So Long, Mr. Coffee

I have a love hate relationship with coffee. I love it and it hates me.

It's like an abusive relationship. I'm addicted to the ritual of making it, intoxicated by the smell that permeates my home, the deep, rich flavor and how the caffeine highs can make me feel almost invincible. But then, the euphoria gives way to the heart palpitations, the extreme blood sugar dips and the fits of anger - but yet I stay - I love him anyway and convince myself we're good together. The angst, I tell you.

Recently, I switched to decaffeinated for the sake of my health and only treat myself once or twice a week. I treasure our times together and make sure I purchase only the best coffee I can find. Just a year ago, it was hard to find good decaf, but that's not the case anymore.

Coffee, like other foodstuffs these days, is going through a renaissance. All across the country, specialty purveyors are roasting limited-edition coffee beans using artisanal methods and sustainable practices. These are the beans you should seek out, whether going out for coffee or bringing the beans home. Because of the attention to detail, the taste is incomparable.

Here are some of the best artisanal coffee roasters in the country who will ship you beans online tout suite:

Intelligentsia Coffee
Metropolis Coffee Company  (They make my absolute favorite - Decaf Redline.)
Blue Bottle Coffee
Gorilla Coffee

The real question is: Are you willing to give up your relationship with Mr. Coffee? The seemingly indefatigable, saggy-assed octogenarian who piddles out his weak-brewed love day after day? You really want to settle for that?

I didn't think so.

You need an Italian Stallion. One who has proven his mettle time and time again creating a dark rich brew that really satisfies.

Stovetop Espresso Maker, $39.95 by Bialetti

To learn more about what you need to make a great Latte or Cafe Au Lait at home (inexpensively!), click to read the rest of the article on The Possessionista.


Also, be sure to read my post on Maria Callas & Coffee. It's a goodie.

Pairing Music & Drink with Wine Expert Josh Kaplan

Josh Kaplan is someone who has seriously influenced my interest and education in wine. We both worked at mk the restaurant many years ago; he, as their beverage manager and sommelier and me, as their publicist. I used to eat and entertain there quite often and Josh never made the experience of selecting wine stuffy or uncomfortable. He also never assumed anything about your level of knowledge - it didn't matter. What he brought to the table was a genuine and palpable excitement about turning you on to great wines that would heighten your experience and make it a memorable one. You understood that beneath the suit and the elegant demeanor was a man who was downright giddy about wine. That kind of passion is what draws me to people. I love to learn and with Josh, there is no pretense or snobbery; just a desire to openly share with you all he knows.

Josh saw my post on Beautiful Food Rituals and asked if he could contribute his own. He's a serious audiophile and offered to turn us all on to some great beats perfectly paired with time and place, great coffee, wine and even a digestif. Here's his piece below. Thank you so much, Josh!

The pairing of music and drink occurs for most of us on a daily basis. When you walk into a coffee shop or a bar, there is always something on. Usually in the background. Most likely that music was chosen to suit the overall vibe of the establishment, rather than as a specific accompaniment to an actual beverage.

The approach I like to take when pairing music and drink is not so much literal (Joni Mitchell's Blue and a blueberry frappé) but rather geared to the moment, the time of day and the season.

One of my favorite times of day to pair music and drink is early Sunday morning.

Just after the sun has risen, my home is bathed in a golden, yellow light. The beans are ground and the coffee is brewing. What to play?


Well, I'm an amateur audiophile. I have an extensive collection of vinyl I've been collecting since the late Eighties. Gotta say, my favorite Sunday morning LP is side one of Richard Davies' There's Never Been a Crowd Like This. The album is rich with crisp, strummed acoustic guitars, offbeat instrumentation, immediately tuneful melodies, witty lyrics and an overall sense of joy. There is a crystallized moment when the hot jolt of caffeine hits the bright morning and combines with Davies' lush arrangements that makes for a perfect way to start the day.

OK, let's say it's not sunny. It's grey. It's nasty. Snow. Everywhere. Urrgh. You have to adapt to the conditions. Chirpy, happy music is just going to be aggravating, so you need something that has a lilting, melancholy, grey feeling. You need Sigur Ros. Maybe it's because they're Icelandic so I associate their music with cold. Maybe it's because they tend to release their albums in winter. Maybe it's because their music can be slow like a glacier. I think it's because there's an abstract quality to their songs that gives them a strong, cold weather feel. Most particularly the album ( ). I mean...just look at the cover. It screams 'brrr' or maybe since we're talking about Sigur Ros, it gently whispers 'brrr.'


