I love any excuse to have a couple of friends over. Coffee and croissants paired with good company make me one happy California girl.
Though I spent most of my life in Canada, I’m a sunshine girl at heart, and with the Indian summer we’ve had, I was longing for warm cozy scarves and a pair of socks. It’s finally cooled down enough for us to sip on belly-warming drinks and dress in layers. To celebrate the crisp cool autumn, I wanted my friends over for some coffee and croissants. It’s always fun to entertain now that we have a larger space here in California. While we were living in Canada we had an apartment with not much room to move about.
The true star of the show was the new Nescafé Dolce Gusto we were sent to try out. I’m not a coffee connoisseur by any means, but I do know a good vanilla macchiato when I taste one, am I right? Along with the warm fresh croissants I had a big bowl out, of the sweetest strawberries that has ever been on your tastebuds. They’re grown locally, about an hour away in Salinas. The produce here in California is unreal. I can’t get enough fruits and veggies, everything is delicious.
We sat around the kitchen while we all caught up on everyone’s lives. Spending time with my husband and our friends makes me appreciate the little moments. We’re expecting three sets of visitors between now and Christmas, and we can impress them with fancy warm drinks. Layered vanilla macchiato, coming right up. Instant gratification. I am talking fast — it takes no time to heat up the machine. First time testing that flavour out, I had no idea that it required two pods to make the one beverage, thinking I had poured myself an espresso sized drink. Depending on which coffee drink you want, you will use one or two of the capsules.
Our Dolce Gusto Genio is perfect for our family, simply for the fact that we drink coffee as a special treat, and making a huge pot of it would only go to waste. You can see it doesn’t take up much counter space, it’s stylish, makes great coffee, and the pods are easily stored inside a drawer or up in the cabinet. For the health nuts like ourselves, we’re pleased to see that hydrogenated oil isn’t used in the pods.The only drawback to the machine is that when you take the pods out, they’re piping hot and trail liquid out the bottom; especially if you have a drink that requires two pods — you have to drop them into the garbage quickly in order to get your second pod brewing.
What is your favourite type of warm drink to have during the cooler months?
I was sent the Nescafe Dolce Gusto in exchange for my review. Opinions are my own.
PHOTOGRAPHY by my friend Jessica Doll.
I know what you’re thinking with regards to the name Conception Harbour, especially if you have your mind in the gutter. Newfoundland has always been known to have unusual names for the towns. Cow Head, Dildo, Nameless Cove, Bacon Cove, Come By Chance, Tickle Cove, and Joe Batt’s Arm to name a few. I would’ve loved the chance to be back in the day to have an opinion on naming these little towns, I’d totally take credit for naming a little place BACON Cove. Seriously.
While I was in Newfoundland, my Mom her friend and I took off for an afternoon excursion and ended up here. We thought the harbour looked beautiful, so all three of us jumped out of the car and thought, hey these would make some pretty gorgeous photos. We took our time, snapping pictures of the ducks floating along, talking about the red house on the water, and wondering to ourselves if anyone lived in that abandoned looking cabin. That was, until someone peered out the window next door, to have a nosey peek at what we were taking pictures of. Oops!
