coffee | kimberly ah

Sep 16 2013

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Heaven is bunbougu cafe

Stationery store + coffee shop = heaven, am I right?

Hisae (Naoto’s older sister) played tour guide for us during part of our stay in Tokyo. She mentioned that she had a “surprise” for me. Well, the surprise was bunbougu cafe and it was more amazing than I could have imagined.

(This is where I will tell you that I regret a few things about our trip to Japan. One is that I didn’t carry my “big” camera with me very often and another is that I didn’t take more pictures. Sigh. Sorry for my poor iPhone photos!)Bunbougu cafe is in Omotesando neighborhood. It is in the basement of a building and you walk down into a stationery shop and cafe. There are place mats (seen above) at each seat and pens, rubber stamps, markers, colored pencils and other art supplies are available to borrow for doodling and writing. They have a full menu available, but we came right after lunch, so we ordered drinks and doodled a bit at the table as I sat amazed at this incredible cafe concept. While we waited for our drinks, I poked around the store. Bunbougu sells stationery, cards, pens, stickers, washi tape, pen cases, boxes…pretty much anything you could imagine needing if you’re a letter writer or journaler. In addition to the obvious Japanese stationery offerings, they had a lot of my favorite American designers at bunbougu. I saw lots of Rifle Paper Co., Yellow Owl Workshop and Chicago’s own Field Notes! Field Notes were even one of the bunbougu employee’s favorite picks! I limited myself to a few purchases (which I will share in a bit!) and spent most of my time hanging out with Naoto and Hisae drawing at the table and enjoying my coffee. As if being a stationery store/cafe didn’t make bunbougu awesome enough, they have a membership option. For 700 yen (about $7) members receive a key to the stationery drawers at each table. Members have access to the “secret” pens, stationery, art supplies and other treats in the drawers. They also get invited to members-only events and seminars about stationery and other paper-y things. Isn’t this a genius concept? Now, who wants to move to Omotesando with me to join bunbougu cafe? Better yet, who wants to open one here in Chicago? For a great article and better pictures of the bunbougu cafe, go here!

Tagged adventures, coffee, I *heart* Japan, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Sep 03 2013

1 Comment

adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Packing for Japan: The Important Stuff

Packing my mail supply bag for Japan was probably the most simple thing on my to-do list. There was no need to bring postage stamps, because they won’t work here. I didn’t really need to pack washi tape, because I’m sure I’ll be buying some here. I didn’t really need to bring a variety of pens, because, again, I’m sure I’ll be stocking up. I’m not a big vacation letter writer, so I didn’t need stationery (and again, if I change my mind…I’m in the country of stationery!) I did, however, need my address book (painstakingly updated with all of my pen pals!) and a pen or two to start with.

So, here’s what I have in my mail pouch:

a red StazOn ink pad

2 Japanese rubber stamps (the Japan Post Office icon & a drunk kitty, both acquired on previous trips)

1 “Today Is” stamp (from here)

2 MultiBall pens (they dry quickly on slick surfaces, perfect for postcards!)

1 grey LePen (for writing in my travel journal)

a tape runner for sticking things in my journal or on envelopes

my mini address book (vintage from Greer)

a few rolls of washi tape (for sticking things in my travel journal)

a few paperclips (for clipping things into my travel journal)

A visit to the Tokyo post Office is on the top of my list so I can stock up on Japanese postage and get to my postcard writing! Our morning Mister Donut visits will be the perfect time to write.

My favorite time.

Tagged adventures, coffee, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping, snail mail

Aug 09 2013

7 Comments

coffee talk, Trader Joe's

Coffee Talk | Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Our local Trader Joe’s (the Oak Park location) put their new Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate on the shelves last week and sold out instantly. I guess this shouldn’t be surprising, since cold brew is the latest craze in coffee brewing right now. Nonetheless, I was mad at Naoto for not snagging some up sooner. When it arrived again in the store shipment a few days later, Naoto pulled a couple of bottles for me. (One of the many, many perks of being married to a TJs guy.)

