Posts tagged ‘Starbucks’
Cambodia, part 20 – Returning home
Well – after more than two months of blogging, it’s time to clear the shoes from in front of the door and bring the story of my family’s trip to Cambodia to a close…
I’m sure that there was much more room at the front door after we left.
It ‘s hard waiting around all day for a late-night flight. We had managed to do a few things to keep busy during the day (a trip to USA Donut and to the Russian Market), but by supper time there wasn’t much left to do but twiddle our thumbs (and take one last evening shower to cool off after the heat and humidity of the day). After a round of farewells, we hopped in the van at around 9 p.m. Wednesday for one final trip. Last stop: Phnom Penh International Airport.
It’s hard taking a red-eye flight with children who generally go to bed around 8:30 p.m. Indeed, Youngest Daughter fell asleep, so we loaded her on the luggage cart and wheeled her around the airport.
Anything will do for a bed if you’re sleepy enough.
Well… we wheeled her around until the officials at customs and immigration split up Ordinary Spouse and me. And they made Ordinary Spouse take the girls. That may have been the hardest part of the trip for her – trying to get three children and some carry-on luggage through the airport by herself. Eventually, I caught up with her and was able to help again.
The wait at the gate seemed to go on forever, but I guess that is how the wait for international flights always feels. Eventually we boarded (only a little late!), and shortly after midnight we were on our way to Seoul.
I think that we all managed to get some sleep during that flight, but Youngest Daughter may have been the only one who actually felt rested when we arrived in Korea on Thursday morning. We rested in a quiet part of the airport (the second level is wonderful!) until our next flight. My single goal was to visit a Starbucks, just so that I could say that I’d been to one overseas…
Find your favorite cup!
They would accept U.S. dollars, but change was in won. That was just fine with me – I wanted some Korean money – so I used cash rather than credit. Oldest Daughter and I both ordered a peppermint mocha…
And we also purchased some souvenirs…
Elsewhere in the airport, my mother-in-law and older daughters visited the Korea Traditional Cultural Experience Center. (It doesn’t matter where we go – we’re still in school.) Middle and Oldest Daughters made dolls that they got to bring home…
And some of us just slept.
Anything will do for a bed if you’re sleepy enough.
Finally, it was time for the final flight. Let’s be on our way.
It seemed to me that on both return flights, we had more turbulence than we did on the way over. The disconcerting feeling of being bounced around seven miles up in the air was made easier by the fact that we seemed to have a really strong tailwind speeding our trip. At one point, the information screen said that we were moving along at over 700 miles per hour. I’ve never seen a speed that high. I also noticed that we didn’t quite follow the great circle route between Soeul and Chicago. My guess is that they wanted to get into the jet stream.
Late Thursday evening, we crossed the international date line – back to Wednesday. But by the time we landed in Chicago, it was Thursday again, so our trip went Wednesday-Thursday-Wednesday-Thursday. The final run through customs and immigration seemed to go much better, especially when Youngest Daughter acted grumpy for the customs agent. Perhaps she felt sorry for us. In any case, we zipped through…
And on the other side of customs, we were delighted by another stretch limo to take us back home. It was the same driver that had taken us to the airport two weeks earlier!
And so ends a vacation to remember for the rest of our lives. Jack and Lexi were glad to welcome us home.
The end.
Well – that’s not quite the end. But almost. I’ll take on a few more posts to tie up some loose ends. Then it will be time to get back to blogging the routine stuff.
