The Sheila Variations

Pumpkin latte? Is that what the crazy city people are drinking? Ew.

Whatever happened to "Coffee. Black."?

Homework assignment idea for a creative writing class: Write a short story in which at least one of these quotations appears and makes sense. That could generate some fun stuff.

Pumpkin latte is very big at Starbucks this time of year so it's not just a city thing.

I'm a "coffee black" girl. They're cheaper too! You can still get a large coffee for 75 cents here if you don't get all fancy!

Of course, I posted that KNOWING I am the same woman who LIVES for eggnog milkshakes at Sonic during the holidays.

Still, pumpkin and coffee? Ew.

bryan - hahahahaha great idea!!!

Yeah - I so want to know how the bag lady began arguing about Sherlock Holmes. Maybe I need to make something up.

Lisa - hahahaha with the eggnog!!!

But in terms of the coffee thing - I'm with you.

I like my coffee to be bitter, and plain, and I prefer it to be poured out of a glass pot in some greasy spoon diner.

I don't like it to taste like a frou-frou dessert.

I realize I am so out of fashion right now on this issue to be practically ostracized out of existence - but I can't help it. I drink coffee out of rickety teeny paper cups served up to me by illegal immigrants in tiny corner delis. And I love it.

Well you can come to my office, where the coffee is always hot and black, and I hide the creamer and the Sweet-n-Low.

I realize I am so out of fashion right now on this issue to be practically ostracized out of existence - but I can't help it. I drink coffee out of rickety teeny paper cups served up to me by illegal immigrants in tiny corner delis.

In my view, that's way cooler than Starbuck's. Of course, my idea of cool is skewed.

Lisa - and it's coffee, right? COFFEE? Not this espresso shit?

I am a coffee Nazi. I admit it. I've ground my own coffee for the past 15 years. I like a fine Columbian between-roast for everyday drinking. A dark roast on occasion. Breakfast blend? Don't make me laugh.

I carry a rather expensive stainless steel thermos (and, it is a Thermos) with my brew because I don't trust anyone else to make my coffee.

My favorite is when you get the perfect amount of beans, the perfect grind and the perfect filtered water and you get this great, husky brew that has an almost cocoa aftertaste. Nothing bitter about good coffee.

It should always be black and strong or you might as well be drinking tea.

Yes, Coffee. Made in a Mr. Coffee, as God and Joe Garagiola intended.

mmmmmmmmmmm

sounds yummmmmmmmmmy

Lisa - and it's coffee, right? COFFEE? Not this espresso shit?

My world view on espresso was changed in Afghanistan. The building across from mine housed the international forces. I became good friends with the Italian Army folks that were there. The only thing they drank were espressos. But they made it in those little metal pots on a small electric burner. Awesome stuff.

Of course, they used sugar and cream. I drank it black. I earned respect.

I can only drink espresso when the moon is in the 7th house, and I'm wearing my special shoes, and the planets align with my left butt-cheek. I mean, seriously - I can count on one hand the time I have actually enjoyed it. And it has pretty much always been because the espresso has gone along with the mood of the night - it's part of a larger event - it's usually a kind of decadent night - a date night with some suitor or other - and we have a tiny cup of espresso after a long wonderful meal, and wine, and tiramisu ... and blah blah blah. THEN I have completely enjoyed it.

It's just not an everyday thing for me. I don't like the taste enough - and my stomach is, ahem, rather sensitive. There are always ... er ... repercussions ... when I drink espresso.

But again, cullen - like I said: I am so out of fashion right now in my coffee habits that I am pretty much ostracized by all polite society.

Pumpkin latte girl sashays by as I skulk into the greasy spoon.

One day last week, I was soooooo tired. I went down to the cafeteria, and poured myself a cup of Starbucks coffee. Then, realizing I was also dehydrated, I picked up a 20 oz. bottle of Diet Coke. On the way to the cash register, I saw a display of sugar-free Red Bull. I had never tried one, so I picked up a can. When I returned to my desk, my partner was on the phone. As I sat down, I heard him say ‘Hold on a minute.” Then, “Hey Mick, why don’t you just free-base the caffeine?”.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I am a coffee Nazi. I admit it. I've ground my own coffee for the past 15 years.

