Food and Beverage Blog

Do you love espresso? Do you really love espresso? Do you love paying those high prices at the local coffee shop for your espresso? I mean do you really love to pay those high prices at the local coffee shop for your espresso? I did not think so! Have you ever thought about just getting your very own espresso coffee machine and saving upwards of $20.00 per week? $80.00 per month?, $960.00 per year? That is a lot of money to spend these days! Well, if you have been thinking about getting your very own espresso maker for your home or office here are 9 tips that you should consider before going out and handing over your hard earned money and not getting what you paid for or thought you paid for in the long run.

Tip 1. Do you think you are considering buying an espresso maker that uses espresso pods? That is Okay since they are very easy to use, however in case you are a “hard core”, “died in the wool” espresso junkie then using an espresso machine that uses espresso ground coffee is the way to go to obtain just the right cup of espresso!

Tip 2. Would you like a steam driven or a pump driven espresso coffee machine? The steam driven machine are the more affordable of the two and so you might be tempted to buy one to save a few dollars, nevertheless the fact of the matter is that steam units do not keep the correct water temperature and tend not to produce adequate pressure levels to make really good espresso. The pump units are measured in “bars” and the more “bars” the more pressure and the more pressure going through your ground coffee then the more of the flavor and flavorful oils will be passed to the espresso that you are going to drink.

Tip 3. Do you want your espresso coffee machine to be fully automatic? Do you want to have some amount of interaction with your espresso maker? Do you want your espresso maker to be fully digital? Is it in your budget to get a fully digital, fully automatic espresso machine? This is something very important to consider, as the more “bells and whistles” the more money you will have to spend. Here is the rub though: Just because an espresso machine does not have all the “bells and whistles” does not mean that it cannot produce espresso like one that does.

Tip 4. How many cups or mugs of espresso do you want your espresso machine to be capable of making at one time? How many people will need to be served by your choice of machine in your home or office?

Tip 5. Do you intend to buy a coffee bean grinder? Do you have a coffee bean grinder now? If you want one or should you have one now make sure that it is a top quality grinder. It just does not make any sense to have an eight hundred dollar espresso machine and a five dollar coffee bean grinder. Personally, you should avoid coffee bean grinders that utilize blades as the blades will not grind the coffee fine enough or completely enough. This goes for espresso machine that have grinders in them as well. Get an espresso machine that has a burr conical grinder as these types of grinders truly do grind the coffee beans completely and properly for creating great espresso.

Tip 6. Be sure that your coffee beans are ground especially for the espresso machine with the precise setting of your grinder or the grinder that is integrated into your espresso machine.

Tip 7. When it is time to steam your milk make absolutely sure that you are using minimum sixty percent fresh cold 100% milk. Whatever you do, you should not reheat warm milk! Yuck! Your best results will always come from using fresh cold whole milk. Always when steaming the milk place the steam wand below the milks surface and then steam the milk on full.

Tip 8. Maintain your machine in good functioning order. Therefore cleaning your machine after every use in addition to descaling it regularly to keep mineral deposits from building up inside your machine in the areas of the pipes and boiler and reduces excess pressure buildup put in the pump.

Tip 9. Always ensure that the grind you will be using compliments the machine that you are using. The instruction manuals of most espresso coffee machines will come with a coffee grind guide and suggestions and you may work with those or try different things for trial and error purposes.

Chocolate and strawberries! What could be better? There is just something about the two together that really can satisfy the human taste buds! The next time you are looking to try a new cake recipe, give this Chocolate Strawberry Layer Cake a try. Make it even better by dipping the strawberries about half-way up the side in melted chocolate and adding a whole dipped strawberry in the center. If that is too much of a chocolate look for you, dip the berries in white chocolate. Beautiful and yummy! This is a great cake for birthdays and other special occasions as well as an everyday dessert.

