Coffee lovers can quickly deplete their coffee budget by frequenting the many coffee shops and chains that seem to be everywhere these days. One of the favorite excuses for visiting a coffee house is to obtain a good espresso shot. This drink, which is believed to have originates about 200 years ago, uses high pressue to force hot water through finely ground coffee resulting in a foaming, rich coffee shot. Since most people don’t have espresso machines at home or work, their only option is to go to Starbucks or some local coffee shop.
Any barista will tell them that the best way to get a great espresso shot isn’t to necessarily to buy one. It’s to learn to make one, because that’s the only way to control the amount of pressure and foam to suit individual tastes. Investing in a home machine is the first step in this process. There are a number of automatic and semi-automatic machines available, but manual or traditional machines allow for the most extraction control.
Perhaps the most important part of learning to make espresso is finding a good teacher. While it is possible to learn from DIY instructions or videos, having someone physical demonstrate is much more effective — esp. when they can then make adjustments to ensure that their students are using just the right amount of pressure. At that point it’s just a matter of practice and tinkering in order to perfect the technique that creates the ideal blend of coffee and cream.
Posted November 3rd, 2010. Add a comment
It’s impossible to think about Florida without taking into consideration the fact that it’s got a very steady and ready supply of fresh fish. That, along with its reputation for being one of the most exciting places to visit in terms of resort living, makes it almost essential for anyone to visit at least once in a lifetime. Usually, for most, once is never enough, and there are significant numbers of tourists who decide to make their way back in order to stay.
While life with a close proximity to the beach is appealing, with access to clubs and entertainment all year round, because of it’s fabulous weather, living in Florida is lovely. But with all the wonderful attractions and 5 star hotels, Florida is a great place to visit as well. There seems to be a never-ending display of talent coming from the state, and it makes for a wonderful place to learn how to enjoy the best things in life once again.
It always turns back to the seafood, however. Not everyone is a fan, but the good news is that not everyone has to be. There are plenty of excellent restaurants in every city, places that cater to tourists’ tastes, but also places that are geared toward the flavor favorites of the local cultures that make up the population. Oh, but the seafood is awfully tempting, and it’s worth it to make a trip in the fall for the Seafood Festival . There are several, but the one in Ruskin is one of the biggest, and it’s very likely to be one of the best as well.
It’s only two days, one weekend at the beginning of November, and food is the central attraction. There are also rides and fun for the kids, along with live entertainment. The whole city turns out, and this is a good time to find out why people live here.
Feeling like comfort food during your stay in New York City? Soup is the answer and there are hundreds of soup places in the city, but there are only a few restaurants serving the best soups you’ll ever taste.
Hale and Hearty Soups , the original of the seventeen restaurants is located at 75 Ninth Avenue and opened in 1995, which was way before soups became a craze in Manhattan. The name – Hale and Hearty Soups basically describes them the best, and the phrase ‘hale and hearty’ comes from Shakespeare and refers to an old person with vitality, it also means ‘healthy and well nourished’. This establishment is committed to making soups of the highest quality with the freshest ingredients. Some consider the soups a meal in and of itself; the soups are very thick and thick enough to eat with a fork. If you’re staying in New York during bad weather, they will deliver the soup to your hotel room , and what could be more perfect than a bowl of soup on a cold wintry day in New York?
For those of you hankering for a soup dumpling, then ‘Joe’s Shanghai’ is for you. Claimed as the best soup dumplings around. Joe’s crab pork meat has become one of New Yorks favorite all time soup dumpling. This eatery has been named the Best Restaurant by the New York Times Restaurant Guide, also by the Travel and Leisure magazine, by the Gourmet Magazine and by Zagat Survey. It’s even been featured in Japan. Joe’s Shanghai has four locations, one in Chinatown, one in Upper Manhattan, Queens and Flushings. The experience of eating at Joe’s is a interesting one, the decor is not so great and the service is intermittent, but once you take a bite from the juicy pork dumpling, all of this triviality goes away. This soup dumpling is sheer heaven.
There are two more restaurants that serves really good soups, Cafe Sabarsky , which is located on 1048 5th Avenue, is an excellent Viennese cafe and their goulash soup is the best item on their menu. Xe Lua, located on 86 Mulberry Street, has the best Pho’ in the city. Pho’ is a rich, aromatic Vietnamese soup prepared by boiling beef or chicken bones for hours along with spices like cloves, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and cardamon. Basil if added in most chicken based Pho. If you haven’t tried a Pho dish, do so, you’ll only be sorry you’ve never tried it until now.