Category Archives: coffee

Study Night

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Nothing goes with hours upon hours of reading like salted caramel macaroons from Tavern.

Last weekend was so busy I had no time to read ahead. Normally, I work ahead on the weekends so on Monday and Tuesday I only have to read half of an assignment. Reading for law school is hard. Generally assignments will only be 15 to 20 pages but they will be dense, the court will not spell out why it did what it did and it will take longer than an hour to read. Suddenly you’ve been reading for hours. Your head is spinning and attention waning. After reading one paragraph you realize that you have no idea what the court was saying and you have to read it over and over again. Obviously after reading from 3 til almost 6 I needed a change of scenery. Since my birthday dinner a month ago I have wanted to go back to Tavern and sample their goodies without the impediment of stomach flu. I was not disappointed.

Decaf Iced Non Fat Latte, the perfect thing to accompany a salted caramel macaroon. I think the salted caramel macaroon is my new favorite thing of all time. It melts in your mouth, is salty and the caramel is rich. You can’t have just one.

The food at Tavern is some of the best I’ve had in LA. The Larder, which is next to the restaurant and bar, is light and airy. There was no one around at 6 when I arrived. It gave me the final push I needed to get through the reading I had to do. I will be back to the Larder soon, perhaps to sample their lunch menu!

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How to get yourself to study on Friday

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How do I get myself to actually be productive on a Friday afternoon?

Easy. Coffee from Espresso Profeta. Specifically, their Pacific Northwest Macchiato.

I love when people take coffee seriously and these people take coffee seriously. The barista even said that I should let him know if the taste was off because the macciatos are different when they are decaf. Love that! Of course it was delicious and helped me power though my Critical Race Theory reading.

Tons of updates coming tonight and some behind the scenes baking is underway!

Healthy Saturday

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Happy Saturday!

Today has been a chill day. Mostly I have run errands and done reading for school. Soon I am going out on my long run. As some of you may have gleaned, my training runs have been a but jumbled up this past week. I realized yesterday that I have to do my long run today because Sunday is going to be busy. Because Saturday is long run day, yesterday became a rest day. Although, I must say that my arms are still sore from pole dancing class! I plan to go again. It is an amazing arm workout which is just what I need!

This morning while reading I enjoyed a cup of coffee in my new mug…

Obviously it was with a side of peanut butter toast. I’m probably going to have another before I go out on my run.

My stomach was grumbling around 1 so I made a healthy lunch at home.

Sandwich, pita chips, poulet, chocolate chips, and black iced tea.

The sandwich was farmer’s market inspired:

Ezekiel bread with hummus, radish, spinach, heirloom tomato (!), and turkey. I love an heirloom. It makes it so, so delicious and fresh.

Supplemental food:

I love a side of chocolate chips with lunch. It satisfies my chocolate craving every time.

In other news:

I recently joined the website healthylivingblogs.com. Here is a little bit about the site:

Healthy Living Blogs is a new resource for the health blogging community. Created by Lindsey of Sound Eats, HLB is a site designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. Bloggers and readers can explore the site and find more blogs to love, bloggers in their area, and forums to deepen healthy discussion and support. If you’re interested in having your site listed on HLB, simply send the following information to healthylivingblogs@gmail.com and check the site out for yourself!

  • Email subject line: MEMBERS

  • Your name (please share if you prefer to go by first name, first and last, or however you prefer to be known on the Internet)

  • Blog Name

  • Blog URL (please start with http://, not www.)

  • Your twitter handle, if applicable

  • Your location (if you prefer not to disclose this information for privacy’s sake, that is completely understandable. We’ll simply include your blog listing in the A-Z listing, not by location, too)

  • Any specific labels (i.e. vegan, gluten-free, weight loss, running, etc.)

I love the healthy living blog community and I am so excited to be part of the community. The healthy blog community is awesome and so supportive of my running, weight loss and is a fantastic resource if you want to learn more about having a healthy lifestyle. The best part of healthylivingblogs.com is that they inventory blogs by location. I really want to connect with other LA area healthy living and food bloggers. So feel free to check out the site!

Coffee Bean Thursday!

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Non fat, no sugar vanilla latte. Go ahead and hate. I have a love and devotion for the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Today at lunch it was actually cold enough to get a hot drink (like mid 60’s). WTF LA? Why does it look like Seattle outside? I was actually kinda ok with it. I took a long walk at lunch and enjoyed my latte. That is something I miss about being in Boston, walking with a hot drink on a cool day. Tis wonderful.

And here is some daily inspiration. The CB on Wilshire and Vermont has a “motivational” type quote everyday… so here was today’s!

You never know where something new, different, or unexpected will take you! It’s just important to be open to the path your on…

Coffee Bean!

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Greeting from my iPhone! Since it’s hump day I decided to treat myself to a sugar free non fat vanilla latte for the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Tastes like 5 pm already!

Left Coast goes Lake Coast!

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After Boston I flew directly to Chicago to spend a few days with my parents and brother before I started to work. I love O’Hare airport! So well laid out and you can’t walk 500 feet without running into a Starbucks.

I had a pretty chill time in Chicago. I was able to run 2 of 5 days that I was home which was great. I also had a great recovery treat, a Green Monster! My family looked at me like I was insane but this is an awesome post run snack.

You can tell I’m home because the counter is significantly nicer! Add spinach, almond milk, and Greek yogurt in the blender and mix! It was so refreshing after a hot run. I also snacked on other things while home.

