What I found in my coffee today
Originally uploaded by foutugraphe.
A few weeks back I carried on like a porkchop about the once-in-17-year cicada plague that was supposed to descend on Chicago for a few days and then pass by. I am still waiting for it to hit my part of town. I'm not ASKING it to come, I'm just saying.
So in terms of insect infestation being on the down, Chicago rates high in my book.
But Chicago delivered in absolute spades for me today as my hands-down favourite place to be. And yes, dear friends, it all had to do with food.
The doctor warned me that the allergy pills I'm on would not only make me retain water like a proverbial camel, but would increase my appetite and, assuming I did not get food immediately, increase my tendency towards touchy bad moods. Oh sweet symptoms, how I do love thee.
So this morning I was on the good old 135 bus motoring downtown, when I was almost literally overcome by the desire for an Italian coffee and an almond biscotti to dunk into it. Talk about a decadent - and rather specific - craving, eh?!
Alighting from the bus at my destination, the Lavazza coffee shop (home to the nutella croissants we all love so much), I was a little disheartened to find that the only biscotti on offer were the little dry nubby variety - one hearty dunk and you could drop it forever.
Rather than lose my cool or huff or slam my head (or someone else's) onto the front counter, I instead took leave of my senses and spontaneously ordered a banana walnut muffin. Now I normally hate muffins for their density and propensity for stodginess. But this morning I was distracted, daring and - mostly - STARVING.
And guess what, peeps? The bloody things were friggin warm!
The hands-down champs at my favourite Italian cafe make the damn muffins bright and early in the morning, and pretty much time them out of the oven and serve them up right when I get off the bus. Do you see the beautiful symbiotic relationship I have with this cafe? Do you see how these are my people?! Do you know what it does to me to enjoy a warm muffin with a hot Italian coffee first thing in the morning?
Nubby biscotti be hanged. Chicago - I love you. And I'm hungry again.
2 comments:
Go the hamster ......... happiest when good food is available .... in quantity.
No kidding, I mean it - I have defined the world by its food. If I ever get hold of the vanishing waffle-seller in Bern, I am never letting them go again.
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