Neighborhood/Community

Review of Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room

~ theantelopediaries
Bean Hoppers at the Starbucks Reserve Tasting Room in Seattle, WA.
Bean Hoppers at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle, WA.

A few weeks ago my friend and I visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting room in downtown Seattle.  Opened in December 2014, it was Starbuck’s first foray into retail sales of small batches of coffee from around world.  I had put it on my list of places to visit, but with the house-buying/renovation/child-rearing, it fell to the back burner.  When a friend recently suggested we meet for brunch, I suggested we meet there.  Hence, my review.  I was not compensated for this post.  Starbucks probably couldn’t care less about me or my review.  No one knew I was coming.  (Except my friend of course.)

The 15,000 square feet “Reserve,”  whose logo is an “R” with a star above it,  is a place where you can taste “rare and exotic” coffees, as former CEO  and current executive chairman of Starbucks Howard Schultz explains in this promotional video.  As in the video, the place looks more like a bar than a coffee lounge.  If you want the feel of a bar but don’t want to be around alcohol, this is your place. More →

How Did it Happen?

~ theantelopediaries

How did it happen that both of our cars were broken into this morning, that my husband continued to change the oil while the police dispatcher referred me to an online crime reporting tool.  Everything seemed normal.  Nothing was stolen, only rummaged through, because there wasn’t anything to steal.  My husband and I disagreed on whether we should have locked the cars or not.  I’m sure they would have broken the windows to find… nothing.  Rule of thumb I learned from the streets- if there’s nothing to steal, better to leave the doors open. More →

My Neighborhood is Changing, and I Don’t Like It

~ theantelopediaries ~ 2 Comments
New development across the street.
New development across the street.

The last couple of weeks my mornings have been greeted with the sound of chainsaws.  I don’t particularly like the sound of power tools, and chainsaws rank up there as one of the worst.

Now it is the sound of engines from dump trucks and excavators carving up the soil.  I look out my backyard and see the excavator swinging its massive claw.  There is that recognizable beeping sound that follows you into your home.   More →