dianem

The Guides sell the chocolate mint flavour cookies in the fall and the traditional cookie in the spring. It still comes in the two-pack, with one row of vanilla creme and one row of chocolate creme. Sadly, they switched their cookie manufacturer from Christie (the Guides' supplier for 40 years) to Dare two or three years ago and the cookies just aren't quite the same. d.

It's the B2003. Size seems to be about 7.25 oz. d.

We got the Keurig in yesterday on a trial basis. The suppliers in Toronto all seem to use Timothy's coffee exclusively. The dark roasts are okay, but the medium roasts I've tried so far seem weak and watery. I'm surprised, actually, given the good things I've heard about the Keurig. But perhaps we will have to just insist on dark roasts only. d.

When my grandmother moved into the nursing home, my mother packed up her old house. The following Christmas I volunteered to make Grandma's pies and asked for the recipes, only to get a blank look. "Where's Grandma's recipe box?" I asked my mom. "Oh, that battered old thing? The recipes were all crossed out and written on... I threw it out." It was more than 15 years ago and I still haven't quite forgiven her. Diane

My husband learned two important lessons this Christmas, cooking dinner for my parents at their place. 1. Do not chop onions in front of the fan that is blowing straight at you. and if that wasn't lesson enough, shortly thereafter: 2. Do not use the pepper grinder in front of the fan that is blowing straight at you. As we were leaving, my mom remarked, "Wow, we went through two boxes of Kleenex tonight." d.

The reason for going with the local supplier is very simple: there is less effort involved. They own the equipment, they take care of installation, repairs, inventory, etc. Otherwise someone in-house has to be responsible for all of those things. I'd love to think it's going to happen, but I know from experience that it's not. Ideally, once the machine is installed, my work is done. d.

Now that I've made some calls, it seems that our local Keurig supplier only carries the Timothy's coffee. And since it seems to come down to the coffee itself, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Timothy's brand for the Keurig. The supplier, by the way, is really pushing me to pick the Flavia system over the Keurig. But I haven't heard a single good word about Flavia.... d.

I've been looking at the Keurig system. The pods seem very appealing to me. There is no corporate subsidy, but we are a small office and I think that we will be able to get people to pay on a per-cup basis without too much trouble. d.

My group is moving to new offices in Toronto at the end of the year, and for my sins I’ve been put in charge of the coffee committee, charged to find some system that makes drinkable coffee instead of the usual swill. We have about 50-60 people, not all of whom are coffee drinkers. My hope is to come up with something good enough and inexpensive enough to keep our staff in the office and not spending half an hour twice a day putting on their coats, boots and mittens and trekking down the block to Starbucks. Has anyone ever had decent office coffee? Any recommendations?