The Little Things

To me its the little things that make me the happiest. When I buy meat, seafood, produce, cheese, wine and really all things culinary I like to buy the best. When I can do it and it is available I do it. I don't take it for granted and I have a high appreciation for the best of the best and it's those little things make me happy.
Today I want to share with you two little things that make me happy.
The first one I recently discovered on a recent trip to Los Angeles. It's my new favorite coffee. I am not a huge coffee drinker but I recently bought a french press so I am getting more into good coffee. This coffee is so good it doesn't need to be doctored up with a flavored creamer. Intelligentsia Coffee was started by Doug Zell and Emily Mange in 1995. They opened a in-store coffee roaster-retailer on Broadway Ave. on the north side of Chicago. Now Intelligentsia has 3 great cities to call home. Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Intelligentsia does not just buy coffee they work along side growers to help develop the coffee they offer. Almost all coffee roasters claim that they "work with farmers" but few can back the promise. Intelligentsia travels to their coffee’s source each of the 12 months of the year. They visit farms, roll up their sleeves, and get to it. They take 24-hour red eye flights and 10-hour, high-altitude pick-up rides over serpentine roads. You pick up a cup of their coffee and they shake the hand of a farmer in Peru. Or Rwanda. Or Guatemala. And when you see the Intelligentsia Direct Trade logo on their bags, you know how much effort is invested in each bean.
I can taste the perfection in this coffee and I am sure you will too. You can purchase it here.

The second little thing that makes me happy is fresh baked croissants from Williams-Sonoma. They are the best thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning. I love them! The smell alone will make you salivate before breakfast. You can only order them on-line and you can do it right here. They can take about a week to ship to you because they are shipped directly from the bakery of Chef Jean-Yves Charon so it takes a bit to process. Once they are sent out to you they are shipped frozen over night. You store them in your freezer and use them as you want to. They are great if you are entertaining with a brunch and they are great to keep all to yourself!
You put them out the night before you want to eat them and the magic happens while you are sleeping. They rise over night and in the morning they have expanded to triple the size. You pop them in the oven and in 20 minutes fresh hot croissants in your own kitchen. They are buttery, flaky, and AMAZING! They come in plain or chocolate. The chocolate are insane. You can even buy an assortment of chocolate croissants and plain croissants and that is the way to go if you ask me!There is nothing like it.
Oh the little things that make me happy. They will do the same for you. I promise.
Williams-Sonoma & Intelligentsia