Tag: coffee

Republic of Pie North Hollywood,CA

Republic of Pie North Hollywood,CA

North Hollywood is an up-and-coming area with a little strip of Lankershim Blvd. adding its artsy vibe to an otherwise forgettable area. I work with Lankershim Elementary School teaching preschool yoga, so every now and then, I like to look for new places for coffee 

Caffe Luxxe Brentwood,CA

Caffe Luxxe Brentwood,CA

    I’m extremely lucky. I wake up every morning and remind myself of how truly amazing life is. It just feels like the things that are going to happen will. As I sit in a coffee shop in Brentwood, waiting for my next kids’ 

Sunday Brunch; Chez Nous and Priscilla’s

Sunday Brunch; Chez Nous and Priscilla’s

Something about Toluca Lake is charming, witty and quaint. For those of you who have yet to be lucky enough to visit this small community, it lies on the borders of North Hollywood and Burbank and befitting of the city is a place called Chez Nous. This eatery has been around for a very long time and with the decor and the building style, you’re sure to feel back in the younger days of the valley. A vine-covered building on Tujunga and Riverside, it is a prime spot for a delicious brunch with friends.  As we scour our neighboring towns for new delicious places for gossip and good food, this local eatery was on our list. Chez Nous is a French-style eatery with other American dishes thrown in the mix. We indulged in coffee, $4 champagne for Sunday brunch and Mimosas during our little 11:00 a.m. get together, chatting about the tough times and the good times amongst wonderful, beautiful women. I’m very glad to have these times to share with my amazing friends Bryn, Stephanie and Dina.

To be quite honest, I’m not much of a breakfast girl, but these ladies are, so as we perused the menu, mixed and matched our desirable tastes, then finally ordered, an array of breakfast items and lunch items hit the table. I ordered a charcuterie plate that had pate, Black Forest ham, salami, brie, muenster and goat cheese, with olives and cornichons. The food was served with a baguette and was something that I could have easily forgotten. The goat cheese and salami were the highlight of the plate. The Black Forest ham was not as fresh as I would have liked and the pate was a bit grainy. Overall, the service was very good and the atmosphere was interesting. I’d probably give the place a second chance for a pastry and a couple glasses of champagne. The desserts looked lovely and everyone else seemed to rather enjoy their food.  Sometimes the dishes we’d like to order aren’t always the dishes others enjoy much and with large menus such as this one, I can see how this choice may have deserved a second thought.. This was one of those times when I looked over at Bryn’s food thinking, “Maybe that’s what I should have ordered.” But, as for great company and enjoying a beautiful day, this place was definitely an interesting stop.
We also popped over for coffee and sunshine at Priscilla’s coffee house in Burbank. Coffee shops, especially little mom and pop cafes such as these, have a very special place in my heart. I ordered butterscotch iced coffee, which was delicious. I drink my coffee black to really enjoy the flavor of great roasted coffee beans and these were fantastic. Here we ended a beautiful and empowering afternoon in the beautiful California sunshine. The weather here has been nothing short of amazing these last couple of weeks. I’m so grateful for these opportunities to be close to my friends and enjoy their company in this brilliant city.

 

Stephanie

Bryn

Dina

cheers

-Unrivaledkitch

Sunday Brunch at Hugo’s

Sunday Brunch at Hugo’s

Sunday afternoon…It calls to you, forcing you to get out of bed, even with the knowledge that you don’t really have anything to do. But you do have something to do: afternoon brunch. I love brunch, especially if it involves friends, food and chatter. This afternoon 

From Bellevue to Queen Anne and In between

From Bellevue to Queen Anne and In between

After the wedding we packed up and left Coastal Bellevue Hotel and headed up the huge hill with our luggage to get on a bus to Seattle. It was still Seafair and our bus driver was furiously trying to make it over the 90 bridge 

Chicago Shedd Aquarium, Willis Tower, Adler Planetarium, Bourgeois Pig, The Purple Pig, Ravens

Chicago Shedd Aquarium, Willis Tower, Adler Planetarium, Bourgeois Pig, The Purple Pig, Ravens

As I walked through the many miles of culture and community that Chicago has to offer I was struck in awe but the simple beauty of a big city by the lake. It was all such an amazing group of places situated in the heart of commerce and business but with an airy feeling of art and style. I love it.

On Wednesday before Girl and the Goat I situated myself at the Shedd Aquarium, looking like a child at jelly fish, beluga whales, and all sorts of other marine life. It made me feel young again, though I’m not too old let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. After the animal life I decided to make my way over to the Skydeck of Willis Tower and see the city from above, it was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before to be so high up and everything looks so small almost like being in a plane traveling over the city. You could see the rain washing through the suburbs and the lights just start to peek out through the clouds. A truly amazing day I’ll never forget.


 

Thursday, I woke up and headed to the train station but on my way I decided I would like a tea so I stopped into the Bourgeois Pig. This adorable little cafe serves a multitude of different items from coffees and teas as well as in house baked goods and some really awesome sounding sandwiches and salads to choose from. I just stopped in for a Chai Latte but I couldn’t help myself I got a beautifully just made still gooey in the center snicker doodle to go with it. It was the perfect sugary way to start my day. There’s something about a well done foamy hot Chai that I just love. This place was just perfect for a mid afternoon chat with friends or to get some work done with two levels of seating and free wifi.

 

I walked over to the train station and I decided to head back over to Museum Park to see the Adler Planetarium . Getting in all I could was necessary but at least this time I knew where I was going. I thought the planetarium was really interesting. I love seeing those IMAX versions of the sky with millions of little lights flickering above. One of my favorite past times is to stare into a starry sky. I miss Moorpark for just those occasions but I’ll be going to mammoth in August and I’ll have all the stars I could ever want. I wondered about for a while there taking in all the sky and its discoveries.

 

After that I found myself on Magnificent Mile walking with a plethora of shops and craziness. I’m not much of a shopper, I spend my money on food or drinks and the like so I did a little window shopping and walked around looking at all the people going up and down the street. I decided a nice glass of wine would be in order I stopped into The Purple Pig was sat right next to where the food was coming out. These guys are pulling off a miracle with burners that are electric and a small 3 foot grill but the food looked amazing. I decided i would have to have an appetizer while I was there and decided on the mortadella smear over crusty baguette topped with aged balsamic, and arugula. I love mortadella is the Italian version of Bologna so I could see how people might be turned off by it but i adore it. From the days of working in an Italian deli I love that stuff. So anyways this was a smear which kind of reminded me off almost ham butter. It was so delicate and fluffy that it was almost a moose. I really enjoyed the richness cut with the balsamic and arugula it went really well with my red Italian wine from Perugia. A perfect afternoon snack. The restaurant itself was jammed packed with people just grabbing a bite after working or tourists checking out the Chicago River outside. The bone marrow looked particularly interesting as well as many of their small plates and cheese
boards.

 

 

After all that I then headed back towards Lincoln Park waiting for my 9pm reservation at Sprout as well as my friend Michelle. I stopped for a beer at Ravens  which is a small pub on Clark Street with a mystic quality and 4 dollar pints and is open till 4am. I wrote a little pen and paper action for myself. Michelle ended up running late from her dinner with her fellow butterfly conference attendees so I headed down Fullerton to Sprout  myself.

Stay Tuned

To see the rest of Chicago click

day one, day two, Girl and the goat, Frontera

Unrivaledkitch