5 minutes of kindness
Mood:  smelly

I know I've been really bad about blogging the last few months.  There's a number of reasons, but they all pretty much boil down to one thing.  I started this blog as a place to put all the little things that bring joy to me in life, be it my family, cooking, finding some great new idea that can make the day a little rosier, in short...things that bring me even the smallest margin of extra contentment.

 Unfortunately, I've been following world news very closely the last couple months, that alone is enough to suck most of the joy out of anyone's life.  Combine that with a plethora of other, more personal problems, and joy had become something very fleeting for me lately.

 Today I read a very sad story about Val McClatchey, the woman who took a photo of the crash of Flight 93 right after it hit in a field behind some barns near her home.  It's a jarring picture of a clear blue sky, brilliant green grass, and picturesque red barns with a big, black mushroom shaped cloud rising up behind.  She called the photo "End of Serenity" and gave it to the FBI while they were doing the investigation following the 9/11 attack on the United States.  She got a copyright on the photo rather than selling it outright, gave limited permission out to news agencies, and sold copies printed on her home computer with the proceeds going to charity.

 Of course, in a world that feels more backwards than not these days, she's now being accused of fabricating the photo by conspiracy theorists who refuse to believe the official reports of what happened that tragic morning.  One even went so far as to publish her email and phone number on his site which has caused her no small difficulty, as you may well imagine considering some of the nut cases out there on the net (not to mention the general world at large).

 When I read about her troubles, something just came over me and I did something that is completely outside of my normal behavior.  I looked up that atrocious conspiracy theory site and got her email off it.  I wrote her a short note of encouragement and support and hit the send button.

 I wasn't surprised when my email dinged at me about 10 minutes later.  I figured it was a mailer-daemon telling me that her box had been so inundated with hate spam or something that my feeble note couldn't be delivered.

 When I looked at it, it was a return note from her thanking me for the kind words.  We sent a few more messages back and forth over the course of the afternoon and she's insisted on sending me a copy of "End of Serenity" in gratitude.  I tried to tell her that just knowing that my initial email helped cheer her was enough, but she insisted, so I gave her my address.  As soon as I can swing it, I'll be sending some money in to one of the charities the photo is being used for.

 I think that considering the events of 9/11 and the terrible impact that it had not only on countless lives, but on the entire country (indeed the whole world), that a photo of the immediate aftermath would be a rather gruesome memento.  Then I realized, that Flight 93 represented more than tragedy.  It represented hope and courage in the face of death.  Somehow the people on Flight 93 managed to keep that plane from reaching its destination, saving many lives.  I'm sure they knew that they would not be getting off that plane in this lifetime, but rather than give up and wallow in self-pity, they found the courage and strength to recognize they had the chance to prevent even more deaths.  It is because of their sacrifice and courage that this photo is, at least to me, a symbol of what is good and decent about the United States and Americans as a whole.

 I'm sorry about the rather bleak subject today, but joy isn't always about being happy, sometimes it is only about finding peace in the face of the many difficulties in life.  Today's message I guess would be to share a kind word with a stranger without expecting anything in return.  You have no idea how much sometimes a little unlooked for encouragement can mean to our fellow travelers, even when we don't know their names.  And sometimes, just sometimes, we get a little something back.

Thanks, Val.  Hang in there.

Relative peace in the house with new Mommy Money
We have been blessed (and sometimes cursed) with a child who is not only beautiful but strong willed and stubborn. Blessed because it means that she will be less likely to succumb to the perils of peer pressure (I hope) and cursed because, well...she doesn't always want to do as she's told because she just plain doesn't want to.

Every time we've struggled with getting her to move in a certain direction to encourage her growth, it's met with resistance. She likes the status quo and really doesn't like change, even if it's for the better. Five year olds aren't exactly known for their far sightedness, though. Heehee.

So, after a particularly frustrating day. I put us both in time out because she was so worked up I was afraid she'd make herself sick and I was so upset that I was worried I was going to lose my temper completely at her. She went to her room to calm down and I went for a walk while the Man-thing held down the fort and watched the World Cup.

My walk turned out to be a bit longer than I had originally planned. I knew that something had to change, but so far neither the carrot nor the stick was working. If we tried using a reward for , it would immediately become something undesirable. Discipline wasn't getting us very far and outright punishment was making things worse. So I walked and I thought. I needed to come up with some way to combine the carrot and the stick and have them work together with her in a way that she would respect both aspects of the deal.

