Cappuccino in the Morning: Part I

I may not be in Sicily right now, but there is one part of Italian culture that I am enjoying as I am writing this post.  I am sitting at the diningroom table, tapping away on my Macbook's keyboard and sipping appreciatively at a cappuccino.  After Nick and I returned from Italy two years ago, we knew that we couldn't go back to the Canadian coffee standard - a Timmie's double double.  (For those of you who are not Canadian - a Timmie's double double is a Tim Horton's coffee with two cream and two sugars).  We started buying espresso, pulled out our little espresso coffee pot - stained and beat up -  and we began to make espresso every morning.

On mornings when we had time, I would heat up some milk and blend it until it foamed up.  Perhaps not quite the same as steaming the milk, but it is a close second.  Then I would pour in a little of the milk and spoon the foam all over the top of the espresso.  I love a foamy cappuccino!  I haven't yet figured out a way to make the patterns on the top like you would get from a professional barista.

It took me a while to find the perfect espresso.  I wanted an espresso with a dark, rich taste, organic and fair trade.  My favourite coffee company, Level Ground Trading, doesn't have an espresso line, so after doing a little searching I discovered Kicking Horse Coffee.  Kicking Horse has a line called Cliff Hanger Espresso. It is both organic shade grown coffee and certified fair trade.

Even when I don't have time to make a cappuccino in the morning, I always have time for at least an espresso.  It takes me, even for a few moments, back to Sicily, back to our second home.