The Five

Sight

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

I can't believe I've never read any of Capote's work, at least, not that I can remember. Maybe at some point in college, but those English classes were so easy compared to all my other coursework, I'm not surprised they didn't leave a lasting impression. I found this book riveting. Everyone I spoke with about the book claimed to be terrified while reading it. I suppose, maybe at the time it was written it was shocking, but it wasn't as terrifying as say, Law and Order or CSI. Alas, we've been desensitized! Anyway, this is the true story of the murder of an family in Kansas. Not just the story of the murder, but the story of the murderers too. I did find myself sympathizing with the murderers, Capote did a great job of that. What was so riveting was his descriptions, the suspenseful build of what you knew was the inevitable. Saying I loved the book seems trite, trivializing the subject matter. Love isn't a word that should be used when reviewing this book. I found it fascinating, riveting, and mesmerizing, the pages called to me and I had to stay up to read it's conclusion. I would definitely say it's a must read, but leave yourself time to really immerse yourself in it. It's not a book that should be stopped and started, but read through as much as you possibly can.

Sound

Life Death Love and Freedom John Mellencamp

Really quite brilliant. I've been a long time fan. This was worth waiting for.

Scent

Freshly brewed coffee in our new Breville Single-Serve Coffee Maker. So, our Cuisinart coffee pot died, not being that old, and I did a ton of research trying to figure out the best replacement for it. I knew I wasn't going to get another Cuisinart--I just wasn't happy with our past experiences. So, I really wanted an automatic espresso machine, but I couldn't justify the price. Maybe one day and maybe for a gift, but not today. I never thought I would want one of these single serve coffee makers. I found the pod versions to be intriguing, but not quite there. This one got me. The sealed K Cups keep coffee very fresh, right until the point of brewing. The filter pods were too open and allowed coffee to get stale, not to mention, they just didn't produce a great tasting cup of coffee. So, after reading countless reviews, we chose this one. And after getting to see it in action at Williams Sonoma (and on You Tube, you gotta love that!). We were sold. We waste much less coffee now and we both can choose what we want for blend or flavor. Plus, Young One can make his own hot chocolate with the touch of a button and he intends to do some experimenting with using the hot water to quickly make hot cereals for breakfast.

It's such a great gadget. Fill the reservoir with water, set the clock and timer for when you'd like the water hot (there's a start and end time so it shuts off when you don't need it anymore). If you do want to bypass this set time, you can always just turn it on. It takes less than 3 minutes to heat water. Then pop in a K Cup or fill your My K Cup (a little reusable filter cup), chose the size cup you want, and brew away.

You will need to play around with the strength, the type of coffee, etc to get the perfect cup. So far, I've really enjoyed some Italian Roast, both hot and iced. The Kona is a blend, so I'll stick with grinding my own beans when I want a taste of Hawaii! Environmentally, I don't like throwing away the K Cups, so I pull them apart and recycle the foil top and the cup. Clean up is simple and the really large reservoir makes a lot of cups, so you don't have to refill very often.

Definitely a great addition to our home.

Taste

Definitely coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

Touch

Our new gadget. And tons of tomatoes from the garden. Yum!