As I mentioned, I’m crazy busy with this new job, but I thought I’d try to throw in a few updates. And on Saturday night, I was at the Red Horse Cafe photographing Marc Barnhill and the Sorely Missed. They were great and I had an awesome time meeting everyone!

Now, I realize the quality of this photograph isn’t quite up to par with the rest of this site, but I only had my little point and shoot camera on me.

In case you don’t recognize the decor (which I wouldn’t either if I were you), this here is the infamous Russian Tea Room where my parents and I had lunch yesterday. Faberge’ eggs in glass cases surrounding us, beautiful artwork and gold guilding on the walls above our heads. It was really fantastic. And for lunch, a goat cheese blintze, duck-truffle ravioli and a chocolate mousse “pyramid” with a espresso to finish off the lunch.  And this may have been the single most expensive meal of my life…the only price I’ll divulge is that the espresso (one shot) was $8. And it wasn’t anything spectacular.

The food was very good, but portions were dainty and the descriptions of the food made it sound a lot more interesting, tasty and complicated than they actually were. When my 3 pieces of ravioli–yes, three was all you got–were put down in front of me, I quite honestly almost laughed. Then, I leaned over to my dad and said, “I think we’re gonna need to grab a hotdog after this.” My parents laughed, but I was so not even kidding.

Saturday morning was such a beautiful day in New York…it hit about 70 degrees in Brooklyn! So that morning, Sean and I dragged the dog’s beds onto the balcony to drink our coffee and work on crossword puzzles. And it was such a beautiful, lovely morning.

That is until…..we noticed at the funeral home (pictured above) that a body was being rolled up that ramp and into the facility. Being rolled on a hospital gurney type of thing with nothing but a sheet covering it. We could see the outline of a nose, chest, legs…it was creepy. Needless to say, my morning was ruined.

Southside Coffee was the first coffee shop I tried when I moved to my new AWESOME neighborhood. It’s good. Better than most coffee shops and certainly better than Starbucks. And They Have Cookies! Which in my book, is always a plus.

The ambiance doesn’t leave a whole lot to be desired, but it’s quiet and the people are all very lovely. In fact, this coffee shop was one of the deciding factors in choosing this neighborhood. Good coffee shop? Check. Cookies? Check. No homeless men trying to stab me on the walk home from the subway? CHECK.

Roots Cafe is my favorite place to go in our new neighborhood. The coffee is good (super dark…takes way more half & half than usual to get it to my ideal caramel color), but the sandwiches are what makes this place special. They have this turkey and goat cheese panini that is AMAZING. It’s so good…I’ll have to take a photo of it for Ello next time I’m there, since I was lectured about talking about food with no photo before.

That being said, the other reason I love it so much here is because of the vintage eclectic feel to its design. It has a ton of artwork (some really bad artwork admittedly) and antiques. It’s the perfect place to write on a cold, snowy day.

You know I’m really sick when I trade in my daily coffee intake for tea. And a couple of weeks ago…I was incapacitated, I was so sick.

I’ve mentioned before that I typically hate tea with the same passion that Palin hates a woman’s right to choose. There have been rare exceptions such as some of the loose tea brews featured at Alice’s Tea Cup. But any sort of Earl Grey tea bag kind of brand makes my stomach lurch.

BUT Sean found this Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. It. Is. Delicious. It tastes like Big Red chewing gum! It was perfect for the week that my throat was swollen and I couldn’t breathe. And luckily, my coffee cravings have since returned. A sure sign that I am feeling better.

Sidebar: I fully expect to see some hate mail based on my Palin comment. I’m bracing myself…

I bought this shirt a year ago  from Locher’s. In case you can’t read it, it says: I really need a fucking coffee. And..it’s the most amazing investment I’ve ever made because, really? Have you met me? A day doesn’t go by where I don’t feel this way at one point or another.

