I went to World Market to get some Tim Tams for an acquaintance and for myself to pig on.  Except I kind of went overboard and scoured every aisle in the store.  It’s one of my favorite places to shop because they have such a wonderful collection of unique imported items you can’t find elsewhere.

Picked up a black potted fake bamboo plant, a oil torch candle for the patio, a teapot shaped tea infuser, and a vanity shelf.  When I went to checkout, the cashier eyed my 6 boxes of Tim Tams (I had cleared the shelf) and went “Cookie binge?”.  Wallet is crying, I’ve blown my entire shopping budget  for the month only 11 days in which means no more spending.  I guess it’ll force me to stop eating out and clear out the food in the cabinets and freezer.

I found a cappuccino maker (Bialetti Mukka Express Cappuccino Maker) sitting on a bottom clearance shelf.  I picked it up, balked at the $44 price tag for what is essentially a glorified kettle, then remembered reading about it on an espresso blog which gave rave reviews for it.  Also remembered that it retails for $90 and used that fact to justify a purchase.  Decided to indulge myself and threw it in the basket, then picked up some amazing smelling espresso beans as well.  I have a french bodum press, espresso machine with a frother, a Senseo pod machine, and a Vietnamese coffee filter.  Of all those, only the latter makes a nice strong aromatic brew but is only suited for iced coffee.  Now that I have the Bialetti I can stop wasting more money on coffee paraphanelia and sell the other crap on Craigslist.

It took a few attempts to get right.  The manual that came with it was in Italian so I had to google instructions.  Apparently not following them down to a T involves messy explosions.  After I’d cleaned everything up from failed tries, I found the English instructional DVD at the bottom of the box -_-

Attempts

1. Used coffee only, apparently the pot should be seasoned a few times before getting exceptional.  Hot coffee started spewing everywhere out of the seal, I had to throw the pot in the sink and do a complete wipe up of the stove/burner.
2. Added milk per directions, a bit of steam sputtering out the sides.  Pressure valve went off and the milk threatened to froth over so I shut off the burner and took it off the stove prematurely.  Froth went away a few seconds later, ended up with a lukewarm cup down the sink.
3. Determined to avoid leaks, I oiled the threads, ground up some more beans for another try.   Except I forgot to add water to the bottom and stood there for 10 minutes smelling scalded milk before realizing it.
4. Triple checked everything I did this time, turned out perfect.  Added some cocoa on top of the thick froth, stirred in sugar…and had the best damn cappuccino I’ve had in awhile.  Screw you, Starbucks.