Finally I came up with what we're now calling Mommy Money. I printed up some little rainbow flowers and cut them out into tokens. When she's told to do something, like pick up her toys, and does it without a big fight, she gets a token. (I still expect to hear some 'But I don't want to!'s coming out of her, but that I can live with as long as she still does it without having to be told more than a second time.) Bedtime without a big fuss gets a token (great start for the next day!), as well as working on things like learning her alphabet, practicing her counting and the little bits of basic math we've been working on (addition and subtraction), all get a token. Being a good helper, finding things to help Mom or Dad without having to be asked first, gets two tokens of Mommy Money.

What's it good for? Time on the computer, 10 minutes per token that she can trade in or save up to exchange for real money for a toy if she wants.

Of course, she can also lose tokens for pitching one of her infamous fits, but she really doesn't want that to happen. So far she hasn't lost any and is actively looking for ways to earn more Mommy Money, even though she's ahead of her computer time already.

I've got a file folder on my desktop with all her little games and stuff that's Mommy approved, which absolutely thrills her that she can just hop on and do what she feels like and change when she wants without me having to come help (much).

So far it's working almost too well to believe it will last, but she's really getting a sense of accomplishment in how much Mommy Money she has earned by doing things all by herself. I have to admit, I'm pretty darned proud of her, too. She's far less likely to try giving up in the middle of a chore when she knows if she does it she gets a tangible reward at the end.

Some days I'm a genius.

Posted by Kim at 11:27 PM EDT

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My daughter, so put upon...
You know, I do try very hard not to go on about how cute my daughter is. Every parent does that sort of thing, but every so often...I just can't resist.

Tonight we had a fairly spectacular thunderstorm blow through, and Krazee K is finally to the point where they don't absolutely terrify her. She and I watched the light show for a bit, then we went in and sat on the couch to watch a movie while she got out some paper and pencils and started to draw.

A particularly loud clap of thunder rolled out and without even looking up she said in the most exasperated voice imaginable, "Thundercloud, I can't get you some ice cream right now. Can't you tell that I'm busy?!? Sheesh!!"

I started laughing so hard, my eyes were watering, which of course prompted her to give me a dramatic eye roll and say, "Mommy, it wasn't that funny."

Sure, it wasn't, nuh uh...not at all....

Hurrah!
Topic: What's on the menu today?
Well, following my friend Fiona's suggestion, I have nearly got my black bean soup recipe to where I want it!

I somehow think I will never be able to make it as good as Marlene's, but this is pretty darned close.

As I complained earlier about my latest test recipe, the flavor was decent enough, but it was rather thin and it looked like...well...dirty dishwater. Krazee K didn't want anything to do with it, and quite frankly, I don't blame her one bit. It did not look appetizing at all.

Bemoaning my plight to Fi, she suggested not rinsing the beans like the directions say to. I figured at this point I didn't have much to lose and it's a relatively inexpensive meal to experiment with, so that's just what I did.

I went with an inexpensive brand of canned beans partly because I try to be frugal when I can and partly because it was one of the few brands that had the beans packed in just water with some salt in it.

When I made the soup, I didn't rinse the beans and to offset the additional salt added by doing so, I went with a super low-salt broth and skipped adding more later on. I also had to reduce how much extra water I added because I was doubling the recipe and somehow managed to grab the wrong pot, so I was running out of room!

It turned out lovely and thick with a rich, deep color, even after stirring in the dollop of sour cream floated on top of each bowl. Success! Or something like it anyway. I'm still going to fiddle with it some before adding it to the recipe page, though. It's still missing something, I just need to figure out what!

Major Update
Well, this is what happens when I go off my ADD supplements. I neglect my blog and recipe site. Boo on me!

Well, all the stuff we've been up to the last 2 and a half months or so really isn't a whole lot, really. K got lots of little toys in her Easter basket and a few treats, not too many since I don't want her to end up a sugar junky like the Man-thing and I are. It's still a constant battle, but fortunately she still thinks things like carrot sticks with some ranch dressing and apple slices with peanut butter on the side are treats. Heehee.

