Almond Joy coffee: going, going, gone.

You have to try "Almond Joy" coffee...finished this bag of deliciousness today. It was a TJMaxx find (royal blue bag); their website is KmoJoe.com. The bag correctly says, "smooth, milk chocolate wrapped around flaky, white coconut and tasty almonds."

Morning joy is more like it! And while we are thinking about almonds, have you tried an almond in your coffee grinder with your coffee? The flavor in your coffee is so amazing. We use the French Press to make ours.

When I told Mr. Wonderful that we finished it, he said, "Dear God, say it's not true." It was so good we even took some to our bar and shared with our favorite bartender :).

Do you have any favorite flavor recommendations?
Have a blissful day!

Three MORE good things...

My heart leaps with joy when I see these blue and gold bags of deliciousness: Ghirardelli coffee--chocolate caramel has been my current favorite the last few days. You can face almost anything with a fresh cup of Ghirardelli chocolate caramel coffee in your hand.

Dr. Hauschka's Toned Day Cream is my latest find in the skin/makeup department. I tried it on a recent visit to my South Beach Whole Foods--love that you can sample before committing--and found that it was a must have! It's a nice moisturizing base with color-- I put it on and felt great! Mr. Wonderful said that it "does my face some justice"... and he hates makeup.

I loved the instant color-glow and knowing it's doing something good for my skin, too. Thanks, Dr. Hauschka! We love the lip balm too--one of the only ways to survive if you are in Colorado dryness. I think the $40 or so isn't too bad because it should last a while. (the lip balm is about 15 and totally worth it!)

Finally, if you are fighting a cold/flu or just want some spa therapy, Aura Cacia Eucalyptus is a go-to! I've been adding it to my shower and letting the tub fill--I read somewhere to put it in the corners of your shower. I put it on the shower head and window, and suddenly, EUCALYPTUS THERAPY!

How have you been adding bliss to your daily life lately?

xoxo

-Miss Bliss

pics: google images

Vacating the "Vacation" Home...Off to Colorado!

Breakfast at the airport...on our way to Colorado!!!

my holiday shirt!

Our breakfast view


Hello, Lovely Friends!


Mr. Wonderful and I are blogging from the Miami International Airport this morning... what a beautiful place for breakfast: Illy coffee with whipped cream and Valhrona cocoa in Terminal H/J and we are enjoying a wall of palm-treed windows onto the world... TAM Brasil plane with signatures all over the plane body, Air France, Air Canada... I love airports!


Miami traffic speeds along the highway in the backdrop; in front of us the airport employees are driving the luggage trucks and vans and walking around the runway...we are all waking up.


Classical holiday music plays in the background and planes lift off...


We are in high spirits after LAST NIGHT: our bartender/angel on earth at the Blue Moon made us buttery nipples, (good holiday drink... just like the butterscotch candies!) margaritas, and finally, chocolate covered grasshoppers to send us on to our holidays and travel this morning...our friend who was with us also drove us to the airport, and texted for coffee please on his way to get us... ; )


Mr. Wonderful is tres excited for the winter storm on a "collision course" with Colorado... we are going to get there just in time!


How are your holiday adventures so far???

xoxo,
Miss Bliss

P.S. Here's the trip update!

Some niceties from Sur La Table

How lovely is this pink rubber covered toaster? No more fingerprints!

Cute eye rescue!

Here's a bright way to pour your beverages...

and a little something sweet: French sugar sticks...ooh la la

I have really loved Mr. Wonderful's introducing me to the French Press

And how cute is this espresso machine???

This one would be a nice one for the office

and for your happy hour...lovely little vino glasses

and last but not least, dessert! You can use your chocolate breaking fork
to do some serious deconstruction...

What would make your life a little sweeter?

images from sur la table

I LOVE MISS BLISS

"Mr. Wonderful" here........

I need to step Miss Bliss' blog up a couple of notches but until I can I did a little "Summer Look" for the blog to freshen it up. I put all you faithful followers front and center of the page to celebrate all of you who make her so happy! Sometimes it is should be mentioned how we all benefit from the comments of others and the information that is passed. Recipes for chocolate concoctions to shoe sales to great beaches to mention just a couple.

I also thought it good to put the followers up front as they are really contributors and deserve recognition.

So Happy Recognition Day and for those of you who are "ghosting" the site join in and have fun!!!

Mr. Bliss is finished with school.

Today I turned in my last paper for my first class. So maybe this week I can blog about things I love instead of doing assignments. Back to school at 37 is interesting. If you are thinking about going back to school do it!

I am currently cold brewing some "Jamaican Me Crazy" coffee, I'm sure by tomorrow evening I'll be writing columns again and zipping along on a pleasant caffeinated buzz! I'n the meantime I will be chilling on South Beach doing my thing.

This blog has been almost totally my wife's blog as of late but maybe she would want to post my last homework assignment about how the male body is now to be enjoyed by women in today's visual consumer culture. Or not. LOL Ok, I'm off to make us some dinner.

Tropical Rain and Coconut Coffee

I'm listening to tropical rain fall on large green thick tropical leaves. Drinking coconut coffee and feeling the rain cooled breezes. Life is good. Miss Bliss is dropping my revised application for summer classes so I'm having a good day. I need to do some writing about South Beach today and put together some slide shows for posting on the column. People love slide shows so I need to get on board with this. Hope all are having a great day today! Thanks to all our new readers and swing by newbies! You all have been great these last two weeks.

