As the holiday closes in

[ksmith]

Every year, I buy a new coffee maker. It isn't that the old one breaks downs in any catastrophic way. It just seems that over time, the quality of the coffee degrades, even when one takes care to clean it and do the white-vinegar-flush-thing on a regular basis.

I didn't buy a MOMA display piece, just a Cuisinart Grind&Brew. I bought a Cuisinart toaster a few years ago, and it's proved a sturdy thing. Hoping the same proves true of the coffee maker.

As I drove through the neighborhoods on the way home from work today, I was compelled to wait at an intersection while a column of 14 mallards crossed the street. Why did the mallard cross the road? To get in kaygo's way.

Also saw a field full of Canada geese, and a few of our local crop of black squirrels. They're sleek critters, much prettier than their grey-brown cousins. Just to confuse matters even more, every once in a while, a mink-brown one will pop up in the genetic mix. If a squirrel can be gorgeous, those mink ones are gorgeous.

Started writing the new J5 epilogue last night. I didn't want to write scenes out of sequence, but I felt like starting this one, so I did.

Comments

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

I'm new to the coffee habit. I've heard about the vinegar flush, but wondered how many times you have to run plain water through it to keep the coffee from tasting like you dunked a pickle in it. ;-)

As for the geese, only you, Kris. ;-) The next to the last time I had animals like that in my way it was cows. Or rather cow. A very large, very pissed off cow. She stood there and blocked the road while the rest of the herd went by and the cowboys tried not to snicker.

Now, *that* was in the wilds of Colorado. The *last* time I had animals crossing the road in front of me was when about six Charlois (oh, that's not spelled right) cows decided the grass on the other side of the road looked tasty, oh, wait, maybe not as good as by their pasture, well, maybe it is better over there. And so on. For about a half hour. Now, bad as this was, it was compounded by happening on FM (that's farm to market road) 1960. Sounds positively *RURAL* don't it? Well. It's. Not. The traffic backup was incredible. 1960 is about six lanes wide right there and I'm surprised no one was killed in the mess.

I'm really surprised no one had free steaks that night.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Started writing the new J5 epilogue last night. I didn't want to write scenes out of sequence, but I felt like starting this one, so I did.

Grab it and run, wherever the muse directs you. You need some joy out of this project to finish it!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Two or three rinses are usually enough. Once I can no longer smell it, I can't taste it, either.

The mallards were cute. I wondered if they were sibs that simply stayed together, or another sort of group.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Grab it and run, wherever the muse directs you. You need some joy out of this project to finish it!

Yeah. The new ending helped in the joy regard. A much better resolution.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Seems like I've read that they'll tend to stay together until it's time to mate. Couple of years or so? Though, for all I know, they just like hanging around with other Mallards so they have someone else to laugh at the pigeons with.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

And the crowd cheers!

Happy writing!

Cuisinart Grind&Brew

[(Anonymous)]

Have had one for over one year - great coffee maker, except you have to clean it fairly thoroughly after each use, or will accumulate coffee "dust"..

Best beans I ever had were from Starbucks about 6 or 7 years ago in a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Special was a CD (BlueNote II) and a pound of these rich, dark, slightly oily beans that made the greatest coffee. Not french roast type - and not bitter. Just great. Have not been able to find same since.

Great books - just read the first one. Have been reading SF and SFan since "Planet Stories"..
Bill Goodelle
goodelle@gtint.com

Re: Cuisinart Grind&Brew

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I read about the cleaning issues in various customer reviews. I wonder if a handvac with a corners attachment would be a good thing.

Starbucks coffee can be inconsistent. I have heard from people who know that they tend to overroast their beans, which is why some of the more intensely roasted varieties smell kinda skunky. My usual coffee is Eight O'Clock Colombian, in the brown bag. I don't think it's as strong as most serious coffee drinkers prefer, but it makes a good cup.

Thanks for stopping by--I'm glad you enjoyed CODE. I hope you like the rest of Jani's story as well!