A Really Good Espresso

There is yet another birthday-related loose-end I have yet to tie up. My official birthday present from the boys and myself: my very own espresso machine, plus a bright orange miniature cup and saucer with which to use in it.

All of this came from the 60 percent off clearance table at Tuesday Morning. We  saw the espresso machine at that particular store on a different day but with a much higher price tag, and after the husband did some internet research to make sure the company and model would make a good cuppa joe, we went back out to the same store expecting to pay a lot more money. Then, there it was, sitting there at 60 percent off. The cheapskate in me (which is a substantial portion of my personality) swelled with happiness.

What's more, true to the research, the machine does a good job. To make my first home-brewed espresso, I used grounds from the Gevelia espresso blend. Gevelia is my almost-exclusive brand for coffee. Their grounds never make a burnt coffee and always has a smooth taste.

I'm not a big fan of plain black Cafe Americano. I don't really enjoy coffee by itself. However, adding milk to plain coffee in the American sense, it's a bit watered down. Thus, up to now, unless I paid the price for a coffeehouse beverage, I had to mix my beloved Gevelia Chocolate Mocha coffee with a vanillla creamer (and this is still what I do at work) to create a coffee with a flavor I enjoy drinking.

My real coffee love, though, is the cappuccino, which pairs frothy milk with a bold espresso, allowing me to taste both flavors in equal measure. Now, for the first time in my life, I can make it at home. What's more, I can use the milk froth function on the espresso machine to make my son foamy hot chocolate, which is an added bonus we both enjoy.

Cheers.

You Don't Choose When Inspiration Strikes

It was a half hour past my strict ten o' clock worknight bedtime, and I was not asleep. In fact, I didn't even feel tired. I blamed this mostly on the fact that I put too much coffee in my coffee slightly before noon that day and thus, spent the majority of the day in a perpetual state of jitteriness that left me without control of my shaky limbs, though staying up a little to finish watching "Hysteria" (great movie by the way) right before bed probably didn't help matters any.

I tossed and turned, taking some care to avoid completely disheveling my hair, while my mind failed to deactivate into slumber. That's when it happened. Something clicked and suddenly, images of the novel I am next going to write invaded my night. I tried to turn them off, fearing a groggy morning at work that required yet more coffee, thus perpetuating the cycle. My inner muse took no notice of my grumbling and, begrudgingly aware that I should not pass up such a gift horse, I got out of bed, grabbed my notebook and a pen, and put the kettle on for some required sleep-inducing chamomile tea for when the madness was over. Then, sipping my tea, I began scribbling.

On the page, there it was, everything I needed to get started: main character, minor characters, basic precise, major plot points, setting, situation, motive. Then, I set the paper and writing impement beside the bed, gulped the dregs of my tea, and flopped my head down on the pillow. I hit the snooze button three times come morning, but I'm ready for novel two. All the waiting, the wondering, the worrying that maybe I only have one novel in me, it collapses into this livid late night deluge of prewriting and suddenly, I'm back.

Since that night, I have been compiling a list of required reading for my next book. That list I include below as the first real hint of what I have planned:

Fiction
The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Bad Things by Tamara Thorne
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Hell House by Richard Matheson
Reread "Stone Animals" by Kelly Link
Reread The Princess and the Goblin

Nonfiction
American Hightmares by Dale Dailey
The Golden Bough by James George Frazer