Caffeine Craving.

All my life, I've grown up being skeptical when it comes to packeted '3 in 1' Milo or any other beverages for that matter. Probably because I had one bad encounter with it when all I did was to run it over with some hot water and started sipping it. The bitterness that took me unconsciously (luckily, there wasn't any spitting involved!) got me traumatized that I grew up thinking that making your own cup of Milo tastes better than that come in skimpy little packets promising satisfaction in a jiffy. Yea right. Growing up in a proverbial Chinese family too, where the grandparents and parents sit around at the dining-table sipping kopi-o (black coffee) every single morning chatting over some kiam pia (cream crackers - dipped in the coffee) or u char kway to satisfy their daily dose of caffeine to start the day, I was never attracted to coffee. Not even when it's freshly brewed by amah in her old heritage house. Which is a surprising thing actually, seeing that Grace and Edmund both share the same liking towards kopi-o in the night with dad. Though, I can vaguely remember that there was one time when I requested nothing else but Nescafe every night before bed, when dad usually had his cup of coffee after his night smokes. Apparently, that didn't last long.

But lately, my perspective's beginning to change.

Well, not exactly perspective, but for the past five days that I spent in KL, I never missed a day without Starbucks with Grace. Every mall we visited, we stopped for Starbucks (and for the free Wi-Fi as well!). Of course, being youngsters as we are, we didn't go for the heavy stuff every day. In fact, we had our favorite, Mocha Frappuccino. I tried the new Caramel Macchiato once but I didn't quite liked it, so we went back to frappuccinos instead. Grace got addicted to the mocha on the 2nd day of my visit and decided she should have it at least once a day for as long as I was there. So yeah, we did and we enjoyed all the time spent snuggling on the couches at Starbucks, either fiddling with the laptop, digging in into some good magazine, people-watching (it happens to be a promising sport!) and listening to the iPod. Good times, I tell ya! Which is why discovering a very convenient way of getting a cup of mocha which only requires a run through hot water just a couple of days ago was absolutely priceless, prior to my sudden craving liking towards mocha.

Whoever knew I would find comfort in those little '3 in 1' packets of Mocha, results of Milo added with coffee. Seriously. Those little babies work wonders when you add two teaspoons of condensed milk, add some hot water and you get yourself a nice hot cup of mocha. I know this isn't the real deal, but it's as close as I can get and I'll savor it. The fun doesn't just stop here. Instead of adding hot water, replace it with ice and two tablespoons of condensed milk. Throw it into the blender to blend it and you'll have your very own Mocha Frappuccino! I made akak do it the other day and it wasn't too shabby. Another thing that I've been hooked onto is the Nescafe '3 in 1' too. I remember back in those days, when Nescafe was still new in the market, the Nescafe that I had had to be self-made where it requires one to add in the sugar and the creamer manually. I can still remember always asking for permission to add the creamer as the sight of it turning color never failed to amuse me! Well, that was then. '3 in 1' Nescafe seems more convenient now.

I suppose those '3 in 1' packets aren't that bad after all. I'm afraid I'm going to have to start collecting coffee mugs from now on. Who knows I'll end up brewing my own. I love the sound of that.

Gee. Am I being addicted to caffeine?

P.S: I've never been affected by drinking coffee in the night. People say it helps keep you awake. Not for me.