Last week, I was hitting the afternoon slump–the time of the day when, if I look at the napping cat for too long, I tend to join her. Instead, I pulled the concentrate out of the fridge with high hopes.

It’s good. Very good.

The bottle recommends one part concentrate to two parts water or milk. I like my iced coffees with cream (hot coffee is to be drunk black, unless it’s Dunkin Donuts!), so this is what I mixed up:

2 oz Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

3.5 oz water

0.5 oz cream

splash of simple syrup

Serve over ice.

Lately I’ve been too lazy (seriously, so lazy) to make simple syrup, so I’ve been substituting with agave syrup. It’s surprisingly good!

I’ve been drinking iced coffees in the mornings and in the afternoons thanks to the conveniently chilled bottle in the fridge. And at $7.99, it’s done wonders for our coffee budget (which includes constant trips to Panera, Dunkin Donuts and Caribou throughout the week!) And it’s made us curious to try making cold brew of our own…one of these days!

Tagged coffee, Trader Joe's

Aug 08 2013

2 Comments

adventures, cocktails, what's for dinner

K&N and the Girl & the Goat

Naoto has been wanting to eat at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat for years. Our neighbors have eaten there a few times and have raved about it so much. Naoto has been trying to get us a reservation for awhile now…he was especially anxious to eat there after we ate at Little Goat and had such a delicious experience.

Last Friday, we were able to go after one of his co-workers offered up her reservation to us. (Thanks, Missy!) So at five o’clock on a Friday night, we sat down to a dining adventure at the Goat. My favorite part was the cocktails. Don’t get me wrong–the food was AMAZING–but my cocktail, the Foghorn, was the scene-stealer (pictured above with Naoto’s boring beer). The Foghorn is, according to the menu, “SanFrancisco’s answer to the Manhattan”. It is made with gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters, garnished with an orange peel. So simple, but when it’s the right mix of quality ingredients and good proportions, simple can be so good! It was sweet, but not too sweet and no one ingredient overpowered the others–a perfect drink in my book. I also enjoyed the Charlie Ross cocktail (gin, sugar and bitters)…so tasty!

The menu at Girl & the Goat is separated into three parts: veggies, fish and meat. It is a small-plate restaurant, where you order several things and share a few bites of each thing. I like this style of restaurant, because if something is underwhelming, it’s good to know something new and different will be showing up at the table soon. But, at Girl & the Goat, nothing was underwhelming.

We ordered six dishes (pictured in order below): Squash Blossom Rangoon (crab and yogurt inside a lightly fried squash blossom), Kona Kompachi Crudo (raw fish with aioli and pork), Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon (salmon with a peach panzanelle salad), Roasted Cauliflower (pure heaven, with pine nuts), Sweet Corn Goat Cheese Wontons (goat cheese wontons served with tiny heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn and popcorn!) and Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face (pork cheek served with a fried egg and potatoes). Every dish was really creative and interesting, but my favorite was probably the most simple–the cauliflower. Naoto and I roast cauliflower pretty often around here, and it’s pretty delicious, but it’s nothing like this. I can’t stop thinking that they must really have a secret to making it so good… I’m glad Naoto let me eat most of the cauliflower, and because of his generosity, I only had a bite of the pig face. He was crazy excited to eat Girl & the Goat’s most popular dish. Of course, we had to get coffee and dessert. Naoto got the Miso-Butterscotch Budino (a creamy miso and butterscotch pudding with cashews, pineapple and bacon toffee on top). After this dessert, and the other miso dessert at the Little Goat Diner, I’m convinced that Naoto has the utmost respect for Stephanie Izard and her skills with this Japanese ingredient. I ordered the Goat Cheese Bavarois (brown sugar cake topped with blueberries, caramel krispies and goat cheese). I would tell you that the creamy goat cheese was the best part of this dessert, but then I’d be leaving out how amazing the brown sugar cake was, and the blueberries, and the caramelized krispie gems…What I liked best about Girl & the Goat was that it’s a casual restaurant…no white tablecloths or pretentious servers…it’s just incredibly creative food in a comfortable atmosphere. We definitely want to go back again…the menu changes all the time, so it would be fun to go back in another season to see what’s new. And to get another Foghorn.

