Got Foam?

A few weeks back the fam and I visited a dear old friend at her home out in Port Townsend, Washington. It's a beautiful little custom crafted cottage style home on the outskirts of a quaint village that sits on a forested peninsula of Puget Sound. It's seriously that cute.

While there, Tam enjoyed a cup of cappuccino. Our friend heated the milk on her vintage O'Keefe and Merritt range and then used this super cool little Bodum whipping device to foam the milk. She then poured the foam into the perfect little cup of strong coffee and, viola! the most charming and delicious coffee beverage served in the most perfect little cottage kitchen in one of the most perfect little rustic locations in the lower 48.  Needless to say, driving off that afternoon Tam was quick to comment we needed one of those cool little foam whippers.

Fast forward 3 weeks and you find us standing in a Sur la Table cooking store. It took just a moment for the highly knowledgable clerk to direct us to exactly the foamer we were looking for: a Bodum, cute as a button, twenty bucks. Click ahead 2 minutes and you find us, Bodum whipping thing in hand, thinking we were ready to check out, looking at the whole line of Nespresso machines cleverly set up on a counter adjacent to the quaint little number we had come to claim. Clever indeed. "Would you like to try a sample and see how it works?" Two snap-your-fingers-quick samples later the nifty little Bodum is back on its shelf. Yep, from rustic $19.95 to techno-quick $399.95 faster than you can say "half caf-decaf extra foam."

Oh well. We don't live in a custom crafted cottage in the woods by the sea. We live in a mid-century ranch. Our kitchen's populated with stainless steel appliances and stone counter tops. It's a device type kitchen. The new machine heats and foams the milk and dispenses the coffee all in the blink of an eye. And it looks cool on the counter.

After all, it turns out-- as is so often the case-- rustic is for vacations, not the day-to-day. Come on over for a cup. Tam might let you push the button.