing state, but for a bit, I'm going to try and catch up. I've got a whole bunch of wines to write about. If I actually remembered most of the ones I've drank over the past year, I'd never catch up. Hopefully I can pick up the highlights.
Since we've just started a new year, I figure I'd go for a champagne first. Specifically a bottle of Jacques Selosse Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne. We picked up this bottle on our trip to Paris a couple of years back on the recommendation of a friend. We decided to save it for a special occasion, but months of breast-feeding, pregnancy, and breast-feeding (again) made it difficult to enjoy. This year, we bit the bullet and popped the cork on the sucker for New Year's Eve. My friend warned us that it would be unlike any champagne we've had before, but it would be great. He was completely on the money.
As I poured it, I knew it was different. The color was a deep amber, unlike the yellow shades of most other champagnes I have had. My wife felt like it tasted like peaches, but I'm not so sure of that. It had a mild creaminess to it, but still a little bite. Overall, I think it may have made it's way up to my favorite champagne list. That would make total sense, since it's virtually impossible to find in the United States. We finished off the bottle that night, and we enjoyed every minute of it. As do most champagnes, it went very well with our Chinese meal that night.
I may need to take a trip back to Paris to pick up a few bottles.

NP: Demolition Man

At Least There Was This

Today, Mike Mussina notched his first 20 win season in his 18 year career by beating the Red Sox 6-3. It doesn't really make up for the fact that the Yankees are not going to the playoffs this year and the Sox are, but I get to be happy today. I really wanted Mussina to get to 20 wins this year because no one expected him to pitch like this coming into the season. It's too bad the Yankees finally got around to playing their best baseball of the season when it was too late.

NP: New York, New York, Frank Sinatra

That's All She Wrote

Last night, I watched the last game to ever be played in Yankee Stadium. Too bad the Yanks couldn't make it to the post-season this year. We could have extended the building's run for a few more weeks. That wasn't the case, and last night was it. I really wish I could have gone to the game, but with tickets going for around $500.00 each, it wasn't really in my budget anymore (2 kids will do that to you). Instead, I watched it on television.
I know some people out there will think of all the goings-on as Yankee fans and New Yorkers feeling too self-important and too Yankee/New York-centric. That's not the case at all. Popes have given mass there. Concerts have been played. Some of the greatest boxing matches and football games have taken place in Yankee Stadium. It's not only about the Yankees - they just provided most of the memories.
I've been there too many times to count over my lifetime, but I never got to go this year. In fact, it's the only year I haven't been to at least one game out of the past nine. Regardless, I'll miss the place. I've been to many different stadiums and arenas, and nothing beats coming out of the dark underground tunnel to the seating area - it's usually so bright - with the green and brown of the field and the blue of the seats with the white of the facade in center field. I loved it every time.
I've watched the new stadium grow ever bigger from across the river during my commutes to and from work, and it looks beautiful. I'm sure it will be a great place to watch a game. However, all of my memories with Donnie, Bernie, Jeter, Righetti, Willie, O'Neill, Tino, and the rest will be across the street.

Taking A Stake in Omaha

Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I were walking around our town with our two kids trying to enjoy the nice weather when we realized that we had nothing for dinner. We thought about going out to eat since we were already out of the house, but sitting our 2 week old daughter in a crowded restaurant filled with people infected with who-knows-what didn't really sit at the top of our list. So... we needed to find an alternative. Chinese? Not really in the mood. Italian? We just had that the night before. Thai or Indian? There are no good Thai or Indian places in our town. However, there is an Omaha Steaks Store. I've never been in there before and we've never had their food. In fact, I always found it a little odd. But our car was parked right in front of the store, so we went in. Luckily, they were having an in-store sale yesterday, so we grabbed a box of bacon-wrapped filet mignon and some stuffed baked potatoes. I have to say that the steaks were awesome. Sure, a part of that was due to my grilling ability - but most of it came from the steak. I was lucky enough to get the box of 4 steaks for only $15.99 but they usually cost way more than that. Now I'm going to be wanting to get steaks from there all the time. Especially with the places around here - I've purchased spoiled meat at almost all of the major supermarkets around here - Stop and Shop, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and A&P. Only Kings and Shopright haven't disappointed yet.

