For me, this is a toss up between vodka and coffee.
My tastes for both have varied and grown over the years. Let’s visit my formative years with vodka first, shall we?
Vodka has been the only liquor I can still drink after getting sick on it. Gross, I know. However, it stands to reason that the worse (read cheaper) vodka is going to make you more sick than a decent vodka. Back in the day, I drank rail vodka. Now, if you aren’t familiar with that term, let me explain… Rail anything is usually the cheap version of whatever booze you prefer. Oh, you want examples? Vodka – Fleishmann’s (if you are truly desperate, Gordon’s). Gin – hey, guess what? Fleishmann’s makes a Gin too!!
I once went to Chicago for my birthday and a bartender looked at me like I had three heads when I asked for vodka and sour. He may have asked three times what kind of vodka and I would tell him whatever’s on your rail. He glared. Finally, dying of thirst I shouted whatever’s CHEAPEST!! Oh, but we were not done yet. He looked incredulous at me and asked “Sour?” My response was something to the effect of “Uh, yeah, whatever’s on the gun.” He glared some more. “Sour. You know, 50/50, Squirt, whatever.” I believe I ended up with vodka and club soda.
What did I learn from this, you ask? Two things:
- The city sucks.
- Drinking in the city sucks. (Except for cab rides home. That is awesome!)
I’m a bit older now and I really like good booze. There’s something about NOT getting a hangover that makes me wonder why I wasted so much time on the cheap stuff.
Despite the eye rolls I get from my husband I do love Grey Goose. Tito’s is another great option as well.
Now, on to my other love. Coffee.
I didn’t start drinking coffee until about 5 years ago. Now, I can’t get enough of it. I am fueled by caffeine. At first, Andy was not on board. Again with the eye rolls when I would get something from Starbucks. Then I brought home Pike’s Place and he fell in love.
During the school year (he’s a teacher) he told me to just buy some cheap stuff for him to brew at school. That way if other people drank it, he wasn’t going through a $9 bag of coffee every few days. I asked him, “Are you sure?” He assured me it would be fine.
After he brewed the first pot he realized that cheap coffee tastes like cheap coffee. And by that I mean it tastes like shit. Excuse my french.
I’m sure there are people who despise Starbucks coffee and that’s fine. However, I like it.
And I enjoy it even more when it’s in cupcake form. Yeah, I said it, Espresso Cupcakes. When I first made these, Andy took them to school for a class of his. I was unsure they would go over well. Kids and coffee. Surely they don’t drink coffee yet, right?
WRONG. I was way off.
They LOVED them. Even said that they’d like even more coffee flavor in them. What? I was flabbergasted. Then I realized that it was the “cool” and “hip” thing to do now. Apparently I missed the memo.
After I made these a few times I accidentally ruined an entire batch of buttercream. So I took a break from them. Then a coworker’s birthday was coming up and she didn’t really have any ideas for what flavor she wanted. She left up to me. She loves coffee so I figured these would be perfect.
They were amazing. Even people who dislike coffee have loved these.
Bonus: The buttercream turned out perfectly!
Ann