In the kitchen.

This is our kitchen.


I woke up this morning wanting a nice hot cup of coffee. I threw on some clothes and stumbled into the kitchen, only to find that my host mom and sister weren’t around. They were always in the kitchen in the mornings! My little host brother, Adrian, informed me that they were at the market and would be gone for a while.

So I seized my chance.

I have been wanting to try making cafe con leche since I got here, but my host mom and sister almost always beat me to the kitchen. Luckily I picked up the ingredients a few days ago on a shopping trip with my roommate.

So, I got started. Just a side note - I had never seen anyone make it before, it was always hot and ready on the stove by the time I woke up in the morning (this includes school days when I wake up at 6 am). So I had to go with my instincts.

I knew that people here very rarely have fresh milk, so I pulled my powdered milk out of the little cupboard that was designated to me and Jenni for our food and snacks (that now contains powdered milk, instant coffee, Nutella, spaghetti noodles, a loaf of bread, and green tea).

This is what powdered milk looks like.


I heated a pan of water on the stove…


And added a heaping spoonful of powdered milk to start.


I stirred it, decided it needed about one and a half more spoonfuls, and whisked it together until it looked like…


Milk!

And then came the instant coffee. Out of the cupboard and into the pan.


And four shakes later…


It looked like coffee! I was starting to feel pretty proud until I tasted it and realized what my cafe con leche was desperately lacking…


Enough said.

One heaping spoonful later, I was just a little bit closer to perfection.


I picked out my two favorite coffee mugs (an obnoxiously bright flower mug for me and a Santa Clause Christmas mug for my roommate) and very carefully poured two steaming cups of cafe con leche while simultaneously photographing myself doing it (with my left hand). Not the easiest thing I’ve ever done…


But the final product was worth the struggle. I proudly present you with my first ever cafe con leche - Venezuela style. Comparable to a very rich latte, and ranking “Starbucks quality” on a scale of 1 to Starbucks.


Energized and off to enjoy the day, ¡Hasta la vista!