Mmmm, coffee!

I smell like vinegar and espresso. It’s an interesting combination, and one I wouldn’t recommend, unless you’re really craving coffee from a coffee pot that has a serious case of scale build up.

I was craving just such a thing, which explains why I smell the way I do. It’s better than that time I smelled like spearmint gum though, from an overly scented body scrub, and a little kid tried to lick me. I don’t think I’ll be licked any time soon from this one.

And I’m enjoying a lovely latte, crafted by my own hands. And a huge amount of assistance from my friend Deb, who not only gave me my very first cup of coffee about a million years ago, but gave me the coffee pot/espresso machine today. She decided she had to complete the circle, since she started it all off on one cold art retreat weekend.

I remember making paper at a house she used to live in, wrapped up in sweatshirts, pajama pants and laughs. If you’ve never made homemade paper, it’s a mess, but you sure can turn out some great stuff if you’re in the right frame of mind. As I dragged myself out of bed the next morning I so wasn’t in the right frame of mind. So my friend fixed me a little cup of coffee, since I don’t do coffee, and that little shot of black gold put me right back where I needed to be. She doctored it up though, with some syrup and steamed milk, and a very intermittent love affair with the latte was born, one cold Texas morning.

Deb was at my house last night, to borrow a bed in town and to bring the coffee machine. This afternoon before she left town, we had coffee lessons. Lessons that met with little success. But ingenuity, some really hot water, and a ton of vinegar cleared things up to a great extent. Trust me though, when the directions say to use purified water, they mean it. Deb left, after gifting me with coffee beans – BOLD like me, a grinder, and her old machine. She left a lot of laughs behind, too, which is something she always does.

And I spent a few hours soaking and steaming away the scale, before making my first latte tonight. I’ll probably become obsessive with the damned thing. Especially the milk steaming. I can see where that will get totally out of hand for me. But meanwhile, I’m going to kick back, sip this cup of nectar and enjoy the holidays.

Merry Christmas everyone!