Atomic

I've had this Atomic espresso maker so long I can no longer remember where it came from or from whom it came. At least two friends have made coffee in it and have offered to buy it from me,]. Although I have never made coffee in it-- I confess to being slightly afraid of it--I was always rather fond of it and held on to it.

I like its mushroom shape, and color, its daring name and its presence. Several years ago I ran into another coffee aficionado at Peets, we got to talking about making coffee at home. He said his all time favorite coffee maker was the Atomic, and that its design was so unique that there is one in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A little bell rang in the back of my mind, I went home, climbed up on a stool to get it down from the shelf where it had lived, untouched for years and, sure enough, it is Atomic.

I decided to google it today to find out more about it and was floored to learn that although they are still being made in Milan, the original 'orange' Giordano Robbati design, dating back to 1947, is selling today for $750! Although mine is hardly in pristine condition, (probably from trying to clean off the accumulated grease from living above the stove) I knew there was a reason I wanted to keep it.

In other news….
As several of you guessed, my macro mystery shot yesterday (see extra) was of sea salt…Malden sea salt available in the grocery store, Hawaiian black salt from a spice store in Temecula, CA and coral sea salt, a gift from Hawaii. The thing I found in my junk drawer was the Agfa magnifying loup which provides 8x magnification and requires no hands! Amazing what you find whilst looking for a blip….Connections gets the gold star for being first with the correct answer to both parts. Thanks to all of you who guessed.

Thanks to Walking Wombat for providing me with the information and the link to OlloClip macro lens for iPhone 6. She said she bought it at the Apple store.