Coffee with an orange peel

This is shockingly good.

Sounds weird, I know. A friend of mine at work turned me onto this trick. Take any ordinary cup of coffee (with or without milk, sugar, whatever, cappuccino, espresso, etc.) and carve off a slice of orange rind above it. Wipe the orange peel around the lip of the coffee mug, squeeze it over, then drop it in.

What you have is a cup of coffee redolent of citrus and dark chocolate, with substantially reduced coffee bitterness.

Now I have to start keeping oranges around the house.

I've discovered the joy of iced coffee

My relationship with coffee has always been a complicated one. I used to drink a lot of it--really strong, really black, usually on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.

Then, of course, that blew out the inside of my stomach. I started having intense gastrointestinal problems. Someone suggested that I quit drinking coffee and see if that helped. Regretfully, I stopped. And the problems disappeared. So I resigned myself to a lifetime of tea drinking.

After several years, I started making limited forays back into the world of coffee. (This time, with a little cream, and never on an empty stomach.) Usually it was before a long shift at work--as an additional last-minute caffeine boost. And usually it was a doctored-up shot of espresso, since I didn't want to drink an entire cup of regular coffee. Also because both places I work only have an espresso machine, not a regular drip coffee system.

Slowly, I've gotten to the point where I usually have an espresso (with cream) every day that I work. Every once in a while I'll have half a cup of regular coffee at home. I can't drink bad coffee, but I've also never liked coffee drinks--frappacinos and the like. They taste like bitter coffee-flavored whipped cream to me. Or they taste like a glass full of liquid pumpkin pie, or apple fritters, or whatever chemical nonsense has been added into them. They never taste like a fine-restaurant-quality shot of espresso, which is what I've gotten used to drinking.

Yesterday I got to work early, to make my customary espresso with cream. I needed it desperately, as I worked a double yesterday and was exhausted. I'd already had two espressos at my other job, so I knew a third wasn't going to help much.

Then I saw a coworker making an iced coffee.

Glass full of ice, third of a glass of milk, two healthy hits of simple syrup, with a piping hot shot of espresso poured on top. Stir and drink.

It was warm and sunny yesterday, and all of a sudden my brain said, "Yes. Want."

So I made one. And drank it. And it was exactly what I needed to get through the night.

I don't think I'll be buying many iced coffees, as I won't be able to control the sweetness or the quality of the coffee that goes into them. But I do think I'll be making myself many more of them.

Most people won't have a professional-grade espresso machine at home, and that's fine. The secret to a good iced coffee is the quality of the ingredients. Use the very best coffee you can afford, with whole milk or half-and-half, and simple syrup (which absorbs into the drink better than regular sugar). Avoid the temptation to add additional fripperies like whipped cream or chocolate or flavorings--that's not an iced coffee, that's dessert in a glass, and for the same calories I'd rather have a big piece of cake.

Honey-spice cake with coffee glaze

This cake is honey and coffee and warm spices and fall all rolled up into one. Do not be ashamed to eat this for breakfast. Preferably with coffee, extra coffee glaze, and maybe even a honey drizzle on top.

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:

2 tablespoons butter, plus butter for the pan
1 tablespoon grated or finely minced orange zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye or whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
Pinch each ground allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup freshly brewed coffee

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan (if you double the recipe, you can use a tube pan). Combine the 2 tablespoons butter and the zest in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until the butter sizzles, then turn off the heat. Combine the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a large bowl.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is light and thick; beat in the honey and coffee, followed by the butter/zest mixture. Add the dry ingredients by hand, stirring just to combine; do not beat. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes before inverting it onto a rack. Remove the pan, then turn the cake right side up. Let cool before slicing.

Coffee glaze:
1/2 cup freshly brewed coffee
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, allspice, and ginger
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Combine the sugar, butter and spices in a small pot. Cook at a slow bubble, whisking frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is slightly thickened, 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Add the coffee.

Pour over the still-warm cake.

Starbucks coffee bags = free coffee

Hello everyone! I've been vacationing for the last week with the in-laws in Missouri. I'm home now and feeling incredibly well-rested (and well-fed).

And while I was there, I learned this:

If you take the empty Starbucks coffee bags back to Starbucks, you get a free cup of coffee.

!!!!

I know! It says so, right on the bag. I don't know how I didn't know this before.

Probably because I don't drink Starbucks. They have plenty enough money without any of my own, and their coffee tastes burnt to me. (It is burnt--they dark-roast their beans, and dark-roasting is usually done to disguise the poor quality of inferior beans. Starbucks = crappy, inferior coffee.) But my husband is quite happy to drink their Kool-Aid, metaphorically speaking, and my in-laws purchase their bags of coffee to use at home. They gave us their back supply of empty bags, so now my husband has 10 or 12 free cups of coffee in his future.

So if you drink Starbucks at home, too, remember to cash those empty bags back in for your free cup of joe.