My reward for insomnia?

Notice I’m not in the bed… AND notice, my other half NEVER has a problem sleeping, EVER. lol

I was awake to watch the sun come up and this is what I saw from our balcony at the Trout Lodge!  I wish I could post all the awesome shots I got but the bandwidth here is pretty sucky and it’s taking about 10 minutes to upload 1 shot.  AND hubby’s pretty hungry (it takes a lot of calories to keep up his girlish figure (see above pic).  lol  He’s making me get off here so we can go to breakfast 😦

The other upside to my insomniac kind of night was that I was able to figure out the settings on my new camera!  I thought THAT was a lost cause.  Here’s just one more!  lol

Happy Sunday to you all!  He’s about to kill  me now so I must say goodbye 😉

Espresso in a coffee pot… Confessions of a caffeine addict

Sadly, today, there’s not going to be enough caffeine in the world to keep me awake!  I have issues with sleeping at night the way a NORMAL person would sleep.  When my head hits the pillow, a slow motion picture movie starts playing in my brain… and then it speeds up and speeds up and speeds up… with every little thing that I might need to get accomplished for the next day or the next week or the next year and then finally, the rest of my life

 

I spend at least $30 a week on these!  I’d spend more if we actually had a Starbucks close. Alas, it takes me about a half an hour to get there 😦  

 

I’ve been trying different recipes I found online (pinterest) and I’ve been SO disappointed!  I couldn’t reproduce the rich, frothy deliciousness in my blender!  NOW, I know that I really needed to purchase the blended ice coffee mix, like this one.  Without the mix… NOTHING goes right for iced coffee!

Which brings me to my NEXT problem… I ALWAYS, always order my iced coffee with a double shot of espresso!  I rarely ever GET a double shot of espresso.  As in, they charge me for it but I can really taste that I’m not actually receiving a double shot (I call it my double shot of CRACK).  Do you know that they charge you $1.50 extra for a double shot of crack?  So to NOT get my fix just pisses me right the he## off!  lol

 

Oh, how I want one of these!  I would save SO much money if I had one but I just can’t justify spending $600 PLUS shipping when my daughter is working SO hard to raise enough money to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua this summer?  I just can’t do it 😦  Besides, we actually own an expensive Bunn.  

Solution?  I went online and ordered 3 bags of Starbucks espresso from Amazon.  I also ordered a bag of ice coffee blend.  I found out that you can buy stove top espresso brewers, called Moka Express. They’re inexpensive AND they have good reviews!

 

I don’t think I’m going to do that though.  I’ll wait until I can afford the real deal 🙂  Instead, I’m going to do the best I can to produce the closest thing to espreso that our little Bunn can make!  I’ve done some research this morning and here’s what I came up with:

Instructions for coffee maker espresso

 

1. • Choose a dark roasted or espresso roasted coffee bean and then grind your beans as finely as possible. While many coffee grinders have an espresso option, if there is a finer option, don’t necessarily go for the espresso grind. Rather, to make your espresso with a drip coffee maker, you will need to select the finest grind possible.

      

1. • Double your coffee filter so that the water moves slowly through the grounds. If you have a built-in metal cone filter in your coffee machine, add a paper filter for good measure.

      

      

1. • Measure your coffee grounds, using approximately  1 1/2 TBSP of finely ground coffee for every 1/4 cup of espresso. However, remember that because the water will move more slowly through the grounds, you should not attempt to make more espresso than your your coffee maker’s cone or filter holder can hold at one time to prevent overflow.

      

      

1. • Place your coffee grounds into the filter and pack down slightly with the back of a spoon (it’s called tamping). Pour the desired amount of water into your machine, and allow it to brew your hot cup of espresso. For best results, use pure, filtered water.

So to recap:  1 1/2 TBSP for each 1/4 cup of espresso.
For your further reading enjoyment….  article very correctly states that “espresso is not just a cup of coffee, it’s a state of mind”.  Espresso is also compared to Ambrosia, THE drink of the gods!  lol  I’ll have to agree with that but only IF it has lots of sugar and cream!