Espresso Sasa Stanisic food Ingredients Ground espresso, water, milk, sugar, a bit of honey Preparation Wake up, get up, pee. Open window forsome air and freshbirds. Turn on TV to some morning show and crank up the volume so a neighborwithout a TV can also hear it. Add water to bottom half of espresso pot. Don't overdo it, it'll just make amess, even if it'shard tounderstand froma physics point of view, trust me on this. Usually there's a bolt tomark the recommended water level. Take it seriously. Put two full teaspoons of espresso in the funnel-shaped metal filter. Don't spend toomuch timepondering thedialectical concept teaspoon/ ground coffee. Ifdesired, use the teaspoon to tampdown thecoffee?not that there's any reason to, but it feels good. And now for the best part: add a fingertip'sworth of honey to the ground coffee. Wildflower honey takes theprize, by far. Wipe clean theedges of the filter and theboiler, screw on the top,and place directly over the flame.Curb thedesire to turnup the gas full blast. On another burner, heat some milk. Close the window in antici pation of the aroma. Go down forthe morning paper. Check thesportsheadlines while still at the mailbox. Once back upstairs, turnoff the stupidmorning show. The espresso is almost ready. Take advantage of the "almost" to put on your favorite music. Pour the espresso into your favorite cup. Add warm milk. Sit down. Look to the left,look to theright.Take a sip.Nod. Open thenewspaper and read about your favorite team's victory. Take another sip. Good. Nezv YorkCity Sasa Stanisic was born 1978 inVisegard inBosnia Herzegovina and lived in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland after 1992. He has published several short stories, audio plays, and three theater plays. How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (2008), his first novel, was short-listed for the German Book Award and won several other major prizes, with translations into twenty-seven languages forthcoming. Stanisic is also the recipient of the prestigious Graz and Iowa writing fellowships. He resides inNew York as writer-in-residence at New York University. January-February 2009 i47 ...