Update: Keurig Vue House Party Was a Success! - May 5, 2013

So it turns out that I am OK at throwing parties. While I spent a bit some a lot of time feeling overwhelmed at the sheer number of people in my house at one time (15, not including me, my husband, and our kid - but including other people's kids - that's a LOT for me!), I think I mostly did well managing the chaos. The kids played, the adults chatted with one another, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen making coffee (hot and iced), iced tea, and hot cocoa for the gathered guests with my Keurig Vue. The kitties were banished to the office - I'm waiting for them to forgive me...

Ridiculous selfie - me with my apron on while I was baking. More about those coffee cups in a minute.

Taken by my friend. Me showing off the Vue. Awkward outfit looked cute in person, not in pictures, I think.

Since I never entertain this many people, I tried to go out of my way to do a few things that were special - beyond what House Party had sent me to throw the party. See the white coffee cups in the background of the selfie above? Those are from my wedding china. Which I have never used, and my 10th wedding anniversary is this August. 20/20 hindsight - I probably shouldn't have registered for china. But at the time it seemed like it was what one was "supposed" to do, so I did it. I thought I might someday host Thanksgiving or Passover - not realizing I was eventually going to move hundreds of miles away. So it just seemed like it was time. However, the cups only hold 6 ounces, so they really were more suited for decoration than actual use. Still, they got washed and they saw the light of day - it's a step! (I do think the pattern is nice - very simple. But if I had it to do over again, no, I would not register for china. I see plenty of fancy plate sets at Goodwill and other thrift stores...that says lots of people feel as I do and that it's easy enough to get a set for cheap if you really want one.)

The other thing I did was bake. I really like cooking and baking, but I never do it. My husband does most of the family cooking - it's just easier and it works well for all of us. But I love cookbooks and recipes (and, if you know me, books about food in general - ha!) and I like trying new things. Coincidentally, Snack Girl posted a recipe for baked donuts about a week before the party. I had been considering going to Revolution Donuts to buy some but instead, I made my own. And my good friend Kate has Amazon Prime (in which I probably should invest at this point) so I sent her money and she bought me a heart-shaped donut pan that arrived within a day. I made Snack Girl's donuts as well as these chocolate ones (though I used butter instead of olive oil, which seemed weird, and I skipped the glaze because I can't find my double boiler - er, not broiler, as the recipe says - and the last time I did the pan-on-water trick, I fused the two together and yes, eventually they came apart but I just didn't have the energy SO they were plain).

Oooh, Instagrammy goodness. And cute heart-shaped donuts.

And a week ago I made vanilla simple syrup with real vanilla beans and vanilla sugar with the rest of the beans, just to be fancy. I bought milk - 2%, whole, and half and half - and made sure I was stocked on Almond Breeze too. And I put out my array of Torani syrups too.

I forgot to take a before picture - this is sort of a halfway-through picture.

Then I put out Goldfish crackers and m&ms, and the rest of the party was from House Party - they really send a great party pack. I had Mrs. Fields cookies, mints, and coffee. Plus plastic and paper cups that I used for iced drinks, for the kids' hot cocoa (with Dandies vegan marshmallows!), and for when I ran out of my own mugs - which I did.

I think that my guests tried at least one of everything. Despite the fact that it was disgusting outside - pouring rain, 50 degrees - some chose iced drinks (my party pack included Nantucket blend iced coffee - the blend takes into account that it will be brewed over ice and thus diluted - I think my cold-brewed coffee is way better, but this is much faster and with milk/simple syrup, it's not bad at all - and also Southern Sweet iced tea, which I loved in a K-cup and loved even more in a Vue Pack - you can really taste the tea as well as the sugar, rather than just a cup of sugar...).

I also made vanilla lattes (fancy and fun!) and plain old coffee (Donut Shop and Barista Prima Italian Roast) and hazelnut coffee (which I really like). The hot cocoa I made was from Whole Foods - I just used the hot water from the Vue to make it. And I didn't manage to grab myself a cup of coffee for the entire party, but it was best that I wasn't overly caffeinated, I assure you.

The Vue, by the way, was a workhorse. It easily brewed 30 cups of whatever, all within a few hours, and had no issues. I like how it's quieter than my Keurig Special Edition was - it made it easy to stand in the kitchen and chat while I was overseeing the brewing process. I don't know if I would have bought one on my own - my regular Keurig was working just fine for me, K-cups are less expensive, and I'm a pro at my Ekobrew - but now that I have one I'm not sure I'll switch back. I probably will buy the Solofill reusable refillable filter (after coupon, it should be about $15 at Bed, Bath & Beyond), though I might wait to see how Keurig's official filter compares if/when they release it.

And I survived the party! And I now kind of want to do another one of these - I have my eye on the upcoming SodaStream HouseParty. Pick me! Pick me!

The aftermath - all headed to be recycled.

