I'm trying to like coffee ...

But it's not going very well.

I'm a tea drinker, but apparently there are different health benefits to drinking coffee. So I decided to try a few different kinds.

The overall results average out to ... meh.

I've tried cheap coffees and not-so-cheap coffees. Medium roasts, dark roasts, espresso blends.
There was one French roast that was okay. The medium roasts all tasted awful, two others felt like I'd poured acid into my stomach, and yet another made me jumpy and tachycardic (which was not as much fun as it sounds).

My favorite so far? ... Hawaiian Kona coffee. Which isn't exactly available at Starbucks.

I'll probably try a few more here and there, but really ... I think I'm going to stick to tea.

Well, this was news to me!

I'd heard of "New England brown bread" before, but apparently I'd never had it before, until recently.

I was puzzled when I saw a big coffee can for sale at a farm stand that claimed to be brown bread with raisins. I asked Tom if what was in the can was pre-made batter or something, and he was stunned that I could ask such a thing!

So we bought a can!

For those of you who haven't had it -- you open the can and this cylinder of bread is in there. You have to tap it out.

Apparently it's not baked so much as steamed (I'm not totally clear on that part) which means it's great to heat up in the microwave (makes it really moist!). It tastes like molasses. Melt a bit of butter on it ... mmmm!

I'm sure none of this is news to all the New Englanders reading this (and probably others as well!) but it was definitely a nice thing to discover!

A slightly quicker way to cook a turkey

This is how it's done where we celebrate Thanksgiving ...

Verrrry, carefully, that's how!

Luis has been doing this for years now, so he isn't fussed by the cauldron of boiling peanut oil. He just has to lower it in ...

Slowly, slowly ...

... and voila.

A turkey big enough to feed twelve cooks alarmingly fast this way -- we'd already started the first course when the turkey took the plunge, and it was ready in very little time.

I don't eat much turkey, but I always go outside to watch him do this part.

Cute Florida fauna

So, we were in Orlando Florida for a couple days this past week visiting Tom's family. The houses we visited tended to be in subdivisions sort of like this:


Lots of nice, similar-looking houses all in their own neighborhood, many with a sparkling blue lake in the backyard. Pretty.

Tom and I had a walk around one such neighborhood. It was a bright sunny day, and we saw creatures we don't normally see up north.

Just out for a neighborhood stroll, like we were.

We had to walk around the lake, of course.



Wait, what was that splash?

Um ... is that a ... ??

Really?

Well, isn't he a cutie?

Um, yeah.

So all these perfectly manicured, charming, safe little communities have alligators in their pretty lakes. In their backyards. With no fences anywhere.

Really, I was glad to have seen one -- especially a small, timid one like this little fella. Might not have been so amusing if his mommy had been nearby, however (!!!).

I guess it's just one of those things you're totally used to when you live there. No one we told about the alligator seemed particular fussed, so apparently they all coexist just fine.

It would certainly explain why we didn't see anyone swimming in any of the lakes!

Cookie madness

Tom has been on a baking binge. Not being one to stand in the way of genius, I've been along for the ride. Baked within the last month:

* Oatmeal-cranberry-walnut cookies (2 batches, though much of the second batch fed his coworkers)
* A batch of great soft pumpkin cookies (hi Colette!)
* Two batches of snickerdoodles (though Tom is still trying to get the best recipe for these, each try is still very tasty)
* Chocolate chocolate-chunk-walnut (baked this weekend, and currently in the kitchen)

The oatmeal-cranberry-walnuts (or OCWs, as we've nicknamed them) are the current favorites.

On a dreary, chilly weekend (like the one we just had) it is all too easy to put away half a dozen of them as they come out of the oven ... sugar high much? Naah ...

Maple detour

Syrup, that is.

Last weekend, Tom and I drove out to a maple farm. I'd always seen this vendor at the farmer's market, and it was a good day for a drive.

So we set out to find them.


This is a much more modest operation than the other farms we'd been to lately. It was built and run by a very hardy couple, just the two of them. They've got a small country store, filled with all kinds of maple foods -- infused cooking oils, jams, candies, coated walnuts and pecans, and of course syrup in all different sized bottles.

Janice, one of the owners, gave us a short tour, and showed us the sugar house.

See the tubes?
Janice pointed out that instead of taps in every tree, they ran tubes that lead the sap to where they need it to be. Saves carrying buckets!

There are two very friendly dogs, Molly and Jack, who demanded to be played with.

Shameless, the two of them.

Tom had no choice!

We were impressed with what the two of them have accomplished, and bought a bunch of jams, maple-coated walnuts, honey, and maple candy.