Thursday, January 21, 2010

Review of my coffee date with Mermaid

(Hey, she asked for it!)

Mermaid and I try to go for coffee together at least once a week. Last minute meetings sometimes get in our way, but we generally manage to pull it off, usually by pretending we're discussing work (our two bosses collaborate closely, and sometimes we do actually talk about their current projects). We rotate our custom around some of the (I think seven*) coffee shops found in the four blocks between our two work places. Earlier today, we met up at our current favourite, Elysian Coffee (who are NOT paying me any kind of commission!) on the South-East corner of Broadway and Ash.

Now, this place has the unfortunate nick-name of "Pubes". As in "let's have this week's 'meeting' about the 'sequencing pipeline' at Pubes". The reason is that in a previous incarnation of this coffee shop, Mermaid once spotted a suspiciously short and curly hair bobbing about in the foam on her latte. (And the bread in my sandwich was stale. How gross is that?) We never went back... and for some reason that place didn't do very well and closed down soon afterwards. When it reopened with a new name, we checked that it was indeed under new management before venturing back in. And I'm glad we did, because the coffee is excellent and they make the best chocolate cookies in town.




I arrived a little later than Mermaid, who said that the scone that didn't quite make it into this photo was delicious and highly recommended. At least I think that's what she said, through the crumbs

Mermaid does have a head, by the way, but wishes to remain pseudonymous.


Pubes (the name will remain for ever more) is a bit of a victim of its own success - Fridays at 10:30 are almost unbearably busy, with a long long wait for your coffee and a scarcity of seats. But today we got a table and felt unhurried enough to have a lovely half hour conversation about Mermaid's upcoming move, cats, the (possibly doomed) Olympics (there's no snow at what is now likely to be the mudboarding venue, and Whistler resort is going to be auctioned off halfway through. Plus the opening ceremony is almost guaranteed to be embarrassingly cheesy. But we're both still super excited about our respective event tickets and the party in general). Oh, and the anti-prorogue rally, which seems to be getting a lot of publicity, an idea for a future blog post (about some recent papers on which our two bosses are authors - was too a work meeting!), and cat poo.

As we parted, Mermaid said that she was looking forward to reading my blog post about discussing cat poo at Pubes. I hope it lived up to those high expectations!

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*Pubes, Mad Mike's, Daily Perk, Bread Garden, Blenz, Starbucks, and Java Express (in my building) - did I miss any?

12 comments:

  1. Hey, where was my invite? Meh, I was wrangling marketers at said time. (like herding cats, only less fun, as you know).

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  2. I'm glad Mermaid has a head. But the question remains, does she have legs?!

    And can we now order those cookies online and you will get a commission?

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  3. What exactly did you have to say about cat poo? Enquiring minds etc. etc.

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  4. Mmmmm, that scone was delicious! In fact, everything I have ever eaten there has been great. And no suspicious looking hair in the coffee either.

    I must remember to mark that appointment in my calendar as something other than 'Pubes' though. We share our calendars among the PM team, so if anyone were to check mine that day, they might start wondering.....

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  5. Mermaid - for a moment I thought you were answering my question. I now need to scrub my brain.

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  6. Kyrsten, this habit started back when Mermaid and I were marketers trying to resist the cat herding ourselves!

    Nina, she does indeed! And she also has a recipe for cookies that allegedly closely resemble the ones at Pubes. I can has recipe, and I can maded you a cookie and you can eated it. I can not has commission.

    Bob and Mermaid's alternating comments just made me laugh out loud at my desk. Tres professional!

    Cat poo... we talked about whether it might be a good idea to save some "used litter" when the cat goes off to the vet for the duration of the big move, so he can smell "himself" when he's moved into his new home. Any comments, having moved The Beast recently?

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  7. The Beast is the Beast - he couldn't give a toss. Although he's always had the same litter tray, though, so it might have made it easier (apart from the stink).

    But he's now whining that he hasn't been fed for 2 hours. Bloody cat...

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  8. Is the place overrun by 13-year-old boys by any chance?

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  9. The coffee looks wonderful, and I'll take your word for it on the scone (and head and legs). Down here, coffee usually comes in throw-away cups. Yuck.

    I'm glad to see your coffee looking much thicker and richer than what I've had way up north on the Alcan, where my phrase "Canadian coffee" is not meant to be flattering. Up there, adding cream just for a bit of flavor is a requirement, imo.

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  10. Really? Throw-away cups, even if you're sitting in rather than taking out?

    Yeah, there are some really good coffee places in Vancouver. I'm not a big coffee drinker at all, but I know where to go if I do want some!

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  11. With really good coffee places, and some others that serve espresso, you can get real cups. Not that many places do espresso where I'm hanging out these days, they just have regular, average coffee in regular coffee cups. Am thinking fondly of a nice place in Winnemucca, though...

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