I recently tried the much-hyped Stumptown Coffee at Bagel on Damen. Best cup of coffee I've had in my 20+ years of drinking coffee. Thick and oily in texture, super-concentrated and intense, vaguely hallucinogenic - prepare to be blown away.

In general, since it is early in the day, I don't play anything too ruckus. I save the Sonic Youth for later.

Music and wine presents a wider array of options. It's the start of your night and you're drinking Alsatian Riesling or Rose Champagne. The music needs to be upbeat, fun and not too heavy. I'm a fan of Erlend Oye's Unrest. Definitely side 3. Quirky, stripped down beats, slinky eighties-style synths, gently sung lyrics. This record is just plain fun.


For Rose Champagne, I was recently turned on to Fluteau Carte Rubis Brut Rose. The wine is packed with crisp, bright red berry fruits and brimming with zesty bubbles. Another reason to pop the cork is the $32.99 price tag - a rare value from this typically pricey appellation. You can find the wine at Binny's.

Moving on to red wine. Something heavier. A little richer. Bolder. Chateauneuf du Pape. On the stereo it's My Morning Jacket. ROCK AND ROLL. Side one of It Still Moves.


Everything about those first three songs is boozy and over the top: huge guitars, outsized hooks, Jim James' reverb-soaked vocals...easily the musical equivalent of 15% alcohol Chateauneuf.

One of my favorite producers of high octane Chateauneuf du Pape is Domaine de la Janasse. Their CNDP bottlings start around $50 retail, depending on vintage. A more cost effective way to sample their wares is buying one of their wines from a different appellation. The vin de pays Terre de Bussiere is a mouthful to say and drink. At $15, it is totally worth it. The fruit is so rich and jammy, it's practically spreadable. Like My Morning Jacket, it's a crowdpleaser with integrity.


One last record for end of the night contemplation. A nod to Radiohead's In Rainbows, a brilliant late night album, but instead, I feel the need to mention Woodbine and their album Best Before End . Not too well known in the States, or their native England either. I just stumbled across this band a few years ago. They are kinda like Portishead minus beats, plus acoustic guitars. It's an intense way to end the night, but highly rewarding. Both sides. Fine with cognac. Or more red wine.


Although bourbon is fashionable now, let's not push cognac aside. Jean Luc Pasquet has a permanent home on my liquor cart for many reasons. Artisanal? Check. Cool label? Check. Value? Check. Warm fuzzies? Check.

You should be good to go.

Josh Kaplan grew up in the world of hospitality visiting Chicago's best restaurants with his father, well known restaurant critic, Sherman Kaplan. Early in his career, he worked at Evanston's Va Pensiero and at Michael Symon's Lola Cafe in Cleveland. Most recently he was the Beverage Director for mk the restaurant and theWit Hotel. Currently, he is the assistant General Manager at the soon-to-open Benny's Chop House in Chicago. Amongst friends, he is well-known for having an enviable record and wine collection.

Beautiful Food Rituals: Maria Callas & Coffee

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion." Rumi

You'd never think the little girl that got kicked out of Hebrew school would grow up to be the same woman who loves ritual. But I am and I do. I love ritual of all kinds as long as there's no oppressive dogma attached to it. I create rituals out of my need for comfort and connection and beauty. One of my favorite rituals is preparing and enjoying my morning coffee. I love getting up early when the world is quiet and I can wake slowly from my dreams, journal and putter about for a good hour before I have to do anything or be anywhere. I don't like to speak in that hour. But I do love music and one of my great joys and new passions is listening to opera in the morning.




It started with Pandora. Do you know it? It's a free internet radio station that allows you to create playlists with your favorite music. So early one morning, with the sun pouring through my windows and a steaming bowl of espresso and steamed milk in front of me, I innocently plugged in the name Maria Callas into the Pandora search function.

The song that came on first was Callas' version of Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro. It completely stopped me in my tracks with surprise. Her voice alternately soared and delicately reverberated in the most gorgeous ways in my dining room and it was like my own personal church; so sacred in its way. It got me out of my head and into the moment. I love this ritual simply because it's a gift of time and space I give to myself. For you, it might be Lady Gaga and Genmaicha or Radiohead and Rooibos or Roy Orbison and Oolong. It's just a thought, but I recommend it highly.

