Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Frothy Goodness

For those of you who know me in my mild-mannered librarian guise, you know that I'm the last woman on the planet to ever get excited about kitchen gadgets. I'll be blunt. I don't really thrive in the kitchen. Oh sure, I love to eat. I don't like to cook. My time spent in the kitchen can be be compared to the sexual misadventures of a teenage boy. His heart's in the right place, but most of the time he's fumbling around in the dark, not quite sure if he's "doing it" right.

Something unfortunate happened to me recently. I got myself addicted to Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes. This is not good people. And frankly, no good can come to me (or my wallet) by getting addicted to anything at Starbucks.

I'm a hard core tea drinker, and I tend to drink it "straight." Sweetened. No milk. So color me surprised that I got myself addicted to a tea confection that takes steamed milk. Mmm, mmm, good!

But, back to my poor wallet. The siren song of Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes was getting quite loud. So while out shopping with My Man this weekend, I came across this handy steamless milk frother. Yep. For $20 I was willing to try it and break free of the shackles of Starbucks. And boy howdy, it works! I'm now enjoying myself a nice tasty, English Breakfast Tea Latte as I type up this blog post. Mmm, mmm, good! Tasty!

In other news, our dear sweet Nathie is in southern California right now thanks to a family wedding. A bunch of us got together yesterday and hit Borders. Today, me, Nath, Tracy, Renee and (maybe) Lori are hitting a local used bookstore. I suspect I'll just end up browsing. I looked at my wishlist recently, and it was so woefully out of date, I just deleted the darn thing (I know, the horrors!). Plus, I'm still in a dreaded reading slump, and even I can't justify buying a crap-load of books when I'm not, um, really reading.

Sigh. Nobody likes a whiner Wendy.

14 comments:

Lustyreader said...

oh that frother is so cute! reminds me of this creamer i got for my mom last year: http://www.elsewares.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/fred_004.jpg

Also I love the English Breakfast Latte from Starbucks too, such a rip off when I can have practically the same thing in my office for 100% free, but I just tastes so good!

Lynn Spencer said...

Ooh, the new gadget looks great! I have to admit that I'm one of those who love playing with the kitchen gadgets. I like cooking and I try to keep the food good enough to distract people from the home decor, which tends toward the multicolored chaos style.

Leslie said...

Thankfully I haven't succumbed to the evil lure of Starbucks. ;)

But I do love gadgets and the cow print frother looks cute and sounds like it was well worth the price. :)

Have fun book browsing with the bloggers!

Jill D. said...

Have fun and say hello to everybody for me!

Tara Marie said...

I'm not a latte kind of girl, but I do love kitchen gadgets--not that I use them very often.

Hope you ladies had a great day together :)

JamiSings said...

Wendy, sweet Wendy, we simply must get you away from the evil that is Staryucks and instead introduce you to the Heaven on Earth that is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Far superior products. No burnt arabica (cheapest coffee beans you can get) taste. At least one I know of that's certified Kosher and therefore cleaner. And also California based so you'd be benefiting the state you've chosen to live in.

Renee said...

Yesterday and today were lots of fun! Now, I've got to figure how to fit the new books on my shelves.

I'm with Jamisings. I got addicted to CB&TL's English breakfast tea lattes. However, at $4 a pop, I figured, like you, it was better to buy their vanilla powder, and mix it to my own home-brewed black tea. Yummm...

In fact, I think I'll now go fire up the kettle.

Enjoy your frother!

Bronwyn Parry said...

I don't need the milk frothy. I simply microwave some milk, pour it on some loose-leaf chai tea, allow to steep for a few minutes.... ahhh, bliss.

I've been drinking a Punjabi chai tea blend that I can get locally, but while I was in Sydney recently I found a chai that was even more wonderful... fortunately, I can order that online. And I have :-)

Alison said...

Ooh, Wendy--if you like the Earl Grey latte, you should order yourself some of Tealuxe's creme de la Earl Grey. Mighty good stuff, that.

Wendy said...

LR: OMG, that creamer is sooooo cute!

Lynn: My Lil' Sis is the cook in the family. She loves all those gadgets.

Leslie: Had a great time book browsing with the bloggers. I couldn't resist the siren song of old school western romances. Really should post about them, since the covers are truly cringe-worthy!

Jill: We had a fab time! More of us met on Sunday, and it was just a small group of us on Monday. But the used bookstore we went to is so fantastic, I think we're going to work it into our regular rotation.

TM: I never used to drink milk in my tea. I mean - never. But something about the frothy foam sends me right over the edge into full-blown addiction.

Jami: I keep meaning to go to the Coffee Bean! I have a friend who swears by some sort of Jasmine tea they have there. She told me it's sheer heaven.

Renee: Yeah, that's about how much they cost at Starbucks too! I can't justify routinely spending $4 on a drink unless there is alcohol involved :)

Bronwyn: Now see, I didn't think about that. I'm not a huge chai drinker, but every once in a while.....

Alison: I'm addicted to Earl Grey. My favorite tea, like ever! Now I'm off to do a Google search.....

buzzsolo said...

I'm not much into little kitchen gadgets. I prefer the larger ones like crockpots and toaster ovens. And of course my whistling tea kettle.

I've never heard of tea lattes. No Starbucks around here. I'll probably just continue drinking my Earl Grey straight with a little honey.

Zoe Archer said...

We got ourselves an old-fashioned espresso pot and a milk frother, plus a few sugar-free syrups from the Cost Plus World Market. Now I don't have to get my lattes from Starbucks any more! It is so much more cost effective. But I love Earl Grey tea, so I may have to try that tea latte at home.

Also, I use vanilla soy milk for my lattes at home, and it's delicious and froths up much better than regular milk.

nath said...

Glad you could rescue your wallet LOL :) hey, if you can make it home, why not? :) The problem is that it's usually better in store :(

very cute gadget too :D

JamiSings said...

Wendy - I'm not a big "going to specialty shops for drinks" type but I do love Coffee Bean. It's really good coffee, doesn't have that burnt bean taste/smell, and their cheesecake is *almost* as good as Sherman's in Palm Springs. (That's a really high compliment as Sherman's is the best cheesecake I've ever had. Though someday I'd like to get real New York cheesecake IN New York.)