Like this:
Lunch at Starbucks
Adam, the Moody Bible barista who knows my name
Knows that I read theology here occasionally
Knows that I collect discarded banner advertisements
As decorations for my office, rings me up
One grande caramel latte in a mug
Which I’ll enjoy on a stool by the window
Since the tables are filled with others using
International Coffee Day as an excuse for a drink
There are a few drops on the bar to be cleaned up
Left unconsumed by the last coffee snob
And then I lay out my clean paper
Ready to receive whatever profundities well up
Apparently, I didn’t get the memo about the new dress code
Describing the proper use of earbuds: a fashion must
For anyone wishing to caffeinate in peace
And so, unable to ignore the masses, I notice…
I notice that worship planning is happening behind me
(“Whatever is noble, think on these things”)
Notice that suits are networking across the room
Notice that the regulars are saying their good-byes
And now this is slightly awkward: Two people sit down
Just inches in front of me, oblivious to my noticing
It is true that the window separates us
But now, unable to comfortably look out, I must instead look down
Down at my paper, which is no longer blank
But covered with thoughts that will never make it
Into anyone’s conscience, except my own
Destined be wiped away, like the coffee drops before them
A Pretty Good Weekend, Day 2
In my previous post, I began jotting down the fun I had on Saturday of this past weekend. On to Sunday…
A Daddy-Daughter Day to remember
On Friday evening, My whole family made the trip to Goshen for the Relief Sale. However, Middle Daughter and I had to come back yesterday morning, and Ordinary Spouse and the other two girls didn’t need to come home until this afternoon. I try to have regular “Daddy-Daughter” time with my girls – time when I give all of my attention to just one of them. Yesterday, MD and I got to have a whole day together. Here’s how we spent our day:
- Left my in-laws house in Goshen to return to Illinois in time for church (0800 EDT)
- One pink doughnut for MD from Starbucks (0815)
- Arrive at church for morning services (0945 CDT)
- After Sunday School, plan out the rest of our day (1220)
- Lunch at Dairy Queen, complete with ice cream in a mini baseball helmet (1245)
- Mini-golf at Wilderness Falls (1345)
- On the way home, stop at Meijer to get supper and movie treats (1515)
- Timeout to practice piano (1545)
- To the playground for some fun (1615)
- An hour and a half later, head back home (1745)
- Stop at Family Video for a movie (1800)
- Supper (Froot Loops!) and getting ready for bed (1830)
- Movie time. ‘Sleeping Beauty’* had scratches, so we watched ‘Tom and Jerry’.** Ate Twizzlers! (1845)
- Middle Daughter is about to fall asleep. Off to bed. (2000)
Somewhere in there, she remarked, “This is the best day ever!” 
* Trivia question: What is Sleeping Beauty’s real name? Answer: Aurora. How many men know that?
** Note to self: ‘Tom and Jerry’ is a bit too violent. Let’s not pick that one again.
(Treats from our Daddy-Daughter day. Note how our supper matches our movie snack. I’m not sure how she decided on the White Sox helmet for ice cream, though.)
The gifts of Father’s Day
My girls gifted me with many hugs and kisses today, as well as a few other things…
For lunch, I made two cups of steamed milk – one with peppermint and one with raspberry – for the younger daughters, who don’t drink coffee yet. Oldest Daughter had a peppermint latte, and I had a raspberry one. Ordinary Spouse wanted a cookie.
Small joys… coffee
I think that my love of coffee began in Cambodia in January 2001, sandwiched between a nasty sunburn and gastrointestinal issues which shall not be described here.
What?
I’ll get back to that in a moment…
Growing up, I never drank coffee. My parents drank tea, and I always had the impression that they had a good-natured and long-running disagreement with my grandparents who drank coffee. I wonder now if they grew up during a time where tea was cool, a bit like Starbucks is now.
It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I actually drank coffee for the first time. I thought it was awful. I was studying in Costa Rica for a semester and was offered a large mug of the blackest stuff you’ve ever seen. In retrospect, it was probably excellent coffee, since Ticos will tell you that they grow the best coffee in the world. However, I was too shy and out-of-place to realize that I could ask for milk and sugar. And so I suffered through the entire mug.
I didn’t drink coffee again for nine years.
Fast forward to Cambodia. My wife, in-laws, and I (this was pre-kids) were visiting my brother-in-law, who was working there with MCC. It was one of the best vacations ever. Toward the end of it, we had returned to Phnom Pehn from Siem Reap via water bus. I made the entire trip on the top deck in the tropical sun without sunblock. Toast. I think it was later that day the Ordinary Brother-in-law took Dad and I out for iced coffee. It was then that I discovered the miracles that milk and sugar (or in this case, sweetened condensed milk) could do for the flavor of coffee. It was so tasty that I enjoyed a second one, which was probably a bad idea. (See my reference to gastrointestinal issues above.) Nevertheless, I remember everything very fondly, and I’ve been hooked since.
