Late Night "Coffee" With Friends

Another crazy busy day that only allowed me tea while at my desk with my coworker.  After leaving work, I figured how about catching a couple of drinks with our friends that are moving.  They were ready to hang so we went to TGIFriday's because it's a nice sit down place for food at the hour I'm off without being Denny's.  We walked in and noticed by the bar there was a large group, mostly women.  Once we sat down, we realized they were there for the karaoke.  Karaoke on a Wednesday night?  Well it was horrible! Off-key 80's and 90's music sung at the top of their lungs.  We couldn't even hear each other.  I missed Cher on the tv with David Letterman!
At least in the loud commotion, I was finally able to take my break from the day with an Irish coffee.  My friends got some other signature Friday's drinks. Those drinks looked fabulous but I was craving the warm coffee and cream flavor.  It was good and hit the spot.  However, it was no where near as good as my favorite place for Irish coffee, Casey's, in Canoga Park.
We laughed at the ear-shattering singers who happened to find the worse songs of those eras.  Someone gave us their best rendition of I Like Big Butts by Sir Mix-A-Lot.  Shortly after that, we had had enough and headed to the car.  Outside it was creepily quiet but peaceful.  Overall, a great night to end a busy day.

Room Service

As I've mentioned before, my friend is moving to Seattle. Of course, we will miss each other a bunch so we are trying to spend as much time together before she goes.  For now, her fiance's company has put them up in the local Hilton, as it is cat friendly as well as dog, so the packers and movers can get their house in order without any disruptions.  I headed over to the hotel and we decided to order room service.  I've never ordered room service before so I was excited and I know she was too.  She got an American breakfast and I opted for the French toast and we got a pot of coffee to split.  She even took a wonderful picture of the whole breakfast set-up and uploaded it to her Instagram.  Hilton commented on it saying they hoped she'd enjoyed her breakfast.
Our coffee was ok.  Not much flavor but not terrible.  The coffee setting, with the cups and pot was adorable.  As we finished the pot of coffee, we talked about the interesting local channel the hotel was playing.  It was a channel to promote tourism in L.A. but as we watched, we laughed and judged how they made it seem like The Getty was right next to Disneyland and that Rodeo Drive is a thing people actually want to do.  They left out the traffic, the homeless, and the crowds.  I love L.A. but don't pretend it's something it's not.  They even showed a shop in Downtown Disney that's been closed for over a year.  Oops!  Yes, yes, I know you have to make it appealing to the incoming visitors but don't show the TMZ bus in Hollywood seeing celebrities at every shop and not a single character impersonator fight going on.  That's just not how it is here.
We decided to have another cup of coffee.  It was probably more that I saw that Hilton offers Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand for the in room coffee.  The Morning Blend was really good.  I felt it was far better then the pot brought up with breakfast.  Her fiance returned after that and we ordered dessert before I had to head out to work.  I got the cheesecake and she got creme brulee while the fiance had his lunch.  We got another pot of coffee but I think it was more for him but I had a tiny cup to go with my cheesecake.  Delicious!

Round two.

A nice view of Woodland Hills.

