Greetings, my fellow port swillers!
Regular friends of the decanter will know that if wine is Ol’ Robbo’s omega, kawfee is also his alpha.
Today I’m trying out a Ninja Hot n’ Cold Brew System. Eldest bought it for her dorm a year or two ago but finds she doesn’t use it, so she brought it home.
The thing has all sorts of buttons to regulate brew strength and cup size, and also has a milk frother attached to the side. It also comes with a recipe book for all sorts of specialty concoctions.
For all that, you have to clean out the grounds out after each cup, (It’s a single-serving machine.) And I have to say after my second or third cuppa that I’m really not all that overly-impressed with the taste.
I benched my Mr. Coffee 12-cup pot in order to give the Ninja a try. Not so sure he’s going to stay there.
UPDATE: Eldest informs me that I didn’t have the settings right and that I need to hit the “Café Forte” button to truly appreciate what the thing can do. I’m a fair-minded fellah, so will withhold judgment until I can check it out.
UPDATE DEUX: Not really related, but Ol’ Robbo had himself a deviled ham sammich for lunch today. They used to be a regular in the school lunch rotation of my misspent yoot, but I haven’t had one in years now, and I was seized with a sudden curiosity while shopping yesterday.
Maybe it’s just a childhood conditioning thing, but I still thought it was kinda tasty.
UPDATE TROIS: Speaking of childhood lunches, and possibly saving this post from utter banality, friends of the decanter may recall my mention of redepositing Youngest at camp for the second time last weekend, there to serve a two week turn on the kitchen crew. Last week we had a note from her saying she was rather homesick. This isn’t surprising. While she had many, many returning friends her first term (kids generally go to the same term every summah), she knew hardly anybody this time around.
Well, we got another note today, in which she announced she’s having a blast. Her cabin have got very tight very quickly, and she loves working the kitchen. (I don’t doubt that she’s hamming it up for the diners for all she’s worth.)
And if that doesn’t make you smile, how about a kitteh?
“I can haz napz?”
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August 13, 2019 at 12:18 pm
The Maximum Leader
Deviled ham? Is this like a ham salad (in the family of egg salad and tuna salad)? Sadly the first thing I think of when reading “deviled ham” is “potted ham” and Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.”
I am curious…
Glad youngest is enjoying camp.
BTW, I went by your law school Alma Mater this past weekend with my father-in-law. He’d never been to Lexington. So we did a quick drive through and got a snack. I forget how nice Lexington is.
August 13, 2019 at 6:00 pm
sleepybeth
Deviled Ham. Man, I haven’t thought about that in ages. Literally. It was our standard road trip / camping sammich. I should expose the boys to that just so they can later in life bemoan their suffering. Maybe some Vienna Sausages while I’m at it.
August 13, 2019 at 8:03 pm
Robbo
And this was, of course, Underwood Deviled Ham, complete with the satanic cartoon on the wrapper.
I don’t know exactly what “deviling” entails, and am not sure I want to. But the end product is a spread rather than a recognizable piece of meat, and tastes nothing at all like a traditional ham. (Which is just as well, as I don’t care for the latter.) They also do a deviled roast beef, the taste of which is…beyond the power of the English language to capture.
My liege, I saw the photos from your trip to Metro-Lex over on FacePlant. Personally, I haven’t been back there in fifteen years. However, since Eldest is returning to SBC for her senior year, I may find some opportunity while visiting to slide on over the Mountain.
Beth, you can tell the boys it’s character-building. I derive great satisfaction myself employing that justification.
August 14, 2019 at 2:38 pm
nightfly
I too am not sure about “deviling” although there seem to be many foods to which it can be done, eggs being perhaps the tastiest of the genre. As for those classic Underwood tins – I used to besiege and beleaguer the folks to buy some when I saw those things in the supermarket. Oddly enough, as an adult with (shared) ultimate purchase power, I still have never bought any, not even a single tin for work consumption.
I also remember that it was across the aisle from B&B’s baked brown bread… in a can. Yup. That was a family staple growing up – open up both ends and press one side until the whole carb cylinder flumphed out the other. It had raisins! You’d slice off a puck-sized hunk, toast and perhaps butter to taste, and voila! (Adding cinnamon sugar to the top would just be gilding the lily.)
That one, I *have* served up on occasion. The Lad, whose entire nutritional intake is perhaps eight different foods, actually liked it, so there’s that.
August 14, 2019 at 8:16 pm
Robbo
The B&B bread I don’t know. But now that I’m thinking of it, I wonder what would be the results of revisiting Spam. We kids got it (along with Spaghetti-O’s) from time to time when the ‘rents were going out. I can’t recall now what it tastes like, but I don’t remember disliking it back in the day.
August 15, 2019 at 8:51 am
The Maximum Leader
I recall the Underwood cans. And suspect that at some point I have partaken of it. But I have no recollection of it at all. I may get a can this weekend. (Aside 15b at my local Wegmans according to the app.) Just for curiosity.
I have had Spam more recently. I got a wild hair and bought some about six months ago. I bought regular (Classic?) Spam, though now it comes with different seasoning profiles. I sliced it thin and fried it up and ate it for breakfast with fried eggs and home fries. I have also used it in a Korean soup that I’ve made.
I last tried Spaghetti-O’s when the Wee Villain was about 7 or 8. So that is going on 7-ish years ago. I recall it was way too sweet for me.
I may be taking another visit to Lexington somewhat soon. We are trying to goad the Wee Villain into thinking more about college. He’s mentioned VMI, for reasons we don’t quite understand. So we may stop to take a tour on the way to Tech sometime.
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