You know you're an academic when...

everything becomes a research project.

For example: I recently became entranced with the caffè macchiato, which is (contra Starbucks' souped up caramel version) a shot of espresso which is "stained" with a daub of milk foam and sometimes a little steamed milk too. In the darker days of my first semester of professor-ing, I pretty much needed one of these (and, depending on my mood, some biscotti dipped therein) to keep me my energetic self.As crutches go, it's a tasty one, and not too expensive. The coffee cart outside my office will do it for me for $1.10 (as it's not on the menu, some negotiating usually takes place); at Starbucks it's about $1.70. I first got into the habit of ordering this because it was the cheapest drink on the menu at Nero's, a cafe in Cambridge on my way in to work (and conveniently right next to where my friend Ali lived). I could plop down my 1 pound 20p. saved up from the change from groceries and work on my dissertation for a couple of hours without guilt and without having to just drink straight espresso. If I was feeling rich, I would plop down a second pound for biscotti, but I'd often just buy a dark hazelnut chocolate for 25p and have a bitter and sweet go of it. Lovely contrast, but probably reinforced those two cavities I've been working on.

But a latte, for which I also have an increasing affection, is about $2+ around here, so I decided it was time to look around for an inexpensive way to make it on my own with my favorite brand of Italian espresso, Illy. Now, I'm no connoisseur of Italian espressos, but Illy was the bean of choice at our favorite cafe in Cambridge, Savino's. (You know it's authentic when well-dressed and well-shod Italians are always lined up in droves outside! They had the most amazing cappuccino I've ever seen - foam that was light and silky and oh so lovely. Plus, they had this amazing hazelnut and dark chocolate croissant, which has certainly done its part in shortening our life expectancy.) So Illy it is.

I didn't want to a massive espresso machine crowding my glorious counterspace, so I was in the market for a petite stovetop espresso maker, and after some research (say, about an hour), I discovered that the classic Bialetti Moka fit the bill.

Ok, so that's the back story. I've got my beans, I've now (thanks to my brother-in-law) got my Bialetti and a milk foamer, so you'd think I'd be content, but I've been researching for hours and hours and hours the following:

• fineness of grind to use (and how to achieve it with the kind of grinder we have)
  
• water level
• how to load the filter basket
• what level of flame beneath and for how long
  
• placement on the stovetop
• timing
• when to pour
• optimum water temperature to start
• how to get the Bialetti not to sputter when it brews
  

And so was born the great espresso taste-testing of this morning, along with this over-caffeinated blog post. The winner: cold water start, with a 15-second grind of Illy's medium roast whole bean espresso, about 3 heaped teaspoonfuls, with 5 holes poked in the grinds with a chopstick in a pentagonal shape (the bottom ramekin). Runner-up: hot water start, with Illy's pre-ground medium roast espresso (fine), again about 3 1/2 heaped teaspoonfuls, no holes poked in (on the left in the pyrex measure).

Of course, I enjoy tracking all this information down a lot, but I'm trying to figure out if this is a virtuous habit of learning or a sign of an inability to not be perfect, even in my espresso m aking. The jury's still out on that one.

The other question: if you've been infected by the research bug, does that mean you should think seriously about being an academic? I.E., is the inverse also true? In that case, I'm worried that Pancho is on his route to a Ph.D in projectors and screens...and I'm not sure what the job market is like in that particular discipline...

Virtuous laundering

A recent blog extolling the virtues of the Fisher & Paykel washing machine reminded me how behind American washers and dryers are in terms of energy efficiency and convenience. They are absolute behemoths compared to my wee under the kitchen sink combination washer/dryer. Moreover, they seem to value power over efficiency, as was confirmed by a chat with a knowledgeable shop assistant at Sears over Christmas. Out of curiousity, we asked him why there were so few side-loading washers, even though side-loading was generally regarded as more efficient in its use of soap and water, as well as amazingly able to spin water out of clothes so that they come out nearly dry. His answer: habit/fashion and apparent size trump operational virtue. He particularly commented on how washer specifications fool consumers by offering them higher numbers where such numbers are generally meaningless. (By the way, the same is true for food processors: the electricity draw of the motor so touted on labels has absolutely no effect on the performance of the appliance according to the good people at Cooks Illustrated.)

