Budapest, Coffee, and Wine

I had my first real European adventure this last weekend. Around the end of December I decided it was time to start touring the European countries around me- I really didn't have a preference as to where I was going to go, I just had to be able to afford it. Fast forward two weeks- Budapest, Hungary. Absolutely beautiful city. There's an energy to it that I really like and I have a feeling that it has something to do with the many coffee shops everywhere. You see, the coffee culture hasn't hit Denmark yet. I'll give them 10 years. 


Honestly- I love being in Denmark but I don't quite understand how a coffee addict like myself ended up in a country with no Starbucks. The only Starbucks that exists in my area is in the Copenhagen airport.  How much do you want to bet that I had a ''real'' coffee before my flight? 


If you ever have a chance to see Budapest, I'd definitely recommend it. Here's a couple pics of me in Budapest that my photographer friend took. 

To get back home I had to take almost every form of transportation available besides a boat. 3 metro trains, 2 buses, one plane, and 2 trains. Sunday was a long day. :D


My home state is Washington and I just want to give a shout out to our wine there. Apparently it MUST be good because they served it at Obama's big State dinner where none other then Jackie Chan attended! And of course, the Chinese President Hu Jintao... And from the Washington Examiner:

"Obama repeatedly stressed that he is seeking "a level playing field" for U.S. companies doing business with China. The White House has been pressuring China on economic issues that include monetary policy and trade imbalance."

That's all very well to want a level playing field but in my opinion, when you owe someone a large sum of money you pretty much lose your chance at a level playing field. Just saying. It is a nice picture to dream about. However, I don't think the Chinese politicians like Americans too much. I seem to recall Sha Zukang saying just that at one point. I think he had too much to drink before he said that though- but I can't quite remember. 


But all of that really won't matter by December 2012 seeing as we will all be dead.. Or at least George Lucas thinks we'll be dead. At least we have until 2012- Dr. Kermit Gosnell made it so quite a few wouldn't ever even have the chance of dying on 2012.  From philidelphia.cbslocal.com we have:

“I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic,” said District Attorney Seth Williams. “But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who knowingly and systematically mistreats female patients, to the point that one of them dies in his so-called care, commits murder under the law. A doctor who cuts into the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would survive with proper medical attention, is committing murder under the law.”

I really don't care what your opinion on abortion is... the whole thing is really awful and I hope he gets the full extent of whatever they can give him when it comes to the law. 

To Stay Away or Not to Stay Away?

      Europe is on a terror alert at the moment. They say to be extra cautious if you are in France or Germany. They almost go so far as to say “Stay home” if you are an American traveling to Europe. I wonder how many people decide to not go on a trip because of a terror alert. It’s easy to think ‘oh, that would never happen’ if you aren’t around situations like that.

Suppose you lived with situations like ‘frequent terror alerts’ you might think people traveling to Europe (because they planned their vacation way in advance) are slightly insane to come if they have a choice! Then again, this begs the question, should one allow themselves to be stopped by everything that could go wrong? Or just live their life trusting that when it’s their time to go, it’s their time to go.

However, it’s stupid to do things you know are stupid because of the assumption that “if I don’t make it, I wasn’t meant too.”

On a side note, when 9/11 happened people stopped flying places. You could get tickets at ridiculously low prices because airlines just needed passengers. I suppose something has to happen- something that one might feel is extreme enough, in order to actually take someone’s advice and just stay home.

And that’s about where I am at. I’m not leaving for Europe November. I don’t think I would cancel my ticket unless something detrimental happened that I felt had a 74.3679% chance of affecting me. And if something did happen before I flew out, after it’s happened, is that the end? Nobody wants to jump back in the stock market after it crashes- until they know/can assume it’s going back up. But it’s those that are willing to take risks that might make a killing out of just throwing their money in there, even when the majority of people might be hesitant.

People who were taking advantage of cheap tickets were probably pretty psyched. It’s really expensive to fly places.

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The other day I studied. And for a change of pace, I studied some more. After several hours of this, I decided to head out to one of my favorite coffee shops and walk around for a bit. It was lovely! As I was driving back, I chanced to see something that slightly concerned me.

On the right side of the road, pulled off, there was a man and a woman. They were gazing, all perplexed like, at a super nice and shiny motorcycle. What I found most unusual was that the couple looked like they were in their 80s.

Like…. “Honey, what is this thing?”

I want to be someone who is still going out on motorcycle rides in my 90s. I will start by putting “Take a ride on a motorcycle” on my bucket list. As I have yet to experience that, I think I should start before getting excited at the thought of “Heading out in my 90s!”

Barista Hottie

In 2010 something changed. My usual trips to Starbucks began involving regular coffee instead of lattes. My summer drink of choice; iced coffees. To shake things up a bit I would ask for a different syrup instead of the signature sweetener they use. 

After drinking regular coffee and paying a decent price for that, I started to really take into account the cost of a latte. If I were to go anywhere else besides Starbucks I would die before I'd pay $4-5 for a 16 ounce drink. I'd walk out the door and find something else. Starbucks appears to have somewhat of a religious following. They do have something going for them, mainly, environment, excellent service, and good drinks. I've done coffee shop surfing and usually walk away thinking there's something really wrong with the taste of the coffee and never come back. Unless, they have free wifi and it's highly convenient. 

I spend many hours studying in Starbucks. At one point, I spent 2 days consecutively working on my Tax Accounting assignments. I hated Starbucks for the next few days. The only highlight, besides the delicious coffee was the BH behind the counter. BH stands for: barista hottie. (And he really took that one to a whole new level) Yes, a barista is not just a woman. It's any human who has been trained and can make those amazing espresso drinks we throw down $$$ to enjoy. When robots start making espresso drinks I'll change the definition to "any "thing" that makes those amazing espresso drinks..." 

It gets better though. After spending many hours in Starbucks you get to see and hear people ordering there drinks. Something about the heat outside causes people to order venti's and to add a little of this and a little of that. I'm guessing when they're all done, they've probably spent $8 on their drink. It better be a  good one. 

My family buys whole milk and I grew up drinking whole milk. However, when I started working I began drinking skim milk. And ever since then, that's usually what I'll drink cause it's there. Now whenever I put milk in my coffee I usually always go for nonfat milk- it just tastes right. Yesterday I drank a glass of whole milk and it tasted like whipping cream minus the density. I was like WOW you really can tasted a difference!

Starbucks came out with a new drink and I put the $$ down to try it. It's called a Toffee Mocha. It was delicious! It wasn't freaky sweet and it had a nice mix of flavor. Last year they came out with a Caramel Brulee Latte and that was so sweet one couldn't even finish the thing.  As I was ordering the drink the barista making it confirmed with the barista taking my money that the Toffee Mocha didn't include whipped cream. "No whipped cream?" said I. "Would you like whipped cream added to it?" said he. "Is it going to cost me extra?" said I. "no, I wouldn't dream of charging you for whipped cream!" said he. "I'll take it." said I. I take nonfat milk with my regular coffee and add whipped cream to my lattes. That's almost a contradiction. 

Starbucks is doing something right because when all is said and done, I still spend my money there. I usually always walk away satisfied which is the important thing. In today's day and age, competition is coming at a business in all directions. Rule of thumb: Your coffee shouldn't suck if your business is a coffee shop. We can all be happy that Starbucks is going green. My last gift card from my dear sister Lee, was green. And the girl was happy. 

And that's Emily reporting to you live from Sk- Washington

By the by, it's return of the bedbugs and you're next! XD -pop quiz- what do bedbugs, mosquitoes, leeches, and Edward have in common?