NP: Comfortably Dumb, Extreme

Eating Inn Ho-Ho-Kus

Right before our baby we born (1 day before) we decided to go out for dinner and a movie. While we usually like to go into NYC for our dinner, this time we decided that we wouldn't travel so far. My wife was supposed to deliver our daughter in a little more than a day and we felt it was probably better to stay closer to home. Also I don't think my wife was really up for walking around the city streets. So... we decided to check out the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn for dinner. This place is in my sister's town and we had read a few good things about it.
The place is very quaint, but also very old inside. There was an area of outside seating set up, but it was still very warm out so we opted to sit inside. Unfortunately, that meant we were the only people sitting down for dinner who didn't have hair a shade of gray, silver, blue or white (this may have been due to our choice of an early dinner so we could make a showing of The Dark Knight later in the evening). Anyway - the staff were very attentive and nice. although it still amazes me the number of waiters/waitresses we've encountered who do not know what the word "pasteurized" means.
We both had some appetizers to start out the meal. I had a special - it was an avocado and corn chowder with king crab meat. It was actually very good, but our waiter failed to tell me that it was to be served cold and I wasn't expecting it. After mulling it over for a minute, I felt that I should have realized it was cold - but I still think the waiter should have told us. My wife decided to have the warm goat cheese over mixed greens, candied walnuts, granny smith apples with lemon herb vinaigrette. This was excellent.
For dinner, I had the crispy Long Island duck breast and leg with wild berry sauce, while my wife had the Canadian farm raised salmon with horseradish crust in a grainy dijon mustard glaze. I paired my entire meal with a couple of glasses of Barton & Guestier Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Pays d'Oc, France. I really enjoyed this wine and our meals were very good. It was a little expensive considering the fact that I was sitting in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, but that's the general feeling I get whenever we go out to eat in Jersey. Too expensive for what you get.
Would I go back? It was definitely good enough for a second try. Is it likely to happen? With 2 kids and limited going out time - probably not.

Kugelhopf!

Every once in a while, I get in the mood to try and make something good to eat. The other day it was breakfast time and I wanted to make something good for my wife and myself (we are both off of work this week). I was perusing through the Joy of Cooking when I came across something called a Kugelhopf. The Joy describes it as similar to a brioche with less of a buttery-goodness. Even with that basic description, I really wanted to try it. It wasn't something I could make for breakfast - it takes way too long - so we made pancakes. However I began crafting my latest achievement in baking later that evening.
The kugelhopf is either from the Alsace region of France or somewhere in Germany or Austria. I've read sources that point to all different regions. Some feel it is more of a holiday bread, but it is great for breakfast. This is one of those bread recipes that needs to be started the day before you want to bake it because it's technically a 3-rise bread. The first is about 1 hour, then there's a 4-12 hour proofing time in the fridge, then another hour of rising before you finally bake it. This thing takes commitment.
Anyway, besides for substiuting dried cranberries for the currants called for in the recipe, I stayed pretty close to the cookbook's instructions. You know what? This is a great breakfast bread. Especially warm out of the oven with some butter on it.

Complaining Is So Easy To Do

Even though this is supposed to be a very happy time in my life (it is) - we have been welcoming our new daughter into this world this week - my drive into work tonight has made me finally want to complain about the drivers in New Jersey. We moved a little less than a year ago, and I've been trying to see if I was just being a stuck-up New Yorker having problems with transitioning to the suburbs. However, I really don't think that's it. Why, does it seem, that no one understands the concept of "the passing lane" in New Jersey? People mosey along in the left lane driving at 40 mph in a 55 mph zone. Then, they get mad if you want them to move over so you can keep going. Driving slow is what the right lane is for. These people need to move over. Another thing that really bugs me is that no one seems to know how to merge. I've seen people come to a complete stop in the center lane so that they could merge into either the right or left lanes. Screw the flow of traffic - they just stop. And it's not a gradual slowing down - it's 40 mph to zero in no time flat. On my route home, you could not imagine the number of rear end collisions due to this phenomenon. I could keep going on but I have to get to work.
All I know is that I've lived in New York City and Boston (owning a car in both) and have driven in Italy, Spain, Puerto Rico and Mexico and New Jersey has had some of the worst driving I have ever seen. I always thought it was a stereotype created by New Yorkers, but now I'm really not too sure about that.

