Viggies Veggies

Making Coffee

I have another “methods I’ve tried” post for you.  This time it has to deal with making coffee.  I’ve always been a fan of coffee.  Growing up my parents set a 16 year old age limit to coffee drinking.  I was so excited I remember my first cup of coffee more clearly than I remember getting my license!  Needless to say it was one of the first things I sought to be able to make by hand when I decided to simplify my life and be a little less dependent on gadgets and electricity.  I started out by getting this gorgeous antique coffee mill.  It works so nicely and only takes 4 easy cranks to make enough grounds for 2 cups.

I started out with a peculator for brewing coffee. I’ve heard people wax poetic about the beauty and taste of peculated coffee, but my tastes must not be very refined because it just tastes like coffee to me. You have to pay a bit of attention to it as it’s brewing and give it some time to cool before carefully handling with potholder. I also go through the trouble of cleaning all of the pieces each time. The taste is good for this one, but it is a bit of extra work compared to the next method.

This is an old french press my mom gave me. My parents still use a french press, but it’s larger than this cute little single serving set. If I remember correctly, I actually got this one  as a gift for her from Gloria Jeans when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful set and is easier to use than the peculator, as you just put your grounds in and cover with hot water. Then use the plunger to trap the grounds at the bottom when it’s done. It always leaves me with mild brew, but it’s also great for making tea with loose leaves too.

Usability

The one thing that bothered me about my house was the size of the eat in kitchen area. I have been using an old hand-me-down table I got from a Church friend when I moved into my first apartment. It was (ugly but) serviceable, but just did not fit in the space I had. I went several years with one chair being unusable against a wall, and having to move the usable chair whenever I wanted to get into the kitchen cabinets or make use of the extra counter space.

Now that I’m working in my kitchen all the time and making it a point to sit at the table and eat, this was getting to be a sore spot for me. I spent some time looking around locally and keeping an eye on craigslist for deals, but didn’t find what I was looking for until I searched online. I came up with this adorable (and inexpensive) 30 inch cafe table. I hate the thought of buying new things just to “upgrade” to something nicer, but this has really made my kitchen more usable.  Two people can eat at the same time now and I have easy access to the counters and kitchen storage space.