Tag Archives: coffee

My minorly life-improving life hack that involves coffee

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If you follow me on Twitter, you know that the Starbucks closest to the house where I grew up closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It tortures me. Yes, I know I should care about the baristas spending time with their families but…ugh.

bitmoji

On some holidays, I have found that a local Dunkin Donuts is sometimes open. But if you follow me on Twitter, you also know that I think Dunkin’s coffee is a poor substitute for Starbucks or a good independent cafe.* To try to come anywhere close to satisfaction at Dunkin, I order their largest iced latte with an extra shot of espresso and decline all of their ridiculous flavorings.

But I’m still left craving my daily iced venti latte.

This year, it occurred to me: why not order tomorrow’s coffee today?

On Christmas Eve, I popped into Starbucks and ordered one latte to drink immediately and one for Christmas morning.

Future latte

I would exclaim “GENIUS!” but the real exclamation warranted here is “DUH!” because I should have thought of this a long time ago.

If you decide to try this for yourself, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • This should be obvious but just in case it isn’t: order your regularly-iced drinks sans ice. You don’t want your drink watered down.
  • Tell the barista what you’re doing. S/he will want to either only fill the cup about 2/3 of the way (to avoid creating a drink with too much milk and too little espresso) or add an extra shot and fill it to the brim. I went with the latter option.
  • I’m told that ordering just shots of espresso to save for the next day doesn’t work well – tastes sour.
  • I can’t imagine this would work well with hot drinks – sorry.

On Christmas morning, I woke up horribly sick (that’s another blog post to come) but at least I had my iced latte. Oh, and PRESENTS.

 

 

New Pet Peeve #1

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I have pet peeves. We all do. To be honest, I don’t have any way of determining if I am more easily annoyed than other people.

You’ll have to tell me if I seem normal or extreme. Actually, don’t. I’ll just get mad at you.

Lately my biggest annoyance, even bigger than people with headphones that leak their tunes into my subway airspace, is this: Continue reading →

The best iced latte I have had in 1,000 years

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My usual coffee routine is this:

During the week, iced venti lattes at Starbucks.

On weekends, too-small but delicious iced lattes at local coffee shops like Toby’s Estate.

Last week, I made a quick business trip to Washington, DC. Instead of frequenting the local Starbucks, each morning I visited a wonderful new-ish coffee shop near my hotel* called Slipstream.

Slip

I liked the friendly servers and the food I sampled – thick toast with crème fraîche and house-made jam – was delicious. Continue reading →

Working remotely

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Tobys

Today at the coffee shop…

Australians ordering flat whites.

The guy I pretend not to see, and not to know.

Two people, one male and one female, who look like troll dolls come to life. Maybe it’s the beanies.

Lounging long-haired lesbians

The man who looks like Val from Dancing with the Stars (but only in profile)

A photographer, and a stylist and an artfully rumpled model looking bored

A woman resembling grown up Lorde

Me listening to Sia on repeat while writing a handful of proposals, booking business trips to Nashville and London, and marveling at this tweet:

 

Five more things I’d do if I owned a hotel

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As you might already know, I travel a lot. These trips give me lots of opinions on how hotels should be set up to best accommodate guests.

Fort Lauderdale balcony

Here are a few more things I’d do if I owned a hotel. You can read the original list here.

1. Dump the rain style shower heads. Continue reading →

One awkward encounter

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October 16, 2011

It’s midnight and I am riding the L train home to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The new day is actually my birthday, the first I’ll celebrate after my move back to NYC from Washington, DC. Everything is fresh and new.

Well, the subway isn’t, but New York is home again and I am so happy.

I have just had dinner at Kittichai with two friends. Thai food is not my favorite but I am still in my enthusiastic-about-every-damn-thing phase post-move. I am also committed to saying YES to things, like event invitations and making new friends and accepting dates from just about anyone who asks.

Continue reading →

I bought it: Hipster Calendar

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According to Forbes, that estimable evaluator of trends and hipness, I live in the third “Best Hipster Neighborhood” also known as Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

It will come as no surprise, then, that this exists.hipster calendar

Perhaps more surprising: the fact that I bought one for $15.

hipsters

How could I resist tattoos and antlers?

I found this calendar at The Lodge‘s General Store on Havemeyer in Williamsburg. My regular barista told me that he didn’t get his own month this year because “he got too drunk during the shoot.”

A sign near the calendars says ‘proceeds go to charity.’ I asked which one and was told about a ‘friend with cancer’ but really, I just wanted a funny calendar for my kitchen.

Sadly the folks at The Lodge don’t seem to sell the calendar online. Missed opportunity.

Good riddance, pumpkin

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Remember the possible pumpkin spice latte shortage? I am in the camp that doesn’t care.

Those people who are sad because Starbucks will stop selling them along with the other seasonal drinks? I’m not one of them.

My issue isn’t pumpkin, per se, but fake flavorings. I’ll take my latte straight, thanks.

New York Magazine (my favorite) recently ran a piece under the headline “Pumpkin is the New Bacon – Taste the ubiquity!” that confirmed my suspicions.

Via NYMag.com:

The weird thing about pumpkin’s rise to baconlike ubiquity is that pumpkin, on its own, is not a very appetizing food at all. A dense and stringy fruit, it needs the accompaniment of a lot of sugar and spices before it becomes particularly palatable.

And

The secret of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, for instance, is that it’s just a latte spruced up with pumpkin-flavored syrup—connoisseurs cite cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Dunkin’ Donuts takes the feint further, dropping the “spice” from the name, though that’s mostly what you’re tasting. But no matter: If a restaurant served actual pumpkin purée, the taste and texture might shatter customers’ illusions. “Pumpkin,” on the other hand, is delicious.

Syrup, eh? I’m not into it. If Fall 2013 brings another pumpkin spice latte shortage rumor, don’t blame me.

Updated to add this funny pumpkin post. And this one.

Scenes from Superstorm Sandy

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All is well here in my Williamsburg, Brooklyn abode. The building swayed during the bigger gusts enough to make us worry a little, but my neighbors and I didn’t lose power. I’m feeling grateful.

We have trees in Williamsburg, but not like in Brownstone Brooklyn.

My friend Melissa Hope Chusid created this great collage about life returning to normal on the Upper East Side.

When I walked through my own neighborhood this afternoon, Mast Brothers had reopened. Momofuku Milkbar had not. Nor had Modca. Oslo was open – thank goodness – but didn’t have any pastries understandably. Pies n Thighs was not only open, but delivering.

The subway still isn’t working so I’m Brooklyn-bound for a few days.

Good riddance, Sandy.