The only coffee

Italy has been making coffee longer that Starbucks, Maxwell House or Mr. Coffee. However it does not need to be as complex as those ancient metal contraptions that take up half of your kitchen. My wife has had one of these on her stove top for as long as I can remember and you will find one in every kitchen in Europe.

The enforcer from Person of Interest has one and little else in his apartment and you know he is cool.

Then if you go to any grocery store in Italy you will find pallets full of the coffee made for this maker. Lavazza Crema e Gusto. 

This what you will be served at our house. It always teleports in time and space to here Piazza San Michelle in Lucca Italy. 

I highly advise you try it.

Dinner tonight

Tonight will be dinner for 10 adults and 3 kids. My back yard is fantastic for entertaining in the summer. It heats up in the early afternoon then slips in to dappled shade for the rest of the day. My sister in law defines summer by the first dinner in my back yard.

Tonight will be grilled chicken with cherry BBQ sauce from serious eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/08/sauced-cherry-barbecue-sauce-recipe.html?ref=search)

We will also have a giant salad made from the contents of our CSA box. Our CSA is Boistfort Valley Farm (http://www.boistfortvalleyfarm.com/). Should be yummy.

PRN

PRN means pro re nata or as needed. It is a phrase I use often in work as a nurse. My first name is Paul and I am an RN so PRN.

Seattle Tour

What do you show guests in your city? My wife and I love to show off Seattle. Especially on a beautiful July (13th, 2013) day. We took our foreign exchange student-in-law to lunch at Red Mill Fish and Chips. I suggest the fish sandwich with an onion ring on it. Then we ate that at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks where the Coho were running. We drove by the Fremont Troll when the guests hopped out for pictures. Then we went to Kerry Park which has the best views of Seattle with Mt. Rainier in the back ground. Since we had our kids with us we had to stop at a water park on this warm day. We met up with friends at South Lake Union Park. Next? Pike place market for the sites and a hopefull seat on the deck at the Pink Door. Sadly no seat but we walked to La Vita E'Bella and got a seat outside. The kids loved the pizza. Our bus boy only spoke Italian. I like that it feels slow and European.