POURING AND FILLING

Last night I started to make some decaffeinated coffee. It was flavored with vanilla, which is all right at night, but I hate flavored coffee in the morning. I mean I really hate flavored coffee in the morning.

I scooped the coffee into the basket but got distracted before I put the water into brew. So, the coffee was never made. Jim gets the coffee ready at night and sets the timer for the next morning, so I reminded him that there was coffee in the basket but it was flavored and decaffeinated. I suggested that he take it out and just save it in a zip-loc bag. I'm not sure why I didn't do it. I'm not sure why making the coffee has become his job.

He did it just as I asked him. I saw the zip-loc bag on the counter with the coffee in it as I walked to the coffee pot. I do love my coffee in the morning. I get it honest. It's a "daddy gene."

But, this morning there was a problem with the coffee. It tasted like vanilla. And, remember, I said, "I hate flavored coffee in the morning." Who would have thought that just a few tiny grains of coffee with vanilla could flavor a whole pot of my regular Folgers? I certainly didn't. If I had known, I would have asked Jim to empty the basket and then wash it. I'm still not sure why I didn't take care of the coffee myself. Probably the same reason I always wash the skillet he uses to fry fish. (Excuse the private joke.)

Obviously, the basket needed to be washed . . . it needed to be clean . . . it needed to be prepared for what I wanted . . . my regular Folgers coffee. The basket needed to be completely emptied of one before being filled with the other.

The lesson: You can't fill with the new until you get rid of the old.

To be continued . . .