Cafe Descartes Oatmeal Latte

Earlier today I was working on initial drafts of a logo for a cafe. While doing some online research, I came across the recipe for the Cafe Descartes Oatmeal Latte. There was a Cafe Descartes just up the street from the Lincoln Square Chopping Block, and I would often stop in for an Oatmeal Latte on my way in to assist a morning cooking class. It's served in a tall cup with a spoon, so you basically drink your coffee and then eat the oatmeal and dried fruit. It's a great concept—coffee and breakfast all in one! It tastes great as well, and I love the texture that the oatmeal adds to the coffee.

If you live in the area, I recommend stopping in at a Cafe Decartes near you and trying one for yourself. If not, try out the recipe below. You could substitute strong coffee or add espresso powder to the milk if you don't have an espresso maker, and just scald the milk by heating it until it bubbles around the edges. I felt the collective cringe of coffee geeks everywhere as I wrote that, but really, I think it would work out okay.

If you're a purist, you can learn all about making espresso drinks at home on the CoffeeGeek website. From what I understand (and I would say that my understanding is limited) the easiest and least expensive way to accomplish this is to use a Bialetti Moka Express.

Cafe Descartes Oatmeal Latte

8 oz Oatmeal, uncooked
2 Tbsp. Golden Raisins
2 Tbsp. Chopped Walnuts
2 Tbsp. Slivered Almonds
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 Shot of Freshly-Roasted Cafe Descartes Espresso
1 tsp. Honey
1 Tbsp. Hazelnut or Vanilla Syrup (found at specialty shops and some cafes)
8 oz. Skim Milk
2 Tbsp. Fresh Blueberries

Pour 8 ounces of raw oatmeal into a large cup.

Add the dry ingredients to the cup: 2 tablespoons each of golden raisins, chopped walnuts and slivered almonds; and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Pour in a shot of freshly-roasted espresso.

Add 1 tsp. honey and 1 tbsp. of hazelnut or vanilla syrup into the cup.

Froth 8 oz. of skim milk in a stainless steel pitcher, for about 10 seconds.

Add the other ingredients to the milk.

Froth all the ingredients together, about 15 seconds.

Add 2 Tbsp. of fresh blueberries to top it off.

Pour back into the cup and enjoy!

Would You Like Some Tools With That Wine?

This service was mentioned in the April 2007 issue of Food and Wine, and I thought I'd try it out. Using your mobile device, you send an email or text message containing the vintage, name, and varietal of a wine along with your zip code. In response, the service sends you a message containing the local retailers that carry the wine as well as the various prices. It's an interesting idea, and may eventually be useful, but I would say that it needs a much larger database. It's possible that it could be targeting higher-end wines than the ones I was looking for, or maybe it works better if you're located on the west coast, but the only wine I got any return on was a non-vintage Yellowtail Shiraz, and it only listed one retailer. After repeated attempts with no results, I looked for this wine specifically because it's one that almost every retailer carries, including run-of-the-mill grocery stores. So for now, this isn't much use to me, but I will keep an eye on it. If their database of retailers grows, the service could be handy if you're looking for something specific.

On a more useful note, I highly recommend the article "50 Wines You Can Always Trust" from the same issue. I know a little more about wine than the average person and I'd like to know a lot more, but right now I'm a relatively casual wine drinker and I rarely find these sorts of lists useful. I find that the wines are completely unfamiliar, I don't remember them, and even if I do I rarely run across them at a store. This list, however, has a lot of familiar names on it. I see many of these wines on a regular basis, and many of them are very reasonable in price. If you like wine but don't know much about it, or would just like to know enough to pick out a decent bottle, this article is a keeper!

Best Fridge Ever!

I'm still working on an overview of my Ohio trip, but in the meantime I thought I'd post about this fabulous refrigerator! I saw this at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, OH. It was an odd find considering that Lehman's specializes in appliances for the local Amish and Mennonite community, and I'm guessing it was a custom showpiece. It carries a hefty price tag of over $5,000, but wouldn't it go well with that toaster...?

Edit: This refigerator is a custom model made by Heartland Appliances, and retails for $4,995.00. Heartland also creates the appliances for the sets of Desperate Housewives.

Lettuce Keep Your Money Safe?

photo: Bim Bam Banana

By way of the Gadgettes Fashion Episode, it's the Iceberg Lettuce Safe! Why? Who knows. Perhaps it's in honor of lettuce being Finland's 2007 Vegetable of the Year? Maybe it's because the Wedge Salad experienced a brief burst of retro trend comeback a while back (although I'm pretty sure that's over now). Or perhaps they are aspiring to make the crisper the new freezer. At any rate, I suppose it does make sense that if someone were robbing your house, the last place they'd be looking for anything is in your veggie drawer.

The Gadgettes also covered my post on the skull toaster (the fascination hasn't worn off, so I may have to actually order one). Show notes aren't available yet, but I'll post the link when they are.

Die Skull Uhr finden Sie hier!

photo: Sonic Nonsense

By way of the Unfathomable Dr. Mongoose, it's a Goth Toaster! Thank you, thank you, Pirates of the Caribbean.

The skull clock finds you here? Sweet toast of mine? I have no idea, but I really want this toaster. It would go marvelously with the Porcelain Skull Plates by DL&Co.

Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!

Photo Credit: Mathlete

Oh, it's adds a whole new meaning to the term "Wake and Bake!" Widely reported on the gadget blogs, and monumental enough to inspire an entire episode of CNET's Gadgettes, I present to you the Wake n' Bacon!

In the words of the creators, Matty Sallin, Daniel Bartolini and Hsiao-huh Hsu, here's how it works:

"A frozen strip of bacon is placed in Wake n' Bacon the night before. Because there is a 10 minute cooking time, the clock is set to go off 10 minutes before the desired waking time. Once the alarm goes off, the clock it sends a signal to a small speaker to generate the alarm sound. We hacked the clock so that the signal is re-routed by a microchip that in responds by sending a signal to a relay that throws the switch to power two halogen lamps that slow-cook the bacon in about 10 minutes."

Having been through a Sanitation class in culinary school, I can't imagine how this would ever be able to measure up to U.S. safety standards, but maybe they have that covered.