All that energy that could be spent on beer snobbery...tsk, tsk.

Not sure what it's called, but the first coffee actually *enjoyed* (coming from the land of Maxwell House as I do) was the stuff I got in Switzerland and southern Germany; thick enough to stand a spoon in, strong enough to peel chrome off a trailer hitch but not especially bitter, just to kill for. Espresso, or just bottom of the pot? Not sure.

Yeah, I have had those. . .repercussions also when I've tried espresso.

When my husband was at Camp Eagle in Bosnia, the Brown & Root employees at the cafeteria never could get coffee down right, he said. They thought the Americans drank it too weak and would always make it super-strong.

Mitch -

I remember going to a late-night Greek restaurant - and we had tiny cups of coffee and the coffee was, yes, so thick you could stand the spoon up in it. It was SCRUMPTIOUS - and so strong that you really only needed 3 sips. But it was yummmmmmmmy.

I like my coffee to be bitter, and plain, and I prefer it to be poured out of a glass pot in some greasy spoon diner.

I like my coffee to be bitter, weak and gritty, and I like to pick it up at greasy spoons.

Just like my women.

Sheila, I can't tell you how grateful I am to you for having introduced me to Overheard in New York. I was just reading through it last night. Very funny stuff.

RE: Espresso. When I lived in Rome I at first missed my Regular brew of super strong Starbucks coffee. However, my secretaries got me hooked on morning cappuccino (and apparently only an American would drink a cappuccino at a time of day other than the morning) and the mid afternoon espresso break. We’d sit in my office sipping the espresso enjoying what the Italians call il dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. A difficult, but important lesson for an American like me to learn.

Eggnog milkshakes ... OMG ... when do they start offering them? I will go to Sonic every DAY.

Do they put nutmeg in?

Lisa - yeah, I find the coffee in Europe to be really good - but too strong for me.

And coffee is still not really in vogue in Ireland - I know you can get anything in the city now - but once you get out into the west, it's more of a tea-drinking land ... People look at you funny when you ask if they have coffee.

So I admit: I would travel through the west of Ireland with a bottle of Folgers instant coffee in my bag. I just couldn't stand my mornings without it.

Greek and Turkish kahve? Yummmm! I love that stuff; I get it all the time at this Turkish place down the street from my house.

Now I'm jonesing!

Mitch -

In response to your comment about the greasy spoon, all I can say is:

Je suis le Presidente de Burundi.

(That quote will only make sense to Eddie Izzard fans. Anyone? Anyone?)

Je suis le Presidente de Burundi.

(shakes head in mute incomprehension)

"There are no bones in ice cream?"

Laura,

They usually start the weekend after Thanksgiving, or around December 1. If I remember correctly, they DO sprinkle some nutmeg on top of the whipped cream.

Whipped cream. . .eggnog. . .soft-serve. . .mmmmmmmm.

Gotta love the Sonic.

Basically Eddie Izzard has a moment in one of his routines where he, in French, ends up hitting on the President of Burundi - by asking him to go for coffee with him - in a salacious manner. It all makes sense in the moment and is ridiculously funny.

German coffee: Was it Kroenig? Very good stuff. Turkish coffee: Amazing.

While I am a coffee Nazi (and I do like beer, but I almost never drink ... alcohol) I hate Starbucks coffee (overbrewed ... too many grounds ... too bitter). Dunkin' Donuts is where it's at, man.

One thing I've learned in the last few months...decaf sucks. I prefer going without. Now and then at work I'll have a tiny cup, just to remind me how wonderful it can be.

Dunkin' Donuts is where God lives, I swear. Krispy Kreme can kiss my ass.

Decaf coffee makes about as much sense as non-alcoholic beer. WHAT IS THE POINT?!

I usually try to boycott Starbucks and go for the smaller coffee shops, but yesterday there was only a 'bucks around. So I order my grande coffee (black as well) and she gets my drink. Then she says, "Here's a little book about our drinks, so you can be more creative!". First of all, WAY too perky. Second of all, shit....cant anybody just drink coffee these days? Why do I have to be "creative" about coffee??? Oh yeah, so i spend more money. Thats it.

cullen - no, not German coffee - Greek coffee - I did not know the name of it, though - and I am assuming Mitch knows the answer.