The delay start feature is also pretty standard here in the UK, largely because of the way electricity is billed. For those of us stuck with storage heaters (which heat up bricks or oil during the night and then turn off and allow nature and manually operated vents to take over from there), we are billed at much lower rates from 12am-7am when those heaters are drawing electricity like crazy. As a result, the best time to do the wash is...while you sleep! Which is also better for the system as a whole, since night is usually the time of the lowest demand and washers take a lot of power to spin those clothes out.

One final cross-cultural note: a friend from Britain was visiting over Christmas while we were in California and (if I remember correctly?) wondered aloud why in such a sunny climate people didn't just hang their laundry out to dry instead of using dryers. I'd never considered such a thing before on a grand scale, even though we had routinely hung a lot of ours out during the first year of marriage due to a pretty lame dryer. It strikes me as odd that, due to soaring energy costs, I've come to hang up all my clothes as a matter of fact in a wetter climate than my sunny native turf. Now, there is a small sacrifice of convenience, it's true - about a 5 minute sacrifice in my experience when your washer can spin things nearly dry. If California is serious about energy conservation, why don't more green-leaning yuppies (like myself) hang up more of their laundry in their backyards, especially during the summer months when the system gets stretched to its limits by the demands of air conditioning? That doesn't mean never use a dryer, but to suggest that it might be a good idea regard its use as optional, or even exceptional, instead of unquestionable. Or have we truly ceded so much of our God-given agency that we have become slaves to convenience?

In aid of kitchen virtue

I've made the decision - someday, I want to buy a food processor. And thanks to the good folks at Cooks Illustrated and Cuisine at Home I know which one: the glorious Kitchenaid 760, with its blade storage, mini bowl and mini blade, and extra work bowl. It slices, it chops, it juices, it cuts butter into flour, kneads batter into dough, purees, shreds, grates, and probably could do cartwheels if the motor weren't so heavy.

It is also the priciest model I could have possibly settled on, so the price-hunting has begun, and will likely continue for months on end until a great deal comes along, so why am I, thrifty-hearted (or 'tight', Drumstick's most loving epithet) that I am, willing to shell out such a chunk of change?

All in the aid of a proper feast, of course! One which we can put on without exhausting ourselves so much that we can't enjoy as well as we would like. Quick work will be made of chopping carrots, onions, nuts, pureeing sweet potatoes, slicing potatoes, and suddenly Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and just plain ol' Tuesday night with the family can delight the cooks even more.

A virtuous appliance, indeed.

How to do Thanksgiving, from two greenhorns flushed after a modest success

So we had our first ever "on our own" Thanksgiving last Thursday, which was a blast. A few people brought drinks and starters--including a lovely tart by Anne and a salad by John--but we handled all the classic dishes, which is no mean feat when you don't have a car and live in a country that: (1) doesn't understand the use of pumpkin in desserts and the wonder of cranberries, and (2) thinks stuffing ought to be little balls of gluey breadcrumbs.

Well, it all came off ok, although I still find turkeys stressful. And we learned a few things for the record. First of all, I realized how much can be done ahead of the day to make the day easier! Second, I realized the IDEAL Thanksgiving is a potluck, where everyone brings a part of the show, and the host just handles the bird. So here's what we did:

Wednesday PM
- make cranberry sauce
- bake sweet potatoes and puree
- prepare pie crusts

Thursday AM

- finish pies
- make up and bake: stuffing, sweet potato casserole, honey-roasted parnsips

Thursday afternoon
- pop in turkey and prepare gravy
- peel potaoes

Just before dinner
- take out turkey and pop in rolls to warm/bake
- boil potatoes
- take out rolls and put in stuffing, sweet potato casserole, parnsips in oven to re-heat
- finish gravy
- warm peas and any other veg
- carve turkey

then...FEAST!

So here's the deal - if other people bring the stuffing, sweet potatoes, veg, potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pies, then all you have to do is pop other peoples' work into the oven for the 30 minutes while the turkey is resting. Then all you've done is turkey and gravy! OR if you're 'people' all you've done is one casserole or some such. Ahhhhh....sweet bliss...

For us, it all turned out amazingly well, although not the hottest food ever, and one of the 3 (!) small birds for 22 people+ was a leeeetle underdone, but no matter. We expected bumps in the road, so that when they came it was quite all right. The pumpkin chiffon pie plooped on us, but still tasted nummy. It was a great feast too, lovely atmosphere, good friends, lots of wine but never too much quaffed, just good fun, and much generosity of spirit.