This is the final product. In the top of the moka, you will have coffee if you have done everything right.
The filter separates from the bottom piece. You fill the bottom part to the line with water, and then fill the filter about halfway with coffee grounds (adjusting based on how strong you want it to be. We use normal coffee, but some people apparently use espresso. Whoa.)
Like I said, add the grounds.
Then you screw the pieces together (tightly), making sure that no grounds got into the seal. It has to be airtight, or apparently water will explode out of it. We haven't experienced this yet, shockingly, but I'm sure we will before the end of our time here. Then you place the whole moka on the stove, add heat, and wait until you can hear water boiling. When the water stops, you remove from the heat (with oven mitts) and let it sit for a minute. Then you have your finished product (see top picture).I decided that today would be a good day for the kind of entry that allows you a small glimpse into Italian life, instead of just summarizing my activities here. The pictures above are what Italians use for making their coffee every morning. The contraption works in mysterious ways that I don't care to question, so long as it makes my coffee in the morning. All I know is that if you add water, grounds, and heat, it makes you one hell of a cup of coffee. I intend to buy one before I leave to introduce all of my American friends (Shannon, in particular) to the joys of coffee made on the stove.
Gillian and I also shopped at the market today, where I bought romaine, a tomato, some dried fruit, and my very first bag of fresh mozzarella, intending to make a salad sometime this week. My roommates and I have also taken to eating dinner together pretty often; it started with our failed attempt at spaghetti earlier this week and improved greatly with Marissa's lesson in lentil soup. Last night, Gillian fixed me my very first brussel sprouts EVER and we all contributed to make simple pasta that ended up turning my stomach...we accidentally used tomato puree instead of tomato sauce. Oops. It was so acidic it gave me a stomachache. Fortunately, Gillian and Sam rescued me with combination of antacids and rice cakes.
Tonight is my first cooking class, so let's hope that our trials and errors in our home kitchen make me a more successful chef in my class.