For Mother's Day I got to spend a couple hours by myself in Michael's Craft Store while K helped the Man-thing pick out a present from them for me. It was a nice afternoon, even if it did rain. I'm still enjoying the CDs and DVD they ended up getting me. Then we had dinner at Friendly's (of course) so I didn't have to cook and clean up afterwards.

For our 10th wedding anniversary we didn't do much, either. I'm not sure why, but we just aren't huge into big celebrations for stuff, just nice, quiet times to be together. The Man-thing and I really just wanted to go to dinner and watch a movie at home afterwards, but couldn't decide on where to go out to eat at. So we let K choose. Friendly's, of course. Heehee. I think that's the only restaurant she knows the name of, maybe McDonald's, too but we haven't been there in ages.

After we got home we watched the remake of War of the Worlds. Not a bad flick, really, though the ending was a bit too hokey for me. Considering how dark most of the rest of the movie was, such a storybook happy ending seemed forced.

Then, of course, we had K's birthday. She didn't want to go to Friendly's *gasp* for dinner, but wanted corn dogs instead. So, that's what we had. Heehee. I also picked up some frozen waffle potato things at the store and heated them up with a mountain of cheese melted over top. Those were a big hit, quite tasty, too dipped in ranch dressing. K got some new clothes and some new books for her LeapPad, a gift card to Target to pick something out for herself, and a new outfit for her dress-up doll. She had quite a bit of fun dressing up her baby and putting her in the stroller for a turn around the apartment. She's hardly put down her LeapPad with the new Madagascar book she got, too.

We did have a bit of excitement the day before her birthday when we went to the local Memorial Day parade, though. We're not sure exactly where she picked it up, but that evening we found a tick on K. Apparently they're all over back here, even in town in yards and such. The Man-thing had to go look online to find out for sure what the best way to take one off was because that sucker (no pun intended) was not going to easily let go of her leg. With all the reports of Lyme disease we heard about before coming here, we wanted to be sure we did it right. We got it off finally, and there's no sign of any infection, so I think we're in the clear.

Oh, and in case you're interested, using tweezers to grasp the little pest as near the skin as possible and pulling smoothly and gently is the recommended method. There's two schools of thought still on what to do if any of the mouth parts get left behind, but fortunately we didn't have to worry about that since it came out clean. Jerking on it makes it more likely that the mouth parts will come off and remain lodged in the victim. Smothering methods won't work because they're too darned hardy and using a hot needle or match might make them regurgitate before falling off, which means if they have any sort of infectious agent inside them, any chance of prevention just flew out the window. Squeezing the body will have the same effect.

So, we're marginally educated on the local tick problem now. I'm not too pleased about it, but we'll deal with it. Awareness is half the battle for such things, after all.

Currently, K and I walked to the local specialty yarn shop the other day. She picked out a little knit rucksack from a knitting book I have so I splurged a little and bought the supplies to make it. Unfortunately, I misread the directions, so I need to take back a set of needles I got because they're the wrong size. It is still a neat shop, though. The mind boggles at the amazing variety of specialty yarns and ribbons available these days. I hope I can get this project done and get back into the swing of needlework and maybe make something for me next.

Of course, I still need to get some supplies for my wirework. I can't do much of anything for a while until I do. Michael's was a bit of a disappointment when I was there last since they didn't have any wirework supplies in stock. I don't know if they're dropping it completely or were just in the process of re-arranging the store. The gal I asked didn't know and they were all so busy at the time I didn't want to trouble anyone else. I guess I'll have to order online or try going back at a later date.

As far as new recipes, I'm still searching for a black bean soup to make that can compare to Marilyn's from St. Paul's school when I worked there. I tried out a new one and though the taste was fairly good, the appearance left a lot to be desired. (It looked like dishwater with black beans floating in it.) My best friend, Fi, said she'd send me her black bean chili recipe to try, so I have great hopes for that.

I also made some mocha pots de creme a while back. Crazy easy and drop-dead rich. I really need to sit down and type it up to add to the recipe site. It's a great, quick dessert, even if it does require a bit of forethought since it needs to chill for a few hours. To make it only takes about 15 minutes, though!

Oh, and we have a new 'favorite' meal here, too. I don't remember what the original recipe called it, but we're calling it Pull-apart Pizza. You use refrigerator buttermilk biscuits for the crust, so you just sort of scoop with a spatula what you want for a serving and it comes apart in bite-sized pieces. How fun is that?

