Four for Friday!

Today’s Four For Friday is completely food and drink based–and I love it.

1. Coffee

Did you know, the smell of coffee alone can wake up your brain? Neither did I…until I read this article. I’ve been trying to learn a little more about the nitty gritty of this stuff I love so much. I’ll probably never make it to a cupper* status**, but if I can at least formulate a coherent sentence involving words like acidity, balance, earthy, floral, finish, and full body then I’ll be happy.

*Seriously, a cupper is a legit coffee job. Check it out. (See step 7).

**Although, I’m not so sure that I want to.

2. Maui Wine

Somehow I managed to write about our time in Maui without including our morning at Maui Wine* After a friend of ours came home from his trip to Maui a few years ago with a bottle of pineapple wine, we knew a visit to the winery was in store for us.

*To be fair, there were quite a lot of details I was trying to squeeze into one blog post.

More recently, I haven’t been one for the sweeter wines, but there is something exquisite and refreshing about pineapple wine. Our favorite is their Maui Blanc, which isn’t quite as sweet as their Maui Spalsh.

We ran into a problem when we decided we wanted to send a six bottle assortment back home—New Jersey is one of the few states they couldn’t ship to! But of course I searched for a loophole and found one of their distributors to get a stash to us. Now, months away from our trip*, I’m still able to enjoy a taste of Hawaii.*

*Which makes me happy and sad all at once.

3. Judith Jones

I’ve wanted to share this article here for sometime now. What a great tribute to a woman who left her thumbprint in the culinary world!*

*Yet, what a reality call to cookbooks of today. Pretty much any celebrity, blogger, personality, you-fill-in-the-blank can get a cookbook published these days, but chances are, according to this article, they don’t have editors half as dedicated as Judith Jones.

4. Los Tacos No. 1

Hubby recently introduced me to his favorite lunch joint on days he works in the city:

These are the tacos my soul longs for: a warm, soft flour tortilla, a generous sprinkling of cheese, perfectly grilled chicken, a hint of spice, cool guacamole, and fresh salsa.

It provided the perfect warmth and sustenance to the single digit temperatures we were experiencing last week.*

*Can someone please tell me what is up with Jersey weather?**

**These consistently cold temperatures are destroying my dreams of living in Vermont one day.