Клео Коул - Decaffeinated Corpse

Meanwhile, Dante was very close to getting a second gallery show, Esther was after me to hold a Poetry Slam night at the Blend, and Tucker was auditioning for an Off-Off-Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest in the Twenty-First Century ... or, at least, that was the production’s working title.

Joy and I were back on civil terms. We agreed to call a truce in our battle over Tommy Keitel. I told Joy (again) that I loved her, and I didn’t want to see her hurt. She reiterated her intention to continue her relationship with fiftysomething Tommy, although she did at least acknowledge my worries, and (in what I saw as an encouraging sign of growing maturity) said she was glad to know I’d be there to catch her if she ever fell. And we’d left it at that.

All in all, it had been a rather trying week, and I figured I’d earned a coffee break. Reaching toward the burr grinder, my hand shifted to the one with the green tape. A decaffeinated espresso actually sounded like a nice, calming alternative for the night.

I took a seat beside Mike at the bar. “So are you about ready to accept some help furnishing that apartment of yours?”

“Yeah... that would be nice. The mattress on the floor currently has all the charm of Sing-Sing solitary.”

“I’ll tell you what else would be nice.”

“What?”

I turned on my stool, reached my hands around his waist, grabbed the cuffs again. “Jumping forward on a few of your ‘stages’...”

“Oh, no, Cosi. You’re on my watch now...” He pulled my wrists away from his belt, repositioning them around his neck. “And I’m a procedures kind of guy. I don’t skip stages. That’s what I tell my rookies, you know?”

I arched an eyebrow at that. “First things first?”

“Or second,” he whispered. Then his smiling lips covered mine; and although they kept moving, they finally stopped talking.

While coffee is my business, everyone has their threshold for caffeine consumption. If you’re worried about ingesting too much, try replacing one or more of your regular daily cups of coffee with decaf. Or try ordering a cup that’s half decaf and half regular. Remember a demitasse of espresso has less caffeine than a regular cup of your typical Colombian morning brew, and be aware of what foods and beverages have caffeine besides your favorite cuppa Joe. Here’s a short list... [1] Source: Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2004

Coffee Milk is a seventy-year-old tradition in Rhode Island, and the official state drink. Our barista Dante Silva explained to me that it’s very much like a glass of chocolate milk, except the syrup used is coffee flavored instead of chocolate flavored. The origins of the drink is believed to be with the Italian immigrants who settled in the region. At the Village Blend, many of our customers order it made with steamed milk, much like a hot cocoa.

2 tablespoons of sweetened coffee syrup (regular or decaf)

8 ounce glass of milk

Mix together and enjoy cold or warmed.

If you wish to make your own coffee syrup, there’s the traditional way and a modern method. I would recommend the newer recipe, but if you’re adventurous and have a percolator on your stove, give old school a go.

Coffee syrup the modern way

Step 1- Make super-strength coffee by brewing coffee (regular or decaf) at a ratio of 1 cup—yes cup —of ground coffee to 16 ounces cold water.

Step 2- In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of super-strength coffee.

Step 3- Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar.

Step 4- Lower heat and simmer for about three minutes, stirring often.

Step 5- Let cool and refrigerate. This method will yield one cup of thick syrup.

Coffee syrup can be stored in the refrigerator, in a tightly sealed container, for up to one month.

Coffee syrup the traditional way

Step 1- Percolate one pot of coffee (regular or decaf), then discard the grounds.

Step 2- Add fresh grounds (regular or decaf), percolate again, using the coffee as liquid instead of fresh water. Step 3- Do this three times.

Step 4- Measure the finished coffee mixture. (The amount may vary.) Combine sugar and coffee in a medium saucepan at a ratio of 1 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of coffee. Heat until boiling and sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly.

This sophisticated cookie has just a slightly sweet flavor. When you want your beverage to be the star—be it coffee, tea, or wine—this is a nice, subtle accompaniment whether before or after dinner, and it pairs beautifully with most cheeses.

This recipe makes about 18 cookies.

½ cup butter

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Milk

1 cup sesame seeds

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla and blend well with an electric mixer. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, blending into a rough dough. Turn out the dough onto a floured flat surface and knead 1 to 2 minutes until the dough is smooth.

Now you can begin to break off small pieces of dough and shape them with your hands into small logs about 2 inches long and 1 inch thick. Dip the logs in milk and roll in sesame seeds. Place the cookies on the cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart. Use a non-stick pan or try parchment paper, otherwise make sure your pan is well greased so the cookies won’t stick. Bake in a 350º F. oven for 20 minutes.

Optional: For a richer, sweeter variation, try dipping half of this small cookie in melted milk or dark chocolate. Let cool before serving.

Matt was actually a pretty good cook during our marriage. Those rare times he was home more than two days together, he taught me that coffee could be used as a meat tenderizer or as a marinade. In this dish, it acts as an earthy flavor enhancer. This recipe is actually a variation of a traditional Mayan dish from El Salvador that Matteo enjoyed. He recreated it for me in our kitchen one afternoon.

This recipe makes about eight servings.

2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil (cover bottom of pan)

2½ to 3 pounds beef chuck, cubed

3 cups diced sweet onion

1 cup sliced red bell peppers

1 cup poblano chile peppers

1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2½ cups strong coffee

6 oz. tomato sauce

8 small carrots, halved

¼ cup tomato catsup (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and brown the meat over moderate heat, turning often. Add the onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce. Mix and bring to a boil, add the coffee and catsup (optional). Cover the pan and continue to cook over a low heat until meat is tender— approximately two hours. Stir often. Peel and halve the carrots and add to the pot in the last twenty to thirty minutes, cook until carrots are tender. The resulting sauce will be thick and bright and quite savory. It can be served as a stew with crusty bread or ladled over rice. You might even try it tossed with rigatoni or penne.