Recommended Listening


The One and Only Maria Callas


Maria Callas was one of the world's most legendary divas known for her dramatic vocal range and style. She was a high profile member of the international artistic and social circles of her day and was also known for her temperamental behavior and scandalous love affairs, including one with Aristotle Onassis.


Coffee Preparation Notes

My coffee preparation of choice is a big warm bowl of stove top espresso with organic steamed milk and agave nectar or demerara sugar to sweeten it just a touch. My espresso is made with an inexpensive Bialetti Moka Express Espresso Maker 06799 and I use a Stove Top Milk Frotherto froth my milk. And trust me, it is gooood.

Summer Fruit Sunday

Every Sunday morning I feel like treating myself. And for no other reason than, Hey, it's Sunday!, which is enough for me. Some people go to church and others, like myself, find their sacred impenetrable spot on a plate or in a bowl.

Traditionally my treat includes coffee, which I don't normally drink (cry for me - I'll explain later) and some form of delicious local pastry or eggs and bacon, or my fave of all time, the Bacon Waffle at Walker Brothers. The Bacon Waffle also deserves it own blog post but I'll save it for another time. "So it shall be written, so it shall be done..."

But I am currently obsessed with summer fruit and consuming as much of it as humanly possible. Our window of time to enjoy it is so damn short. I'm also spending part of today making a fruit tart for a friend's birthday party tonight and I'll be sharing that with you later.

This lovely, impromptu creation is simply cut up local plums from the farmers' market and papaya, which I love; I bought a biggun on sale this week and I'm enjoying finding different ways to use it. I also recently discovered sheep's milk yogurt. This is from Whole Foods by the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in New York's Hudson Valley. I love the texture of it and the tang! Then I chopped up toasted almonds and drizzled away with raw, local honey from Bron's Bees, sold at the Heritage Prairie farm stand at Green City Market.

And to make sure I'm not sounding overly pious, I want you to know I followed this up with a hearty portion of bacon and eggs.

ASK ME ABOUT SMOOTHIES

For two days this week, I was fortunate to work craft service for a TV commercial. Craft service is essentially providing drinks and snacks for the crew and talent on a commercial, TV show or film shoot. I had to provide for 40 people who work long hours and for the most part, appear to live primarily on caffeine and cigarettes. I honestly haven't seen that many people smoking since early episodes of Kojak.

A traditional craft services table is full of bowl upon bowl of junk food: M&M's, chips, candy bars, gum, pretzels and the requisite platter of fruit. Coffee is always percolating and the caffeinated soda always flowing. Crew and talent pop in for a quick fix, something they can grab and go.

Knowing my Real Food bent, my friend Eve, who's a producer on the job, hired me to clean up the joint as they say. She just knew I would do a conscientious job and provide, with care, some real food alternatives.

I knew I wanted to make a difference any way I could. I also knew I had to compromise my values so to speak and provide junk. There would be a major revolt if there weren't candy, cookies, gum, chips and other industry standards at the table. And I'll be honest, it was a little soul crushing to purchase some of that stuff. But my M.O. was strategic if not long range: I was going to present food that would surprise and delight them and maybe even plant some seeds down the road. (Call me delusional, but I prefer optimistic) I created a menu that was great-tasting, beautifully presented and REAL and I did it with pleasure.

The first thing I laid out was falafel from Middle East Bakery. I got wide, clear plastic cups and cut open one falafel ball in each, drizzled it with tahini sauce and topped it off with a cherry tomato, cucumber slice and fork. Total hit!

I also did a Caprese/Pasta Salad on a skewer with cherry tomato, basil, fresh mozz and spinach tortellini and drizzled my mint basil pesto on one batch and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette for the next. Bonafide smash!

Next I made smoked turkey and cheddar sandwiches on mini parker house rolls with dijon and a cornichon attached to the top by a toothpick. Hell, I'm not reinventing the wheel but they were good.

Being the clever lady I am, I also put up a sign on the wall above my table that said, "ASK ME ABOUT SMOOTHIES." I brought my blender and was making smoothies on the spot for people and they loved it. I did one that was frozen banana, organic peanut butter, apple cider and almond milk. (If you wanted to turn it into a milk shake, substitute a fresh banana for a frozen one and vanilla ice cream for almond milk)

By special request I also created my own frozen coffee smoothies: just blend cooled coffee, organic half and half, agave nectar and a ton of ice. Take that Starbucks! Addictively delicious and without a trace of corn syrup!