Tagged adventures, cocktails, coffee, food, summer

Jul 10 2013

5 Comments

adventures, summer manifesto

Boston: Part 3

On our last day in Boston we ate seafood! Lauren and Mark took us to Legal Sea Foods right on the water. Naoto had a crab salad and I had my first lobster roll (pictured above). It was huge and delicious, as was the maple smoked salmon bruschetta we all shared. After lunch, we walked down to the Harpoon Brewery and had a tour. I am not a beer drinker at all, but it was still fun to learn about the process and the history of Harpoon and Naoto enjoyed my portion of the beer tasting (though, they did have cider for me to enjoy!) I only wish we weren’t too full to eat a giant pretzel in the beer hall…those looked so good! (The goggles pictured above on Mark and Naoto were all part of the tour.) Harpoon lost a bet with a brewery in Chicago and had to display this tap in their beer hall, Ruined Bruin. As a Chicagoan, it was a fun sight to see (while subtly laughing and not giving away our Chicago origins!)

After lunch and beer we headed back downtown to hunt for Necco treats (pretty much a failed attempt…I got a couple of SkyBars and some Candy Buttons for a small fortune and two different candy shops seemed perplexed about the existence of Necco) and had cocktails in the Prudential Tower (views pictured above). It was a bit hazy, but we were able to see the whole city sprawling beneath us. It was a nice little end to our vacation.

At the airport, while we waited for our (delayed) flight, Naoto and I toasted our first Dunkin Donuts coffees of the weekend. (Why did we wait so long?!) We decided that we definitely want to visit Boston again, but in my mind, it’s one stop on a long New England road trip!

Tagged adventures, coffee, food, summer

Jun 27 2013

4 Comments

adventures, summer manifesto

Boston Bound

Naoto and I are Boston bound!! Presley is less than happy about it, too. (Thankfully our friend Karen is on call from across the hall to take care of our little furry girl!)

Our flight is ridiculously early, but we are super excited for our first vacation since Iowa last year. Neither of us has ever been to Boston and there’s a long list of things we want to do and see. (Mine includes stocking up on Necco candy!) And, we’re staying with friends so we’ll have two locals to guide us around and show us the best Dunkin Donuts in the city. (I’m only half kidding…heading to Massachusetts is like heading to our coffee home land!)

So, I still have to pack our clothes and things, and–most importantly–my address book and postcard stamps. Our flight leaves in a few hours…before the crack of dawn.

I’ll be back next week to share some pictures and details. Have a good weekend!

Tagged adventures, coffee, summer

Jun 11 2013

4 Comments

Loving Day, some stuff about me, Those Were the Days

Exchanging Business Cards (the Japanese Way)

The night that Naoto and I met (a story for another time) the one big conversation catalyst was my job at a Japanese company. Because our offices interacted so often with Japanese colleagues, part of my training involved Japanese business culture. And, because I grew up in a town that was 99.9% white and was never a Japanophile before I started working there, I found this training so fascinating. As it turned out, part of Naoto’s job at that time was to deliver Japanese business culture trainings to doctors who would be traveling to Japan for conferences. Naoto and I had a great conversation comparing notes and stories of accidental rudeness. We laughed as we presented our business cards to each other that night. We followed the strictest Japanese protocol in the middle of that coffee shop, all while snickering at the bows and the close inspection of each other’s cards. (Okay, we weren’t really following strict Japanese protocol…)

