Like most I was introduced to coffee at a young age. My parents allowed me to have a sip at holiday gatherings and parties. It had an enjoyable favor but like cigarettes it never lived up to its smell. Growing up my mom had a cup of coffee two or three times a day and I can still remember waking up to that strong inviting aroma of coffee brewing in my mom’s 4 cup percolator pot on the stove.
I have fond memories of my mom being always ready with a pot of coffee and Entenmanns’s cake for visiting family and friends. Coffee and cake was a major part of most adult diets back then. As I grew up I shied away from coffee for many years, like my childhood I only partook at holidays and parties.
Lately, Judith and I have been having a cup of coffee in the afternoons. If there is no work or I am home doing paperwork it’s a great opportunity to enjoy a hot cup of Joe with the wife. But as I stated before the taste never truly lives up to its aroma, which is something I learned to accept.
Another favorite of mine is the StarBucks Coffee drinks they sell at convenience stores. It’s sweet, it’s tasty and aside from having to see a loan officer to purchase one, it satisfies that urge in the middle of the afternoon when you are far from a percolator pot. But even that’s not quite right. Coffee deficiencies, what’s a man to do?
On a side note, we usually do not consume dairy milk; we are partial to rice milk. Oh wait, don’t want to be sued by the diary industry, we drink “Rice beverage.” Well, Whole Foods changed their grocery manager and our standing order of 2 cases of “Rice beverage,” wink, wink, per month got lost in the shuffle and one day we found ourselves without anything to put in our coffee. Oh, the horror of it all!
So we are both looking at each other and thinking now what, the coffees already made and no milk, err … no white beverage. Then Judith comes up with a brilliant idea; how about if we use evaporated milk; it’s always on hand for making pies.
So at this point I’ll try anything so I pour the coffee in my favorite cup, the one with the farm and the cow scene, add my 2 ½ spoon full of sugar and add the evaporated milk and Shazam!
It was the best tasting cup of coffee I have ever had. It beat the old standard and even tasted better then the StarBucks Coffee drink. Heck, we’ve even used Byers coffee ice cream in a pinch but nothing beats evaporated milk.
I guess it’s our turn to create coffee memories for our children. By the way, if you’re in the neighborhood, stop on by.
