A Cafe in South London I Haven’t Been To!!

Date: 11-10-2011

Drink: Venti Green Tea

Food: White Chocolate and Raspberry Mini Cake

a sprightly Simeon!

So, on our way home from some lessons in Dulwich, we decided to drive into Croydon instead of all the way down to Sutton, especially since we are now staying in an area called Wallington, which is much closed to Croydon than to Sutton. Can I say? Bad mistake. I’ve heard people say Croydon is ridiculous, and we’ve driven into Croydon before to drop off friends at hotel, etc. But seriously, Croydon is ridiculous. We drove around in circles for hours with Sims yelling at me because I should supposedly be able to tell where I’m going since I had the map right in front of me (on the phone’s GPS). The only problem was, the phone doesn’t tell you which streets are one-way, and the directions were taking us the wrong way on streets and such. And the Starbucks cafe listing on the phone didn’t mention it was inside the mall!

 

Ok, this mall was seriously pathetic. We walked into what looked like the main entrance, which actually just happened to be the entrance to Debenham’s, and this store (Debenham’s) was three storeys high and had no exit to the mall proper! Well, it did, on the second storey. And of course, because there was actually no way feasible way to get into the mall, the main portion of the mall was empty. You could hear a pin drop. Of course, I’m comparing this mall to Bellevue Square, which is a pathetic comparison. We walked around the entire mall until we finally happened upon the Starbucks, which was tucked away in a tiny corner and pretty much had the entire mall’s concentration of people crowded into its cafe. Parking was expensive, and we really didn’t have time to enjoy our green tea. That said, Simeon does look rather happy, doesn’t he? Or maybe it’s just the hair.

 

By the way, I don’t think the Starbucks cafes in the States (at least not the ones we’ve been to) have the White Chocolate and Raspberry Mini Cake. Oh my God they are good! Very dangerous. But very yummy. I will be taking care to avoid those in the future, because it would be very easy to get addicted to those! YUMMM!!!!

 

ps, if the paragraphs don’t look the same, don’t ask me why. they’re actually exactly the same in the HTML, so yeah… wordpress kind of acts strangely sometimes…!!!

hidden away in the corner of the mall

 

Thoughts and Reviews in Surbiton

We’re sitting here at the Surbiton Starbucks in South London, a cafe I logged almost a year ago, on 15 December 2010: http://starbuckproject.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/surbiton-high-street-kingston-upon-thames-england/ . Whenever we come to London, we inevitably go back to our normal haunts: the Starbucks on the Surbiton High Street, and the Starbucks on the Sutton High Street. And since I generally only post when we go to a new cafe, and even then sporadically thanks to hectic-crazy-dancer-lifestyle, one may get an uneven picture as to our patronage of Starbucks. But there are definite advantages to going back to the same cafe. Like, for instance, the baristas start to get to know us. Even in England.

At the Sutton Starbucks, for instance, there is one barista in particular who recognizes us from a long time ago. A couple of trips back, maybe in January, we came in during a slow spell, and we chatted for a bit about the difference between American and British cafes. Like, for instance, that fact that British Starbucks give you ALL upgrades on your drinks for free. That means free shots and free syrup. So our Venti Quod Vanilla Latte is the same price as a Venti Latte when we pay for it with our card. How awesome is that?? I saw him yesterday, too, and he asked what we do. After all, he sees me a lot for about two or three weeks, then not at all for two or three months, then again for another two or three weeks, and etc etc. So I explained to him what we do for a living, which naturally inspired quite a bit of interest since Professional Ballroom Dance is, while rather glamorous, not the most common profession in the world. We didn’t have much time to talk, however; as it turns out, Starbucks is bustling on a Sunday morning!

And just now, we walked into the Surbiton High Street and the barista saw me in line and called out, “Venti Quod Vanilla Latte for you?” I gave him a big smile. On a day like today, when Simeon and I are not getting along and I’m coming down with a cold, my eyes burn and my sinuses are pounding AFTER medicine, and I’m not dancing particularly well (surprise??); it’s so nice when someone remembers my drink. That extra little attention goes a long way. And, of course, while he was making my latte he asked what we were doing over here, and I explained to him that we were professional dancers, which once again inspires a fair amount of interest. But really, I do love it when I get to know the baristas. Like getting to know servers at restaurants or bartenders at bars. It just makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

On another note, Starbucks in Britain offers a Creme Brulee Macchiato. Simeon and I ordered it the other day, and I’d have to admit, I didn’t fancy it too much. (Look at me, even starting to write like a Brit! The slang gets into me when we’re over here.) In the States Starbucks has the Pumpkin Spice Latte as an Autumn specialty, and I much prefer that to the Creme Brulee Macchiato. There’s something in the Creme Brulee syrup that makes the drink taste almost alcoholic, which is fine if I’m drinking a martini, or a Calypso Coffee after dinner, but not for my morning cup o’ joe. Personally, the Pumpkin Spice is a win for me, while the Creme Brulee is a definite fail. But maybe that’s just the American talking in me!