The exchange of business cards (meishi) in corporate Japan is a huge deal. It is almost ceremonial and it is filled with all sorts of social nuances. These are the basic “rules”:

Business cards are exchanged right after introductions, often in order of “rank” with the most highly ranked associate presenting his/her card last.
Cards are presented with two hands and with the information facing the recipient.
Upon receiving a card, you should take the time to read it carefully.
When you are done reading the card, you should place it carefully in a business card holder. (Don’t just shove it in your pocket or purse.)
If you receive cards during a meeting, you can leave them on the table as the meeting is conducted, but remember to carefully pick up each one at the end of the meeting and place them in your business card holder.
Never write on, fold or damage anyone’s business card in from of him/her. Business cards are seen as an extension of the person.
Never present a damaged card to someone. Again, the card is an extension of yourself.
Always carry plenty of cards. It would be rude to be caught without one.
Have a business card holder. (And probably one that’s a little more professional than my old Chococat one!)

I have never missed working in corporate America, but I do miss the exchange of the business card since I do not often have the opportunity to exchange cards in person very often these days. I should make a point to get them out more often and practice my meishi exchange.

This week, I am sharing some little aspects of our multi-cultural marriage in celebration of Loving Day on Wednesday.

Tagged coffee, Loving Day, memories

May 06 2013

3 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, homemaking, snail mail, what's for dinner

Scenes from the Balcony

Last week spring hit…hard. One could argue that summer hit because we had temperatures in the 80s and I got a little sunburn from enjoying breakfast on the balcony. (I need to be more careful!) For two whole days, I did nothing but sit outside and write letters, read gardening books, eat breakfast, lunch & dinner and enjoy the fresh blooms on the trees. It felt good to soak up some Vitamin D and breathe in the spring air. This week, it’s supposed to be warm and sunny again. But this week, instead of sitting around dreaming about gardening, I will be weeding out the garden plot, finalizing the planting plan. And that sounds just right to me.

Tagged coffee, food, forest park, garden, gardening, home, homemaking, mail art, snail mail, summer

Apr 16 2013

4 Comments

adventures, coffee talk

A Sunday in Spring

Sunday was the first day that had a real taste of spring in Chicago. It was warm enough to finally go coat-less and the sun was shining with a brightness that hasn’t been seen in months. Naoto and I took advantage of the warm afternoon and took a walk downtown Oak Park. We stopped at Sugar Fixe, a local pastry shop, for coffee and pie. (Lemon meringue–highly recommended!)

Sidenote: We sat at a table in the actual spot where Naoto and I had our very first conversation in 2001. Sugar Fixe replaced a children’s clothing store which replaced the coffee shop where we met.

During our coffee break, I pulled out my camera and took a few shots of Naoto enjoying his coffee. I’m taking an online photography class this month and I’m trying to get more comfortable using my camera out in public. There is nothing more awkward than pulling out a big ol’ DSLR and then feeling like you are stumbling through your technique (if you can even call it “technique”). Naoto was my model as I played around with depth of field.

A perfect day for practicing…

Tagged adventures, coffee, food, photography

Apr 12 2013

2 Comments

Honor Flight Chicago

TGIF

Happy Friday! Do you have exciting plans for the weekend? Tonight, I am packing up the mail call for eighty-some World War II veterans for our first Honor Flight of the season. Thankfully, my friend and fellow volunteer Barb is coming over tonight to help. I’m excited to try out some new systems this year to see what we can do more efficiently and effectively. I’m determined to keep this big volunteer job tucked into a tiny corner of my mind so I can enjoy the summer.

We have nothing on our calendars for tomorrow, so I am hoping to get some things done around our apartment and finalize our plans for Naoto’s Welcome Back to Food party next weekend. I sent out the invitations today (and will share them here next week) and I’m excited to think up some menu ideas and some easy decorations that can be tackled next week (crossing fingers).

And coffee…there will be coffee.

Tagged celebrations, coffee, Honor Flight Chicago