"krispy kreme can kiss my ass"

lisa, I love you.

Yeah, Dunkin Donuts is, basically, a holy place.

Mitch said he had some brew in Switzerland and Southern Germany, I should have added a "Mitch."

Greek coffee to me, is much better in the States than in Greece. I have no idea why this is. Turkish coffee, OTOH, is fantastic anywhere.

Surprisingly, Japanese coffee isn't half bad either. But, oddly enough, they prefer Folgers and other U.S. blends.

What's a brand of Japanese coffee that I can try? Can I get it here in the States?

Oh man, let me see.

UCC coffee here:
http://www.quickspice.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/qsteas3.shtml?L+scstore+szif3362+1130376350

Gotta scroll down a bit.

Ireland is the land of instant coffee, how funny you went around with pouches of it in your bag. Maybe it's a northern thing. But trying to find brewed coffee here - forget about it. Instant, they love it. In fact, the coffee shelf (note: not aisle) in the grocery store has a ratio of like, 25 brands and styles of instant coffee to the paltry 3 bags of ground (don't even think about beans). And woebetide you if you are looking for paper filters, only certain, special, secret handshake grocery stores carry those, and only on Thursdays or ever other Monday. And not on the coffee shelf, but over with the baked beans or something. Still giggling about you with your Folgers though.

PS I love Starbucks and I've no shame in admitting it!! ;-)

PPS Why did the comment about Melissa Joan Hart's lazy eye remind me of you (on Overheard), one day you will be ranting about Rene Z and it will end up on that site, something like:

Greasy Spoon Woman: And her face is so scrunchy!
Homeless Man at Subway exit: Rene Zellweger, the woman with no eyes.
Greasy Spoon Woman: Yes! That's her!

overheard at Akilina's Greek Diner

Carrie,

You came ||

Doh.

It was supposed to say "this close to owing me a new monitor...".

Stupid HTML.

carrie - I still remember the blank look the guy at the corner store gave my sister and I when we asked for cups of coffee - this was outside Galway. He just didn't know what to do.

He eventually gave us coffee - but he thought we were nuts.

One of the B&Bs I stayed in in Dublin had the little kettle in the room (love those!) and little packets of instant coffee. I saw that and felt: ahhhhhh, now I won't have to face the morning scramble.

I know tea has caffeine in it - but it just doesn't do it for me.

Carrie - I particularly enjoyed when you took us to the Starbucks in Belfast. A sign of economic growth, progress - it was packed. VERY cool!!!

Also, Carrie, thank you for being the first person to use the word "woebetide" on my blog.

I thought maybe you were really exited to see me here ||

Oh, and LB about that whole boycott Starbucks thing - I feel a little bit the same way about Barnes & Noble running the mom and pop bookshops out of town - but my view on that whole Starbucks thing changed drastically from my experience at the Starbucks in Belfast. I get sick of Starbucks here - you really feel like they are encroaching in upon you - there's one on every block, practically. It gets to be a bit much.

But in Belfast - You cannot believe what a big deal it was for that country to have a company invest in their city ... that it might now be safe enough to have a Starbucks there. It was a really POSITIVE thing that Starbucks was in town.

Carrie - am I reading too much into that situation, or would you say that that was what was going on?

A massive corporation investing in a place that has been a war zone for years ... it's a huge sign of trust, investment in the future.

Is Pizza Hut there yet? They have one in Uzbekistan, and we'd pay Air Force pilots to get us Pizza Hut and bring 'em back in on their next flight in. There was like a two-week waiting list. It was fantastic. They seem to be everywhere is my meandering point.

The worst coffee from vending machines based in offices has to be a tie between Germany and France... absolutely awful!

Did I just spell excited 'exited'? Oh, man. I knew I should have written 'happy', Jessica Rabbit conotations be damned.

First, tea while it has caffeine in it is much softer than coffee. Sort of like comparing Galway to New York. It just is way too soft, and there's really only a couple ways to drink it, and herbal isn't one of them. New York, is coffee all over. Especially with all the different ways you can get it, too, from the pumpkin lattes to the thick spooners. Tea is a nice place to visit but not nessecarily where you wanna live, if you are a coffee lover.

