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8 February 2004 - Coffee and Girl Talk I hadn't seen my friend Caulyne in some time (almost a year, in fact) and since that is simply no way to treat your friends I invited her over for brunch today for some food and girl talk ...catch up, for the past year, I guess. I feel as though I ate enough food to catch up for a year at any rate. Being one of the few people in my life who will eat just about anything, I went a bit overboard and had more to munch on than just bagels and cream cheese for the two of us. As I sit here with my laptop perched on my rather full tummy I surprisingly don't regret the amount I ate...it was all just so delectable. The conversation was also quite nourishing; it is so lovely to sit, curled up in an armchair across from someone who shares so much in common with you...and yet is so drastically different from yourself that you can only learn from them. The topics ranged from her work to my lack of work, to relaxation techniques, to her future move across the country, to my possible future move to the country immediately south of us...the conversation catalog was nonstop. But, back to the food. Let's see ...there was a homemade Challah Braid (pronounced "Halla" in case you didn't know), which did manage to rise rather magnificently, if I do say so myself. I served this light, considerably egg-filled bread alongside another rather light egg-filled entree, a scrumptious Sage Egg-White Frittata. Yum. We had coffee and orange juice as well...and the coffee magically turned out to be rather good. I say "magically" because on the average day my coffee is just okay. Yes I have an espresso maker and yes I have a bodum, but do I use either of them correctly? Probably not. I generally make coffee with my espresso maker and don't make foam with the steam nozzle. I use regular (read: Tim Hortons) coffee in it and it's good...not great though. Recently in fact it has been vaguely bitter. But, not today...at least I thought so. I used my bodum and low and behold, it was great. Not bitter, not too weak, not too strong. I did consider briefly making cappuccinos or lattés for the two of us, having recently read David Schomer's Milk Texturing Basics and Milk Texturing and Presentation …but Caulyne used to live with a cappuccino-connoisseur and I worried that my fancy coffee making skills might not be up to par. Maybe I’ll practice this week and make them next time. Oh...and how on earth could I have forgotten -- la pièce de résistance. A Maple Chiffon Cake iced with a rather decadent Maple ButterCream Icing. Ugh. It is all I can do to not jump up from the couch and cut myself another piece right now. And I don't normally even like icing, but this one, although a bit sweet for my taste, was quite good. Very maple-y...and oh so fattening...oh my goodness. Check out the recipe -- eggs, maple syrup and a pound of butter. I'm nuts...some diet I'm on. Cake for dinner tonight might not be such a terrible idea. |