Terreiro

My wife loves the Outback Steakhouse and for her birthday we are going to have dinner with her sons there. I am a big fan of Longhorn Steakhouse, but Outback cooks a very good steak and that is good enough for me. The art of cooking a good steak is it seems a lost art form, we have gotten some steaks that were badly cooked the last few times we have tried to eat out and it seems we are better off grilling our own steaks at home. We cook out on the grill a lot and it is pretty easy and costs a lot less so we will be cooking steaks at home more in the next few months.

My family in Dallas are starting a new restaurant and have bought some very interesting patio furniture for the business. The wrought iron patio furniture is amazing looking, it makes their patio look outstanding. They purchased it from Contract Furniture Company, this company has a great web site and their products are first rate.

When I checked out the web site I was over whelmed with the selection and the prices were outstanding too. The family business will be able to have some great times on the patio with this great furniture they purchased. I will be going back to Dallas this fall to help with the grand opening and can not wait to get there.

Stopped by a buddy’s office for a little meeting and took him up on the offer of coffee. Obviously not expecting Starbuck’s from their office kitchenette. But it was a great cup of coffee and I think the coffeemaker they have – top shelf, as expected – had a lot to do with how good the coffee tasted.

Get this, they have a brewer that makes one cup at a time. The brewer is by Keurig. I wrote it down on a post it note. Found it later online. Bookmarked.

The actual coffee comes in little single serving cups called K-cups. You pick the flavor of coffee from their “flavor tree” – the secretaries obviously had something to do with getting the cute little flavor tree display – and drop the cup into the holder, push a “brew” button and one minute later you have your fresh hot cup of most excellent coffee. The K-cups are by Green Mountain coffee – they are fair trade, green, good for the earth, roasted in Vermont. Not sure why they chose Vermont to brew the coffee. Vermont?

This brewing system is high on the wish list. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the Keurig system and the K-cups.

My first cup of coffee was served by a waitress at I-Hop when I was 16 years old. On a date, no where else to go after the food was gone, we decided to order coffee and just stay in the booth for an hour or so. I loaded it up with sugar and creamer and sipped it extremely slow, so I managed to get that nasty bitter drew down to the last drop.

Went to I-Hop last weekend and had a cup of coffee. This time I left if black and I drank the entire carafe. It brought to mind my first cup of coffee and how much I’ve changed and how much my coffee has changed.

My coffee of preference is most definitely Starbucks, but I hardly ever order it black. My favorite at Starbucks is a tall caramel machiatto with an extra shot of Espresso. I can’t wait for Starbucks to let me set up my favorite orders online like I did with Papa John’s pizza and then text the order in ahead of time. That would rock and roll!