As for Starbucks in this city, yeah, I think that's one element to it, although as you saw the city centre was thriving with all sorts of companies. I think it could be taken as that international companies or more specifically American ones that would ordinarily not even think of Belfast or actively pass it over because of its reputation are now seeing its potential for investment. Starbucks now has at least 3 branches open that I've seen so far. But it also shows how coffee is taking off here, which is of course a good thing.

I do feel bad sometimes about taking you to Starbucks and the chi-chi pretenious bar instead of all the dives and greasy spoons. LOL. But it was to show how this place is changing, and the confidence it's gaining in itself. It's an exciting time to be here on those levels because of the way the city is evolving (and not just economically but in all ways).

Back to coffee now! I am wanting to make a cup just reading all this.

Carrie - I loved every second of it!! It was fascinating!

By the way, Carrie - did I tell you that Allison, through her job at TV Guide, has actually become good friends with Ty - the designer from Extreme Makeover - and she actually spent a couple of full days on the set??? She told me many backstage tales. Hilarious. She was like, "There I was, in the production truck, watching everything on the monitors - and all I could think about was being in Belfast!!" She wanted me to tell you!

Also a bean-grinding coffee nazi. I drink it black sometimes but not always. It should never be bitter. Only bad coffee is bitter. That said, my sensitive stomach can handle good, strong coffee but not Folger's instant. I doubt I could hold a sip of that stuff down.

Rob - yeah, I can't stand Folgers either, but I was in the wild west of Ireland and that was all they had!!! By that point, it was all about just feeding my addiction rather than taste.

I felt very pathetic. But I am unabashedly addicted. I only drink a cup a day but man oh man - is that one cup important!!!

I have recently picked up 8 O'Clock Bean Coffee (the beans) and have found it to be quite good.

Woebetide! My Scottish parents say that all the time so I picked it up at a young age... and then dropped it in grammar school when my classmates looked at me funny whenever I said it. I had to retire it along with "cheeky," "daft," "tea towel" and "movie house."

Dude, I'm going downstairs to the Dunkin' Donuts right now. You have all inspired a severe coffee craving. I'll be sure to bring back Munchkins for the rest of you.

That is so cool, I would love to hear her stories. That rocks.

"tea towel" hahahaha!!! I love that.

You think the funny looks are bad, curly? My friend Siobhan moved to the US from London with her family when she was in grammar school and in one of her earliest days here, raised her hand and asked her teacher for a rubber. Of course, she wanted an eraser, but for a few seconds there, I imagine her teacher thought Britain to be a country of extreme perversion.

HA HA HA! Actually, that happened in my younger sister's class too! Little Paul from Glasgow just started school and was having a hard enough time adjusting and then he used that very same term and, well... it took him a bit longer to adjust to the language of America.

My mother was checking my math homework one time and she thought my many erasures (she pronounced the first "s" as a "z") were messy so she said, "Don't you have a better rubber?" And then she said, "Why are you laughing?" And then after that it was, "Ach! Stop being so daft, you cheeky wee beggar!"

I think I truly knew I was Scottish when I said the following to some kid in the playground: "Shut it or I'll brain ya!"

curly - you need to write a book of insults.

Now if you could just incorporate one of your "yo mama" insults with a Scottishism you would be all set!

Red- I agree. Living in a big city, it feels like there is a Starbucks at every single corner. They have enough business, so I do my part to support the little guys. But I do understand the benefit of globalization and how hard it is to get a good, strong cup in other places. The same thing happened to me in Spain. really, they only serve shots of espresso and I was very happy to find a starbucks.

LB - yeah, living where I do - I definitely feel ambivalent about it. Especially since I don't drink Starbucks!!! But people in Belfast were PSYCHED! It was cool to see. :)

Oooh, that's a very good idea! I'll give you a cut if it gets published. :)

It could be a section in your one-woman show, Curly.

hint hint ...

Point taken. :) I've actually been giving the show a lot of thought. Now I just need to put those thoughts in writing...

