Two Kids From Miami

Consumption Reports: Saturday Morning Joe

Last week, when we were flying out of LAX at 7am, all we wanted was some coffee.  Our choices were Starbucks, that had a line 20 people deep, or Burger King, that had 3 people in line.  Scoffing, I jumped in the BK line and thought, “oh hell no, Sbux” and also, “bonus crossanwich!”  Is Starbucks coffee really worth a 10 or 20 minute line, when your plane is boarding in 25?  On Saturday morning (noon) we decided to find out!  Were those people standing in line for Starbucks victims of a good marketing department, or just running-through-an-airport-terminally-dedicated to their superior java.

We picked up a cup of coffee from Starbucks, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.   And since we were conducting a serious scientific study, we required a control group that we knew we would like: Cuban coffee in the form of Caffe Americano (hot water and espresso).

I know what you’re thinking, “Jennie, it’s 40 degrees outside, how are you going to keep the coffee warm while you drive around from location to location without the coffee getting cold?”  Don’t worry, Charlie is a man of many solutions.  He  decided to boil water in a pressure cooker and then bring the pressure cooker along for the ride to pick up the different coffees.

Pressure Cooker in a Blanket

The pressure cooker would then be wrapped in a blanket and seat belted.

Safety First

Then the plan was to pour the different coffees into plastic water bottles, and place those in the pressure cooker. My only contribution to the conservation of heat effort, with my two graduate degrees, was to crank the seat warmer.

Charlie Carefully Pours

Coco, always the micromanager

You can see how the coffees varied in colors.  It seems obvious in hindsight, but it turned out they tasted (and smelled) better the darker they were:

Starbucks, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts

Before we could taste the street-bought coffees, we had to make our cafe con agua.

Too bad this picture isn't scratch-n-sniff

The only Cuban espresso sold in Virginia grocery stores.

So we poured the coffees into tiny thimbles and proceeded to taste.

Chinese character for "You are going to need a mint for that dragon breath after you drink all of this coffee"

Artsy Fartsy

In the end, the Caffe Americano that we made at home tasted best.  Part of me was sincerely hoping that somehow the McDonald’s coffee would stun me by being the best tasting, but Starbucks won out over the other store-made coffees. McDonald’s coffee did taste good in comparison to the cup of Dunkin’ Donuts, which didn’t even smell good.   The best part of the whole exercise was pouring the remaining Caffe Americano into a mug with warm milk, the left over espresso and sugar… then crashing for a nap.

Big bad Starbucks wins.

¡Que Viva España!

When we were in Miami for Christmas Charlie picked up a 2 lbs chorizo.  At first I was all, “yess!” But then I realized I had to do something with all of that chorizo because if we just ate it all with the wheel of manchego cheese he picked up, we would never poop again it wouldn’t be that healthy.  So I decided to make two spanish-style tortas (omelets) with it.

The first one would be a tasty one, with chorizo and potatoes.

Prep included cutting two red potatoes and about 1/2 cup of chorizo into cubes.  I also whisked 7 eggs with a couple pinches of paprika, salt and freshly ground pepper.  First, on the stove-top I simmered (on medium heat) the potato cubes in olive oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of cumin, and garlic powder until they were about half-cooked.  Then I added the chorizo to the simmering taters and watched the chorizo cubes ooze grease.  Looked gross, but the ambrosial smell tickled all the cave-person parts of my brain that detect calorie-rich foods that are perfect for storing fat for the winter, also known as “the french fries spot.”  Anywho, after the chorizo simmered for a couple minutes I added the whisked eggs on top of the already simmering chorizo/potato mix.

Chorizo-grease ambrosia

I stirred it a bit, and then set the oven’s broiler, so that once the bottom side of the torta cooked, I could pop the pan in the oven to cook the top of it for a few minutes until it turned golden brown.  So easy, so delish!

Coco is totally down to try some!

Overcome by guilt, I wanted to try the recipe again, but try to make it at least a little healthier.  So I took a chance and used just egg whites and chorizo (we ran out of potato, so I didn’t include any).  I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.  Chorizo is tasty, but tasty enough to just hang out with egg whites… we’ll see.  I cooked it the same way.  I’m not going to lie, it didn’t smell that good, and I contemplated just eating the simmered chorizo, but it ended up working out in the end, and was pretty good.

Egg-white Torta

Consumption Reports: Northern Virginia Grocery Stores

I found another excuse to put together a spreadsheet! We just moved to a new area, and there are several grocery stores within 5 miles of the house.  In an effort to decide which grocery store to go to, I started keeping track of different basic items we were buying (spreadsheet below).  This is hard to keep track of because sometimes the grocery stores had specials on particular items, which made comparing more difficult.  I’ll keep adding to this list as I go, but I figured this may help all three of you anyone who may be reading this who lives nearby.