Chantico

Mr. Strega has lately been enthralled with Starbuck's "drinking chocolate," aka Chantico. This stuff tastes like a melted (make that molten) chocolate bar, served hot enough to permanently wither taste buds. Someone described Chantico as a "liquid heart attack." It tastes oooohhh sooo good, but has eighteen gazillion calories in it and makes me feel like I've been mainlining espresso for hours. Mr. Strega has been making a homemade version, using Ghiradelli chocolate bars (a whole bar melted into a bit of milk). One cup of it makes me swear to go on seaweed tea and brown rice for the rest of my life....still, it's good.

Which leads me to my thought for the day: good coffeehouses in S Cruz County at which Ms. Strega attempts to write (I hope some disgruntled coffeehouse employee doesn't scold--or scald--me for writing about this, but if they do--well, heck):

1) Peets (nice atmosphere and they are good to the homeless folks who come in there. Still, there is very little seating, esp. at busy times, and Ms. Strega has never written more than a paragraph here, due to feeling guilty about taking a seat for a long time).

2) Gelatomania (this place SMELLS WEIRD. There is an oxygen bar here, with OM MANI PADME HUM in neon over its door. Maybe the O2 accounts for the weird smell. I've been on 02 so many times in the emergency room that I don't think this would make for a fun date for Ms. Strega. Still, I have written a great deal of the book here, in the outdoor breezeway, 'cause the serving staff is nice and the chais are good).

3) Lulu Carpenters (can't work here at all. It gets so crowded in there that I feel at times I'm hunched inside some surreal prison-yard coffeehouse, albeit with a huge amount of charm and ambience. I do not like to sit outside due to smokers. I do like the garden area. Still, I have gone here often 'cause the lattes are, bar none, the BEST IN SANTA CRUZ).

4) Borders (yes, the Evil One. I have done a lot of good, serious work at Borders when I can get a table, which is not often these days. They have recently updated their look).

5) Chocolate (at Bookshop Santa Cruz. I hate this place for writing--maybe it's good for food. Used to be the old Georgina's, which was one of the best places to write, eat nice hippie food (their pie was excellent), and spend time--one could take two hours writing there and nobody would make moan. Now it has gone upscale, like a lot of the Pacific Garden Mall. Once, I tried to write there and the waitress cast a long and scalding glance at my notebook and pen. She said, "If you want to write, you have to order something." Really? The fact that I was sitting in a restaurant probably had clued me to that fact. The hot chocolate I ordered was naassttyyy, with whipped cream that had almost reached the finish line for butter).

6) Cafe Bene (I want to like this place. I really, really, really do. I try and try. Yet, each time I try, I am served with a cold latte, one that I did not order as such. I am not the type of person to complain to the waitstaff, who are actually extremely nice).

7) Starbucks (don't go to write, just to watch Mr. Strega drink melted chocolate bars).

Scotts Valley:

Abouche (I love this place; the chai is nice and often I can get work done here...except at night. At night, their lighting is so dim that Ms. Strega needs a miner's lamp to see her page).

Coffee Cat (I love this place. Sinatra on the stereo, a really nice staff, LOTS of tables, PLUGS for laptops, and the BEST LATTES..yes, I said that Lulu's has the best lattes, but Coffee Cat is owned by the same folks who run Lulus. Coffee Cat's logo is a cup with a cat face looking out of it, a little morosely).

Felton:

Mountain Roasting (love this place, but never get over there anymore, for some reason).


The White Raven (heavenly choir, please. Even when crowded to the gills with the regulars, of which I am one, the WR is one place I consistently can work at--probably a Pavlovian response to the chai, which is excellent. Staff is nice, atmosphere is undiluted old-school Santa Cruz Mountains. There are occasionally customers who will speak in operatically loud voices for the very small space--I was privy once to far more information than I ever, ever wanted to know about stud horses, for example--but this is a minor inconvenience).

Coffee Nine (I go here after getting my hair done, but don't write here).


And, of course, since I am still pretty traumatized by the recent online upleasantness, I feel the need to say to this person that I am NOT at the White Raven or any of these places