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Coffeeshops and Shopping Habits
Dec. 17th, 2009 02:10 pmI don't know if I'm convinced that trying to get work done while vacationing is a good idea. But ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scrottie and I are at least giving it a serious try. Our vacationing itinerary has mostly involved going to coffeeshops or other spots in different parts of town on different days to work:
Monday: Cafe Allegro, in the U District. I had hoped we would make it to Twice Sold Tales, but in the very least, we made it to Hardwick's for a while (see a map of the store here) and wandered around, looking at giant saws and axes and sledgehammers. Cafe Allegro was bustling with students getting ready for their final exams.
Tuesday: Fun in Fremont-Slash-Queen Anne. On our way over to S's cow orker's house, S needed more caffeine. So we dropped in at ETG, aka Espresso-to-Go (here's a drawing of a latte I drank there once). Some of the lettering in the window indicated that not only did they have coffee and pastries, they also have live girls. They weren't kidding - there was a real, live barista at the counter. ETG manages to fit spectacular, eclectic decorations into a tiny storefront. I'm jealous of their chandeliers. We also visited the PCC there and admired all of the delectable foods and bulk goods, and hung out at the cow orker's house and did some work.
Wednesday: We rode with my dad to downtown Seattle, to check out Tougo Coffee. The shop was named after the owner's son, and the owner actually knew about Lola, a coffeeshop in Phoenix. He made us a pot of vacuum-brewed coffee, which looks like this:
It was extremely strong. I could feel it when the caffeine hit.
Thursday: Today, we rode our bikes through Interlaken Park and up to Capitol Hill to Joe Bar. It's right across the street from the Harvard Exit, one of my favorite Seattle movie theaters. I'd forgotten that, in addition to crepes, Joe Bar also has wine and beer. This is the sort of coffeeshop that a person could easily live in (provided that he or she had a trust fund). Soon,annikusrex and her brother will meet us here and we will tear up the town or something. Maybe we will just play Scrabble.
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Yesterday afternoon, I made S call it quits kind of early because I was hungry and Tougo didn't have any real food, only pastries. That left us with enough time to wander through the Pike Place Market a bit. I got into one of those shopping-modes where I didn't really want to spend any money. I guess that made it more of a fact-finding mission. We checked out two kitchen-supply stores in search of The Perfect Eggbeaters, and I think I may have finally found one that is suitable for my purposes. S pointed out that the gear mechanism is nylon, though, so I decided to postpone that purchase.
As we wandered through the market proper, S espied a booth selling items made from reused rubber tires - mostly truck tires, but some bike tires as well. S checked out their bike tube belts, but decided the buckling mechanism was not what he was looking for. So that search carries on, in a vague, half-hearted way. [I guess that's the heart of the thing - none of these things is a desperate a search for something that's immediately needed, so we hem and haw instead and don't actually buy much].
I did buy a half-ounce of mace at the spice shop.
Then we went over to the Army-Navy Surplus Store, which contained numerous interesting things, but not quite enough of the practical things S had been looking for. He found an adequate replacement backpack, though, and purchased it. We then decided that it was probably a waste of time to go over to REI just for more of the same (browsing without buying), so we biked home instead. We did stop by the antique store in the neighborhood, and were amused by various items, but nothing in particular stood out.
I always seem to do a lot of shopping while in Seattle. Part of the appeal is just that shopping is more pleasant here in general, but I also kind of think there's just more interesting stuff here. Maybe that's because Seattle is a port city, or maybe it's because the shopping areas are more pedestrian-friendly, or because the city is more diverse and cosmopolitan. I don't know.
scrottie and I are at least giving it a serious try. Our vacationing itinerary has mostly involved going to coffeeshops or other spots in different parts of town on different days to work:Monday: Cafe Allegro, in the U District. I had hoped we would make it to Twice Sold Tales, but in the very least, we made it to Hardwick's for a while (see a map of the store here) and wandered around, looking at giant saws and axes and sledgehammers. Cafe Allegro was bustling with students getting ready for their final exams.
Tuesday: Fun in Fremont-Slash-Queen Anne. On our way over to S's cow orker's house, S needed more caffeine. So we dropped in at ETG, aka Espresso-to-Go (here's a drawing of a latte I drank there once). Some of the lettering in the window indicated that not only did they have coffee and pastries, they also have live girls. They weren't kidding - there was a real, live barista at the counter. ETG manages to fit spectacular, eclectic decorations into a tiny storefront. I'm jealous of their chandeliers. We also visited the PCC there and admired all of the delectable foods and bulk goods, and hung out at the cow orker's house and did some work.
Wednesday: We rode with my dad to downtown Seattle, to check out Tougo Coffee. The shop was named after the owner's son, and the owner actually knew about Lola, a coffeeshop in Phoenix. He made us a pot of vacuum-brewed coffee, which looks like this:
It was extremely strong. I could feel it when the caffeine hit.
Thursday: Today, we rode our bikes through Interlaken Park and up to Capitol Hill to Joe Bar. It's right across the street from the Harvard Exit, one of my favorite Seattle movie theaters. I'd forgotten that, in addition to crepes, Joe Bar also has wine and beer. This is the sort of coffeeshop that a person could easily live in (provided that he or she had a trust fund). Soon,
annikusrex and her brother will meet us here and we will tear up the town or something. Maybe we will just play Scrabble.-
Yesterday afternoon, I made S call it quits kind of early because I was hungry and Tougo didn't have any real food, only pastries. That left us with enough time to wander through the Pike Place Market a bit. I got into one of those shopping-modes where I didn't really want to spend any money. I guess that made it more of a fact-finding mission. We checked out two kitchen-supply stores in search of The Perfect Eggbeaters, and I think I may have finally found one that is suitable for my purposes. S pointed out that the gear mechanism is nylon, though, so I decided to postpone that purchase.
As we wandered through the market proper, S espied a booth selling items made from reused rubber tires - mostly truck tires, but some bike tires as well. S checked out their bike tube belts, but decided the buckling mechanism was not what he was looking for. So that search carries on, in a vague, half-hearted way. [I guess that's the heart of the thing - none of these things is a desperate a search for something that's immediately needed, so we hem and haw instead and don't actually buy much].
I did buy a half-ounce of mace at the spice shop.
Then we went over to the Army-Navy Surplus Store, which contained numerous interesting things, but not quite enough of the practical things S had been looking for. He found an adequate replacement backpack, though, and purchased it. We then decided that it was probably a waste of time to go over to REI just for more of the same (browsing without buying), so we biked home instead. We did stop by the antique store in the neighborhood, and were amused by various items, but nothing in particular stood out.
I always seem to do a lot of shopping while in Seattle. Part of the appeal is just that shopping is more pleasant here in general, but I also kind of think there's just more interesting stuff here. Maybe that's because Seattle is a port city, or maybe it's because the shopping areas are more pedestrian-friendly, or because the city is more diverse and cosmopolitan. I don't know.
