Scott's Notes on Coffee

Wind him up and he pours milk perfectly
into iced espresso drinks.

Before iced coffee was on the menu at the local McDonald's, I had to choose between overpriced iced lattes at coffee shops and an iced Americano for about a dollar less. The baristas ask me "Do you want room for cream?" and my reply often is "Yes!" So they add the half-and-half, but it's still too strong. So I would add a little milk later. Now I buy half-and-half from the store.

When I make coffee at home, which is the only way I've been drinking it the last three to four weeks, I like to add sweetened, powdered non-dairy creamer, a little half-and-half sometimes and possibly a spoonful of sugar. But I'm getting away from the main topic.

McDonald's had the best new fast-food menu item in '07 and also proved it could compete with Starbucks.

I'm wondering how many coffee drinkers are loyal to Starbucks and how many now prefer McDonald's iced coffee or another coffee drink such as the "Milky Way" from Dutch Bros. Coffee featured in November on Fast Food Yummy.

Hopefully this month, I will post more digital photos and tell you about my favorite coffee experiences of '07.

Photo by F.

Got the dinner guest list, and now just need a time machine to get them to the table

The above picture was taken on Thanksgiving Day. I edited out our family. Yes, a holiday feast without people would be lonely and strange, but there would be more food for me! LOL

However, since it's important to share food with others, I thought it would be interesting to ask readers which people they would choose as dinner guests if they could get anyone from any time in the history of the world. Kind of interesting, right?

Would you pick celebrities? Beautiful models? If you are a lady, you can choose handsome dudes, but don't tell me about it unless I'm one of them. I'm kidding, sort of.

It's also fine if you invite politicians. Perhaps you would have a presidential debate right there at the dinner table?! Uh, cool and not cool, at the same time.

What about cartoon characters? Or maybe you prefer science fiction characters or the ones from novels, actors or the characters they play in the movies or TV? Would you invite historical figures -- you know, the great people of the past, including leaders, musicians, sports heroes?

The one drawback of such a dinner is there's no telling if they would get along with each other. On my short list (though not in any particular order) before I narrow it down to four are: Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi; TV show character Sheriff Andy Taylor from "The Andy Griffith Show" (could also invite Andy Griffith, the actor who played Andy Taylor); Captain James T. Kirk, a character from the first "Star Trek", a TV sci-fi series from the '60s; the first person to dress up as Ronald McDonald, the famous clown-mascot of McDonald's; Michael Jordan, the former NBA superstar who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and who also was, in my opinion, the greatest basketball player ever; Ichiro Suzuki, one of Major League Baseball's best hitters for average; and several famous artists, photographers (No, not paparazzi), and numerous rock bands and jazz musicians, too many to list here. Yep, this post is the result of too much caffeine. haha Well, I haven't narrowed down my list. It gives me something to do when I can't fall asleep at night. Perhaps you can come up with your own list. Have fun!

Photo and photo editing: Scott McLean

Age is only a number, Dolly still loves pizza

Precarious moment for a pizza?!
The camera angle makes us think this
pizza, from a Domino's Pizza store,
could slide off onto the floor.

And Dolly--that cute black dog in some of my previous posts--wouldn't mind one bit. She is another year older, and hungrier for people food. We have a pizza together sometimes and as always we didn't leave out our four-legged friend. She wouldn't allow us to exclude her. haha Silly chowhound!

We love the pizza from Domino's, especially their Hawaiian pizza (pictured) which has Canadian bacon, Dolly's fave topping, and pineapple. I like the aroma of this pizza and its flavorful crust more than that of most other fast food pizzas, because the crust is soft, yet firm. The topping is yummy! Dolly would ditto my comment, if she knew how to ditto a comment. But she's just a nice dog -- with a favorite foods list, (probably) longer than mine.

Photo: Scott McLean

Just having some fun!

On my birthday, I snapped a few digital pics, then this evening had fun editing one of them. Sure, I could have added french fries floating above me. It would have been cool but not very believable. Instead, I chose to make my own strange background with fake orbs all around the room. If you don't know what an "orb" is--or supposed to be--then look it up online.

Photo and photo editing/artwork: Scott McLean