My grandmother emigrated here from Donegal in the early 1930s. She tried her very best to assimilate, but she always seemed to cross up her slang. One day, my cousin Bobby and I, both home from college for the holidays, took “Nana”(now almost 80 years old) to a local shopping plaza in Carmel, NY. My cousin and I got out in front of her a bit, talking about school (and probably women). We passed a McDonalds, but we didn’t notice that she had stopped. All of a sudden, in this crowded shopping center in Carmel NY on Christmas Eve, a strong booming Donegal voice rang out: “Hey boys! Come back here and I’ll blow youse both for a hamburger!” You could hear a pin drop. I’ve always thought that this story would make a great “Want to get away?” Southwest Airlines commercial.

Just last week I was wearing all black while drinking a pumpkin-spice latte. But my one-liner was more along the lines of "holy crap, what is this foul coffee-ish abomination? Gak" Gesturing was limited to pulling faces. Not anywhere near as cool, I'm afraid...

michael - I am literally having a hard time stopping the laughter from guffawing out of my chest. I CAN'T STOP.

Vile File - I just love that she CAUGHT herself in a moment of being a complete stereotype. We all become stereotypes from time to time, but many people have NO IDEA that they are one.

And what is her response?

"Shoot me now. Send me back to Mexico. I'll go care for my grandmother's goats."

WHAT???? It's so specific! I love it!

Michael, I'm positively howling at your story. I have Scottish parents and Irish grandparents so I've been privy to some doozies, but your story is the BEST ever. Ha ha ha! Thank you for sharing that.

Thanks Curly and Red. I'm actually going to be in Donegal this weekend to visit with my cousins. This story just made me want Friday night to get here that much more quickly. And Curly, your "rubber" story is what pulled this memory out of the back of my mind, so thank YOU!

Donegal represent! That's where my granny was born. We still have friends and family in Dunloe and Letterkenny, actually. Have a great trip and thanks again for the laugh. That story will be shared with the rest of the McDimples, I assure you. :)

Letterkenney is where I'm headed...with a quick flyby into Belfast to deliver some powdered coffee creamers to my favorite ex-pat. :-)

"Yeah, Dunkin Donuts is, basically, a holy place."

I just had to add my concurrence in that statement. It's true for SO many reasons. :-)

davej - absolutely.

I wonder if it's primarily a New England thing? I mean, you can find Dunkin Donuts everywhere - but you don't find that REVERENCE everywhere!!

Excuse me ... Lisa and I are Southeasterners.

cullen - I have no idea where you live.

I know where Lisa lives, though!

However, I maintain my position: Having lived all over this country, it seems to me that reverence for Dunkin Donuts is different in New England. It is more of a collective and shared experience.

I think that's probably at least in part because they started here. OK, now I'm off to Dunkin Donuts for "brunch" before work. ;-)

Yes - like I wrote in that long-ago post about Rhode Island -

I GUARANTEE YOU that if you ask for directions in Rhode Island, the words "Dunkin Donuts" will be included in said directions.

Because EVERYONE knows where they are.

Hmm. Perhaps. But for anyone who has experienced it for more than just "donuts" it's a religious trip.

And I'm in Georgia. Originally from Louisiana. By way of the rest of the country and a stint in Japan.

Ask for directions in Georgia - and see if everyone uses the term "Dunkin Donuts" in the directions they give. Just as an experiment.

"Can you tell me the way to the highway?" "Is there a public library in this town?" "Do you have any idea how I get to the town parking lot?"

If every single one of those random directions somehow include either a Dunkin Donuts that is there currently - or, better yet, where a Dunkin Donuts USED to be - then I'll concede.

I'm just sayin'. The feeling in Rhode Island for Dunkin Donuts borders on the ... shall we say ... obsessive.

My favorite is the Rhode Island tendency to give directions based on landmarks that haven't been there for 30 years.

"Okay, so you pass the Dunkin Donuts, then drive on past where the A&P used to be ..."

"Okay, so you drive past where Iggy's used to be ..."

Iggy's hasn't been there since I was 12 years old, but people still give directions based on it.

I also love when these two tendencies are combined, as they are sometimes:

"So you get onto 95 right past that intersection where the Dunkin Donuts used to be ..." (Uhm - 10 years ago. But every Rhode Islander will nod sagely and know exactly what you are talking about.)

I can't believe there are 80 comments to this post, by the way.