I need to fiddle with it a little since I've been making it on stoneware. If you don't have a good stoneware pan, then it will most likely turn out soggy, so I'm going to give it another go on a regular baking sheet or pan and experiment with how best to go about making it that way.

So, I have lots to do as you can see, I still haven't tried that recipe for little Irish potato candies, I'm going to try to do it this weekend. No promises, though. I'm not taking anything for my ADD at the moment and it's really starting to show. I'm happy to keep us in clean clothes from day to day and the dishes under some sort of control. The house is seriously starting to get away from me, so we're trying to figure out how to get the supplements back into the now quickly shrinking budget. (I know, I just bought $20 of yarn, but it's been sooooo long since I did an impulse purchase, it was nice to let go for a change.) We'll manage it somehow, though. I have faith in that.

So, look for more updates, I'm going to try to get those recipes up by next week if possible.

Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: What's on the menu today?
Some mornings I'm just a genius. K woke up bright and early, and since she didn't have a whole lot for dinner last night...hungry.

Well, we ate the last of the sugar bomb cereal a couple days ago and I really didn't want to scramble up a couple eggs because, well, I just really didn't feel like it.

So, digging around in the 'fridge I ran across a bag of apples that we've slowly been getting eaten. Since we've had them for a while now (thank goodness they keep for so long in the refrigerator!) I asked K how home-made applesauce sounded. She was pretty keen on that idea, so I dug around a bit in my cookbooks. I knew just the recipe I wanted.

It's not a recipe for applesauce the way you would make it for canning. It's actually supposed to go in the bottom of an apple tart. I made said tart a few years ago and loved the bottom filling, so I got out my Big French Cookbook of Doom.

My Friday Morning Applesauce is my own twist on this tart filling. If you try this, you'll end up with a very thick, rich, and hearty sauce. The original recipe had only apples, butter, sugar, and vanilla and called for great care to keep the mixture from coloring. Pfft. Mine's a lovely rich color from the brown sugar and cinnamon. Tastes even better than the original because of it, too if you ask me.

Oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day! (Not to mention all the birthdays for this month: Sandy on the 1st, Dad's on the 15th, and Michelle's today! Yoikes!)

My favorite time of year!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Black Coffee - Henry Rollins
Topic: Holiday Treats
I love holidays, all for different reasons. Halloween because of the costumes, Christmas for the giving of presents (even better than the getting), and St. Patrick's Day for the food.

St. Patrick's Day? I'm sure you're wondering if I've been sniffing the laundry detergent again, but no, some of my absolute favorite treats are most readily had during March.

The Irish rasher bacon I mentioned in an earlier post that the local grocery store carries through the month is one of them.

Nostalgia for my home town and my private indulgences made me start longing for these little candy treats that one could find in a couple specialty stores in Yakima if one knew where to look during March. They look like tiny little potatoes made from powdered sugar, flavored with either Irish Creme or Irish whiskey, and then rolled in some cinnamon for the 'jackets'. Since I've never seen them anywhere else, not even in Seattle, I decided to see if I could find a recipe for them online.

SCORE!!!

Now, I just need some Irish whiskey and I'll be all set since I have everything else on hand.

No, really...the recipe calls for it. I'll post the recipe just as soon as I give it a test drive.

It sucks being a parent sometimes
Mood:  blue
Well, we had an absolutely gruelling day today. First, it was getting up at the crack of dawn. Everyone. K had to be coaxed out of bed with the promise of a bowl of sugar bomb cereal that I had the foresight to procure at the store last night. I knew what was coming, even if she didn't.

Then we were all dressed, hair brushed and braided, and out into the arctic wind blowing outside that made our ears instantly ache with numbness.

15 minutes later we were at the doctor's office. Fortunately, we didn't have a long wait. K thought the whole weighing and measuring her height was pretty cool, though. She hadn't seen that sort of scale before. 50 lbs and 3'7". Not too bad, really. She's at the 80th percentile for height and 90th for weight, so nice and healthy, at least.

It took a little more coaxing for the rest, though. She froze up for the eye chart and wouldn't do it, so that was a bust. We had a small fight over getting her temperature taken until I remembered at home we go with the armpit method. (She's so rarely sick, it had slipped my mind.) The blood pressure was also something she found interesting, even if she wasn't so sure about it at first.

