Living On the Edge

I took a gamble and lost.  

I don't put a lot of stock in the expiration dates on food.  I go more by my own common sense.  Yes, folks, you can use common sense and not have someone tell you what to do.  God gave us noses and eyes, it's not that hard to tell if something has spoiled.

My morning coffee is very precious to me.  Coffee in general is precious.  Not in a 'I have to have caffeine right now kind of way'.  But in a 'I really, really like my coffee' kind of way.

Although, I don't want to be Randy on a morning when I don't have my coffee.  Few and far between they are, but painful nonetheless.

I knew that the milk I had was pushing extinction and I planned on running to the grocery store yesterday morning.  But I got up late (8:00 am - I never sleep that late and after Randy, no less), and we had rods to build.  So I made an executive decision not to take 20 minutes to dash to the grocery store and hoped and prayed that the milk I had would hold out one more day.  

Just one more day, please.

Nope.  It didn't.  My first cup of coffee this morning was a curdled mess of yuck.  I wiped tears from my cheeks as I poured it down the kitchen sink.  I poured another cup, convincing myself that the curdling is some scientific chemical reaction when the fat molecules (in the fat-free organic milk) hit the super heated coffee and Splenda mixture.

Whew.  No curdling on the second cup.

I drank (guzzled?) that cup half way down and went in to prepare another.  That didn't work out so well and I ended up throwing out the remaining milk.  However, the Coffee Gods were smiling down upon me this morning, because I had canned milk in the pantry.  I was thankful enough not to get riled up over having to refigure the proportions of condensed milk to coffee.

Moral of the story:

Always Keep Canned Milk in the Pantry

Oh, and the pull date on the canned milk? 01-2010.

While frantically looking in the pantry for the condensed milk, I happened across a can of sweetened, condensed milk.  Did you know that you can make Dulce de Leche caramel sauce from a can of sweetened, condensed milk?  There's a few different methods, some using a crock pot, some using the oven.  I did it by simmering an opened can of sweetened milk on the stove top.  

It takes a few hours, but worth it.

It's delicious in coffee and on ice cream.

Have the BEST day ever!

~ Dorothy