All because of coffee!

Yay!!

Oh, now giving directions based on where things used to be is a VERY New England trait. That I agree with.

I was just saying that there are Southernors who appreciate Dunkin' Donuts.

Now, if you're talking about giving directions in rural areas, I think that's about the same ... you'll hear all about trees that aren't there anymore and where the "new road" meets up. This "new road" may be 30 years old, but since it's newer than the one you're currently on, it's new. Get directions like that around my home all the time.

All because of coffee!

Brewed mine extra strength today.

As a Dunkin Donut fanatic, I feel most comfortable in New England - at least in terms of accessibility of Dunkin Donuts, how they are run, how they understand how much we love them ... very important.

In Chicago ... they just didn't ... get it ... really ... (Now just wait: some Chicago person is going to start telling me that Chicago Dunkin Donuts do too "get it". No. They. Do. Not. They didn't know how to make ice coffee. They would pour the hot coffee over ice - what? Then you just get watered down coffee. Ice coffee in New England is a STAPLE of one's DIET, and the D&Ds in New England always have enormous vats of ice coffee ready in the summer. Real ice coffee.)

Now with Starbucks I think more people drink ice coffee throughout the land - but before Starbucks, my friends and I who were transplanted to Chicago from the east coast had a hell of a time finding a joint that could make good ice coffee.

Cullen -

You seem to be thinking that I am JUDGING other regions or something. I'm not. Fine, you get directions like that all the time in your home town. Just sharing my observations about Dunkin Donuts directions in my neck of the woods - because I have noticed that no other place has that.

That's all. Not dissing Georgia or anything.

My first exposure to Iced Coffee was this little coffee and tea cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS. I lived in Bilox/Gulfport for a lot of years and had a few high school bands. This place, called the Rainbow Cafe, catered to the high-school or just out age group. Bands would play there. It was basically a converted house. There were old couches around. You could write on the wall (it was encouraged). And they served only like three drinks: Iced coffee, hot tea, and water. No food. That I remember, anyway.

It's long since gone, but was a decent place. I cannot for the life of me remember if the Dunkin' Donuts there served iced coffee as I never even looked for it.

In fact, the last time I ever thought about ordering iced coffee was in Japan. And you had to have a pair to order iced coffee in a Japanese coffee bar. Not that it was off the wall or anything. Just that it would put you on the floor.

But, back on point, given your definition, I agree that non-New England D&Ds do not run like a New England D&D.

And no, I didn't think you were judging. My initial point was simply that folks outside of New England appreciate Dunkin' Donuts.

But, as you explained, mostly not at the level of a New Englander.

God, I love coffee houses like the one you describe, with the old couches, and such. Where you can just chill, and sit for hours - and there's no waitress staff to hustle you out cause they need the table ...

I need a place like that to hang out in, come to think of it.

Um, in Georgia, substitute "Waffle House" for "Dunkin Donuts" and it's the same thing.

We don't have a Dunkin Donuts in Arkansas. I blame Bill Clinton. Along with a local chain, Shipley's, all we have is Krispy Kreme, and we know how I feel about that.

We did have one in my hometown, though, ages ago, and they still have several in St. Louis. There are a couple in the airport there, and I would always stop and grab a bag of donut holes -- and coffee.

hahahahaha

"Okay, so to get back to the freeway, you pass the Waffle House ..." or, better yet: "Drive past where the Waffle House used to be, back in 87 ..."

New Jersey holds Dunkin Donuts in high regard as well. In fact, I do believe that the Dunkin Donuts napkin is the state's official stationery.

curly - in the town where i live, there are 3 Dunkin Donuts and no Starbucks yet. I have a feeling that when the first Starbucks goes up, I will have to move soon afterwards. That's what happened in Hoboken.

I dread it! There's a big construction site on the main drag - and I SO fear what will go there. hahahaha

If it's another D&D, I should be fine - rent-wise. D&D is the coffee of the lumpen proletariat. Having a D&D in your 'hood doesn't mean that your rent will go through the roof. But so far - that's what a Starbucks in your hood has meant.

Dunkin Donuts napkin is the state's official stationery.

I can see getting official invitations to a State Dinner written on DD napkins. That would be cool.