Then we got to finally meet her new doctor. Dr. Lee is a very sweet woman, great with kids, too. K was being particularly shy through the whole start of this visit, but it wasn't too long before she started to relax. She cooperated through the rest of her physical and we even got some giggles out of her.

Unfortunately, she's behind in her shots. With school starting this fall, she has to get caught up. That means not one, not two, but three pokes in the arm today. Dr. Lee was able to combine two and saved it from being four at least. The first one caught K by surprise, so the other two...well...it was not pleasant for any of us. It was all I could do to not cry, and I'd be lying if I said thinking back on her begging and pleading to be allowed to go home and not get the last shot didn't make me want to cry all over again.

We managed it, though. Dr. Lee told us that she actually did pretty well, all things considered. Of course, we still have to go back to get blood drawn for a lead test (required by law to start school here) and general blood work to check for anemia and all that other fun stuff. We're going to wait a week on that, though. She doesn't realize what's going to happen, but I'm seriously dreading it.

I'm just glad we got it all over with first thing in the morning. After that we went to Friendly's for breakfast for the Man-thing and I, and K was allowed to have anything she wanted to help make up for her owies. We promised her one treat for each poke she had to get. So, treat #1 was ice cream! We told the waitress why K looked like she had been run through a wringer (her face was still all blotchy and red from crying), so the gal was very sweet and took excellent care of all of us.

After that, it was to Target because K wanted a sucker or a lollipop as one of her treats. We told her we'd let her pick out a toy for #3 as well. For her third treat she got the Fischer-Price Little People Castle. Very cool set! She already had the little Robin Hood and forest hideout guy, a knight and dragons (with a dragon cave and horde), and the Maiden Marion with her unicorns and garden mini-sets, so now she can put them all together for a neat little medieval village.

Of course, feeling very guilty, we got her another small toy to add to her Littlest Petshop collection. It was a little kitty who had been to the vet and had a big bandage around her head and bandaid stickers as well as a medical bag carrying case. We thought that was very appropriate for the day in general, and since they only cost something like $3 it wasn't too bad of a deal. That and we know she'll play with it, since she loves those little things like crazy.

The Man-thing and I decided we deserved treats after going through that today, too. So he got himself a couple small Lego sets (he's been really into Legos lately). I ran across a soft-cover box set of the Chronicles of Narnia on sale and got that for me since it's something I've been meaning to pick up for years but never got around to.

We have been so incredibly blessed by our daughter, though. It didn't take long for her sunshiny demeanor to chase away the clouds of a miserable morning and she giggled and played sweetly with her new castle all afternoon after helping her daddy put together his new little Lego-mechs.

She crashed around 6:30 waiting for me to finish dinner. Poor thing, fell asleep on one of the dining room chairs at the table. I happened to look over and saw her wrapped up in one of her favorite blankets with her head flopping down and nearly knocking her out of the chair. I moved her to the couch for now, her favorite place to sleep these days for some reason, despite the fact it's about as comfortable as a lumpy rock. She earned a little lenience on the normal rules of how we do things. I'll tuck her into her real bed in a few minutes. She'll be waking up starving in the morning, though. So I had best be going to bed early myself.

It pained my heart so much knowing how much shots like that hurt, and knowing that there wasn't any way I could spare her from it. And that is why it sucks being a parent sometimes.

Snow!
Well, it's been a while since I posted to the blog. Not that we've been particularly busy, but we have been spending a lot of family time together.

Lately we've been on a real movie kick. In the last week and a half or so we've watched Steamboy (awesome steampunk anime, and I don't even particularly like anime), Elektra, The Pacifier, Miss Congeniality 2, Walking Tall, and Wallace and Grommit Curse of the Were Rabbit. I'm sure I'm missing a few out of the list, too.

Wallace and Grommit is by far the best thing I've seen in a long time, though. I was so excited when I found out they were making a feature length film I couldn't wait for it to be released. Then it only played in town for about 2 weeks. I was bummed that we missed it. We bought it on the day it was released on DVD, though. We're cutting corners these days, but sometimes it's good to splurge. And this was definitely a good choice. Krazee K can't get enough of it, and I'll admit to have sat and watched it all the way through more than a couple times myself.

