Merry Christmas to US!

One of the great catastrophes of 2020 is the inability to frequent our local businesses. This neighborhood is dotted with coffee shops from local favorites like Cafe Sole to the more well known Ozo, Brewing Market and Starbucks.

Mark used to drive through on the way to work. Fueling for a long commute. 

I used to stop on the way to Closings to grab coffee treats for my clients or even better... meet them there to discuss real estate opportunities.

We have a perfectly good coffee maker at home, but it's never going to produce a delish latte. Especially not a latte I can drink in bed!

With travel off the cards, we turned our discussion on holiday gifts to something we could share and appreciate during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place period of our lives. An espresso machine!

We did the research and settled on Breville's BES870XL.

Word on the street (internet) is that it takes a good month to perfect the shot of your dreams. Tweaking the grind setting, the amount of grounds delivered, and of course the amount and temperature of whatever milk goes in.

Our Breville machine arrived today. By Christmas, I intend to be more than satisfied with my new skills. (Don't worry, I have a new plan to deal with the problem that inevitably follows gastronomical indulgence.)

Check out Breville's first day in the Isolation Cafe. This made me happy!

We found a good deal on this model at Williams Sonoma after Thanksgiving.

Wriggles was VERY interested in the new arrival. Not putting it past him to want to drink a latte, but it turns out it was the box he was calling dibs on.

She's a beauty! A perfect fit for the space we have. Very exciting.

The first lot of grounds are dispensed. We started with manufacturers recommendations, but the time will come when we'll tweak and experiment to make a brew that is very much a Dallice and Mark original.

Yep, it certainly smells like a great pull of espresso. 

Mental note: Touch the milk jug as it's steaming to determine temperature. I personally was too pre-occupied taking pictures and ended up with something best described as lukewarm. Nothing a microwave didn't fix. (I know... sacrilege!)

I tapped out my first espresso grounds puck! Not bad, eh?!