... In 2007

... My greatest accomplishment, some might say, would be my son. Yeah, he's OK, but I finally learned to make a potable cup of coffee!!!

I have a long history in the kitchen, starting with a mother who is an accomplished cook, and taught me a ton when I was young, and detouring at a $17,000 culinary education, which, like my Middlebury degree, is languishing. I can ship up Italian meringue buttercream with my eyes closed. I can make cake into an angler fish, but I have never been able to make a decent cup of coffee. I can buy the best beans, clean the coffeemaker, leave it dirty, use crap coffee, use tap water, filtered water, too little coffee, too much... doesn't matter. My coffee usually sucks.

As an after Christmas present to myself, I spent $23 on a Bodum 8 cup French press, and $5 on a can of Trader Joe's Breakfast Blend whole bean coffee. And for three days in a row, I have enjoyed delicious coffee without paying for Starbucks or Dunkies.

2007, you may go now.