A Cold Foam Recipe to Share With Your Neighbors (Or Not!)

I have to talk about my neighbor across the street. Her name is Sylvia, and she’s from…Greece, maybe? I’m not entirely sure. It could be Russia or Slovenia or that country where Borat is from. Hey, I never said I was well-versed in geography, and Sylvia isn’t one to spend much time talking about herself. Instead, she spends her time worrying about ME and the choices I’M making for my family.

To give you a for instance –

Shortly after moving to the neighborhood, Sylvia showed up on my doorstep with a hanging plant for the outside hook. I thought that was a lovely gesture of welcoming, so I quickly invited her in for a cup of coffee. Just like the old days, right? I had her sit at the kitchen table and I went about the business of preparing a pot of Seattle’s Best. Naturally curious, my dog Wolfenstein (don’t ask) wandered up to Sylvia, sniffing and probably hoping for some friendly pets.

Now, Wolfenstein weighs all of forty pounds on a good day, and he’s about the least-threatening dog you could possibly imagine. I understand that some people have a natural phobia about dogs, however, so I watched carefully to make sure Sylvia didn’t seem uncomfortable. And she didn’t! She gave him a cursory pat on the head and then turned her eye to me.

“You don’t bathe dog?” she asked through her thick accent.

“Of course we do,” I said, frowning.

“He seem very dirty,” she said, nodding. “Dog get bath today?”

“Well,” I said, rummaging for mugs, “we’ll see.”

“He need bath today,” Sylvia noted. “Must bathe dog.”

Okay, so maybe Wolfy was a little dirty (it HAD been a while), but who says this?

Over the next few years, though, I came to realize that this was just Sylvia’s way. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to her that she didn’t have some snide comment to make about the way my lawn was mowed, the infrequency with which our cars are washed, or even the color of Little B’s hair (it was bright pink for a time). I dunno, maybe that’s just the Greek (or Kazakh?) way.

In any case, I WON’T be sharing with her my recipe for cold foam. It’s too good to share with people who are just going to criticize it!

A Cold Foam Recipe You Don’t Have to Share With Your Fussbudget Neighbor

Here’s what you’ll need to make this treat, which goes perfectly atop a nice glass of iced coffee:

– A blender, hand-mixer, or professional frother

– A cup of either milk or half-and-half

I prefer to use full-fat milk or half-and-half because I find they froth better than skim milk, but you can use your best judgment. I’ve never tried this with a non-dairy milk like almond, but I’ve heard that it can work. You can even use heavy cream when you want to make the foam that much creamier and fuller.

The process is simple: You add a cup of the milk (or cream or half-and-half) to the blender, set the machine to go at full speed, and process until you have a frothy, fluffy, smooth cup of milk. From there, you can add your cold foam to iced coffee or any other cold-brewed drink for a lovely topping that looks and tastes great.

I can’t guarantee, though, that your neighbor will like it.