Beyond The Stoop - Life in Jersey City: Coffee

Showing posts with label Coffee. Show all posts

Monday, March 10, 2014

wake up!

did you wake up on time this morning? i surely did because i use the alarm on my trusty auto-daylight-savings-changing cell phone to buzz my ear off under my pillow. i have to admit though, i'm slightly convinced that the quietness in the office this morning is due to the, shall i say, "older" coworkers who still use their non-auto-daylight-savings-changing alarm clocks and forgot to change the clocks... maybe i should give them the benefit of the doubt and say they got "stuck in traffic" or they "woke up but couldn't drag themselves out of bed quite yet" or, really, they're just on vacation.

either way, especially with the time change, we could all use an extra push to wake up in the morning. what better way than a quality cup of coffee? (i say this as i drink what has GOT to be the worst-tasting coffee on the planet... everyone in the office agrees, i just need to bite the bullet and get a coffee maker for my cube). i'm not talking about your local starbucks, or your local shop at all, really. and don't EVEN tell me you can't live without your k-cups... fancified instant coffee is just not my thing. a quality cup of coffee comes from people who are passionate about coffee, people who insist that organic, fair trade beans are the only kind to roast, people who "get" what a good cup of coffee is, and how to make it.

44 north coffee is just that. they "get" it. since their debut, i've been a fan of 44 north coffee . although i typically only drink the good stuff on the weekends, i certainly look forward to those saturday mornings when i'm NOT drinking the awful office coffee (i suppose i don't have room to hate on it, i am fully capable of making coffee at home) their latest newsletter came with a special free shipping over $25 (with code "daylightsavings") to catch a deal before they go on a small break (order by friday march 14th!). but more importantly, it came with a video, highlighting their story and their passions. i loved it enough to bring it to you today too! maybe you, too, can try out their coffee to give you the extra boost you're gonna need in this transition to daylight savings :)

44 North Coffee from Jon Roemer on Vimeo.

happy monday :)

cheers.

jenn

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

sick day

having a sick day is no fun...

but, thankfully i found my last stash of 44 north coffee in the freezer (ahhh so gooood!) after accepting the fact that i was going to have to settle for my "back-up" coffee (ugh... it's SO bad)

and... thankfully mr p thought i might like one of the centerpieces from the wedding he attended this weekend while i was in mexico (can we say GORGEOUS!?)

at least enjoyed a pretty table while i enjoyed my afternoon brew (extra late! eek! won't sleep tonight!)

also ...the fish serving plate was originally $36 from west elm ! craziness! sometimes i get annoyed at all the "junk" email, but then some times i'm in the mood to actually look at those emails, and i get pleasant surprise sales at places that are typically WAY to expensive for my budget..

happy wednesday :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

epic weekend.

wow, i've been around mr p too much. sounds like something that would come out of his mouth or from somewhere deep in that crazy brain of his...

...but... it WAS a pretty good time, i must say! mr p and i began the weekend on THURSDAY so we could head to the annual st patty's day in chicago trip with his friends from school....

....except this time we have family living there too!
....and the weather was perfect all weekend. in the 70s, maybe the 80s too.
....and it's only 4 hours from home.
....and i love the city anyways.
....which means it totally made me want to move there all weekend.
....and
....and
....and

(sigh)

we'll settle for jersey city for now i suppose.

so, to recap the weekend:

(updated blog post... can't believe i forgot this photo!!)

thursday: we got into town LATE, but still wanted tacos, so we went to CVS so danny could grab a redbull and join us. little did we know he was going to DOWN two 20-oz redbulls, eat some nachos, then fall asleep and start snoring i think AS i was just shutting my eyes, and we went to bed at the same time. (epic weekend begins)

friday: started off with a 5-mile run along the bike path that runs along lakeshore drive. mr p's brother lives just ONE BLOCK from lakeshore in lakeview. it's. just. so. awesome.

then, we cleaned up and took our things to the hotel (where we could stay with the regular annual-trip crew) before grabbing some much-needed coffee from argo tea and some chicago hot dogs.

