Cappuccino Coffee

Since we bought the espresso machine (this one from Amazon) last year, I have becoming so obsessed with coffee and making espresso drinks at home.  Top three popular coffees in the house are Americano, latte and cappuccino.

Ingredients:

1 shot of espresso
6 oz whole milk (it will make your coffee taste much better than the one made with non-fat milk)
a pinch of coco powder (optional)

All above are all small/regular size cappuccino.  Sometimes I find it not strong enough.  So I would use double shots of espresso, plus 8 to 10 oz whole milk to make a large one.

Make the espresso with espresso machine. 

With the steam wand, froth the milk until it is creamy and full of micro bubbles. If you are using a thermometer, stop when it reaches 140F/60°C to 150F/ 66°C.  Or, with some practice, you can always tell whether the milk is ready by the touching the milk pitcher.  

Frothed milk for cappuccino should contain more micro bubbles because more air is introduced to the milk.  It is also stiffer.

Pour frothed milk into freshly made espresso.  Sprinkle with a pinch of coco powder. 

Look how creamy and smooth it is! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Turkey Taco

 中文：火鸡肉TACO

I have a large piece of grilled turkey breast leftover, a avocado, tomatoes and cilantro in the refrigerator.  So, I guess we are meant to have tacos tonight! O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

6 crispy taco shells
1 large piece of grilled turkey breast
2 medium tomatoes
1 avocado
1/2  lime
1 teaspoon honey
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
chopped cilantro
chopped jalapeño
shredded cheese

 

Directions:

Dice the grilled turkey and tomatoes.  Squeeze out the lime juice.

Slice avocado into halves.  Remove the seed with a knife or spoon.  Spoon the avocado flesh into a bowl.  Smash it with a fork. Whisk in lime juice, honey, black pepper and salt.  

Add a layer of diced turkey to taco shells, and then 1 or 2 tablespoons guacamole; sprinkle with chopped jalapeno, cilantro and tomatoes; and then top with shredded cheese. 

It is indeed fast and simple, and delicious! O(∩_∩)O~

Rainbow Popcorn

I brought back a bag of rainbow popcorn kernels from my last trip to Frankenmuth.  They have gorgeous colors: red, purple, yellow, white, and blue. No wonder it is called rainbow popcorn.  However, all the colors are gone once they are heated in the microwave. 

I learned to use lunch bag to make popcorns years ago from Food Network Magazine.  And I have been doing my own popcorns this way ever since.  It is simple and fast.  More importantly, I can cut the butter/oil and sugar in half or more this way.  It is healthier!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1 teaspoon oil
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (use more if you have sweet tooth)
1 large big paper lunch bag


Directions:

Sprinkle the corn kernels with oil, and then mix with sugar.  Whisk until corn kernels are evenly coated with a thin layer of sugar.   

Add corn kernels to lunch bag.  Fold the bag several times.

Microwave it on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes.  The time needed depends on microwave.  My old microwave used to take one and half minutes to make perfect popcorn, while the new one I bought needs 1 minutes and 45 seconds to get the job done.  You should be able to know how much time your own microwave needs after a couple times. 

Ta-dah! 

Throw in some beers; we are ready for a movie night at home!  

A Day at Grand Rapid, Michigan

We stayed in Grand Rapids for the weekend.  It is the second biggest city in Michigan.  We have been there before for a couple times but didn’t take time to explore the city.  So we decided to just relax and walk around the city this time. 

We grew more and more found of Grand Rapids.  People here are very nice.  The downtown area is tidy and clean.  It was early spring time.  Tulips and daffodils were sprouting.  Bright sunshine and cozy breeze made it a perfect weekend for us.

It was about lunch time when we drove there.  So we went to Marie Catrib’s for lunch.  It is such a highly recommended deli that I have to try it. (The restaurant’s picture is from Internet.)

Food           ★★★☆☆
Service       ★★★★★
Ambience ★★★★☆

It was easy to find but hard to park.  Parking lot was small and crowded.  We waited for about 40 minutes before our table was ready.

This is the roof top of bakery.  Well, I did have some time to kill. 

Our waiter was really nice.  He recommended us some popular sandwiches and house potatoes.

My Vermaire sandwich is composed with chicken, cranberry sauce, provolone cheese, cream cheese, spinach and Challah bread.

The sandwich was just ok.  Chicken in the middle was really blank and tasteless. 

He ordered the Sweet Potato & Quinoa Burger。

It was also kind of blank.  He didn’t like it. 

Marie’s seasoned potato.  Finally we had something flavorful.  They were hot from the grill board and perfectly cooked.  However, they were too salty for us. 

The food was just ok for us.  But the service was super!  Thumbs up for that!  Restaurant ambience was great. 

