I suppose it's clear from previous posts that both Garth and I really love coffee, and despite this fact we planned our year such that we'd have to forego it. Yesterday we talked it over and decided to amend the rules. Coffee is now allowed if it will improve our safety. The market this weekend involved a long drive each way and by the return trip I was dragging. We stopped at the Hickory Run Travel Plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to pick up two extravagant coffees. Venti Breve (half and half) Lattes to be precise. So we now allow coffee on car trips that involve driving while fatigued. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks. I think they burn their coffee a little when roasting it. I've heard that over roasting can make coffee keep longer, but at a cost to overall quality. But it was available and high calorie so I just went for it.
I have to say, caffeine is pretty great stuff. Neither Garth nor I talked much during the first half of the ride until we stopped for our break. I felt like a million bucks about 20 minutes after my first sip, and we chatted and planned for the rest of the drive once we hepped up.
Addiction is a strange beast. It's amazing how readily the human mind rationalizes behavior - I passed through the mild physical withdrawal of coffee in the first week of January, but the psychological desire persisted for 6 weeks or so. Perhaps amending the rules is just my reptile brain trying to get its fix. It seems plausible. I still get the very occasional intense but short-lived cravings when I put away Normandy's beautiful ceramic coffee cup from the dish rack or smell her fresh pot steeping on the table in the morning, but I haven't wanted any yet today...
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I had my first meal with a reasonable amount of green from the garden three days ago but didn't get to posting on it until now. As you can see some kale overwintered and the asparagus is now sending up spears left and right... It's good too because the recent heat has pushed all the onions stored in the house to start growing. I am not going to have last year's onions to eat for much longer.
-Edmund