Rubbishy Cookery

It’s holiday season—the most wonderful time of the year! Let’s have eggnog lattés! Ingredients: I’m making a decaf eggnog latté because I’m feeling seasonal, but not so much that I want to be up all night. But you do you. Note the equipment involved: stovetop espresso maker and milk foamer (the latter was previously seen in Recipe #37, matcha latté). If you have an actual espresso maker, by all means use it! Directions: If using a stovetop espresso maker, take it apart and first add cold water to the base to the level of the bottom of the little screw on the side: Next, add the middle section with the basket for the ground espresso and fill gently with the coffee. I don’t pack it down and it seems to work better this way with this device: Screw on the top, and it’s ready to go. Next, add water to the bottom section of the stovetop milk foamer: Not too much water, about a couple of centimetres worth, you want the water to boil quickly and a lot of steam to build up in the bottom section...

Apparently this is similar to a coffee beverage that was trendy during the pandemic, providing comfort and joy to many folks during a dark time. I, being tremendously untrendy, was unaware of this.  I think of this recipe as the café au lait  introduced to me in 1991 in Nice, France, by my Canadian friend who was living there as a poor exchange student. She drank the caffeinated version of this daily with her baguette  and croissants . I thought she was wonderfully sophisticated and chic, and fully trusted her knowledge of all things French. Take all of this with a grain of sel , however, as my friend, although fluent in French and living La vie française, also confessed to me that she missed Tim Hortons coffee. Insert le eye roll. Ingredients: Directions: Pour some whole milk into a cup of choice. I am using a homemade pottery café au lait  cup: Microwave on high for about 2 minutes, so that the milk is steaming hot: Add a teaspoon or so of sugar and about two teasp...