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY LAYER CAKE
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry preserves
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled, halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch cake pans; set aside. Beat eggs and sugar in a small mixing bowl until thick and light colored. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add the vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract to the flour mixture; mix until blended. Fold in the eggs and sugar mixture. Pour batter evenly into the two prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool in the pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Remove the cakes to the wire racks and cool completely. Place one layer on a serving plate. Spread the top of that layer with the strawberry preserves; cover preserves with the second layer. Prepare frosting and frost top of cake. Garnish with the strawberries by placing berries in a circle, cut side down, around the top edge of the cake.

FROSTING:

1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the whipping cream with the cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread the frosting over the top of the cake; cover loosely and refrigerate until serving time. Garnish with the strawberries, as directed above, just before serving. Enjoy!

Italy is the largest producer and exporter of wine, producing one-fifth of the world’s production and offering the greatest variety of grapes. It has some of the oldest wine regions in the world producing some top quality wines. There are more than 1 million vineyards under cultivation in Italy spanning through the country from the Alps in the north to almost within sight of Africa in the south. Grapes are grown in almost every region. The long shoreline of Italy contributes to coastal wine regions as does the mountains and foothills which provide many altitudes for grape growing.

It has been documented and authorized by Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that there are 350 grape varieties; however there are an additional 500 documented varieties in circulation although these have not been authorized.

The Italians are the biggest consumers of wine guzzling 59 litres per capita.

Italian wines are classified into four categories, two of these falls under the EU’ Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region’ category and are identified as: Denominazione di Origine Controllatae (DOC) and Denominazione di Origine Controllate e Garantita (DOCG). DOC recognises a quality wine maintaining the international and national reputation of that product. The main difference between the two is that the latter has to pass a blind test.

The other two fall under the category of ‘Table Wine’. Vino da Tavola (VDT), this means the wine is simply produced in Italy, usually a basic wine for local consumption and Indicazione Geografica Tipi” (IGT) which represents wine from a specific region in Italy Italian Red Wines – Tuscany is the home of Sangiovese, a well known grape, and one the Italians are extremely proud of. Sangiovese is made traditionally, and is full of cherry fruit, earth and cedar. Another popular grape is Nebbiolo, made in the province of Cuneo, these wines are renowned for their grace and influence with a bouquet of wild mushroom, truffle, roses and tar. Other grapes include: Montepulciano, Abruzzo, Barbera, Corvina, Amarone, Nero d’Avola, Dolcetto, negroamaro, Aglianico, Sagrantino and Malvasia Nera.

Italian White Wines – The most widely planted grape in Italy is the Trebbiano which is grown throughout Italy. This wine is very easy to drink and mostly pale in colour. Another popular, widely produced grape is Pinot Grigio, which characters include crispness and cleanness. Other grapes include: Moscato, Nuragus, Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, Arneis, Malvasia Bianca, Pigato, Fiano, Garganega, Vermentino, Verdicchio and Vernaccia.

Appetizers before a meal can be quite a good idea, my favorite appetizer has to be soup, and there are so many different varieties of soups that can be made.

Soup may seem a little boring to some people, but with a little creativity there can be some very tasty results, here are a few of my favorite recipes for soup.

First on my list is traditional Butternut squash soups with a twist, instead of just the original Butternut squash soup, why not add an Apple flavor to it, this can give it a nice sweet taste to the soup.

Cream of Broccoli soup is a nice taste, but what if you add a little cheese to the mix, it’s not just a case of adding melted cheese to the soup, how about cheesy croutons, you get the double benefit of the croutons and the melted cheese added to the flavor of the soup.

Potato soup with a difference is nice, the difference is that you could use a potato nugget in your soup to give it a crispy feel, add a little seasoning of your choice to a Golden brown Potato nugget and really taste the difference.

Pumpkins are always a nice touch in soups there are many ways to make Pumpkin soup appetizing, you could try a gazpacho, or maybe bisque, or a more traditional cream of Pumpkin soup with certain twists.

This last one may be a little harder to make, but in the long run this will be just delicious, how about a cream of turkey soup with an addition of Turkey dumplings, this may take you a little bit longer to make than your traditional soup, but if you enjoy Turkey then this is worth the time and effort.

Soup doesn’t have to always be the same old boring taste, try to mix and match for better results, and enjoy your appetizers.