melkor

This is the glove I use, it's similar to the first link. I got it about 5 years ago at a restaurant supply place, I just toss it into the dishwasher to clean it.

I've got one of those wire-mesh gloves I use most of the time when I'm using my mandoline. It's prevented the loss of a fingertip several times.

Moo.

I make no claims that this is a perfect espresso, but it's the only pic I've got online.

It's all about the milk. Start with 2% or whole milk, bleed the steam wand before starting, start with the tip about 1/2 inch below the surface of the milk, slowly lower the pitcher so the steam wand is just under the surface - your looking for a slow shhh noise every once in a while, try and expand the milk by 1/3rd to 1/2 in additional volume (it should take about 5 seconds or so to do this) then move the pitcher again so the steam wand is 1/2 inch below the surface and try and find the spot in the pitcher where the wand causes the milk to move around as much as possible - hold the pitcher steady until it gets to 145*F, turn off the wand, tap the pitcher on the counter and swirl it to mix the whole mess together. Take a cup (with the espresso in it already) tilt it at a slight angle and slowly pour the milk into the center of the cup - about 1/2 to an inch below the lip of the mug you'll get a white dot forming in the middle of the cup, slowly bring the cup back to level as you continue to pour. Your trying to fill the cup at about the same time as you bring it back to being level. You'll end up with a heart if you just keep a steady stream from the pitcher into the cup as you level it off.

The Torani syrups are available at the cash & carry wholesale grocery places for something like $5/bottle.

My milk frothing skills are coming along. Here's my second latte this morning. The first looked better, but I couldn't find the camera.

I've found a new low. I got a set of Illy collector cups from their 2001 series, it came with a can of pre-ground coffee which makes by far the nastiest espresso shot in the world. They aren't kidding about the expires in febuary 2003 thing they printed on the bottom of the can. Yick.

You need a bigger, sharper knife. I always use a 10" chefs knife to split winter squash.

So I'm back from my trip to Nugget. It's a nice store, similar to Wegmans in NY/NJ/etc. They have really nice produce and baked goods. I was impressed with their hot air coffee roaster in the store, it's a nice option for those who don't roast their own and don't have access to a small batch coffee roaster locally. Their prices are slightly higher than Vallergas & Raleys in Napa and significantly higher than what Trader Joes charges for similar products - but if it were closer to here I would likely shop there from time to time. Overall, it seems to be the best grocery store in the area, it's quite strange that it is where it is.

I need to go grocery shopping today anyway, I'll go check it out this afternoon and report back! Thanks for the heads up.

A dash of gin should cover ya.

If your budget is $5k for a range and ovens take a look at this imperial range, Basildog ended up with the commercial version when he redid his restaurant kitchen.

Life is good.

Japantown - Laguna & Sutter.

Go to Kiss, you won't regret it.

I find that most cheese will do that if you leave it in the fridge long enough.

I'm happy to use the termometer for now, the problem I'm having at the moment is the 10oz pitcher I have seems to be too small - I've got a 20oz on the way from Chris Coffee for delivery on Friday along with a 58mm tamper. I think I've found the alien cups - hopefully I'll have a set before the weekend. At the moment I'm playing with a few different home roasted espresso blends from Sweet Marias, the liquid amber and monkey blends. So far liquid amber is proving to be my preference. The liquid amber shots are about half crema once it settles for a few minutes, they are really amazing (the beans are now 4 days old).

Some of the first shots were unbelievably awful - it's amazing how bad espresso tastes when you get a 3oz pour in 10 seconds because the grind is too course. It only took 4 or 5 pulls to get the grind set right, I was really suprised by that.

If you leave your espresso machine on all the time it makes sense to plumb it in. You never need to worry about running the boiler dry, and you can install the machine where the water tank isn't easily accessable. Before pulling a shot I run a 4 or 5 oz of water through the grouphead&portafilter and leave some of the hot water in the cup to preheat it while I'm grinding. I go through maybe 10 oz of water per drink, including rinsing the PF after making the drink. I think it would be hard to argue that the water sits longer in a plumbed in system than it does in a pour over machine, since there is no water storage other than the 1.4ltr boiler inside the machine. It took all of 15 minutes to plumb the system into the water line for the icemaker, and nothing needed to be cut/drilled/or modified in any permanent way. Here's what it looks like behind the fridge - I'm planning to install a coffee bar on the other side of the fridge, which is why the plumbing goes back across itself for seemingly no reason. It also looks like the line from the filter to the espresso machine connects to the house water feed, the line just happens to be sitting there - it's just passing across there. In this house, with both of us working from home - it's absolutely ideal to have the machine plumbed in, but even if neither of us were here during the day I would still recommend it.

This mornings shots are better than yesterdays. The machine has been on since it got here, I had the nice folks at Chris' install their direct connect kit and it's been great not to have to refill the machine. None of the parts I need to touch have gotten anywhere near uncomfortably warm, and I've been using the crappy plastic tamper that came with the machine with reasonably good results. It's very strange getting used to having this machine in the house, In the past 18 hours or so I've pulled a dozen or so doubles & cappas, made some tea using the hot water spout, and made hot chocolate with the steam wand.

A shot before setting the grind fine enough: A cappa with less than ideal foam: The kitchen now looks like....

The UPS guy finally showed up. Everything is unpacked and setup, and I'm waiting for it to finish warming up. So far this has gone very well, the people at Chris' Coffee have been excellent to deal with and everything (except a backordered tamper) has arrived on time and as described. I'll post more after it's up to temp and I pull a few shots.

I've had a very hard time finding any south african wines worth drinking. Pinotage ranks as one of my least favorite grapes - but then again, everyone has their own tastes.

It's almost lunch time and the UPS truck hasn't come to visit yet. At least the tracking info says it will be delivered today. I'll post pics when I get all my stuff (hopefully in a few hours)