Regular Hangout in Richmond, BC

Blundell Centre, Richmond, BC, Canada

Outside Blundell Centre Starbucks

 This is a regular cafe for us, so I won’t provide dates or what we ordered because we go to that cafe pretty often. I’ve mentioned in other posts before, but one of our coaches lives in a suburb of Vancounver, BC, called Richmond. Whenever we go up to Canada to work with him, he’s nice enough to let us stay with him. However, he is not much of a coffee drinker – actually he simply doesn’t drink coffee. He only has tea around the house, which is great late at night while I’m getting ready for bed, but in the morning I need a bit of something stronger. So we head to this cafe, which is just a couple of blocks away from his place and on the way to the dance studio anyway.

I really do enjoy this cafe. First of all, it opens early and closes late, which is perfect for our lifestyle (it closes at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays). But the baristas are all very nice, and best of all, it seems to be the neighborhood hangout. When we go in the morning, we sit outside most times with our dog Foxtrot (very cute little Pomeranian), and he sniffs all of the other dogs that chill with their owners in the mornings. There’s a large group of older men that collect and smoke cigars on the weekend mornings, and make jokes and tease all the pretty girls that walk through. It’s fun. I really like this cafe.

Sims enjoying his hot coffee on a cold Canadian morning

Salt Lake City Airport Surprises

Date: 14-3-2011

Drink: Venti Quod Skinny Vanilla Latte

Second time: Venti Green Tea

This post of a past location has two to log.

Salt Lake City Airport main terminal

Every year we go to Provo, UT, for a big competition that’s held on the BYU campus in Provo, UT. We often frequented a cafe just outside of Provo, the cafe logged at: http://starbuckproject.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/searching-for-coffee-in-mormon-town/ We discovered this cafe to be the hangout of pretty much all dancers who are not Mormon. Remember, lack of sleep plus constant dieting equals need for caffeine!

Salt Lake City Airport puddle jumper terminal

Anyway, we stayed an extra day to go skiing, which was awesome, and on our way home we had to take a puddle jumper to Pasco, WA, of all places. It’s certainly a place I’ve been to many times, but I’ve never been to the airport. Anyway, the two locations logged are one in the main terminal, and one in the puddle-jumper terminal.

Craiglist Adventures

Date: 3-4-2011

Drink: Venti Triple Cocoa Cappuccino

Food: Salted Caramel Mini Bite

Pacifico, CA (suburb of San Fran)

This is an old post, but I’m using my time while I’m in England to get caught up on old posts. Back in April, we were in San Francisco for a dance competition. For Christmas I was given a Kindle, and my dearest hubby Sims decided my Kindle was pretty cool, so he decided to get one for himself. Of course, Sims cannot possibly buy something without a good deal, so he searched on Craigslist, both up in Seattle and, since he knew we were going to be down in San Francisco, in the San Fran metropolitan as well. At last he found one that looked pretty good up in Pacifico, so on an afternoon we had off, we hopped in our friends’ car and drove up to Pacifico to meet up with the guy who was selling the Kindle. We were supposed to meet outside a Quiznos (or something to that effect; I don’t remember what, exactly).

Well, when we got there, the other guy wasn’t there yet, and there happened to be a Starbucks in the same complex. Woo hoo! We stopped in at the Starbucks to chill out and wait for the guy… for the next 45 minutes! When he finally arrived, it turned out the item wasn’t as he described. It came without the original box, and without a charger, despite having been described as “like new”. We were not very happy. But, luckily, the Cocoa Cappuccino soothed our angst.

Btw, that Cocoa Cappuccino is really good.

New England Boonies – Manchester, NH

Date: 3-10-2011

Drink: Venti Quod Skinny Vanilla Latte

Food: “Everything” Bagel w/ 2 cream cheeses, Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Manchester, New Hampshire

In my most recently published post, “Traversing New England”, on my other blog, I explained how we came to stop and spend the night in a small city called Manchester in New Hampshire. Honestly, all cities in New Hampshire are small. As a West Coast girl, I’ve always had this idea that the East Coast, and New England, was an over-populated region filled with skyscrapers, pollution, and crime. I didn’t realize until our drive through New England how sparsely populated the region really is outside the big cities. But I guess the misconception is fair. Afterall, East Coasters all think Seattle is a frontier town without light or running water, despite the fact that Amazon, Starbucks, Boeing, and Microsoft are from Seattle. The guy who worked the front desk at the hotel we stayed at in Manchester even asked us, “Do you know where Harp is?” We looked at each other confusedly and answered, “No, we’ve never heard of Harp.” To which he replied, “Oh, well Harp is a town in Alaska.” Simeon then said, “Why would we know where Harp is? Alaska is pretty far away from Seattle.” The guy scoffed and waved his hand at us. “Oh, come on,” he said, “Alaska’s not that far from Seattle!” So it just goes to show you, the misconceptions go both ways!

