I Use My Mom's Old Percolator

I guess it's no secret that I'm a bit of a coffee person. Although I would not say I am a coffee snob (because really, how snobby can you be when you add both cream and sugar to your coffee every morning), I do prefer dark roast coffee brewed very strong and I do notice a difference in how my coffee tastes depending on: A. Whether it was pre-ground B. What brand it is and C. The venue for brewing the coffee.

And that is what I want to address with you. I do not own a drip coffee maker. For years I used only my French press (which I still love), because the hubs does not like coffee, so I just make it for myself. But after I had a kid, mom started coming to visit, and between the two of us, a French press just isn't enough. So she brought over her old percolator. And I feel deeply in love.

If only this were scratch 'n' sniff!

This percolator is old. The power cord has electrical tape on it, because wires were starting to be exposed. It makes a frightening bubbling noise while it perks. And it makes amazing damn coffee. And lots of it.

It's my best friend.

See that electrocution hazard?

I get it ready at night, filling it with water and coffee and sticking in a little round filter (I am still not sure I'm putting the filter in the right spot. Oh well.) and setting it on the counter. Then, in the morning I stumble into the kitchen with no contacts and plug it in (another reason why the electrical tape was necessary). By the time I'm out of the shower, hot coffee is waiting for me. And the pot keeps it piping hot as long as it's plugged in. And if you unplug it and decide you want more later, just plug it back in and it will re-bubble!

It doesn't have measurements. I just guess at my ratio of water to coffee. This usually results in very strong coffee for me. Hence the cream and sugar.

This is my life. And I love this old percolator. And when it finally does die (although I kind of think it will outlive me), I will cry and cry and cry. And probably break down and buy a regular drip coffee maker. Because no newfangled percolator will work like this one does.

How about some awkward coffee face?

Thanks for listening.

Comments

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner(s)!

Did you know that you can buy an entire chicken at the grocery story for less than $6? Well, you can. And if you are willing to put up with a little home butchering, it can make enough food to last you almost a week. I bought a chicken last weekend for our Sunday meal, and used the last of it just yesterday. This is a huge help when you are trying to mitigate the expensive cost of meat in your grocery budget. First, it needs a little work. I roasted the chicken for our weekend dinner, and I always butterfly it because it cooks faster that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it--butterflying a chicken is kind of gross. Really gross, actually. But if you can overcome your squeamishness, it cooks great. There are a lot of great tutorials for doing this on YouTube, but here is how I did it. Step 1: Remove the giblets (the heart, neck, and gizzard). This is disgusting because you must reach into a dead animal and pull out its organs. But once they are out, you can throw them away, ...

Zumba Night!

Okay, so, I haven't updated my blog about my weight loss every Tuesday night like I planned. But I am proud to report that not only have I continued to go to the gym at least thrice a week, I even convinced N to join it with me! The exercise thing is going a lot better. Today I even looked at myself in the mirror while I was zumba-ing! I don't think that I will ever be the kind of person who loves, loves, loves going to the gym, it does feel kind of good, kind of virtuous to get all sweaty and be able to tweet, "I am at the gym doing zumba!" For those of you who don't know, Zumba is the new fitness craze. I guess if you were to totally simplify things you would call it a type of aerobic class, but it is really so non-aerobic-y. There is not a lot of pumping, or jumping. It is 100% dancing. A little bit of salsa, a little bit of hip-hop, and tonight, even a little bit of ballet. It gets the heart rate waaaay up, and I always end up drenched in sweat, and best of ...

Words on Wednesday

I am too chatty to confine myself to no words on Wednesday. So instead I have decided that every week I will choose one special word to highlight and adore. Something obscure but useful. Something constantly misused. Maybe just something that sounds cool. I am starting off easy. This week's word is IRONY. iro·ny noun \ˈī-rə-nē also ˈī(-ə)r-nē\ plural iro·nies Definition of IRONY 1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning —called also Socratic irony 2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance 3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity be...

As Yet Untitled

Search This Blog