The Perfect Foam

The Perfect Foam

As an intro to my observational blog (for more of an intro, read the “About” section), I thought I would share with you the background story of its name.

One of my favorite activities, one that allows me to escape for a bit from the stresses and demands of our daily lives, is to go to a cafe. I absolutely LOVE cafes. I always enjoy good coffee, particularly a well-made espresso, latte, or cappuccino, but for me it has always been more about the company and about the opportunity to clear my ever-thinking mind. While I do enjoy being in groups from time to time, I have always enjoyed spending more intimate time with one or two other people, and what better place to spend a few hours, relaxing, catching up, and shootin’ the breeze than a cafe.

The cafe where the idea for this blog was initially born is a wonderful little cafe named Pastiche. It is located in Federal Hill, the little Italy of Providence, Rhode Island. I was discussing the idea of writing a book with my best friend. Two years (and a failed attempt at writing a book) later, after a lot of thought, I have decided to follow through on my drive to write and to share some of my observations.

Anyway, back to the cafe. It’s a place where Rhode Islanders come for a sumptuous dessert, perhaps accompanied by a tasty and lively espresso or cappuccino. It’s a place to lounge in, and according to their official dinning rules, patrons are allowed to stay for up to two hours after the purchase of their last item. Thus, though they are not a true European cafe, where people can stay for hours and hours on end, having finished their one cup of coffee five minutes into their stay, Pastiche is close, very close. And exactly my kind of cafe.

A cafe has always given me the opportunity to observe, and not just the people around me, but to “observe” my own thoughts as well. It is often in the company of a friend or two, that thoughts I might have been having for some time in the back of my mind, finally make it to the front. It is these thoughts and observations that I will attempt to share throughout the course of the lifetime of this blog.

So back to the meaning of “The Perfect Foam”. As you may have guessed (both by the picture of a cappuccino on my homepage and by the above reference to a cafe), the perfect foam refers to the one-third of a cappuccino comprised of foamed milk.

I have always been an up and down kind of guy. One aspect of my personality is my ability to get supremely excited over small details- the perfect ice-tea on a hot day, some home-made ice-cream, bread and butter, etc. I might have had the worst possible day (at least in my own eyes), but I have always been able to push things aside and get excited over something as small as the perfect foam. I have had more than a few friends look at me with absolute bewilderment as I happily held up my spoon, having just dipped it into a freshly-made cappuccino, and exclaim, “now this is the perfect foam”, with an ear to ear smile on my face. This may not seem like much, and it isn’t the fact that it is foam that has the ability to make me this happy that matters. It is the ability to find joy, even when a day seems completely ruined, and to find this joy in something as small as the perfect foam (I should add that what makes foam perfect, is its thickness- it MUST be thick!).

Personally, I believe that this is what makes our lives so great, and so utterly human. We have the wonderful ability to get excited, and to find joy in the smaller details in life. Whether it’s a certain song, a certain type of food, or anything else, what would life be if we each couldn’t enjoy them?

For me, the day that I stop getting excited over the perfect foam, is when I know that I have my priorities completely in the wrong place. Sometimes it can be helpful for all of us to take a few minutes, take a step back, and realize that there are always details of our lives that we can enjoy.