Exploration Leads to Nice Discoveries

Yesterday afternoon, I woke up from my post-working-overnight slumber and ran to do some shopping before I had to retrieve my son from his grandmother's house. I decided to go and check out this place called Market Basket here in New Jersey. I've been missing my gourmet supermarkets that I had become very used to shopping at while living in Manhattan and I still haven't found anywhere around here that I like as much. I've heard good things about this place, so I plugged it into my GPS and away I went. Although it's not that far away, you have to take the streets there from my house, and it's a winding way - which ended up taking too long. The store itself is nice, and there were some great deals on fresh fish and steaks. However, I didn't like the vibe of this place. It's in a very rich neighborhood, where the local "houses" are about 6 times the size of my little hovel. It's the first grocery store I've ever been to where I felt like I was out of place. They did carry Cacio di Roma, which is a very important component of Cacio e Pepe - a pasta dish which is basically pasta noodles covered in this cheese and fresh black pepper - it's really good. And since I found it in this store, it's what we had for dinner last night.
I also went into the new Stew Leonard's Wine Store which just opened about 1 week ago near my house. I haven't been too happy with the wine shops around here, but in the past month this store opened and a new Best Cellars. So prospects are looking up.
I was happy to see that they had the wine I was looking for - Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi 2006. I've had this wine before, although the last bottle I had was a 2002, and I really enjoy it. So, I was thinking of something to drink with my Cacio e Pepe, and I wanted a nice Italian white. I don't know if this is the best wine to go with this meal, but I wanted it, so I found it and bought it. This bottle seemed creamier with more of a melon taste than I remember the last bottle having. Overall, I was very happy with it.
I was also happy with the wine store. I was a little skeptical going in - it is a chain store, but it wasn't bad. It's not the best store I've been in, but their sales were good and although it had its share of Little Penguin wines, they had a nice selection of more upscale wines as well.
I'd go back. Pretty soon I'll check out the new Best Cellars...

NP: Benigno and Roberts, WFAN

Otter Pops!

The other day I took my son to Rite Aid to pick up his vitamins, and what did I see when I entered the store? Otter Pops! I had to buy them. So now I've got Alexander the Grape, Sir Isaac Lime and the crew freezing away in the ice box. Perfect timing too. It's going to be in the upper 90's this week, so some nice cold ice treats will be just what the doctor ordered.

I Needed A Drink

If you read my previous post, you'll understand the title of this one. Tonight, I needed some wine.
Recently, we had a barbecue and I went out to the wine shop to grab some bottles for that day. While I was there, I grabbed a couple of new wines (to me) for myself. Tonight I opened up the Step Road Blackwing Shiraz 2005, Australia (screw cap). To be honest, I picked up this bottle because I liked the label. Not the best way to pick out a wine, but I thought it looked nice and wanted to try it. I wasn't disappointed. Tonight, I drank this with some spicy grilled lamb and roasted potatoes. I felt it went really well. To me, this wine started off with some red cherries, then hit me with a hint of tar and finished off with cranberries. Overall, I enjoyed this wine and went through 3 glasses with dinner. Perhaps it went better with my meal, but I think I enjoyed it a lot more than those who wrote the reviews of it I read on the web (which I read tonight while searching for the pic of the label). To me, this was a nice smooth wine, which went great with my meal and gave me what I really needed - a drink.
Another bottle of wine I bought during that same trip was Washington Hills Riesling 2005, Washington. I opened this about 1 week ago while we were eating some Indian take-out. I had really wanted a Gewürztraminer, but there were none in my house, so I opened this. It actually went very well with the meal because the food was really spicy and this was very sweet. The only thought I had while drinking this was "apple juice." I enjoyed drinking this with Indian, but it really did taste like apple juice to me. With a nice alcoholic twist.
On the day of the barbecue, I had bought a few different bottles on wine to drink. A couple different whites and some red. The first bottle of white we opened up was the La Delizia Pinot Grigio 2006, Italy. I don't really remember exact things about this wine, but I do remember really liking it. As did my mom and my wife's grandmother. It went pretty fast, so I'm assuming it was pretty good. Also, we didn't enjoy the next bottle of wine nearly as much (I don't remember what that was - I didn't buy that one).
The other type of white wine I bought for the barbecue was Kris Pinot Grigio 2006, Friuli-Venezia Italy (screw cap). I love this wine. It's never disappointed me and I've never bought a bad bottle. Of course it's not the best bottle of wine, but it's light, crisp and tastes as good as a Pinot Grigio is going to taste (I'm not a big fan of the Santa Margherita, which has somehow become some sort of standard for Pinot Grigio). Also, this wine is cheap. Always an added plus!
I also bought a couple of bottles of Rancho Zabaco Heritage Vines Zinfandel 2006, Sonoma, but this was heat-damaged and tasted like crap.

NP: Exit, Population 1

"What Happened This Time?"

