Quick visit, just for the day. Lunch at Cascal, dinner at Zibbibo, and a nap in between. I'm still sick, so I needed that nap.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Our first baby tool has arrived
Despite the fact that Michael was a bit under the weather, and Robin protested that I was sitting on the floor, we managed to assemble our first-to-arrive key baby tool -- the Stokke Xplory.
You see it here assembled with the "newborn" setup -- that's a pretty sizeable carry cot meant for babies 0-6months. Then we switch to Phase 2, which has a different seat and makes the Xplory look a lot more like a traditional stroller -- except that baby can be facing us OR facing away, AND be at waist height, rather than low like a traditional stroller. No bending awkwardly to lift is always a good thing, IMHO.
So far, the main drawback to the Xplory are mainly that the machinations of those Clever Norwegians will take awhile to understand. Perhaps because we've been sick... but we will have a learning curve here. Of course, I believe that this is true, to a certain extent, with most strollers.
In the plus department, once things ARE assembled and you've figured out how to attach, move, adjust, etc., it's ridiculously easy to do so. The stroller moves extremely smoothly. And the textiles are WONDERFUL against your skin -- incredibly soft. They also include the cute baby blanket, color-coordinated to your textiles....
We're looking forward to having a small person to put in the stroller.
Love,
Kristiana & Michael
Kristiana Kincaid
415.990.5123
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Destination coffee
And more significantly, destination espresso.
Intelligentsia Coffee has been on my radar for a long time, but I've never managed a visit until now. Several years ago Kristiana and I were in Napa overnight, and my morning wanderings took me to a bakery that also stocked a few gourmet items, among them bags of Intelligentsia Black Cat espresso blend. You didn't have to be a coffee expert - I certainly wasn't - to know that these beans were magic. One squeeze of the bag and one stiff told you. The bakery couldn't pull a decent shot, and I wasn't able to brew anything exceptional from them at home (I didn't have any espresso equipment then), but there was no question that Black Cat was the work of people who truly, truly loved espresso.
Unfortunately Intelligentsia is located in Chicago, a city with lots to offer but which I never seem to find occasion to visit. For a few weeks last year it looked as if 2008's headphone audiophilia conference would be in Chicago, and that would have made a good focal point for a visit, but ultimately it was moved to Florida - the right decision for the meet (the Florida gang have the bench strength to pull it off brilliantly while the Chicago cabal's leadership was, uh, less clearly demonstrated), but making it less interesting to me.
So I didn't know when I would make it to Intelligentsia. Then, Intelligentsia came to California. Just one, in LA.
The recently-opened shop is on Sunset, in the hipster-heavy stretch known as Silverlake. It's where to shop for 50's retropolitan furnishings and decor. And it's where my friend Maggie lives. In fact, Intelligentsia is right next door to the cheese shop we've walked to together on more than one previous visit.
Maggie is a best friend from business school, and I'm down here this weekend because a small dinner she was having with another b-school best friend grew by another b-school best friend, and then another, so that I could not stay away, not with Robin on the way and future opportunities for travel looking pretty distant. So I flew in on Saturday and will fly home tonight. In between, we're sandwiching some database design for Maggie's business, some IT support for Maggie's computers at home, cooking dinner, the party itself, some IT support for two of Jon's computers, meeting up with a friend from online over in Santa Monica, a visit to the new wing of LACMA, a couple of superb lunches, and of course visits to Intelligentsia. Good espresso is certainly a suitable power source for a weekend like this.
At my routine haunt Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto, each espresso comes with a brown sugar cube. At Barefoot, my weekend destination in Santa Clara, a tiny almond cookie. A favorite Italian deli off Piccadilly Circus serves espresso with a twist of lemon peel - this is a favorite for me - and Flying Goat in Healdsburg tucks a little cube of chocolate onto the saucer. Intelligentsia gives you a shotglass of sparkling water, pulled from a soda-fountain style tap on the counter. I wasn't expecting this, but it's a nice chaser after a shot.
As for the shot itself, Intelligentsia's is now my personal reference: the best I've ever had. It is small, thick, and heavily laden with true crema (not just foam) just like the ones from Barefoot - but I honestly like Intelligentsia's blend better than any of Barefoot's.
Sorry, I'm going on in too much detail. To sum up, wow. It was just fantastic stuff. I'd tried to limit my expectations on the way over, sure that a big mental buildup would lead to disappointment. There was no need.
Post-espresso we returned to the house and got started with party prep. Friends began arriving at five or six, and the socializing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/11709446@N00/sets/72157604212147028/) continued until just about midnight.
I'm a morning person and almost always wake up pretty early no matter what time I get to bed. So before Maggie was even up, I was on my way back to Intelligentsia for my morning shot. Two shots, actually, which will surely cost me some sleep tonight, but I don't know when I'll be in LA again.
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