**Please Note: This is not my photography. I pulled it from their website. But since I’m promoting their product, I figured they wouldn’t mind. Hopefully I’m not wrong about that…

Cafe Select in SoHo sells an amazing cup of coffee. The atmosphere, however, leaves little to be desired. It’s crowded and loud and definitely not the kind of place you can comfortably sit and write on your laptop over a cup of joe. I ended up sitting on that pretty red bench because I couldn’t handle it inside. It was luckily a little warmer than the previous weeks have been…and by warmer, I mean it was above the freezing point.

Moral of the story? Great for a cup of coffee TO GO.

For a year now, Sean has been trying to get me to drink out of his ugly ass Star Trek mugs. I despise Star Trek…I’m always competing with that stupid show for Sean’s affection. (kidding) But I do hate the show. It’s so boring and will instantly put me to sleep with all of its monotone talking and white noise in the background.

So, the week we were moving, we realized that we needed to keep a few plates, glasses and silverware so that we could…oh, you know…survive for the week. And Sean–that punk–ONLY kept his Star Trek mugs. I tried everything to avoid using them. Cupping my hand under the faucet to sip water that way…but it seemed inevitable. I was going to have to drink from the horrid Star Trek mugs. And just as I was pulling a mug out of the cupboard to pour myself a glass of milk…I saw a package sitting on my counter from Sean’s cousin, Jeannie (who frequents this site a lot…HI JEANNIE!) And inside this care package was not only delicious home-made biscotti…but THIS MUG she bought for us in the Bahamas:

I drank from that thing every single day for a week…Jeannie, you are forever on my good list.

I’ve been running low on my Sumatra beans bought from Georgio’s a couple months ago. And since I was in Long Island for the day running errands, decided to make the extra stop to stock up.

Sean and I walked through the door and immediately notice the place is way more organized than it was back in November.  All the boxes were cleared out and the antiques were all displayed beautifully. There were even these purses and tote bags that looked as though they were hand made in another country lining the walls.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with four big smiles and four even bigger hello’s.

Sean: Hi…no need to give us the tour. We’ve been here before and were such fans, we’ve come back. All the way from Brooklyn.

Georgio: That’s right! I remember you two…hey wait a minute, are you the girl who wrote about us on her website?

Now, normally this is a really cool thing…when someone remembers or recognizes me from this site. But in that moment, I couldn’t remember exactly what I had written. I knew it was a good review because I loved this place…but I can be a tad bit snarky.  So for about ten seconds, I feared what he may have read.

Me: Um, yeah…yeah, that was me.

Georgio: That was a great website! It’s so happy! Most of these sites are so depressing these days.

Me: (sigh of relief) Yes, it is a pretty optimistic site.

Georgio: You were like a spy, though. I didn’t even see you taking those pictures! You two…you’re like coffee spies!

We proceeded to chat for a while about various things…coffee, Columbia, reviews and newspapers. But most importantly, we were proud to report that we had moved up in the coffee world. We have gone from owning a drip coffee maker to using a french press daily. It’s true what everyone says…coffee from a french press is SO MUCH BETTER.

Georgio: You like the French Press?  I hope you kept that receipt. I’m going to show you something that will blow your mind. Make sure you got that camera ready.

He winked at me as he pulled out this contraption that looked like a bong…a big, antique coffee bong. The grinds go into the top, water into the bottom and then you light this big flame. The water boils into the top part and then when you remove the heat, the vacuum causes the coffee to drip back down into the bulb-like bottom part. And I have to admit, the coffee tasted amazing. It was smooth and free of the grit you usually find in a French Press brew.

It looks a little too expensive (and not to mention breakable) for me to own…and the fact you have to handle that rather large, open flame at least twice a day five times a week; well, anyone who knows me knows that would be a detriment to my apartment and all my belongings.  But what a cool way to brew coffee! We ended up buying a completely new kind of bean that neither of us has had before…a Bourbon Selecto Puerto Rico. It’s supposed to be the best and according to Georgio, it’s the greatest flavor we’ll ever taste. And you don’t argue with Georgio!

Once again, the experience was wonderful. Georgio was entertaining, his wife–lovely as ever, and the atmosphere, warm.  I have a feeling that a visit to Georgio’s will never fail to produce a great story.