Help Me Little One, You're My Only Hope

Otherwise known as Star Wars Day.  Star Wars Day is such an important holiday to our family and friends.  We celebrate every year.  Unless you have been living in the Dagobah System, you know that this holiday falls on May 4th, as in, May the Fourth be with you.  The proper response when a Jedi greets you with this phrase is, "And also with you".  Sure it's not a real holiday, but the Little One and I celebrate every year.  There is usually a large party where everyone is invited.  We watch all 6 of the Star Wars movies all day long.  The house is decorated in collectibles, we wear Star Wars outfits, and make themed food like Greedo's Burritos and Wookie Cookies. However, this year, the Little One wasn't feeling too hot, so we did a smaller scale party with lots of pre-made food.
Originally we were thinking of holding just a giant Star Wars Day meet up at Disneyland but taking this normally, food-filled, laziness inducing, space holiday to the parks will have to be saved for another year.
Upon keeping things super laid back this year, we even opted for drive-thru McDonald's coffee.  She got her usual large mocha Frappe with no whipped cream while I decided to try the French vanilla latte.  Seeing as how it was McDonald's, I figured I would probably love it and become addicted.  I did really enjoy it but it needed just a touch more milk.  Good coffee but not something I see myself craving like their should-offer-a-12-step-program-for peppermint mocha.  Maybe drinking it out of my Stormtrooper mug made it taste better.  R2D2 will have to wait to be possibly used on Revenge of the Sixth. That's the Little One's Darth Vader mug.
She has quite an extensive collection of Star Wars paraphernalia.  The Older One is a Star Trek fan but enjoys coming to the dark side once a year to join us in the festivities. If only they could make a Star Trek holiday as well.  But then you come to need a Futurama holiday and Doctor Who and who needs all that fandom running wild.  (If you decide to throw a fandom party, I'll probably bring my nerdy self to join you.)
As we made our way through each of the movies, we mouthed the lines along with the characters.  Those who barely know the Star Wars universe, are given a refresher course so they can tell their Anakin from their Chancellor and eat the Cantina Chili while singing along with the Cantina Band.
This holiday super significant.  I work just about all traditional holidays all year round but request this one off as it is a full day of stress free bonding with friends and family.  No gifts needing to be exchanged, no worries about people showing up on time, and the only dress code is preferably Star Wars themed (pajamas are highly encouraged).
This year was extra special as we discussed the new Episode Seven that will be coming out in December.  None of our other parties have had such mixed emotions.  Will J.J. Abrams do justice for this movie?  Will we be offended by Luke's aging face?  Will we be disappointed like we were with Episode One and the dreaded JarJar Binks?  I do believe we are only 231 days from finding out.
Once again, I'm letting my nerdiness show but that's ok.  At least I'm not a stuck up, half witted, scruffy looking Nerf herder.

Decision Time at the Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland is a place where everything you do requires some decision making.  What time do you want to get there, do you want to take the tram or walk from the parking structure, what will be the first ride or do you stop at the bathrooms first, which bathroom do you use??  By far, the hardest decision to make while at Disneyland is where to eat.  There are so many options. Food cart, service window, sit down, or full service.  Those are just a few of the first decisions you have to make.  As you can imagine, that leaves so many options to pick a place for coffee.
After a long and wonderful day at the parks with my mates, we ended up at one of my favorite places for food in the park.  The Jolly Holiday Bakery is my go-to spot for grilled cheese and tomato soup.  The sandwich is made with three different cheeses and cut up into slices for easy soup dippablity.  Not this time though.  My friend got some chow, the husband got a hot chocolate, and I opted for this as the coffee spot for the night.  Prior to tonight, I've not had coffee there.
The cappuccino I ordered was average but good.  Even though you are not supposed to, I occasionally stir my foam into my coffee.  Not all of it but enough to turn the bright white foam into a creamy coffee color.  I know that at the Disney parks, if you are not ordering the Starbucks coffee, you will be getting a brand called Joffery's. They offer a very large line of coffees, including a whole Disney line.  I look forward to trying these other coffees eventually.  Check 'em out:
https://www.joffreys.com/DisneyParksandResorts.aspx
More then anything, the Jolly Holiday Bakery is one of my favorite places at the park because of its Mary Poppins theme. Even that grilled cheese and soup setup is themed as the Jolly Holiday combo. Stain glass penguins in the windows and trinkets in glasses cases of the carousel and the snow globe where Jane and Michael learned about the bird woman begging for tuppence for the birds.  (Side note: That song was Walt Disney's favorite and it even made him cry at times).  Paintings including some of the songs and phrases from the 1964 movie are on either side of the entrance.  Although this cafe is small, the details make it special.  Perhaps on my next visit down, I can try a regular cup of coffee with a flavor shot added, or the latte that I heard was also good.  There is just too many coffee options and then there is all the different restaurants.  Wait, think about how you can choose to have coffee at either park, Downtown Disney, or at one of the three hotel properties on site.  So many decisions and I barely made it through this one!

