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Thursday, March 29, 2007

more coffee... SO MUCH MORE COFFEE! WHEEEE....

haha, that's my caffeine high starting in, right?

Wednesdays I don't have class on campus, so I sought out a new coffee house to study at. I ended up at Green Bean (down the street from me). I loved loved loved the feel of the place. It was very bright and very flea market finds type of decor. The chairs were of all shapes and sizes, the tables had that shabby chic sort of feel, and there were lots of reclaimed windows and frames that had bright happy messages written in them, like "fresh baked goodies!" "Tis all fair trade!"

In fact, the people there are also extremely happy... like happy to a point that had me wondering whether it was chemically induced happiness. I'm not just talking about the woman behind the counter with the infectious bubbly laughing. The CUSTOMERS were happy people (granted it was a sunnyish day in Seattle, which makes most Seattlites happier). It was a place where women came for late afternoon get togethers to chat and smile. The people behind me happily plunked down with coffee, conversation, and dominoes! It was actually not very effective for working, as there was so much happy chatter and domino clinking. But while I sat there grumpily reading some journal articles, it occurred to me that perhaps just being around such effusive happiness could make me happier. Yup, well, unfortunately, the drip coffee was just so-so, and the croissant was downright awful (tasted artifically made, no flaky crust and a sickly sweet raspberry jammy interior. It basically tasted like it came out of a package). So it's probably unlikely I'll head back there unless I'm desparately seeking a dose of happy.


Today, I'm at Wayward Coffeehouse, also in my hood. The coffee was good, and the chocolate croissant was ok (essential baking co, but it tasted kind of stale). But it's too DARK! It's a really large warehousey type place with windows at the front and back, but it's too big and not enough light!
It is open late though, and has live music on the weekends, so who knows? Maybe I'll be back here sometime when I'm not light starved...

So at some point, I will find the best coffee house for me, but the search must go on...

Monday, March 26, 2007

Craving the sweet things in life



It's the first day of Spring quarter, and since I was sick most of
break, I figured I would skip going home right after school and head
over to Ballard. I decided to go to Cupcake Royale for some sugar
and caffeine--a graduate student's two best friends. They serve Verite
coffee, which I have to say was quite delicious. They were brewing
Ethiopia Happy Valley today on drip, and it had a lovely earthiness to
go with my sweet red velvet cupcake. I didn't think to blog until
after I ate my cupcake, but the proof is there in the overly dyed
wrapper, eh? The cupcake itself wasn't that extraordinary beyond the
red dye. It was a little dry actually, but it still made me happy just
to have a pretty confection.

I like the vibe of this place. They already cycled through a Mates of
States CD making me extremely happy. The music selection has been
quite good in general after that too. It's a very laid back, Seattle
coffee shop with lots of pink cupcake boxes and globe lanterns.
There's of course free wifi (but there's rarely a coffee place here
without that), and there's a magnificent metallic cupcake right above
the doorway when you come in.



I have to say it's extremely delightful to sit here and watch children
come by with their parents and grandparents, so excited for a sugary
cupcake! Otherwise, the clientele are very unordinary Seattle people,
almost all of whom are on Mac computers (myself included).


Yikes! I think you can still see the Winter quarter blues on my face.

Overall, this is a great place to chill and pretend I have a life
outside of graduate school. You can take the 44 bus straight from UW
campus into Ballard and hit this joint on the way.

Cupcake Royale
Ballard 2052 NW Market St 206.782.9557

They have some cute cupcake shirts to check out too.