Like wonderful Starbucks ice teas! I used to have two a day while in high school. The people still recognize me at that Starbucks! I am now a Coffee Bean devote but when in Chicago, Starbucks is where its at.

I arrived home two days ago. I have to say that I am pretty exhausted. I am in that place where things have been crazy and I just want to chill. I had a great Memorial Day going to the beach (getting a bad sunburn), and seeing Sex and the City 2. But today was my first day of work and I am so tired. I haven’t worked out in several days now. I am going to eat dinner and do weights. Unfortunately my sun burn is right where my running shorts are and I don’t want to aggravate the burn but I am dying to get back into routine! This is the first night alone in my apartment in almost 3 weeks so hopefully I am getting back to normal. I want to be back on the running wagon, back on the yoga wagon, and back on the well portioned healthy eating wagon. Hopefully I’m getting there.

Spending the Day with Shahrin

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Last Saturday and Sunday I spent the “day” with Shahrin. Technically, it was two days but sadly only ended up being a little of 24 hours. We made the most of it though hitting Harvard Square, Sushi, watching numerous TV shows, feasting on her mom and aunts excellent cooking, getting pastries in the North End, and shopping in Faneuil Hall. Whew. Here is a short recap:

First things first, Shahrin gave me back my copy of Unaccustomed Earth and in it she had a spare key from my Boston apartment. Cool, huh? Then we had lunch. First thing you have to know is that the food at Shahrin’s house is always amazing. I had five pieces of fish when I arrived Saturday. On Sunday I had this eggplant:

The sauce is so good! You can always count on flavorful food when you visit Shahrin. We also enjoyed raspberry tea. The tea is loose leaf so Shahrin and I bought “tea balls” for the tea (insert inappropriate joke here).

Then we went to the North End and I took this picture of the Custom House. The last weekend my friends and I were in Boston together we stayed with our friend Catie there.

I remember when the big dig was going on and this whole area was a dirt hole. Now its really pretty with grass, trees, and fountains.

We went to a little cafe in the North End where we could get canolli and tiramisu. There is a lot of talk about Mike’s Pastry and I will be the first to tell you that Mike’s is good. However, Mike’s is also busy and not really any better than any other of the amazing North End cafes. We went to a cafe further down Hanover, the main drag, which was less crowded and has delicious pastries. I had a chocolate covered canolli

Shahrin had a tiramisu and of course we ate off each others plates

and then we had a latte and an espresso

I love the North End, or “Little Italy”. I snapped some pictures on my way to Quincy Market. Here we have Modern Pastry and Paul Revere’s house:

Then we went to Quincy Market where we indulged in a little shopping and we got drinks at Anthem. I really loved their drink selections but the service was a little bit slow. Shahrin had a ginger margarita and I had a sparkler, which is a pear compote with a prosecco.

We also took a photo shoot because we waited about 45 mins for our drinks:

Finally we got drinks!!

While the service left a lot to be desired the drinks were amazing. My sparkler was really light and very summer appropriate. I love a pear cocktail because its fruity but not sweet. I really don’t like overly sweet drinks. Pear is a good fresh flavor without being too much. I also love ginger so the margarita was delicious. Then it was about that time when we had to say good bye and we were sad…

I hate saying goodbye to that face! I really miss Shahrin. I was a little misty eyed on the T after I left. Shahrin is an amazing friend who would literally do anything for me if I wanted her to. She has always been there for me. She really is my hero. After I left Shahrin I went off to Allston to spend more time with Carolyn.

Out and About

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Whew. What a busy day. David is here and I spent the day showing him the city.  First we hit up Coffee Bean and I introduced David to Stan’s Doughnuts.

I had chocolate covered orange crisp and David had the Simpson’s doughnut:

Then I showed off UCLA campus and then we hit up Urth Cafe for brunch. I had a farmer’s salad which was truly delish…

After that we went to the Grove and the Arclight Hollywood where we saw “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which was very excellent. I was excited for the movie but it was way better than I anticipated and I would recommend this movie to everyone. Banksy is pretty funny. Then we went home and played with Izzy…

Before dinner at Angelino’s. So yummy! Of course I had gnocchi in pink sauce. After David wanted a doppio espresso, he is a coffee lover!

Tomorrow we will hit up Santa Monica and Venice! Can’t wait!

mmm… Yogurt

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Last summer I went to Turkey, where I was told that Greek Yogurt is ONLY Greek because the Greeks are good at branding.  This week I reminisced about the amazing breakfast buffets I had in Istanbul, Izmir, and Sirence. While I didn’t exactly have feta, artichokes, and olives for breakfast this week I did manage some yogurt with honey, cinnamon, and granola.

Not that I couldn’t eat olives and artichokes and feta for breakfast everyday… my love for Mediterranean food knows no bounds.

The cinnamon that I use isn’t any old cinnamon. It is Saigon cinnamon from the Spice House in Evanston, Il. That’s right. I get my cinnamon shipped to me. And its not just cinnamon, its also crystallized ginger and pepper (actually, French pepper because after Mediterranean food, French food is my favorite). The Spice House has so many spices, a bit of everything and much higher quality than what can be found at a grocery store. Especially the ginger which balances the sweet and the spicy perfectly. It is my favorite flavor.

And then the final essential element of a good breakfast, a large non fat latte from Coffee Bean (or as Carolyn calls it, “the coffee beanery”).