Saturday, January 23, 2010

Coffee

I have a love/hate relationship with coffee. I love to drink coffee. I love the way coffee smells. I love the color or coffee be it black, as my hubby drinks it, or with cream and sugar, as I drink it. I love just about everything about coffee. I hate when there is no coffee.

Coffee making in the asylum I call a home is a complicated matter. I don't have a Mr. Coffee - well I do, I call him my husband. Coffee making involves the grinding of beans, heating of water, transfer of beans to a filter and finally the application of said water to the beans. The water must be the correct temperature. The beans must be ground correctly. You can't add the water too quickly. It's a process. I can not make my own coffee. I have tried and it never turns out well.

Coffee making is purely the domain of my husband. He has the perfect temperament for the fiddly task of coffee making. This is a man who, if a recipe calls for 1/4 inch dice, will pull out a ruler. Yes, we have a kitchen ruler. This is why it takes him 3 hours to make any kind of meal.

Coffee buying is my domain. Coffee buying is quick, easy and requires only a phone and a credit card (we have our coffee delivered from a roaster in Pittsburgh...don't ask). I can order coffee while I change a diaper and catch up on world events. I'm a free spirit. This is why I can whip up a meal in 20 minutes...though it will never taste the same twice.

(Aside: My husband is making tea right now....How do I know? The timer just went off. He steeps his tea for exactly 3 min in water that is 190 degrees F. I'm not kidding.)

Hubby and I complement each other well. He is methodical and precise. I am fly by the seat of my pants. If it were up to him nothing would ever get started around here because he weighs the pros and cons of every situation. If it were up to me nothing would ever get finished because I don't have the patience to deal with the little details. He doesn't deal well with people he does't know. I like most people more until I do get to know them.

I'm glad we found each other. We would make normal people miserable.

4 comments:

  1. You guys sound so cute! I got a great visual of the kitchen ruler and the methodical chop chop chop!

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  2. You crack me up! I'm so glad I found your blog.

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  3. LOL At your "aside" about the tea!
    YES!!! That is MY husband too. I used to enjoy having a cup of tea (microwave the water, stick in teabag, allow to brew and enjoy) but my methods are unacceptable so unless the water is 190, we are not having tea. . . Plus he bought a timer with a remote that he can carry into the other room and still check on the temperature while he waits. This timer literally tells you (out loud, in English), "Your food is alll-most ready!"
    My husband is also the coffee maker. Also the "purest"--drinking only the best coffee, black. On the other hand, I take cream & sugar with mine, but only my husband can achieve the perfect ratio of cream & sugar to coffee. If he is home, he has to prepare mine for me.
    Your last line is the best: "I'm glad we found each other. We would make normal people miserable."
    I'm glad I found your blog! But it's keeping me up late. I'm going to subscribe to it and read more later. :-)

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  4. Okay, I stand corrected: My husband actually heats his water (for tea) to 185 degrees, not 190. This reassures me that you are not the "other wife" he always references, who puts up with all his quirks soo much more lovingly than I do! ;-)

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