Initially, I had a different title for this blog entry, and I had started writing it with a totally different beginning. However, when I went outside to grill some dinner on the barbecue (some nice lamb) my neighbor approached me with that horrible question: "What happened this time?"
For those not in the know, we recently renovated our basement. It was already a "finished basement," but we hated the way it was, so we just paid a construction company a lot of money to renovate it. New foor, ceiling, sheet-rock and a new storage closet. I had even started moving some things down there - the computer (not this one) and my flat-screen television. This was going to be a playroom for the kids/media room/office space. It was all planned out, with the current office to be converted to the new baby room/nursery (she's due in a couple of months).
Anyway... it was all finished about 9 days ago and then we went away to Martha's Vineyard for a family get-together (I was hoping my next blog entry was going to be about that trip, but it's going to have to wait). We got home last night and my wife threw some laundry in the machine to get ahead on the chores we had set for ourselves for the rest of the weekend. A couple of hours later, I decided to head to the basement to start setting up the desktop computer in the new office-space. That's when I saw it. Water. Everywhere. Somehow during my freakout, I threw on some rubber boots and headed into the mess. The water was at least 4 inches deep. My first instinct was to check the boiler, but it was fine. No... it was the washer. Somehow it was still running 2 hours after the load had started and there was water pouring out the back.
I was able to stop the flow and headed off to Home Depot to rent a pump. 3 hours later, my father, mother and I were able to get it down to a distinct dampness in the basement.
Today, the professional cleaners showed up at the request of our home-owners insurance company. They had to rip up the floor, take off all the molding and spray some anti-mold stuff in the basement as well as pump out the rest of the water. Now we've got what feels like 30 industrial strength fans running until at least Monday to dry out the basement.
Seeing the trucks outside our house is what prompted my neighbor's query. Unfortunately, we've already replaced our roof and dealt with a rodent problem (if you count one mouse as a problem), so our home is looking more and more like a money pit as the months pass.
We're currently accepting all donations to help with the current problem.

NP: Virtual Insanity, Jamiriquai

Iron Chef Birthday

Last week was my birthday (they just keep coming), and my wife took me out to dinner for a little celebration. After a long discussion of where we should go, I decided on Bar Americain, which is one of Bobby Flay's restaurants. We had gone to Mesa Grill once a few years ago and were pretty disappointed, but I wanted to give Bobby another try. Overall, we had a very nice time. Unfortunately, our waiter was a spazz, and there were no tomatoes due to the NYC tomato-salmonella scare - but we overcame.
In general, the place was a lot louder than I had expected. It's very open inside with high ceilings and a large bar. All of these contributed to the noise-factor. Also, there's a very distinct touristy feel to the place. More so than I felt at Babbo (another Iron Chef's restaurant). Anyway, on to the meal.
To begin, I went with the Gulf Shrimp and Grits with Green Onions (and a lot of bacon), while my wife got the Shrimp Tomatillo Cocktail. She had wanted to get the Fried Green Tomato with Crispy Duck and Sweet and Sour Dressing, but no tomatoes... With my appetizer I had a glass of a nice Spanish red blend to drink (but I can't remember the name). For our main courses, I had the Porterhouse Lamb Chops with Mustard Barbeque and the Corn & Collard Green Tart while my wife had the Cioppino with Sour Dough Toast. I decided to pair my dinner with a glass of Pinot Noir Cloudline 2006, Oregon. It was good, but the Spanish wine I had first was better. Finally, we decided to split the Chocolate Praline Layer Cake with Caramel Rice Krispi Crunch. Fantastic dessert. This was paired with a fine cappuccino.
We both found our dinner at Bar Americain to be much better than what we had experienced at Mesa Grill. Where we decided we wouldn't go back to Mesa Grill again, I'd be happy to go back to Bar Americain. It wasn't my favorite restaurant, but it was a fine meal never the less.

Holy Dinner Batman!