Some happy thoughts on my enjoyment of coffee:
- To be quite honest, I can’t identify good coffee, at least not by itself. That’s because I never drink it black. My preferred method of consumption is mocha, although flavored lattes are good, too. In a pinch, I’ll enjoy it with just cream and sugar. Even with all the extras, none of these drinks would be good without decent coffee.
- I am, however, a bit of a cocoa snob. Wilbur’s cocoa is probably my favorite. However, for a nice change of pace, there is a black cocoa that I order in bulk from a store in Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania.
- I associate coffee with a sense of peacefulness. (In fact, if it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t be writing this blog entry.) Maybe I’ll enjoy it with others – family or friends – like I did in Cambodia or as I do with my small group. Or I’ll drink by myself, since I appreciate solitude. But it’s best when it isn’t rushed.
- Coffee is good during vacation. I have fond memories of sipping coffee on the toll roads between Illinois and my parents’ place out east. When we are staying in hotels (preferably a Hampton Inn), I like to unwind at night with coffee on the house “because I can”.
- I know it’s unreasonably priced. I still like Starbucks. In fact, I just spent some time there tonight with Oldest Daughter. We call it “daddy-daughter time”. And we brought home a free bag of used coffee grounds for the flower bed.
Five for Friday… brand loyalty
(My mother wondered where the list was last week, so I needed to make sure that I had “five” for her today.)
There aren’t too many times I go out of my way to buy a particular brand of anything, but there are some rare occasions. Watch how I slip in more than five…
1) Coffee - Maybe my most guilty pleasure? I like Starbucks mocha.* Or when I’m at home, I make mocha with fair trade coffee, and that probably means Equal Exchange. And since I’ve mentioned Equal Exchange, I should say that they make my very favorite chocolate.
2) Clothing - A 100% satisfaction guarantee and excellent customer service keep me shopping with L.L.Bean. (And they know when they shouldn’t mess with a good thing – i.e. instead of trying to put their own label on something, they’ll sell someone else’s high-quality product. Which is why I also love Keen footwear.)
3) Toothpaste - I’ve used Crest all my life, so don’t ask me to use something else. My wife is like that with Colgate. And the girls have their own favorites, as well. There was a time when we had five different varieties of toothpaste in our house.
4) Jelly beans - I love Jelly Belly. I have thirteen plush Jelly Belly beans and a Jelly Belly dispenser that sit beside me at work.
5) Amusement park - Walt Disney World. Interestingly, this loyalty doesn’t extend to the entire Disney brand. I just like the park – enough so that I have a Disney Visa card to save up points to buy tickets.
* Interesting story (at least to me): I know a number of people who travel the toll roads from Indiana to Pennsylvania. Some of us who do it often (and who have brand loyalties) have memorized the rest areas so that we can get cheap gas, buy Starbucks coffee, and get a good lunch. We even know when we need to leave in the morning to time everything correctly.
Review: Starbucks oatmeal
I have gushed before about how wonderful my morning oatmeal is, and I have also confessed to loving Starbucks mocha. So I could tell that Ordinary Spouse saw the wheels turning in my head when I found out what arrived in the mail yesterday – a coupon for a free serving of Starbucks oatmeal.
Breakfast this morning?
You guessed it – oatmeal and coffee!
And I thought, “Hey! Why not write a review of Starbucks oatmeal?” Some people are qualified to review books or music. I’ll review oatmeal.*
* And here we provide the obligatory disclaimer: As you are already aware, I did not have to purchase my oatmeal this morning. Starbucks sent me the coupon (unsolicited by me). I did buy the mocha (which was typically yummy, but which I’m not reviewing).
So, would I recommend Starbucks oatmeal? Let’s take a look…
What you get:
One cup (roughly speaking) of “Perfect Oatmeal” (Starbucks’ name for it). The label says,
Just the way you like it. Wake up to the warmth and hearty goodness of whole grains. Add to that a satisfying sprinkle of nuts, fruit, and brown sugar, and your choice of milk.
As indicated, I also received individual packets of nuts, dried fruit, and brown sugar. And had I been so inclined, I could have added milk in the store. I was not so inclined.
