Happy June, everyone! How’s your summer going so far? Mine feels like it’s finally just starting; I was wearing a sweater through the first two weeks of June!
So, favorites for this month. I’ll start with a biggie, my newest kitchen addition: my Nespresso machine.
Before the Nespresso, I made my cappuccinos and lattes with strong coffee made in my French press (which I still use to make coffee) and whipped warm milk with this little wand from aerolatte that works amazingly well, almost as well as the Nespresso milk frother, although the wand takes some practice to get it right.
I am nothing but impressed with the Nespresso! I’ve always wanted an at-home espresso machine but didn’t want to spend the money to plumb one in and was just never impressed with any of the stand-alone models I’d tried. After hearing more and more people rave about the quality of the Nespresso and finally trying some of the coffee itself, I was sold. Don’t let the “coffee pods” put you off like they did me for so long – they make excellent espresso.
Check out that crema!
It’s not as good as what you’d find in an upscale shop made by a professional barista, but it’s far, far better than the everyday espresso you get at most shops made by hurried baristas who really don’t care if they pull your espresso correctly. And the milk frother makes the silkiest milk froth ever.
I don’t have any baking favorites this month, and truth be told I haven’t been doing much baking! I hope to fix this in July.
I have a few yummy edible recommendations, though. First, I noticed Silk is making Coconut Milk now. It’s delicious! I love using it in smoothies and hope to make some ice cream with it soon.
Speaking of smoothies, Martha Stewart’s Whole Living magazine has a Smoothies app for the iPad which is well, well worth the $1.99 they’re charging. I love smoothies in the summer when there’s so much great fruit available and it’s too hot to cook. My favorite one so far from the app is the Blackberry + Wheat Germ, although I cannot wait until pears are back in season to try the Avocado + Pear.
Target has their Archer Farms brand of fancy-pants foods that appeal to yuppies and they make these tortilla chips with the funkiest flavors that are SO GOOD! I hate Doritos because they are just too overcharged with gross, fake flavor but these Anchor Farm chips are really subdued and nice. Great with sandwiches and dips. They change the variety up pretty frequently and I’ve never come across one that I didn’t like.
Recently I picked up Fiesta 7-Layer Dip, Savory Spring Roll, and Grilled Cheese & Tomato.
Finally, I picked up some green tea in Hawai’i from Lupicia and it’s the first green tea I can actually drink iced without getting a severe stomach ache. The grapefruit one is to die for.
I didn’t try many new recipes this month but I’ve been making a lot of “minimalist” salads inspired by this post from Mark Bittman. The carrot blueberry one (#7) will knock your socks off.
As for non-kitchen favorites, here’s some other stuff I’ve been loving in June:
Books: I read The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb and loved it so much. It was one of those books I hated to have end, I wanted to keep on reading. Another good read was Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell which was especially interesting given my recent trip to Hawai’i. An audiobook I liked this month was God’s Harvard by Hanna Rosin which is a fascinating profile of Patrick Henry University and some of the students who attended there (in 2005, I think?).
Television: The show The Killing. I don’t watch much t.v. in the summer, but AMC always holds a special place in my heart when Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and now The Killing have new episodes. Unbelievably good shows. And I love how the The Killing shows the seedier side of Seattle… it’s a cool, twisty noir type show. Well worth checking out!
Music: the band Noah and the Whale. Their album Last Night On Earth is quickly becoming my summer soundtrack. Especially the song “Life is Life” which I have played a ridiculous number of times, almost rendering it un-listen-to-able, but not quite because I’ll be listening to it at least 20 times more today, AT LEAST. And the video is so great:
What did you guys love in June?
