Wednesday night and most of the day Thursday it rained. It was not a little rain, but a whole lot of rain - constantly. We had already had lots of rain last weekend filling our pond. Although the pond dam held well, the spillway decided to do its own thing and cut its own path - what a mess.
So Wednesday night during all the storm, the electricity went out. Toby jumped up around 3 AM and set his phone alarm so that we would get up like we were supposed to. It worked great. We used flashlights to move around, because it is just pretty dark at 5 AM. With no electricity I put on a pot of water thinking that we had a coffee press. It seems that we left the press in the camper in the barn. So, I had a little jar of instant coffee and that worked like a charm. By the time we drank our first cup, the electricity came back on and we brewed more coffee.
Now it is Friday and the weather has turned cold again. I really like it when it is in the 45 - 55 range. I could live where it is cool - like Ecuador not getting much over 70 in the mountains. Anyway this evening I put on my robe and got my blanket and built my nest. I asked Toby if he wanted any decaf coffee - another thing I like on a cold evening. He said he did, and did we have any instant decaf? It made me laugh. These days everyone is a coffee connoisseur and we have good coffee from our friends at Viridian, but Toby wanted instant coffee. The other morning the instant coffee was really good, so I understood where he was coming from.
You know that I learned to drink coffee as a kid when I would get up early with my dad. He was a big coffee drinker. He had a percolator, until drip coffee came out. But eventually Dad went to drinking instant coffee. Apparently he had some problems with coffee bothering his stomach. No way was he giving up his coffee. He would drink a cup or two of regular instant coffee in the morning, and then go to instant decaf coffee later in the morning and throughout the day. It became the way he did things. Even after he died, mom still made instant coffee.
It was funny that Toby and I really enjoyed the instant coffee the other morning. Maybe we were just nostalgic.
6 comments:
I think a lot of it is nostalgia. The power went out in Angel Fire and we made boiled cowboy coffee. It was so good, grounds and all. Remembering the ranching days. We rarely drank instant coffee. In South America where the coffee is so thick sort of made from dripped concentrated liquid I used to drink coffee with milk. They would heat the milk and put in a quarter cup or so of the coffee liquid. So good. I started using Nescafe at home for my café con leche. I still keep instant coffee for that. More nostalgia. Otherwise I drink black coffee. Like you I grew up drinking coffee with my dad and he told me that only sheepherders used cream in their coffee …. so no cream in my coffee. I didn’t understand the reference at that time, but I knew it wasn’t good. Ha.
Everywhere we went in South America, they only served instant coffee. We thought that odd in a land where coffee comes from. When I go to a fancy coffee place, I like to get a latte, because they heat the cream and put it in the coffee. I have to have my cream. In fact, with the social distancing, I have had to go to the store just to get cream - and I will pay whatever price :)
That was unusual in SA. When Gene first went he ordered coffee and they put about a quarter cup and asked if he wanted water or milk (hot), he said no to fill it up. It was the syrupy stuff, extra strong and not real hot. Ha. He learned. Very much like expresso to drink coffee made with the extract/syrup. That was one reason I drank the cafe con leche for breakfast in restaurants. I liked the other during the day or after a meal.
Jo,
I thought it was unusual too. I thought it might be like the quinoa - it had been a staple in Peru and probably other countries too, but our guide told us it had gotten too expensive, because it was so popular with the rest of the world now. Locals didn't really eat it any more. Maybe like quinoa, they make more money shipping it out than using it themselves.
My husband also drinks only instant coffee!
FF
FF,
Instant coffee is pretty darn good. I can understand using it if you were the only one drinking it and didn't want a whole pot. These days we've become coffee snobs, I guess.
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