We went to Grand Rapids Art Museum after lunch.  Awesome place! And then we drove around the Heritage Hill Historic District area.  It was a nice warm sunny day, so we took a walk in the neighborhood.

 We came across an ice cream shop Furniture City Creamery.  Time for ice cream! O(∩_∩)O~ 

(The restaurant’s picture is from Internet.)

Food ★★☆☆☆
Service ★★★★☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆

We had a chocolate flavor and an Ethiopian coffee flavor.

Chocolate 

Ethiopian coffee

I used to make ice cream the same way.  Grind the coffee beans supper fine and add to ice cream batter.  You can taste the coffee grounds.

We didn’t like the ice cream here.  They were are creamy and smooth enough.  They tasted more like sorbet than ice cream.  And the flavor was also kind of blend.  Nothing popped out other than the sweetness.

We drove back to downtown for coffees.  There is a coffee shop called Madcap that I wanted to try. (The restaurant’s picture is from Internet.)

Coffee ★★★★★
Service ★★★★★
Ambience ★★★★½

I ordered a latte.

This was the best latte I had ever had so far.  It was creamy, smooth, and had bold coffee flavor.  

He ordered a cappuccino.  It was great too.  The service here was also awesome!  Our barista was very cute and nice.  

We were planning to have dinner at the Winchester, but neither of us was hungry.  So we skipped dinner and went to Founder Brewing Co for local beers. (The restaurant’s picture is from Internet.)

Beer ★★★★★
Food ★★★☆☆
Service ★★★☆☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆

The bar was so huge!  It might be the biggest bar I had even seen.  It was very crowded and people kept coming.  Wow!

There was live band playing.

I had a Pale Ale.  It was perfect.  

He ordered a Red Eye IPA and loved it too. 

A Reuben Sandwich and chips

They were just ok.  Anyway we were here for the beers, not food. 

We drove Holland nearby the next day.  It was Sunday and most stores and restaurants in downtown were closed.  So we stopped by Lemonjello’s for coffee. (The restaurant’s picture is from Internet.)

Coffee ★★★½☆
Service ★★★½☆
Ambience  ★★★☆☆

 

We ordered two lattes. 

It was pretty good.  The latte we had at Madcap was so good that any latte I have after that doesn’t not good enough.  

A Day at Frankenmuth (Michigan)

Frankenmuth is a Bavarian town located in central Michigan.  There are all kinds of cute little street front shops that sell everything from popcorn to chocolate, from jewelry to herbs.  With festivities year around, it is a nice place to take a tour or spend a relaxing weekend with family and friends.

However, the streets can be super crowded with people when a certain festival is going on.  We always prefer to go there between holidays and festivals, so that we can really relax and enjoy the historical culture and beauty there.

Shortly after we arrived, it became windy and cloudy last weekend.  So I took most pictures indoor. 

Everywhere you look, you can see local beers and wines. 

Desserts are amazing here.  

Pecan cinnamon rolls.  The rolls may have been sitting on the countertop for too long that they are kind of tough to chew. 

This is one of the famous chicken dinner restaurants. It becomes a landmark for Frankenmuth. 

The bakery is also a must see. 

Aren't they pretty?

A lady was preparing funnel cake.  With her permission, I took a couple pictures. 

After deep frying, sprinkle them with powder sugar. 

You don’t know that Michigan is famous for its cherries?  Alright, let’s remind you that by adding cherry to coffee!

All kinds of local fruit jams

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Local wines

Window shopping is also fun here!

It was Easter last weekend, so there were a lot of eggs and bunnies. 

Isn’t he adorable?

To me, Frankenmuth equals sweet candy heaven! 

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The sesame crunch is our favorite.  They are so crunchy, sweet and loaded with toasted sesame.  

Pop corns come in all kinds of colors too. 

Fruit jams are popular here too. 

Live show about how to make fudge.  

Chocolate with caramel samples

Interesting candy machine

Another our favorite

Ok, it was dinner time.  We went to a local brewery by the river.  

They offered beer tour too.  I double checked with the tour guide that taking pictures was ok. 

That is how beers are made. 

Storage room was smaller than I thought. 

Time to enjoy the beers

We were not sure which one to order so we ordered a sampler set. 

They were so beautiful that I couldn’t help taking a bunch photos. 

Cheers!

He ordered a Philly steak sandwich.

It was very good.  The steak was thin and juicy.  Flavor was awesome.  However, it was a little bit too salty for our taste.

The potato fries were awesome.  They were hot; crunchy and crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. 

My Reuben sandwich is great too.  The corned beef was very tender and juicy.  

We switched with each other with half of our sandwiches. 

The Cheese Hut is also a must see little store.  You will find a lot of interesting things here. 

Cheese samples

The clouds began to clear up.  Time to go home!