It's Not All About The Burgers

Rumor has it that In N Out Burger has some of the best coffee.  Today I found out for myself that that rumor is TRUE!
My coworker headed over to In n Out this evening and picked up a couple cups for us to have break together with.  It was his first time trying this rumored amazing coffee so he opted to try it black first.  He was so impressed that he drank the whole thing  black.  I usually take my coffee sugar and cream infused but this coffee was truly so delicious that it didn't need more than 2 creams and a few sugars.  It was smooth and rich and so full of flavor.
Just after we started drinking our coffee, I remembered I had put some Chips Ahoy chewy chocolate chip cookies in my lunchbox.  That was the ultimate perfect combo!  I searched the web to see what brand In n Out used but I couldn't find an answer.  I may have to make a field trip over to one of the restaurants to further investigate.  On the other hand, during this research, I came across this interesting article and I'm not sure if it's something I should try.
http://www.inquisitr.com/586315/coffee-grounds-in-milkshake-new-in-n-out-burger-secret-menu-item/
Let me know how you feel about this.  I highly recommend you guys check out In n Out's coffee if you haven't already.  If you're not in the area to get some, book your flight now.  You won't regret it.

Coffee at 2:30

After a painful and unsuccessful trip to the dentist this morning, I had some time to kill. I knew my friend was getting together with her mom and headed over to see them before work.  They are right down the street from work and I usually get some terrific homemade food from one or both of them.
Yesterday's horrid sugar overload made me pause before I said yes to coffee today instead of a detox tea of some sort.  The minute I saw what was on the menu, I opted for coffee.
The Seattle's Best Coffee brand is great and her mom also really likes it too.  This breakfast blend was smooth and good on its own but my friend had bought 3.5% fat milk.  It was borderline cream.  This cup of coffee was fantastic and just what I needed for my painful mouth.
As for the mugs, she has had that Marvin the Martian mug for ages and the Quebec one belongs to her fiancee.  That's where he's from but I like using it when I come over because my background sits right around that area so I can use that mug and feel a little connected.  Look behind the mugs and you will see another Liana Hee piece of art.  This one is autographed to my friend with her special heart signature (behind the mug so you can't see it).
My cup of coffee was so good, I kinda want another one.  I'll wait and maybe have it again later this week. Yum!

The Boss

No, not Bruce Springsteen.  My Boss.  Back when I was first hired at one of my jobs, I would have never expected that my immediate supervisor and trainer would eventually became one of my dearest friends.  Over the years we've worked together, our ranks have changed; one boss, one not, both leads, both demoted, but no matter our ranks, we've always treated each other with respect which built a very strong bond.  Of course I have bosses and managers at my jobs over the years but no matter the rank, I've always called her Boss.
What's truly amazing, is that even though there is an age gap between us, we can always be ourselves and have tons of things in common.  Today we met for lunch and coffee.  We were originally going to try the coffee at a gelato place in the Northridge mall called Melt.  Unfortunately, they told us their machine wasn't working so we moved on to the Cinnabon across the food court.  All they had was ice blended or over ice coffees.  The girl at the counter gave us a sample so we chose the MochaLatta Chill (with whipped cream of course).  At first you could really taste the coffee but eventually it was overwhelmed with the chocolate flavor and at some point I'm sure I was knocked into a diabetic coma.  I don't know why but the sugary flavor intensified as I drank it and by the time I was done, I was sure I'd met my sugar quota until Halloween.  As we drank our coffees, we talked about the thing that bonds us most, Disney.  We talked about block out dates due to upcoming events, the excitement of the new product for the Disneyland 60th anniversary that's coming up, and our next trip for our coworkers birthday soon.  After all, it's all work related anyway.
Disney is a magical place, even to work at, and I've gained a wonderful second family working at the store I've been at for so many years. The Boss and I chatted about our families and friends outside of work as well.  We have been through a lot together and through it all, there is always smiles and making time for each other.  Even if it means we will need to start on insulin soon.