....and then some brews at fado.

....and then mr p and zack got some big macs at the shmanciest mcd's ever.

...and then we had more drinks in lakeview with my cousin and crew at will's.

....and then we had vietnamese food at tank noodle.

....and then we had more drinks at jake melnick's corner tap and (again) fado (yes, same day)

...and then the boys had more mcd's (yes, again, same day, silly boys :P)

saturday: (wait... that was ALL friday??) we got 4 hours of sleep before we woke up to head over to bongo room for breakfast. pretzel pancakes... i have no idea what that topping was but it was just. so. good.

...and zack's bacon and banana pancakes were pretty darn tasty too.

...my omelet things was just blah, so i'm not going to bore you with blah food.

...then we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap (and shower... i went to breakfast without showering... gross... after THAT friday that we had? gross.) and crossed the GREEEEEEN river on the way (walking off all those pancakes... wait... who am i kidding... we went to mcd's TWICE yesterday!! ....sigh....)

...and then we headed to pilsen for some nuevo leon! and stop at the delicious bakery on the way back to the train...

...and then (you guessed it) the booze started! but... at least it was classy booze. we went to the publican! the decor alone is enough reason to come see this place. it helps that they have house-cured meats and a pretty extensive beer menu.

...and then we were all in a slightly buzzed, but mostly food coma state of mind, and we all took a 2-hour nap.

...and then we went to revolution brewing co. where we tried a few of their house-brewed beer (i think it's house-brewed anyways? whatever, it's their own beer, and it was delicious!) and their bacon fat popcorn, topped with shaved parmesan and fried sage (soo... you say you're gonna drive to chicago just for the popcorn? that's not extreme at all.. i mean.. yeah... it was good)

....and then the night started to get a little blurry...

...and we headed to wrigleyville for st patty's day MADNESS . utter... MADNESS!!!

...but... zack was super excited he found a large spot for us all at the bar (too bad i found another smaller spot that had SEATS! and then we snagged a table)

....and then we took a bunch of shots and drank lots of beer and took lots of pictures that i'm not going to show to you.

....and then we ate ian's (so sad it's not ACTUALLY ian's anymore, but the pizza was still as tasty as it can get at 3am and drunk) and ate GREEN mac-n-cheese pizza, tortellini pizza, rigatoni alfredo pizza, and bbq pork pizza with french fries on it (clearly getting classier as the night goes on)

sunday: ...and then it was morning (GOD it came so FAST!!!) and we met up with my cousin (and more of mr p's besties from home) again for brunch in lakeview at frasca. TERRIBLE service. TERRIBLE . but, the food was decent and the coffee totally hit the spot. my eggs florentine (pretty much eggs benedict except brioche and turkey) and mr p's breakfast pizza with prosciutto and sunny-side-up eggs were pretty tasty.

...and then we said our goodbyes, and flew back to NYC.

many thanks and hugs to everyone we saw. we had a GREAT weekend, and certainly don't get to see ANY of you nearly enough :( ...but can one of you please send me back my voice? i'm not sure how much longer i can go without it... or how much more teasing i can handle from my boss thinking i partied a bit too hard over the weekend ("ah no, mr boss man, we just had our hotel AC up super high because it was so hot last weekend and it made me a little sick")

too bad chicago isn't a $20 bus ticket like it is to DC, boston, or philly, we would totally be there more often.

welp, back to reality!

toodles.

j&h

Sunday, February 19, 2012

go on adventure, i will

(don't mind my attempt at speaking in the backwards sentence structure mastered only by the jedi master)

two episodes done, one to go! mr p's valentine's day gift from me was kit kats (of course, any gift to him from me is accompanied by kit kats) and all 6 episodes of star wars. he's, of course, seen them all, and practically knows them all by heart, but I'VE never seen them (nor did i have an ounce of desire to see them either), so my budget-friendly-but-totally-awesome V-Day gift to him is watching them with him! (i was deemed the title "best girlfriend ever"....thanks for the sneaky help last weekend in philly, zack!! you can have the title of mr p's "best best-friend ever", too) so today we are watching the "first" three movies: IV, V, and VI. mr p wanted to do 6 in one day, but i said that was totally pushing the limits!!