Waking the Class before Spring Break

All right, I have an 8 am class of college students (and myself) to wake up on Tuesday. I plan to do so this time with...drum roll please, the aforementioned or is that, afore-posted, ; ) "coffee break muffins." I will be sending them off on Spring Break, and finishing a discussion of Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal Vegetable Miracle. It only seems appropriate to have a caffeine infused talk.

Coffee Break Muffins
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

variations: *http://hungrygirlporvida.blogspot.com/2008/06/muffin-break-in-afternoon.html adds a walnut topping, and *The food librarian adds chocolate chips....

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
½ tsp vanilla
preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix together first five ingredients in a large bowl to combine—add brown sugar, making sure to break up any lumps.

Whisk together wet ingredients. Add to dry mixture just to combine—do not over mix. Lumps are perfectly acceptable in muffins.
divide evenly into lined or greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes (start watching around 15) or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Let the pan cool on a rack for 5 minutes before carefully removing the muffins. It is suggested that you allow the muffins to cool completely before eating.

Thank you to East Village Kitchen blog for the recipe shared here.

Two days of Free Caribou Coffee for Daylight Savings Adjustment Disorder

Caribou knows that we are going to be clinging to the duvets with the time change. According to the wonderful people there, "We know one hour of sleep does make a difference and we want to help you get through the toughest mornings of the year. Visit Caribou Coffee this Sunday, March 8 and Monday, March 9 and receive a FREE espresso shot either solo or added to your favorite drink. Click here to find the store nearest you."

If you can't get to a store, at least you can... "Get Free Shipping on the Obsidian™ Excursions 3-pack!This adventurous 3-pack allows you to taste all three coffees and compare their flavors. It includes:

1 lb. bag of Obsidian™

8 oz. bag of Kenya Obsidian™ Excursions

8 oz. bag of Papua New Guinea Obsidian™

©2009 Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. No coupon necessary. Free espresso shot offer valid Sunday, March 8 through Monday, March 9, 2009. One offer per person. Obsidian Excursions 3-pack offer valid Friday, March 5 through Sunday, March 22, 2009.

Coffee: The smell of,

MMMMmmm I am writing this to permanently capture the smell of bacon and Dunkin Donuts coffee brewing in my kitchen. The perfect beginning to any day of relaxation.!

Coffee break muffins with chocolate chips...

Yummiest photo of the week, must ask my hubby to make these for us...the recipe calls for instant espresso powder and cooled strong coffee... my kind of baked good!!!! We will get back to you with our report.

Thank you, to the food librarian!!!!!!!!!!!!!
www.foodlibrarian.com
February 2009
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking book
added mini chocolate chips

A delicious finish

Dark Chocolate Tartufo, Cannolis, Machiaato, and Cappucino with yummy foam on Rosinella's at Lincoln Road... a perfect finish to a shared mini-Italian meal while we were out and about...

...seeing even more excitement than usual in our town with the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, set up on the beach, sponsored by one of our favorite channels, Food Network.

Focusing on JOY JOY JOY

We are having so much fun in life now... it does get better and better as you get older, and finding and marrying the love of your life doesn't hurt!

This afternoon after yoga, yoga class involving me going up the wall, literally, I might add, I made us some coffee with the grinder and French press.

G. is all about the French press... I see why. I have become quite a fan, too. I do like to grind the beans longer in the grinder than he does, though. I love the whirring sound of the beans crushing and releasing all their deliciousness... I feel like the longer I grind the more of the good stuff we get in our cups. I do stop short of making coffee bean powder, however.

We snuck in some clove cigarettes on our front steps in some tropical bliss of sky and sun and palms. I put out my just sprouting herb collection for a little direct sun: basil, rosemary, dill, and chives. G. says they are giving a "sprout out." We crack ourselves up with word play.

Coffee fueled, we went to open a new high interest account in town. You gotta do what you gotta do, and I for one don't want to worry about the state of our economy 24/7. Just throw it into the best interest account and forget about it. Especially when you find the rate we found, which is supposedly nonexistent. I also don't want to worry about any friend drama. Not a chance in France!

Bring on the coffee, the chocolate, and yes, why not, how about some new shoes, too?

Till next time...........cheers.

How do you brew?

Coffee, the Nectar of the Gods! The Supreme Bean! Our subject is the Leader of the Free Caffeine World and even most of the oppressed world. In America the Beautiful the expectation of a perfect Cup of Joe is what gets most of us out of bed in the morning. Coffee aficionados love their own bean, blend, brand, or their own secret combination of all of the above. My friends have names for their blends honoring past steam locomotives, as testaments to their driving force and strength, and you will never pry the recipe out of their dying hands. Recipes for coffee? You better believe it, and one cup of special brew and experiencing the awakening that continues for hour after hour and you will be sold on coffee fanaticism. How you brew your nectar is of great importance. Remember that Christmas coffee you were given that tasted nasty? Perhaps your pot was dirty or just plain old and scorched it worse then “Fivebucks”. I want to know how many people have a new pot, or instead use French Press or Cone filter?