Los Angeles Christmas 2015 Stuff - Blue Bottle Coffee, Superba Food + Bread, Runyon Canyon, Tatsu Ramen

Wife and I took a nice little trip out to Los Angeles over Christmas

Tatsu Ramen in the Sawtelle - spicy ramen + sapporo

Blue Bottle Cappucino on Abbot Kinney in Venice

Latte @ Superba Bread + Food on Lincoln Blvd in Venice

Sweet view of DTLA from Runyon Canyon

View of the hills from Runyon Canyon

Morning Routine: Aeropress Coffee & Four Hour Chef Eggs

So my morning routine consists of scrambled eggs and coffee.  Pretty normal, right?  I have tried my best to optimize this routine to make the best quality coffee and eggs in the shortest amount of time.  I really enjoyed Tim Ferriss' book The Four Hour Chef, and saw that he also uses the Aeropress, which I have been a convert to for several years now.  However, I used to be a fried egg man, Tim's book has convinced me that scrambled is the way to go.

Here is what you need to get started with the coffee.  I use freshly roasted beans, from Barismo, if I have recently taken a trip to Boston.  Whole Foods is a local stand by as they offer freshly roasted beans at a great price, and there are no good local roasters.  The beans in my grinder this morning are actually from Coffee Labs Roasters of Tarrytown, NY.  Happened to be down that way and picked up an lb.

Not gonna give you the play by play, I pretty much follow the standard instructions.

Today I decided to use a combo of Curry Powder, Garlic Powder, Red Chili Flakes, and S+P.  Organic Eggs and Grapeseed oil are all the other ingredients needed.

Yum!

Cleanup is an absolute cinch!  

Natal Part 2

We had some down time and were in the neighborhood of Lagoa Nova.  Rodrigo suggested a local cafe, Vanilla Caffe, as there are not yet any Starbucks in Natal.  I was looking for simple black coffee, but the best they had was espresso.  It was pretty good, but not quite the same as an American cafe.  Brazilians prefer the sweeter Espresso drinks which are also popular in the USA, but not my personal preference.  Marina had a bowl of ice cream, with caramel and M&M's.

For dinner, we went to another restaurant in Ponta Negra, called Mazzano.  They have a rodizio, all you can eat, of pizza on Monday nights. There were a number of delicious pizzas and pastas, and I definitely ate my fill!  It was finished off with the chocolate pizza above, extremely sweet, but I loved it.  I definitely got my R$26 worth of food.

Sign outside Gringo's cocktail bar, pretty funny.

Final stop of the night was at a local specialty restaurant, Casa de Taipa, their specialty is tapioca.  Not the tapioca pudding we are familiar with in the US, this is much closer to an omelette, except made with tapioca flour.  There is a wide range of fillings, I chose a calabreza sausage with onions and cheese.  Delicious with tabasco sauce.  Not the cheapest food, but a good snack for R$16. Washed down with a Kaizer Summer beer.

Right next door to the Tapiocaria is the Lua Cheia hostel.  It is designed like a medieval castle and is one of the best hostels in the world.  Very cool design and features a medieval pub.  If Marina didn't have so many helpful and welcoming family members, we would definitely stay here.

At home, we played some Mexican Train dominos.  A favorite of ours in the US, that we taught to Marta (left) Luiza (middle) Rodrigo (right) when they visited my family.  Helena (pink) has picked up the game as well, and we brought her a set of dominos to play at her home also!

Bing Rewards

I have been using the Bing website recently, instead of Google.  I find it to be equally helpful, and some of the additional features are better than Googles.  I still much prefer GMail and Google Reader, and of course Blogger, all of which are amazing Google products, and their compatibility may bring me back to using Google as a search engine.

The real reason I have converted to Bing is the new Bing Rewards Program.  You get credits for every search and often for other easy to complete tasks.  These credits can be redeemed for cool prizes, such as Xbox Live Subscriptions, donations to charity, or my most recent reward a $5 Starbucks gift card (see picture below!).  I love drinking coffee, and the office coffee is not up to par with the brown stuff Starbucks vends.  I may only get enough points to redeem 1 gift card per month, but I will take that benefit in exchange for using Bing.  Check out the other available prizes above!

I recommend you check it out, sign up through my link.  (Full disclosure, I receive 5 credits for every one who signs up through this link)

Amazon to Open Retail Location

I am a huge fan of Amazon.com.  As an avid reader, Amazon is the go to spot for any and all titles, at a reasonable rate.  They have also expanded into other product lines and they allow other retailers to use their platform, for a small fee.  Their used book market is also the premier internet book resale market, with students searching for textbooks and adults looking for novels and everything in between offered at a great rate.  Once again, Amazon provides the software and will handle various issues, for a commission on all sales.  They must have the model priced correctly, as there are many books that sell for $00.01 + 3.99 shipping.  I am intrigued by the Kindle, and may consider it when I decide to purchase a tablet, but for now I am going to stick with my MacBookPro until it becomes obsolete.

The exciting news that is being speculated is that Amazon may be expanding and opening a physical retail location.  This is surprising due to the recent struggles of book stores, precisely as a result of Amazon, see Borders Bankruptcy, and the rapid closing of independent book stores as the general public is less inclined to read.  I think that just looking at those factors would mean that investing in retail locations would be a mistake.  However, the angle that Amazon can use to be profitable, is to sell high margin books, Kindles, Kindle accessories, and offer some kind of a cafe.  Unfortunately, fellow Seattle based - Starbucks is in contract with Barnes and Noble, the dominant physical book retailer, and fierce competitor of Amazon, because that would be a match made in heaven.  I think that Amazon could work with another company to create a great cafe experience, with free wifi, a custom, rotating, selection books, the possibility of ordering books from the site to be picked up at the store and comfy lounge chairs, could be a great way to gain market share.

According to the sources I have seen, this is basically the model they are considering.  The rumor is that they will open a location in their hometown, Seattle, known for its willingness to try new things in technology and a love for cafes!  They are not looking to create a Barnes and Noble superstore, more like a boutique, and I think it can be a successful new line of business to drive profits for the e-commerce giant.

Source: Ritholtz

FitBomb: Common Ground

I enjoy this image a lot.  "Coffee binds us all."

Starbucks "Via" Instant Coffee

I feel that Starbucks brand integrity and coffee fanatic, like me, approval rating is already in the tubes, so their new "Via" instant coffee will not have much of an impact. At a buck a cup, I may even pick up a couple packs my self. I will say that it is a good business decision, since I personally know many people who claim to be coffee aficionados, but their knowledge is limited to what Starbucks tells them! As for me, I will stick with my French Press and Blue State Coffee.

Starbucks said its Via Ready Brew product is made by adding water to a single-serve packet. The packets will be sold in books of three for $2.95 or boxes of 12 for $9.95. Worldwide, there is a $17 billion market for instant coffee, according to Starbucks.

“We’re so confident that you won’t be able to tell the difference between Starbucks Via and our brewed coffee, we’re inviting customers into our stores to see if they can tell the difference,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. -via Denver Business Journal