My (other) Baby

One of my most fun birthday presents this year was a wonderful gift certificate to one of my favorite stores, Williams-Sonoma.  This store is basically like a wonderland for the husband and me.  We spend hours discussing the various tools and gadgets our "dream kitchen" will someday hold (wood-fired brick pizza oven, dedicated canning kitchen, slop sink for things like cleaning freshly caught fish or freshly dug veggies, rotisserie oven, kegerator... need I go on?), so naturally, this amazing kitchen emporium is a grown-up candy store for us.  When I opened this fabulous gift card, we immediately began discussing candidates for the next addition to our kitchen.  Would it be the All-Clad Deluxe Slow Cooker?  Visions of stews and weeknight dinners left to simmer to deliciousness during our work week danced in my head.  Or perhaps a replacement for our skanky toaster oven, which one or the other of us (I can't remember) has owned since way before we even started dating?  Perhaps another piece of Le Crueset, which I consider to the be the ultimate heirloom-piece investment that will one day be in the kitchen of our grandchildren and their children?  We circled the Williams-Sonoma in Burlington several times as I pondered this conundrum.  We took a break for one of these to help our thought process:

 Yes, this is the famous Red Onion Sandwich.  Any meat-eating UVM alum still daydreams about these Burlington beauties... turkey, bacon, Granny Smith apples, red onion, sundried-tomato mayo and smoked Gruyere, best served on thick slices of homemade honey oat bread.  To die for.  But I digress...

Finally, the husband urged me to be totally frivolous.  Is this not what birthdays are all about?  Sure toast and stew are household staples which could use a humble appliance to make them better.  Sure pots and pans are both utilitarian and timeless pieces.  But what is the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning, that makes me swoon upon first sip, that I would have every single day were it not for the unreasonable cost and lack of time I have for standing in lines waiting en route to work?  My friends, I am talking about the great love of my life (after my boys, of course):  the latte.  Please let me introduce you to the newest member of our family:

Oh, Cuisinart Espresso Maker, we were meant to be together.  Where have you been all my life?  Particularly my life as a telecommuting mom, as nothing ups your productivity like getting amped on home-brewed espresso first thing in the morning.  The husband has already become an expert barista, and is putting the local coffee shop to shame with his beauteous lattes.  Plus, the way I figure it, based on the price per latte, this baby is going to earn its keep in less than two months.  A game changer, for certain.  I just had to share my joy.

E-mail inbox, prepare to be emptied in several espresso-addled minutes flat.

I also stocked up on this stuff:

Phenomenal.

If you are an espresso-junkie who spends a lot of time on the homefront, I cannot recommend this purchase/investment highly enough.  Slow cooker, you will have to wait.  Husband, thank you for the encouragement and the perfectly frothed latte this morning.  Make mine a double...