Coffee and Conversation

 It's Easter Monday; my heart is full of the joy and meaning of the Resurrection -- and my mug is full of coffee.

 ==contented sigh==

There's a great Lenten meme out there somewhere (I know it's out there; I just can't find it) that says something to the effect that Lent is good for helping you find out what you're addicted to.

And I am addicted to coffee.

I really did give it up for Lent, though, really and truly.  I conquered the physical reality of the addiction, drinking it solely on Sundays -- but I admit that, emotionally,  the coffee was always still in control. Though I may not have actually partaken during Lent, I most definitely coveted.

That doesn't diminish the effort does it?

Hi, my name is Lisa -- and I'm a coffee addict.  Over the last forty days of not drinking coffee, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about coffee -- about: 1) how much I missed coffee, 2) what I wouldn't give for a cup of coffee, and 3) how many more days until I could have coffee...  I pinned scads of coffee images and recipes on Pintrest, too, and bought six bags of Starbucks Sumatra beans (my favorite) when they went on sale at the grocery store. One night I dreamed that I smelled coffee brewing downstairs; it was so real, that dream, that it woke me up -- and I tiptoed downstairs to see if there really were coffee in the pot.  If there had been (and there wasn't, darnit)... I fantasized about actually pouring myself a cup, thinking that the whole episode could have been misconstrued as a dream -- whether it were or not.  Such are the desperate longings...


But here it is finally:  Easter Week!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there is coffee in the pot!  And life is good.  Got up at 6 a.m. yesterday to brew a pot of rich dark Sumatra, had two cups before Mass -- and I've lost track of the cappuccinos and iced coffees I've had since.   If you could tap into my coffee jitters and the children's sugar buzz as a source of energy, you could light up the whole Las Vegas strip right now.

Guess I really ought to channel all this excess "energy" toward something useful, huh?  Like finding coffee recipes and sharing them!

Here's a good one:

Easy Delicious Iced Coffee

1 empty Quart Jar
1-2 cups strong black coffee (depending on how strong you like it)
1/2  cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (or equivalent in regular whole milk and/or coffee creamer)
As much ice as will fill the rest of the Quart Jar

Stir all together -- and enjoy!

*  The surgeon general has determined that drinking a quart of iced coffee is not compatible with accomplishing any task requiring fine motor skills -- or going anywhere outside a quick jog to the little girls' (or boys') room.