Hope floats!

Past few weeks I have been crazy busy and almost - almost forgot about everything fun and creative in life. But then yesterday a hint of a diffused sun made me move myself out of the couch and out into the open. Let me tell you that the outside was nowhere near what it looked like from the inside. No sooner that I hit the road, the dark grey depressing clouds were back and this time with a sprinkling of what cannot be called as snow or rain or even sleet - something in between all of that!

Nevertheless we marched on (driven more by hunger than by any passion of finding a good cafe really). Our first choice the amazing home-made dumpling place - Zhongua - being completely full, we simply proceeded to Cafe CB2.

Now this cafe has been on my list of places to visit for some time, yet never really found the occasion for it. Yesterday, by pure chance we found ourselves at its doorsteps. My initial plan was to visit this place one evening because I know they often have gigs and live music happening in its basement. However because we visited around lunch time, we really got to see it more as a bistro than a cafe. In fact to me the place was a bit confused. It even had a bar like place serving alcoholic drinks.

You will have to take this piece of writing with a pinch of salt. I apologise in advance for being slightly on the cranky side of life these last few days and that may have interfered with my mood and observations of the place. But I was not the happiest person when the waitress seated us close to the entrance (where it was cold enough for me to have to keep my coat on the whole time). The worst part though was that she promised to give us a table inside as soon as one became available and completely forgot about it later. And even though I asked her once again before ordering food, she just said 'yes yes of course'  to our face and the next minute forgot all about it. To top it, all this time I could see empty tables inside.

I don't think I would be awfully pleased with this service on a good mood day either.

That off my chest, I can now concentrate on the positive about the place - which was finding the 'coke float' on the menu. This very simple vanilla ice-cream drenched in a soft drink like Coke/Pepsi was something I loved having as a kid and was quite delighted to see it here. Nostalgia made me go for it instead of a coffee even though the weather really called for one.

Overall it was not the best day out, however I am willing to go there once again some other evening and find out if the place indeed has a split personality. I have hopes that this place may still come alive for me.

And if there is one thing which floats rather well apart from ice-cream that is hope :-)



(Also among other things, I found out that the Cambridge Eat festival is going to take place in March. I am looking forward to the street food festival in particular. From their website I got to know of many different independent Cambridge food places. Do take a look here if you are interested.)

Sell Coffee, not your soul

New look

Just last night, I thought that this space needs to look and feel much warmer. I set off thinking most of my pictures are too brown, I need some colour. However after playing about in blogger settings for a bit, I just ended up making it even more brown than it was :) 

But somehow this is much more me than it was before. Although I am not quite done with it. I will possibly tinker more with it some time soon.

Until then, hope you like it.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

What's the story (morning glory)?

Every cup of coffee should have a story to tell, I think. The ones I have every morning, possibly have the same one line story but it is an important one - It is a cup which forms the boundary between the fuzzy-ness of last night's dream and the hard cold reality of the following day. It's the warmth from that one cup which offers comfort and courage to face the rest of the day.

The cafe I visited this weekend -  Cafe Jocolatte, had the perfect environment for exactly that - stories. And they proved it by their tag line

 'Drink coffee, eat chocolate and talk'

Simple and profound and exactly my thoughts!

It was a much overdue visit, but it finally happened. The cafe has one of the most welcoming interiors, and many more surprises waiting to be explored once you are inside. It is not more than 15 minutes walking distance from my place and so I have no idea why I waited so long to walk right in!

The place is possibly closest to what I had in mind for a physical representation of SYB. It looks cosy from outside, but is actually quite spacious once you go in. There is a garden with outdoor seating as well (for warmer days - Yes English summers are a 'real' phenomenon!! They do happen once in a while :-) and more space upstairs. The walls are decorated with bright art work (which are for sale - you can take a look at their website) and most importantly I loved my flat white which went perfectly with the Toblerone-almond tart.

If you are able to zoom into the picture above, you can also read about the advertised 'Marcussens tea'. With 25 herbs going into it, I think it has it's own special story to tell!

Also for the non chocolate eating, non coffee/tea drinking people (surely there must be a few such outliers!) there is also some wine on the menu if you fancy.

As for me, I shall now proceed towards the refrigerator, and relish some left overs of the Austrian 'Sachertorte' also bought from the same place ;-)

Parting thoughts - while coffee, chocolates and cakes may not solve our problems directly, at right moments and in right amounts, they are a bit like good friends. They make us feel warm and comforted, and sometimes gives us the much needed kick to wake up and solve our own problems!

Sell Coffee, not your soul