Oh, and we also got the Family Guy movie, I bought it for the Man-thing's birthday on the 2nd of this month and it was a real surprise. He loves that cartoon in all it's outlandish wrongness but didn't know that they had done a movie (released straight to video, I think). So he was very happy to get it, and we both laughed all the way through it. It's not something to watch if you're easily offended, though. Just a word of warning. Heh.

I'm really glad I decided to go to the grocery store a day early this week. The store was packed with all the people who had the same idea with the big storm predicted. I was expecting another dusting of snow, maybe a couple inches max, nothing big. This winter has so far been something of a disappointment. This morning, however...7am and we already had easily 2.5 inches and now at 11:00 it's probably close to 8 and still not showing any signs of letting up.

I'm really glad I got all the curtains up finally, it sure helps keep the chill out of the apartment, that's for sure!

I also got lots of comfort type food for dinner this week, anticipating snow. Stuff for stew, soups, and other crock pottery food that will help make the apartment feel warmer because of the constant smell of cooking.

I was also pleased at the store to find that they're already stocking Irish rasher bacon for March. (The local grocery store always does a big Irish thing for St. Patrick's Day, stocking all sorts of Irish stuff just for the season.) I am really looking forward to making some BLTs with it. Especially since I'm still making all our bread from scratch. I think last year I might have made a loaf during March, but hadn't started doing it exclusively. Not that it matters, nothing makes better BLTs than Irish rashers.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, Irish Rasher Bacon isn't like the American stuff. (Fortunately it costs quite a bit less at the store than ordering it online!)

It's incredibly lean and paper thin, almost like it's been shaved off the cut of meat. This means it's also quite a bit wider than the strip bacon usually found in the stores. The flavor is much more subtle, too, far less salty than regular bacon. I'm seriously thinking of trying it tossed with tortellini and a cream sauce since it's really similar to prosciutto. I'll definitely be stocking up on it some more when I hit the store again, though, no matter what I end up cooking it up as.

I've also got a recipe for mulled wine that I'm dying to try. I wish I had thought to add the stuff to my grocery list when I went out yesterday, but I was more concerned with normal menu items. *sigh* Oh, well, eventually I'll get it made.

Is it winter yet? I think so!
Mood:  cool
Topic: What's on the menu today?
I'm really not sure what got me thinking about this particular drink since it's been years since I've had one.

Cafe Rico is a warm, rich, sweet coffee based drink that is perfect for cold winter evenings or settling in after a leisurely dinner for conversations and just relaxing with friends.

Normally this is something you would find at a restaurant that does flambe, but since I don't recommend setting 151 rum on fire and then pouring it from a ladle to a glass in a spectacular show unless you know what you're doing, I've left out the rum and concentrated on the stuff that actually tastes good.

(151 rum has only two purposes, as far as I'm concerned...flambe and for getting the newly 21 crowd as drunk as possible with the utmost haste. It tastes like lighter fluid smells and does nothing to add to the flavor of a cocktail, it just ups the overall proof of what you're drinking. Much of that is burned off during the flaming process of flambe, however.)

It's a relatively low octane cocktail since it relies on liquers for extra flavor. It's coffee with Amaretto, Kahlua, and Tia Maria in a sugared rim wine glass topped with...are you ready? ICE CREAM! Yup, you heard me right. Skip the overdone whipping cream (though you can use it if you really have to) and go for the richest possible indulgence as possible.

If you don't like any of the suggested types of alcohol, don't be afraid to substitute for something else. If you only like Amaretto, for instance, use 2 oz. of it and leave out the rest. Don't like coffee liquors? Try a chocolate liquer (like Godiva's *faint!!*) or an Irish cream. Want more kick? Substitute in favor for some Bushmills or Myer's Dark Rum. Want less kick? Reduce the portions until it suits your tastes.

Bartending is an art in many ways, but it doesn't have to be rocket science. If a drink is too strong for your taste, add more mix and reduce the alcohol a bit next time. Easy!

I've got a couple other things to add to the site for recipes, but since I need to get to work on dinner I thought I would toss this one out there real quick since it was something very simple to type up.

And...even if you don't care for alcohol, try just brewing an extra strong pot of coffee with your favorite gourmet blend, sugar the rim of a bolo glass or other large-bowled wine glass, add coffee, top with ice cream and a sprinkle of spice, and you're still guaranteed a treat.