Espresso express

I had an interesting (but too short) weekend, how about you? I spend time with my Mom, did quite a bit of house cleaning, walked the dog several times, and drank many cups of my new favorite beverage, Frappuccino!

I’ve figured out how to make this at home. It tastes so creamy and rich that those who drank it thought I was putting ice cream or whipping cream into it, but nope, not a drop!

Home-made Frappuccino
You start by making espresso coffee and quickly icing it without diluting it too much. In the Espresso Yourself class we put the ice cubes directly into the hot coffee to make the frozen drinks, so at first I did that. But soon learned by trial and error that at home it works much better to pour the hot espresso into a plastic or metal cup and set it in a bed of ice.

Chip up some (new) ice cubes (not too many) into the blender and pour the as-yet undiluted but room-temperature-or-cooler espresso over the ice.

Then pour in some cold milk; I use 1% and it works fine.

It will make a good drink just like that but even better is to glug in some Torani sugar-free caramel or vanilla syrup. I like vanilla the best.

Use the pulse on the blender to fluff and mix the liquids, and keep your hand on the top. The object is to have the liquid hit the top of the blender with force each time you push the pulse button (we learned this in the class) to make a thick, rich drink. But don’t overblend.

This will make two coffee mugs plus a little extra, depending on whether you're heavy handed or light with the ingredients. When I needed to make several cups at a time, I would have the batches of espresso in various stages: one in the blender, one on ice, and a batch still brewing. The only thing hard about it was emptying the very hot ow-ow-ow espresso grounds basket to immediately start another batch of coffee! Enjoy. What a wonderful way to drink coffee on a hot day!
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The other interesting thing I did this weekend was to go to four open houses! The houses were all in my price range and there was quite a difference in them. Sunday afternoon was my first day of looking and already I have a house I like, but am going to keep looking. Housing prices are dropping around here (guess I sold my little country house just in time!) and there is a large selection to look at and choose from.

The shocker was the high property taxes in my new state! I knew it was going to be higher but 3X my old state’s taxes? Yikes! I’m going to look for houses in my old state, too, of course.

Well, it’s a Monday again. But it doesn’t seem as grim with interesting things to think about—like the houses I saw on Sunday! Wish I had a Frappuccino waiting for me at work, though.