Things as they are

Two observations:

Until Sunday, I had avoided going to any of the "Mexican" restaurants that are in the central, Old Town part of Kraków, but when a friend proposed dinner after a nice walk to the kopiec, the prospect of a margarita sounded like the perfect cap to the afternoon. The margarita, in fact, was good. The vegetable enchilada was also pretty good (could have been spicier, but hey). The most attention-calling moment of the dinner was that instead of rice and beans, my enchilada was served with two sides of cabbage. Two! Sides of cabbage! Just in case I needed any reminder as to which country I'm in...

And today I gave in. I finally bought one of those stove-top espresso makers. No more inch-think layers of grounds in the bottom of the cup for this girl! 31 złotych (about 13 dollars) isn't bad for a 3-cup machine. (And of course, as a coffee-guzzling American, I intend to use all three cups for myself.) Again, there is an upcoming surprise here. When I took the machine out of the box, I noticed a strange separate item wrapped in paper. As I began to unravel the layers of paper, the bundle began to take the shape of a little spoon. And, lo!, the bundle became three mini spoons! That is exciting ...for me! And it suggests the sophistication of the European coffee tradition. There wasn't any indication on the box's outside illustrations that the spoons would be inside waiting for me. Thanks European coffee! And now I get to go to class all jacked up on three cups of "espresso." Should be fun.