Afternoon Coffee

Afternoon coffee and a cigarette. The coffee is Whole Foods' Espresso Sierra blend, roasted only yesterday, and brewed in my La Pavoni Europiccola machine. I've tried a lot of espresso blends, and this is the one I keep going back to. The cigarette is Nat Sherman's New York Cut Original. It pairs so well with espresso. Truly a gustatory delight.

I also found today that the Whole Foods where I shop now carries salt in their bulk area. I'm glad that gourmet salt is a trend right now. I'd been using kosher salt almost exclusively for the past several years because I like the texture, although the taste is not that much better than plain table salt. The unrefined sea salts, however, have a much more complex and pronounced flavor that adds so much depth to the dish. I picked up samples of three salts today: flor de sel ($28/lb), grey sea salt ($9/lb), and fumee de sel (chardonnay-smoked salt) ($35/lb). They also have unrefined sea salt from a company called Real Salt for $2.50/lb.

The grey salt and the pinkish Real Salt product are my favorites. Fortunately they are also the two reasonably priced ones.I think smoked salt probably has limited uses. I can see it going well salmon, but I can't imagine using it with much else. And unfortunately I don't eat much salmon here in Texas.

I'm working on a food blog site. Eventually I'll turn these food-related posts over to a food-specific blog that I can market as such. One day I hope to be a famous food blogger. (I'm crossing my fingers.)