The oatmeal:
The oatmeal was a standard serving of quick oats. My barista prepared it appropriately, which is about all you can say about standard servings of quick oats. (You’re not going to get bonus points for cooking oats, but you can lose points rapidly if they weren’t cooked right.) Starbucks could make the oatmeal slightly more interesting by mixing in other grains.
The nuts:
Here, I give Starbucks high marks for providing the same mix of nuts that I would have enjoyed on oatmeal that I prepared at home. They could have provided the bare minimum – a few ground walnuts. However, the package contained walnuts, almonds, and pecans. In addition, I believe that their labeling (“a satisfying sprinkle”) was conservative. They were actually slightly generous with amount, given the volume of oatmeal. Nicely done.
The fruit:
High marks for the variety again. They could have provided raisins. Instead, the package had golden raisins, cranberries, and zante currants, and cherries. One quibble: there was no need to add sugar as a separate ingredient. I understand that sugar is standard with dried cranberries, but I don’t care for extra sugar added by itself. Also, as with the nuts, the amount of dried fruit was more than needed to make me happy. (But it wasn’t excessive, either.)
The sugar:
Not much to say about the brown sugar. It was an appropriate amount. If I could have my way, I would have also had a spice packet – at least a little cinnamon, and maybe some clove.
Intangibles:
If you like goofy baristas singing “Roxanne” off-key while you are still somewhat drowsy, then you’re in good shape. Me? I am easily amused by goofy baristas.
The take-home message:
Yes – I could have made a slightly better bowl of oatmeal a whole lot more cheaply at home, but I also buy things in bulk and eat it every day. In the end, this was a really good breakfast and not a bad price – $2.45, according to my receipt (had I actually purchased it). And when you think about the heart-attack-inducing breakfast sandwiches that you could buy elsewhere, this option is downright excellent. If you find yourself in need of a quick breakfast option on the road, I highly recommend it.
Like this:
Farther over the river and through the woods…
Last month, I blogged the trip that my ordinary family made from our house to my in-laws’ house for Thanksgiving. Those random thoughts and observations from the road are the kind of things that I find interesting to read, even if no one else really cares. And since I enjoy it, I decided to do the same thing today as my family drove to my parents’ house for Christmas. We began our trip yesterday afternoon by driving to my in-laws’. That cuts about three hours off the total time, and when the total time includes every daylight hour, it’s nice to start a ways down the road. This morning, the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., and I skipped my morning shave and shower – don’t need to be presentable to anyone today. Thus began an amazingly efficient day…
Oatmeal, juice, and coffee for breakfast. Check the weather, and get a report from my father-in-law who brought in the newspaper. Looks like we have some ice to deal with from last night’s freezing rain.
Get the older girls going, but let Youngest Daughter sleep. She generally doesn’t eat much for breakfast anyway.
Amazingly, the family is packed and on the road by 7:40. Not much traction on these residential streets, which isn’t a happy situation, but I’m optimistic that things will be fine once we get to the toll road.
My blogging machine is up and running. Hoorah for Ordinary Spouse, who once again records my dictations (and adds snarky comments that I have to filter out). At Thanksgiving, she was writing. This time, she’s typing on our laptop.
The ice is pretty bad on the country roads, but we go slow and don’t use the brakes very much. Youngest Daughter has a breakfast of cheese and zwieback (“feebuk”) in the van and the girls watch the pink beginnings of a sunrise over Amish farm fields. We are all filled with anxious waiting for the “fast road” – some of us hope for traction and some want to watch a DVD (which doesn’t get turned on until then).
The toll road (I80/I90) is all that we hoped for – dry and vehicle free. Cruise control is set at 70 mph and we’re moving right along. Well – moving right along until…
We stop at the first rest area in order to deal with the breakfast coffee, which has wasted no time in working it’s way through our systems.
Excerpts from random conversations between the adult passengers in the front:
- What is a “turnpike”? (One of us knows the answer and quizzes the other.)
- The amazing typing skills of Ordinary Spouse. She never looks at the keyboard, but she never makes a mistake, either.
- How has Google become so large? I realize that they seem to do everything I ever want to do on a computer, but I’ve never paid them a cent. (i.e. I’ve never followed any of their advertising links. I don’t even look at them.)