Don't forget - until May 11 you can get 40% off the Keurig Vue V500 brewer with my coupon code, and from May 12 through May 31 you can get 25% off. Register your brewer once you get it and you'll get a coupon code for buy-two-get-two-free Vue Packs. After that, I recommend BB&B for your Vue Pack needs - with a 20%, $5-off-$15, or $10-off-$30 coupon you can bring the price down to something very reasonable for the quality and convenience of Vue Packs, and right now it's one of the few stores that actually stock a good selection of flavors and types.

In the end, I will say that I recommend two things: House Party (though you may not get any parties for years - it's worth it when you do get chosen for one!) and the Keurig Vue V500 brewer. Hooray!

This post includes referral links - I get a small percentage from Amazon links and my Keurig Vue coupon gets me a credit to Keurig.com. But other links - Dandies, BB&B, etc. - are just because I want to share things. Thanks!

Keurig Vue House Party

As you probably know, I love my Keurig. Yes, the K-cups are pricier than just buying a bag of beans and grinding them or buying ground beans. Yes, they aren't very eco friendly. I know all the drawbacks. I also love kitchen toys and gadgets. I'm a casual coffee drinker (one to two cups a day) and the ability to make a single cup at a time (especially a flavored cup) is extremely appealing. My husband also drinks a cup or two a day, and he has different likes and dislikes, so the fact that he can quickly and easily make his own flavor/strength/type is a big plus too.

I mostly use my Ekobrew - occasionally I also use my Solofill - to use my own coffee in the machine anyway. And I love it. I love love love it.

Cut to HouseParty.com. If you're not familiar, basically House Party is a site that matches advertisers with people who want to throw themed parties in trade for a little word-of-mouth advertising. Sometimes there's a party for a TV show and the hosts will get a pack with some snacks and some themed goodies. Sometimes there's a party for a toy and the hosts will get a pack with toys, coupons, stickers, and more. And sometimes there's a party for a thing - like the SodaStream or the Keurig Vue. It's hard to get chosen as a host - there's really no way to tell how people are being chosen - and I tried multiple times to be chosen as a host for a SodaStream party (fail) and a Keurig Vue party (and a number of other parties as well).

And finally this time around, for whatever reason (I guess I was just the right demographic this time) I was chosen to host a Keurig Vue party and I was given a Keurig Vue V500 machine and a party pack with a selection of Vue Packs, mugs, mints, cookies, and cups. Nice!

I also was given a coupon code for 40% off of the Keurig Vue V500 system. That brings the cost of the Vue to around $100 - with free shipping! The code is WKWH18N - it's good only for the V500 and it expires on May 11.  However, from May 11 - May 31, 2013, you can then get 25% off of the V500 with code HP-V500-4 - that's still a great deal for this really nice machine! And if you register your brewer (you can register up to three per household) you get a coupon for buy-two-get-two-free coffee packs, which makes them very reasonably priced. NOTE that this is a referral code - if you use it, I get $25 to use at Keurig.com (up to $250). You may see other people sharing this code on various sites - be aware that they're not sharing it out of the goodness of their hearts, they're sharing it to get the kickback. I love transparency, don't you? ALL COUPONS HAVE NOW EXPIRED. Thank you to those who used them - I wound up with a very generous credit to use for more coffee at Keurig.com!

The Vue uses an entirely different set of pods from the original Keurig - it uses Vue Packs. Was this created in response to the K-cup's patent expiring, opening the market to third-party K-cups? I have no idea. The Vue does have some nifty new features that the older Keurig models didn't have though. It brews hotter. You can set coffee to brew "strong" (and it uses a different process when you select this option). It has different settings for brewing tea or hot chocolate or iced drinks. And it can do a two-step process where it brews a latte (I've tried and enjoyed the vanilla latte), a mocha, or a cappuccino with a milk pod (that has actual milk in it, not non-dairy creamer - they do also have pods with non-dairy creamer, but I avoid hydrogenated oils so I can't speak to those at all).

Will the latte or cappuccino be as amazing as if you frothed milk separately? Probably not. Will it be fast and cost less than going to Starbucks? Yup. Will it taste good? Yup! Also the plastic part of the pods is recyclable - hooray!

Sure it's not pour-over or percolator or whatever. I think it tastes good. In fact, I think this makes better coffee than my old Keurig (which I still love) and possibly better than when I make pour-over coffee. Cold-brewed coffee, however, will always have a place in my heart - and my fridge. (Also, I have my eye on Solofill's reusable Vue Pack - but I'm also waiting to see what Keurig has to offer whenever they release their own reusable pack.)

For the party, I'm going to make heart-shaped donuts based on Snack Girl's recipe. I never get to do fun things like this so I'm going to do some other Pinterest-y things as well. I'll post again with a recap soon!



(This is my referral link. I get a small kickback if you click through and sign up for Amazon Prime.