Anyway, there are two Starbucks in Manchester, and one in Concord, just north of Manchester. Not too many others in New Hampshire. Like I said, it’s a sparsely populated state! We stopped by one on our way up to Canada, three days earlier, but I can’t remember if it was in New Hampshire or Vermont. I’ll look up my path and write a post about that one next.

Link to my post about our travels through New England: http://korastoynova.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/traversing-new-england-and-france/

Manchester's Proximity to Boston

Montreal and Friends

Date: 2-10-2011

Drink: Venti Quod Skinny Vanilla Latte

This was the first time we’d ever been to Montreal, either of us, and unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to see much. We were actually coming from Gatineau (which, by the way, has NO Starbucks cafe. And if you ask the concierge if there is a Starbucks anywhere, they look at each other in confusion and ask us what Starbucks is) where we danced the World Professional 10-Dance Championships. It was a Sunday. We applied for late check-out, slept in, and took our time getting out of the hotel. Driving through Ottawa, we stopped to take some pictures of the Parliamentary buildings, found a Starbucks there but it was closed, then continued on our ways to Montreal.

Starbucks on Rue Universite in Montreal, Quebec

By the time we got to Montreal it was already getting dark outside. We don’t turn our internet on in Canada, as it’s too expensive, so we had directions into the city centre, but the exit we needed was closed. So we took another exit, followed the signs of life, and ended upin the main district by accident. And there, right before us, was a Starbucks! We had skipped breakfast and had already been driving for about 3 hours (if you include our detour to take some pictures of the Parliamentary buildings) so we decided to make a quick stop at Starbucks to fuel up and find out what’s to see in Montreal on a Sunday evening.

And while I was online, one of my former students who had come to Montreal for school contacted me and said, “Hey! I’m in Montreal right now!” So we gave her a call and it turned out she was only two blocks away, at the library studying! So after Sims and I ate some dinner, she joined us for a dessert and to catch up. We didn’t have too much time, as we needed to continue our way south, toward Boston, but it was great to see her! She promised she’d take us around Montreal next time we were in town, and we promised to give ourselves more time.

We may not have seen Montreal in the way most people consider it, but at least we had the chance to drive in and look around a bit, grab a good dinner and catch up with friends. That’s the difficult part about being a dancer. You go to a lot of places, but you don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time there.

Sims in Montreal!

Mini Starbucks is All it’s Worth

Date: March 19th, 2011 Drink: Venti Shaken Passion-Fruit Iced-Tea Lemonade Food: none Once again, up to Canada for lessons in preparation for the Blackpool Dance Festival and our National Championships, both of which are coming up in May/June. We arrived in Canada early and were both thirsty, so we stopped by the closest Starbucks to the studio, which is on Oak Street in Vancouver. It really is a tiny little café, with a counter that is so high that my elbows are up next to my ears if I try to type on my computer. Luckily the table near the door just opened up so I’m going to hope over there to do some more work.

Unfortunately I have no picture of this one, but it deserves to be logged anyway!

Quiznos and Starbucks a Winning Combination!

Date: March 14^th, 2011

Drink: Grande Triple Skinny Vanilla Latte (Sims didn’t share with me this time)

Food: sorry Starbucks, we had Quiznos (mmmmmm)

the Sears Plaza on Northup and 148th Ave in Bellevue, WA

I realize that I’m about a month behind on my Starbucks posts…. With the commencement of Dancing With the Stars, and the ramp up before the Blackpool Dance Festival, I have had very little time to do anything else, and that means that while I’ve been taking pictures of our Starbucks ventures, I have not been able to update them on the blog.

Anyway, I’ve mentioned in my last few posts that we’ve been going to Canada on the weekends. We normally leave Vancouver at around noon, and if there is not terrible traffic at the border, we’re normally back in Bellevue by between 2:30 and 3:00, which gives us just enough time to grab some lunch. Luckily, the Sears Plaza is just up the street from the dance studio, and in that strip mall, Starbucks and Quiznos are right next to each other. This gives me ample opportunity to grab a coffee while Simeon is ordering lunch.

This café is very small, with nothing more than the barista counter, advertisements, and a couple of chairs, in front. But the seating area, narrow as it is, stretches back along the side of the barista counter. The configuration of the café is very much like the cafes we see often in London, where the retail spaces are about one room wide, but can extend up to three rooms back. For a lot of people from the studio, this is a regular hang out. The closer Starbucks, on the corner of 140^th Ave and Bel-Red Rd, is packed tight, noisy, and usually crowded with baby strollers. It’s a hectic location. But this Starbucks, on Northup and 148^th Ave, is a bit quieter and therefore a nice place to go for a little coffee and a wind-down.

Gold Level At Last!

Ha ha! I am finally at Gold Level status! It would have happened so much sooner if Starbcuks counted international purchases… but they don’t. They don’t even count Canada. And since the majority of our Starbucks purchases are made whilst en route to somewhere, and somewhere is often out of the country, it takes a while to build up enough visits just based on our American purchases. Anyway, the point is, at last we are Gold! And all I can say is… it’s about frickin’ time!!