I love any excuse to have a couple of friends over. Coffee and croissants paired with good company make me one happy California girl.

Though I spent most of my life in Canada, I’m a sunshine girl at heart, and with the Indian summer we’ve had, I was longing for warm cozy scarves and a pair of socks. It’s finally cooled down enough for us to sip on belly-warming drinks and dress in layers. To celebrate the crisp cool autumn, I wanted my friends over for some coffee and croissants. It’s always fun to entertain now that we have a larger space here in California. While we were living in Canada we had an apartment with not much room to move about.

The true star of the show was the new Nescafé Dolce Gusto we were sent to try out. I’m not a coffee connoisseur by any means, but I do know a good vanilla macchiato when I taste one, am I right? Along with the warm fresh croissants I had a big bowl out, of the sweetest strawberries that has ever been on your tastebuds. They’re grown locally, about an hour away in Salinas. The produce here in California is unreal. I can’t get enough fruits and veggies, everything is delicious.

We sat around the kitchen while we all caught up on everyone’s lives. Spending time with my husband and our friends makes me appreciate the little moments. We’re expecting three sets of visitors between now and Christmas, and we can impress them with fancy warm drinks. Layered vanilla macchiato, coming right up. Instant gratification. I am talking fast — it takes no time to heat up the machine. First time testing that flavour out, I had no idea that it required two pods to make the one beverage, thinking I had poured myself an espresso sized drink. Depending on which coffee drink you want, you will use one or two of the capsules.

Our Dolce Gusto Genio is perfect for our family, simply for the fact that we drink coffee as a special treat, and making a huge pot of it would only go to waste. You can see it doesn’t take up much counter space, it’s stylish, makes great coffee, and the pods are easily stored inside a drawer or up in the cabinet. For the health nuts like ourselves, we’re pleased to see that hydrogenated oil isn’t used in the pods.The only drawback to the machine is that when you take the pods out, they’re piping hot and trail liquid out the bottom; especially if you have a drink that requires two pods — you have to drop them into the garbage quickly in order to get your second pod brewing.

What is your favourite type of warm drink to have during the cooler months?

I was sent the Nescafe Dolce Gusto in exchange for my review. Opinions are my own.

PHOTOGRAPHY by my friend Jessica Doll.