Waffle House and Cracker Barrel. Ugh. Give me IHOP any day.

Oh, ew, IHOP. We're getting one in our town and I dread it. The boys love their pancakes, but me, not so much.

Do not dis the Cracker Barrel! When God is not at Dunkin' Donuts, he's eating Hashbrown Casserole at the CB.

See, now we must part ways. The CB is like unto purgatory.

I love pancakes, ergo, I love IHOP. Plus, I met my wife there (it was the after work/after Rocky Horror Picture Show hangout). And their non-pancacke food is good and so is their coffee.

AND! they put a PICTURE OF COFFEE right on the table. Trump that.

A pitcher of coffee, sure. But not maple syrup! Who uses BOYSENBERRY syrup?! That place is INSANE.

I have been known to use Boysenberry syrup on occasion. Butter pecan is the best though.

Still -- A PICTURE OF COFFEE! Mwahahahaha!

This is all making me very hungry.

But do you now, or have you ever, used boysenberry syrup.

I have never used boysenberry syrup, and this is the 100th comment on this ridiculous little post.

whoo-hoo!!

Is boysenberry something you're opposed to, or just something you've never done?

We're venturing into dangerous, non-coffee-related realms here now.

I LOVE BOYSENBERRY SYRUP!! I have no idea what a boysenberry is but by god, the syrup is fantastic. Love love love it. Of course, it does not exist here. But nor does grape jelly. Go figure.

Have to say, the image of you getting excited about a PICTURE of coffee being on the table is cracking me up. What a great typo!!

And, they have PICTURES OF COFFEE everywhere! Not just on the walls, or in the menus! But RIGHT ON THE TABLES! Trump that!! LOL

One gets excited about coffee. A carafe, then.

Notice the lack of capital letters when one has been suitably admonished.

And where are you that there's no boysenberry syrup? That's just scary. The grape jelly thing is so completely disturbing that I can't even address it right now.

No IHOPs, no boysenberrys, no grape jelly, Welch's or otherwise. Tons of blackcurrant (blech!), jellys, jams, sweets, you name it, they stick blackcurrant in it, but no grape jelly. Bramble jelly is close because it's purple and not blackcurrant but it's not grape. Welcome to Ireland.

Cullen - It's not that I have anything against boysenberry - I just don't think it's really come up, in my experience. It's not common ... certainly not placed on the table at a waffle house.

Is it sweet? Tart? Is it good?

Tartly, darkly, thickly sweet. The Gothic syrup.

Late to the coffee party.. however.. I will defend blackcurrant jam. 'Specially homemade, with the currants picked in the garden. Bowlfuls of currants.. Used to be a regular, if seasonal, occasion at my parents house. So many jars most were given away to friends and relatives.

I am not a syrup Nazi. I'm actually trying to give Lisa a hard time more than anything.

Wow, no jelly in Ireland? Hmm.

I have not seen any grape jelly here, no. For awhile my local shop had Grape juice, but no grape jelly.

110 posts! WooHoo!

I could live without grape jelly, I don't if I could live without grape juice though.

BTW, off/on topic, picked up a bag of my fav. New Orleans brew -- Community -- last night just 'cause of this conversation.

"My favorite is the Rhode Island tendency to give directions based on landmarks that haven't been there for 30 years."

I assume West Lynn Creamery would be among said vanished landmarks?

"My favorite is the Rhode Island tendency to give directions based on landmarks that haven't been there for 30 years."

Ah now.. If I was you, I wouldn't start from here..

Pete, you mean "yah can't get theeah from heaah?" ;-)

Indeed, Dave.. [REM excluded.. natch :)]

Now.. if you'd taken the third turning back on the right...

Hands down - the best (and funniest and most charming) directions I have ever been given have been in Ireland.

Don't argue. It's not worth it. Because what I say is the truth.

Sometimes I would pretend to be lost just for the joy of hearing their directions - which were ALWAYS so accurate. But given in such a charming funny way.

"So you come to a wee roundabout ... don't get nervous ... just keep in the left lane, now ..."

Etc.

Best directions ever.

There was the beautiful experience of the directions given in Cork, for example. The elaborate warnings about "the hairy roundabout" which were all completely true.