By 9:30 a.m., we’re twenty miles into Ohio. The Little Mermaid prequel is playing on the DVD player in the back. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Party Doll and Other Favorites” is playing in the front. We drive past an orchard and under clouds (yes, clouds) of birds that have been getting drunk on rotting fruit. We run the windshield washers to clean the windshield…
Ordinary Spouse makes a phone call to my parents to let them know that there is a good chance that we’ll be there by supper time. At milepost 77, she breaks out the snacks for the first time: aquatic animals (goldfish) or land animals (animal crackers)?
Shortly after 10:30, we’re back on the road after our second rest stop at milepost 100. Curious George is now playing in the back; Rich Mullins in the front. The adults are having more random conversations. I don’t know if it’s the daylight, or the grim determination that comes with a long day of travel, but it would appear that all of our conversations are going to be somewhat random. (Often, we have our deep conversations when we travel after dark between Illinois and Indiana. The trip is short, and the girls all go to sleep.)
The traffic is getting a bit heavier now before lunch. We get the first hints of sunlight, and I also express my appreciation for a friendly driver aware of what was going on around her. (She was going to pass me, but saw that I was also overtaking the vehicle in front of me. Since we had three lanes, she pulled to the outside, even before I started signalling. We need more drivers like that.)
Then I express my frustration that there are considerably more drivers in the passing lanes than in the right lane. Look folks – most of you aren’t passing anyone. Pull over and stop clogging the road.
Going around Cleveland, Curious George has ended, and we’re all getting restless and ready for lunch. We stop at the rest area at milepost 197. Three of us eat at Au Bon Pain (which is French for “it’s a good hurt”) and two of us eat at McDonald’s (which is English for “greasy”). After getting gas from the rest area food, we also get gas for our van. That and some Starbucks to stave off afternoon drowsiness and we’re ready to go again.
I request some music to keep me awake – a mix CD which leads off with Guns ‘n Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. Ordinary Spouse asks what the lead singer looks like, but then decides that she doesn’t really want to know…
It’s time for naps, but the girls don’t nap when Ordinary Spouse naps, so her nap only last for about fifteen minutes. By about 2:30 p.m., we’re into Pennsylvania and going south past Pittsburgh on I-79. Simon and Garfunkel are now in the CD player (such uplifting songs – “I Am A Rock” and “Cecelia”).
The road signs are typical for Pennsylvania roads, warning of weather that doesn’t exist and road work that isn’t happening. The houses in this area were built in the first half of the last century and cling to the hillsides. They’re crowded together, just like the lanes of the road that we’re on.
By 4:00 p.m., we’re around Morgantown, and on I-68. The passengers are getting antsy, because the West Virginia welcome area didn’t welcome us (closed for the season). Mary Poppins is playing in the back seat, and the parents are discussing health care and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ack! The Maryland welcome center is closed, too. Things are getting desperate by the time we make it to Keyser’s Ridge at exit 14. At a quarter ’til five, we get back on the road. Next stop: Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Twenty-eight miles to go. It’s time to be there.
The last bit of light is fading from the sky and the Indigo Girls are the last CD of the day as we descend the mountain into Cumberland. At exit 43B, our time on the interstates has ended. Twelve minutes later, my father is opening the garage door for us. 5:20 p.m. Five hundred miles in under ten hours. It’s probably a record for us, at least with children.
As I type this, the cousins are all nestled all snug in their beds. May the Peace of Christ be your most wonderful gift this Christmas.
Hrmph!
Well, I gave in and re-activated my Facebook account. It turns out that my Ordinary Sister updates her life there in the same way that I do here. She told Ordinary Mom* that if she also had an account, then she’d know what was happening in the life of her granddaughter (my Anything-But-Ordinary Niece).
* To clear up any confusion, Ordinary Mom is my mom, not to be confused with Ordinary Mommy, who is the alter-ego for Ordinary Spouse.
And so I decided to re-activate my account, too. I was going to hold out – I have this little obstinate streak that comes through once in a while. But I gave in.
Now I’ve got two friends – my mom and my sister. Pretty pathetic. My mom has more friends than I do.
But at least I’ve got a coupon for a free pastry at Starbucks next Tuesday!
