Current mood:	pleased
Current music:	Mediaeval Baebes -- Return Of The Birds

New Kitchen Toys!
On my last day at Whole Foods, the crew pulled me into the back room for a little 'thank you' and 'farewell.' The team had gotten together together and got me a very nice card, a guidebook to New England B&Bs (something Kelly told me about before), and a decidedly generous gift card for Williams-Sonoma. Jason said I need to quit more often! I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it -- I had thought perhaps another couple knives, but wasn't really sure. While browsing W-S Jason pointed out that I'd wanted to get an espresso machine, and never had because they do run a bit steep for a good one. He was right, though, and this seemed the perfect opportunity! I was tempted towards the Saeco model that Alton Brown used in Good Eats, but W-S didn't carry it which rather defeated the purpose. A woman at the store absolutely adored her Breville and had EVERYTHING to tell me about it. I took that as a good start, but still did a good bit of digging both on machines and grinders. In the end, I went with her recommendation and used the card towards this lovely machine...



...and, thanks to it being on sale plus free shipping from Best Buy I got their burr grinder as well...



Truth be told, some reviewers were less than thrilled with both units, but that was true of everything I looked at, and the overwhelming majority was positive. Plus, on closer inspection, some of the negative reviews were obviously written by morons. "I bought this coffee grinder to make peanut butter and it did a lousy job! Zero stars! Awful machine!" Not exactly that, but that sort of thing.

To complete the ensemble, Andrea and Dori found these great cups for cappuccino that I really liked. I found some ok prices online, but it turns out the Marshalls stores in the area had them for cheap so I have matching mugs and demitasse glasses (and I picked up a couple extra boxes for them, too). Now all I need is a kitchen counter to put them on. Soon enough!