Yesterday was our anniversary (4 years already), so my wife and I got a babysitter and headed into the city for dinner. It was initially going to be a movie followed by dinner, but work got in the way and we missed the movies (if we went to a later film, we would miss our dinner reservations). So... it became walking around the city a bit, then dinner.
Unlike our past 3 anniversaries, we didn't go to Babbo this year. Unfortunately, we forgot to make our reservation at the appropriate time (10:00am; 30 days prior to your reservation date - for those thinking of going) so we were stuck. We decided to try the Gotham Bar and Grill. This is a place we've been wanting to try for a while since everyone tells us how good it is.
The place is actually very nice inside, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. In fact, our waiter seemed like the nicest guy in the world (so nice, in fact, that it made me a little suspicious of what he did when he wasn't at work). Initially, he seemed a little disappointed when we only asked for water to drink after being seated, but he perked up after I asked for the wine list a little later on. Anyway, our meal mapped out like this: We shared the Rigatoni with Braised Duck Ragu and Broccoli Rabe for our appetizer. My main course was the Grilled New York Steak with marrow mustard custard and vidalia onion rings and a bordelaise sauce while my wife tried the Porcini Crusted Halibut with roasted cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, and hazelnut oil white verjus emulsion. Unfortunately, this was so salty she couldn't eat it and needed to send it back (not something we like to do, but what can you do?). They were really nice about taking it back and let her choose something different. This time she went with the Roasted Maine Lobster with spaghetti squash, potato puree, brussels sprouts and red wine lobster reduction (there was also some type of white foam on the dish). This was much better, although the claw meat was undercooked... For my wine, I got a half-bottle of the Chateau Larose-Trintaudon Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, 2005. I've had this before and thought it would go well with my steak without breaking my wallet. I was right. It was very good and easy to drink.
Finally, we moved on to dessert. We split the Gotham Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, which is basically two bars of a chocolate fudge-like substance with a peanut crust, topped with roasted candied peanuts and peanut butter ice cream. It was pretty damn good. The cappuccino was excellent as well.
As far as anniversary dinners go, it didn't beat the first time we went to Babbo, but we ate a damn good meal and had a really great time.

Making The Switch (sort of)

Today I ordered myself a new computer. It is a laptop. And it is an Apple. I haven't owned an Apple computer since college so I did hesitate a little bit, but in the end it was the best decision. Basically, I can get this computer for free through work - we get money each academic year for different educational pursuits and I didn't spend much of mine this year. Our academic year ends June 30th, and if you don't spend the money it goes away (it's not additive with each year). I recently found out that you can use it to purchase a computer if you'd like, so I decided to look into it. You have to go through our Apple or Dell reps and get the "approved" computers. I initially went to Dell, but they only had 2 laptops available without much room for upgrading. Neither were ones I would have purchased on my own. Therefore, I figured I might as well take a look at the Apple Notebooks. Lucky for me, Apple doesn't have the variety that many PC manufacturers do. Basically, the laptops that I could choose from are the same ones that everyone can choose from (minus our educational discount). So... I chose a MacBook Black. It will be an odd transition back to the Mac, but I'll still have my Dell Desktop at home, so it won't be too bad. Who knows? Maybe when that one goes it will be time for an iMac.

NP: Scars, Rush

BEER!

A friend of mine just brought me a nice 4 pack of Caffrey's Irish Ale. She was going home to visit her family in London and I finally remembered to ask her to bring me back some. I've missed it since they stopped importing it to the USA. Tomorrow, it's beer time!

Coffee Smells Good!

Out of all the culinary wonders out there, a good cup of coffee is near the top of my list. I've always enjoyed my coffee, but back in the day, Dunkin' Donuts was the epitome of a good cup. Then I went to Italy. Everything changed after that. I have had my Breville espresso machine for about 2 years now and I could not imagine living without it. I actually thought it broke once, and I was crushed. Luckily, it had just over-heated during it's de-calcification cycle, and was good as new after cooling off a bit.
I'm writing this now as I brew a nice latte to go with my lunch dessert. Today, I'm having some Miscela D'Oro Ciald'Oro espresso. This is a nice espresso. It does have a little more bitterness than I usually go for, but it is good. My favorite lately has been Lucaffe Caffe del'Ospite. This has a nice chocolately taste and makes a nice crema. Generally, I really like all of the coffees from Lucaffe. Apart from their somewhat racist packaging (see image below), I like this company.
Another great coffee is Segafredo, which may be my overall favorite.

Lost!

We just got back from Miami (where we had to cut our trip short - more on that might be explained later) and the airline lost my luggage. This is the second time in a row - the only things that stopped me from going ape$hit were: 1. It was two separate airlines (the first time it was Continental, and this time it was JetBlue), and 2. It was midnight and I was really tired. So, now I have no clothes or toiletries. For some reason, my bag was sent to Buffalo, NY, while the rest of our luggage (3 bags) came through fine to Newark.
Let's see if they come through on their promise to get me my stuff back today.
More pleasant ramblings about our trip will be up here in a little while.

NP: The sound of my son playing with his breakfast.