after the first movie, we took a break at the warehouse cafe a few blocks away from our house. i heard it had intelligentsia coffee, and it looked super cute, so what a better time to get out and get some fresh air, than a day when we intentionally planned to be cooped up on the couch all day?

does this bring back childhood memories for anyone?

we totally had one of these, except it wasn't spray-painted silver.

yesterday, however, we planned an adventure! ....an adventure in BROOKLYN!!

(before that, though, mr p and i were very productive in getting my car serviced, getting some necessary necessities at lowe's and pc richards & sons, and couldn't pass up on some white castle on our way home.... and ate it in the parking lot of BJ's... classic)

most of the time, we don't venture past that "other island" in between us and brooklyn (i.e. manhattan). but, if we take the world trade center PATH train, getting to brooklyn is just as quick (or even quicker!) than getting to some of our regular neighborhoods in manhattan.

we planned a first stop at buschenschank, a relatively new german restaurant/pub in between the carroll gardens and cobble hill neighborhoods. what a great starting spot! we all tried delicious german beers, and munched on a meat and cheese platter and a homemade pretzel with a brie/beer cheese sauce.

this new neighborhood had so many fun places, we couldn't help but stop in what looked like a very authentic italian bakery. court pastry shop totally won our hearts. and our tummies . nick got a HUGE and very tasty lobster tail, while mr p got a similar pastry that was filled with a not-super-sweet ricotta filling, and christina and i got cookies.

i've become a fig fanatic lately. and last night totally satisfied my fig-tooth. there were figs on the meat and cheese plate at buschenschank, and fig cookies at the bakery (totally better than fig newtons, of course).

as we headed to the next destination, it began to sprinkle, so we popped into the closest bar and grabbed another drink. they had my favorite "indulgence" beer on tap... lindeman's framboise. it's hardly classified as a beer in my book, but totally delicious... tangy, sweet, more like a bubbly juice than a beer.

(and sooo red! even the bubbles were red!)

next up was another bar close by called the brazen head (no no no, totally not the same as brazenhead in columbus, but equally as awesome)

but what made this a destination, you ask?

$1 oysters and $5 bowls of clam chowda!!!

i've recently decided that i like those slime-y fishy things, and (brace yourself) i had NEVER tried clam chowder before!! ...though i was positive i was going to love it. ...aaand i did. and helped myself to 2 bowls of it.

last stop (totally unplanned, but mr p couldn't help but be lured in by the bright sign and smell of burgers and fries)... CHECKERS!!

that floor made me feel like i was walking into a fun house.

....and those fries!! ...all seasoned and battered, i couldn't help but steal a few from mr p!

as we got back to jersey city, the plan was to go home and have a few more "free" drinks, though mr p had his eyes set on a mcd's shamrock shake, and the rest of us were set on going to park and sixth (since it's only 1 block from home and i've been dying to try it out)

we ordered drinks and mr p came in later with his shamrock shake (i warned the waitress he's be in with some food from "another restaurant") since we all ordered drinks, we decided to throw in some vodka to the shamrock shake! (who DOES that?) to complete my night of figs, i ordered a special cocktail from the menu that was FIG VODKA and pineapple juice! so delicious (but not worth the hefty price tag...)

mr p also decided that all the food we had that night wasn't enough, so he ordered mac and cheese 10 minutes before the kitchen closed... so good... it was, just... you have to try it...

a little sweet for "everyday" mac and cheese, but totally hit the spot last night

all that, and the adventure ended before midnight ... now that's our kind of night! (god, we're getting old)

so... 1 more movie to go, today! i guess they aren't so bad, afterall :D

(doesn't he just look so stinkin' cute in his old-man hat?)

cheers to a great week ahead!

toodles

j&h

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