okay ever since friday, i haven't been able to do anything physically taxing outside. couple that with the cold temperatures and new snow accumulations and i'm mentally left to my own devices (which isn't necessarily a good thing). running on the treadmill and riding the rollers only temporarily alleviates some of my stir-craziness but it doesn't do the trick (hence, the previous blog and probably this one).
it's sunday and everybody sleeps in except for me and my son (in fact, they're all still sleeping). so our ritual is to start a fire and while he plays quietly with his cars i read. on my way to retrieve the sunday ny times (it's an addiction from my wife when she used to live and attended graduate school in upstate ny) from my mailbox which involves winter gear appropriate clothes/shoes and walking down our dirt roadway-covered in new snow-i snap a picture of my (and melissa's) university logo--TEXAS!--adhered to my pickup's tailgate, which is a longhorn steer's head profile (yes i'm bored out of my gourd-rhyming's free...).
it's actually quite calming walking to my mailbox and the dogs follow me and play in the snow while i walk back slowly, breathing deeply the cold, crisp air and thinking about the newspaper's contents (specifically the travel, sports, arts & music, and the automobile section). here the dogs are sprinting up and down the driveway, inspecting their territory for unfavorables, cavorting and playing the way hundred pound dogs do.
this thing gets more use in the summertime than currently...
once inside i fire up the espresso maker. we inherited it after my in-laws divorced. it's a nice $400 machine. so i treat myself to a double-shot cappuccino. two of these (look how creamy and smooth it looks!) plus some frothed/slightly scalded milk...
equals this (if you notice i created my university's logo in the froth)...
i'm on a learning curve with this machine and if i must say so, i am at the very least a novice barrista. of course i'm spoilt by my boy kenny's espresso skills (he has a nice rancillo machine). he uses a thermometer to make sure the milk is at an optimum temperature during the frothing process and uses only a certain bean from his favorite local roaster (which i must confess is a pretty decadent bean). in doing so, i turn my nose on crappy espresso drinks which turns out to be at least half the time. even the most excellent restaurants (even some italian restaurants!) make substandard espresso-type drinks. like a heroin addict though, i'll resort to starbucks for a reasonable facsimile (read: fix).
i'm on a bender now to finish the nine before my break ends tomorrow. well there you go, some pseudo-entertaining minutiae from a stir-crazy cycling dad...
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