Coffee! (And Some Tea!)

Recently we broke in our coffee grinder with coffee beans that Eric picked up to remind him of his recent trip to Sao Paulo.  He raved about the coffee he tasted there and when he got back, he picked up some Brazilian beans at the Coffee & Tea Exchange in our neighborhood.  Eric and I have put together a good coffee-making set-up.  We have a one-cup coffee maker (which was passed down from my sister Val to my brother Tim to me) and a cappuccino machine that Eric has mastered.  While we enjoy coffee, neither of us is what I would consider a connoisseur.  We like good coffee, but we also go through creamer at a steady rate.  

It's tough to take a photo in our apartment without some sort of Michigan gear in it.

While we traveled last year (this time in 2012 we were in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia), we sampled local coffee everywhere we stopped.  Here's a round-up of some types of coffee or tea you might want to try on your travels or if you can find it at home.

My Traveling Soundtrack

Frequently, popular songs end up linked in my mind to specific places.  LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" always takes me back to celebrating Eric's 30th birthday at the Blue Note Club on Ios (and a fantastic "Parks and Recreation" cold open).  "Young Folks" makes me think of the coffee shop in Philadelphia where I worked as a line cook for a summer.  During our nine months abroad, I ended up with my own personal mix CD of music I now associate with our trip.  Almost all of the songs are in English — no one is kidding when they talk about American culture being exported overseas.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, and please don't judge too harshly.

Pub Street in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is lined with clubs blasting American pop music

One Month in Oxford

After leaving Paris, Eric and I flew up to the United Kingdom.  We stopped in Oxford for what we planned to be a week's stay...

I keep thinking someone plopped an English country garden down in front of the Law Quad.

... and we've been here for about a month.  We both love it.

What I Will Miss in Philadelphia, Part II

Food.  I will miss the food dearly and in Philadelphia it is so good that it deserves its own post.  When I think of Pennsylvania, I imagine Amish farms with butter and doughnuts and Philly cheese steaks.  While Philadelphia does have these things, it has much more than I realized.  Even when you go to a pub for a burger, it's often well-made and fancier than you'd expect.  My taste buds will miss this place.

Food Trucks

When I mentioned the food trucks in Philadelphia to a coworker from New York, he responded, "Oh, yeah, like all the halal carts in Manhattan, right?"  No, not quite.  There are halal carts in Philadelphia, but Philly has taken its food trucks to a new level.  Many are also brightly decorated and distinctive.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Dreaming Big

In order to work on my storytelling skills, figure out my goals for life, and entertain you, I will also have an occasional series exploring my dream futures – dream jobs, dream houses, dream lifestyles. Please keep in mind that I’m trying to work on fiction skills.

Restaurant Owner in France

I may or may not be basing this entire fantasy future on the films Ratatouille and Julie & Julia (but only the parts with Meryl Streep). I love cooking (and eating), though unfortunately I have yet to develop the instincts or skills to get more creative than just following recipes. Even more unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I can’t start a restaurant with a menu based entirely on my mom’s specialties, the Real Simple cookbook I got for Christmas, and allrecipes.com. Nevertheless! One of my ideal futures is to own a small restaurant on a quiet street in France.

Last summer, I lived in Nantes, a city two hours west of Paris. They had a wonderful restaurant district, here dozens of little cafés opened onto a pedestrian street. Each café also seemed to have a clever, very French name: Pour Ce Qui Savent…, Les Enfants Terribles, Le Petit Bacchus. I would love to run one of those cafés, serving light meals – let’s be serious, I’m talking about France, so it will probably be crêpes– with fancy drinks. It will be decorated simply, in black, white, red and light blue, and the patio will have small square tables with black iron chairs that have swirls on their backs. After meals, my restaurant will turn into a classy bar, where patrons order drinks of various colors in snazzy glasses and sit around laughing and discussing French literature or politics or Tin Tin. It will be a place to gather with friends, sip interesting cocktails, and gaze out at the people passing on the street as the stars glitter overhead.

I have some inspiration for this:

Top: Colored liquors at a bar in Athens, Greece

Bottom: Pour Ce Qui Savent..., Nantes

The drinks are two kirs (white wine and creme de cassis)

and a demi-peche (peach-flavored beer)

When I’m done playing hostess each night, have closed my kitchen, sent my maitre d’ Gaspard off into the night and packed up my leftover cream puffs (oh yes, there will be pastries), I will walk home to my well-decorated apartment, where my boyfriend and our adorable puppies will be waiting for me. I’ll make a warm cup of cocoa, lure my boyfriend to our balcony with the cream puffs, and then relax and gaze out over our street. If by this point I’ve turned semi-nocturnal, I’ll watch the people along the street as they begin their day, opening windows, heading off to work, walking down to the boulangerie for a morning croissant or baguette. After falling asleep in a bed full of pillows (and puppies!) I will wake up to spend my late morning dealing with the business side of the restaurant and coming up with new and amazing recipes.

So that you don’t find this total indulgence…

1. Nantes is not a huge city, but it is worth a visit if you’re in the Pays-de-la-Loire/Bretagne area. I love the Bouffay, their chateau is very pretty, and it’s just a beautiful place overall.

2. French food doesn’t have to be really hard to make. This recipe for Quiche Lorraine crepes has turned out well for me in the past. Okay, fine, it’s from the Food Network and not France, but they measure things in grams over there! You’d be annoyed if I posted a real French recipe!

3. Yes, Ratatouille is a Disney/Pixar film that involves a rat cooking. It’s still worth watching if you consider yourself an adult, and yes, it will make you crave delicious food.

Feel free to send me suggestions for your favorite French restaurants, creme puff recipes, your dream jobs, places you would like to live, or anything else!