Thursday, April 16, 2009
Just a cuppa...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Uh-huh...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday = Recipe Day
COFFEE GRANITA
Granita, a traditional treat in
2 cups lukewarm espresso or double-strength coffee
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. Kahlúa® or Irish whiskey
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 cup barely sweetened whipped cream
Coffee beans
1. Stir warm coffee, sugar, Kahlúa and lemon zest together until sugar dissolves. Cool.
2. Pour mixture into 8” square metal baking pan.
3. Freeze mixture until icy around the edges (about 45 minutes). Use a fork to rake the frozen edges toward the center. Repeat the raking several times, until frozen through—about 2 hours total.
4. Cover, keep frozen. Can be made up to 2 days ahead.
To Serve: Use a large spoon or ice cream scoop to mold. Serve in a martini glass, frosted parfait glass or in a small dish. Garnish with a dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream and 3 whole coffee beans.
Serves 4
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Barista's everywhere are saving lives...
COULD CONTINUOUS COFFEE CONSUMPTION DELAY DEATH?
A "modest benefit" has been attributed to both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption in its ability to reduce the risk of mortality from heart disease in middle aged men and women, wrote Ether Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D., in a recent study outlying the current pluses of coffee drinking. Other studies have suggested that coffee may decrease the risk of some types of cancer, however, this was the first study to assess coffee's relationship with all-cause cardiovascular disease (
The researchers believe that it is not the caffeine in coffee that was the key, because higher levels of consumption of decaffeinated coffee also reduced the risk for all-cause and
None of the participants had
The study is one of more than 100 published research articles written by scientists working with the accumulative data of the project that included the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Cancer Institute. Also participating were those in a Nurses' Health Study. Some 86,214 women and 41,736 men participated, all health professionals who were chosen because study designers believed that they were more likely to answer the queries correctly and because of their careers in health, maybe be more willing to participate in such a long-term project.
Both groups were queried on their diet habits including smoking, health conditions, and coffee drinking habits. During the entire follow-up period, from 1980 to 2004, women appeared to have the most benefits. Thos women who drank two or three cups of regular coffee lowered their risk of death by 25% compared to women who did not drink coffee. Additionally, they had an 18% lower risk of death from heart disease or cancer than non-coffee drinking women. Men did not lower or increase their risk of death.
It has also been suggested in other studies that coffee impacts different people in different ways unrelated to their gender or age or genetics, and coffee's antioxidants may be cumulative or get stronger with age. This, too, remains a puzzle for researchers and continues to be a topic for exploration.
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and was written by contributors including Dr Lopez-Garcia, Rob M. Van Dam, Ph.D.; Tricia Y. Li, MD; Fernando Rodgriguez-Artalejo, Md., Ph.D., and Frank B. Hu, Md., Ph.D. who represent the National Institutes of Health, a U.S. government agency that supports medical research; plus researchers in Madrid, Spain at Ramón y Cajal Programme, and the American Heart Association. The original study project was conducted at
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday = Recipe Day
The traditional flavors of the Caribbean in a warming variation on an Irish coffee.
4–6 oz. strong black coffee
1 oz. Kahlúa®
1 oz. Bacardi Gold rum
1 tbsp. whipped cream
Pinch of ground allspice or nutmeg
To Serve: Pour the coffee into your mug. Add the alcohol. Stir to mix and top with whipped cream and a dusting of allspice.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Coco Mocha...
"Coconut and chocolate."
"That sounds like it's full of calories and fat - I'll take a mocha."
"Would you like whipped cream on that?" I ask.
"Oh yes and give me extra."
I chuckle.