The caffeination crisis
My quest for kitchen appliances leads to an unexpected lesson in asking for help.
In D1, the small appliance aisle of my local Target, rumored to be one of the busiest Targets in America, I kept bumping into shoppers and their big red carts wandering like lost little lambs. People scanned the sale tags aimlessly, as if they just wanted to be convinced to buy something, anything.
What kind of person comes to Target on Black Friday just to shop?
Me. I was that kind of person.
I had come to buy an air fryer toaster oven. And an espresso machine. And sheets at 40% off. And, of course, a Reese’s holiday tree, as one does on any big box shopping trip.
We’d been discussing the purchase of the air fryer and the espresso machine for some time. Black Friday presented the lowest price I’d seen on the little oven, so it seemed time to snag it. I felt icky rolling my cart out of Target loaded up with new appliances — does anyone really need MOAR STUFF? — but had convinced myself we’d get really good use out of both.
And I am pleased to report that has been true for the air fryer1. I’ve used it every day since I bought it. Toast, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, egg bites, potato skins. It gets food on the table fast, which, if you have a toddler, you know is critical. I do not recommend cooking Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi in it, but otherwise 10/10 recommend. (I think the real issue is the TJ’s cauliflower gnocchi is gross. That’s the last time I buy vegetables masquerading as pasta.)
We still haven’t used the espresso machine yet.
J dismantled our years-old Baratza Virtuoso grinder to calibrate it for espresso, only to realize the thing was pretty busted and needed new parts. He watched many YouTube videos. He ordered the parts. Now we wait for the parts to arrive. In the meantime, we have no coffee grinder.
So for the past several mornings, I’ve had no coffee in the mornings. A minor inconvenience. But after a few days of this, I started to feel a bit rage-y about the whole thing. What can I say, I really like a cup of coffee when I journal in the mornings. There are many solutions to this problem.
Buy a cup of coffee from the coffee shop down the street. Con: This entails putting on proper clothes and leaving the house.
Buy a bag of coffee from the coffee shop and have them grind it. Con: We have several bags of unground coffee already.
Ask to borrow a neighbor’s grinder for a few minutes. Bingo! This was it!
When this idea finally occurred to me five days into my coffee drought, I felt like I’d invented the light bulb or something. I emailed our condo-wide group and asked if I could borrow someone’s grinder. Within minutes, four neighbors had offered theirs up. Twenty minutes later, I had enough ground coffee to last until the parts arrive and had returned my neighbor’s grinder. This morning, I woke up exuberant about being able to brew a cup.
As is often the case when I ask for help and receive it, I was surprised by how easy it was. Of course my neighbors were happy to help. I would’ve been, too.
’s latest post about asking for help resonated with me. I also grew up in a home where I had to be self-reliant, so I rarely consider even asking for even the smallest, least obtrusive of favors.I understood, without anyone having to tell me, that the best way I could help our family was by being self-reliant. As I got older, self-reliance became an attribute and my Achilles heal. I despised inconveniencing people. I hated asking for help. I got so obsessed with self-sufficiency that I avoided teamwork in all forms: competitive sports, co-creation, even playing board games. There was no lab partner for the Courtney of my youth. The greatest compliment I could envision as a young person was: “She did it all alone.” - Why asking for help is the best thing I've done in 2024 by
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Now Courtney was talking about asking for help while she recovered after a major surgery. I’m talking about asking for help to grind some beans to make myself a cup of coffee. These are not even remotely the same type of help.
Still, it took me five days to finally think, "Hey, maybe I could just borrow a grinder?" The asking wasn’t the hard part. It was thinking to even ask.
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I bought the Ninja® Flip Toaster Oven & Air Fryer, and no this is not an affiliate link.
OK, here's the reveal--NOTHIING related to coffee and the enjoyment thereof approaches the pleasure of using a high quality hand grinder. It is a sensual meditation that results in psychic release AND an amazing brew. The feel of the handle as you turn it; the sound of the beans as they crumble; the scent of the fresh grounds, and the bonus of having used human power. OK, not like running a marathon, but gratifying nonetheless.
Thank you so much for reading my post, sharing it here-- and understanding the challenge of asking for help. Happy bean grinding!