Did You Know?

Did you know that if you don't put a coffee mug in your Keurig that coffee will spill onto the machine and the surrounding countertop? It can also drip all over the floor too. Or that it might take several kitchen towels to clean everything up? There's that as well.

Yep. You need to put a coffee mug on the tray of your Keurig, or you'll get a mess. Yep. It's true.

Saved Yet Amazed

My Shop Keurig died suddenly Wednesday. It couldn't have been from overuse, could it?

As I can indeed be taught, I spent a few minutes Thursday morning trolling Amazon to see what replacements might cost. That website gave me the same price I was finding on the websites of the brick and mortar stores around Detroit, and promised me free delivery between 2 and 6 yesterday afternoon. Identical pricing and free delivery that very day? It's tough to pass.

Yet pass I did. I had running around for work to do, and thought I might see what I could find while out and about. And indeed I stumbled upon a single serve Keurig for ten bucks lower than the Amazon price. I bought it. Serendipity.

Still, the idea that I could get delivery six hours or so later for what would have been an order at 9 in the morning impressed me. Yet it was also nice to save ten dollars through simply refusing to break old habits. 

Is there a lesson here? I don't know. I'm just filling blog space.

Pointed TP

I don't stay in hotels often. But I am living out of one for most of this week as I attend a trade show. And I am struck by some of the amenities.

They're all good, mind you. I'm making no complaints. Nice big rooms, plenty of hot water, microwave oven, refrigerator, color TV; and what coffee lover doesn't love the single cup Keurigs at their service? I even brought several extra coffee pods because the two they leave you are nowhere near enough for a true coffee hound. But I quibble.

Still, I find myself obsessing over things such as, why do they bother to the fold the ends of the toilet paper into triangles? Why is the first facial tissue out of the box fluffed out into a design of some sort (I can't actually tell what it's supposed to be, but I assume a flower of some kind). Why do I get a washcloth folded origami style into a little fan? Are people actually impressed by these efforts?

None of it would encourage me to stay in any particular place. Don't misunderstand; I love the hotel I'm in. I wouldn't think twice about staying here again. I'll almost certainly house myself in this very same establishment for the 2024 version of this show.

Only not for the origami washcloths. I simply can't imagine stuff such as that mattering to a traveler. "Oh, we can't stay there. They don't have the toilet paper ends folded into triangles.' I mean, who even considers these things?

The first person who says, clearly you Marty, gets a smack on the head with a wet spaghetti noodle. I'm not thinking about this, I'm reacting to it. So. There.

Risky Business

The Ohio Cosgriffs placed upon me a great trust. I was to take the brand new Keurig they purchased for use in our vacation home in Hessel, Michigan, and see that it worked.

It has worked quite well. But I did throw caution to the wind. Despite the warning in the handy guide which came with the unit, I did not READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS before I began making coffee. Going with my gut instincts and common sense, I set the Keurig up and put it into use all by myself.

I pray I have not violated their confidence in me. 

Testing Testing

The Ohio Cosgriffs were kind enough to buy a new Keurig for when we're up north in da U.P. in Hessel, Michigan. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring it this weekend.

It's a dual action coffee maker, you might say. On one side you can brew an entire pot. Meanwhile, there's  a port (I think you could call it a port) where you can make single cups. Technology. It's cool. Or hot, where coffee brewing is concerned.

I have so far made one entire pot of twelve cups and one single cup, just to test it out. It has passed the initial trial swimmingly. Of course I'll need to test it out several more times over the next couple of days. The scientific method and all that, because I need to be sure.

The Newark Keurig

When I was young I was very sentimental. Then I went through a time where I didn't believe I was sentimental at all. Now I wonder if I've come a little more than full circle. I'm starting to think I'm too sentimental.

This all started with the Keurig I bought in a flea market in Newark, Ohio, where some of my kids live. I have it up at The Shop, where I use it nearly every day. And I've begun, in my own mind anyway, to refer to it as my Newark Keurig.

Perhaps that doesn't sound all that bad. Yet it's reached a point where I almost get misty eyed while watching it brew a cup of coffee. "Yep, that's my Newark Keurig, the one I bought while in Ohio visiting my family," I think as I await my morning starter.

It's a silly thing, almost an affectation. Would it be a little less silly if I mentioned that I often drink coffee from it out of the Newark Catholic mug I bought at the same time? Yes, I call it my Newark Catholic mug. But it says as much right on the side, so that's not all me.

The great unanswered coffee question

As I related a couple of months ago, I bought a used Keurig single cup coffee maker for use at the Shop. My home percolator is not yet happy with me but our relationship is thawing, albeit slowly. You can read about that here if you like: http://thesublimetotheridiculous.blogspot.com/2018/05/lazy-coffee-jealous-percolators.html
Anyway, I was surprised at the cost of the coffee pods, those little plastic cups with a single serving worth of ground coffee which are used with the Keurigs. My daughter helped me on that question by buying me refillable pods (thanks Sweetie!). Still, I can't pass on a good sale when I see one, and I saw one yesterday. It was forty filled pods for ten bucks. So I bought a box.
My only issue is with the flavor: it is listed on the box as 'donut shop'. But which blasted donut shop is it?
Around here, when I think donut shop I think Tim Hortons's. But it's not Tim's flavor at all. Far too weak, and not the least bit robust. Nor does it seem to be Dunkin's or Biggby's or, thankfully, Starbucks (which in my mind is overpriced and tastes burnt). The newfound coffee tastes fine, but I can't associate it with any particular donut shop at all.
I think truth in advertising ought to compel them to simply call it coffee. That's what it is, and they should say as much. Curmudgeon rant over.

Jealous percolators

I did something I never thought I'd do. I bought a Keurig. You know, one of those one cup at a time coffee makers. It was second hand, from a flea market. Fifteen bucks. I figured I'd use it at the Shop. The thing is though, I've always brewed my coffee. I even only use a drip coffee maker when I'm up north, and only because it's what we've got there. My percolator never knew. But she knows about the Keurig. Even I feel like I'm cheating on her, the coffee pot I've used at home for almost 38 years now.

I think she thinks I'm cheating on her too. When I took the Keurig into the kitchen for a thorough cleaning before use, I swear I heard an 'a-hem'.

"It, it's only for the Shop," I explained, stammering. Still, I felt the icy, cold stare.

"We don't have a stove at the Shop." That defense, I am not making this up, was met by an accusatory raised eyebrow.

I tried further, "Oh, you don't want to be in that dirty old workshop anyway." She was unconvinced, and seemed to grow colder. More distant.

"Look, you'll always be the one for me. I just had to try something different. Just for work." That certainly didn't have the hoped for effect.

So now I lay awake nights fearing reprisal. Percolators aren't actually jealous sorts. Are they?