Traveling for work as a sales person means working from coffee shops in between meetings. We were in the neighborhood of Ride Studio Cafe, and we love bikes and coffee, so this spot was a dream come true: 

They use locally roasted beans, and a La Marzocco machine, which was not a disappointing combination. The macchiato that I had was stupendously strong, yet still very smooth, a great beverage for sipping. It got me through the rest of the afternoon and a bunch of emails that came in while we were on the road.



There is ample seating on one side of the room, and the other half is decorated with bikes and biking gear. A full rack of biking jerseys and eye wear covered the back wall, and there was even a TV showing one of the latest road bike races.

It's places like these that inspire me to work towards having my own small business, where I can hire my own crew, and maybe build a respectful workplace. Most of my colleagues now are pretty awesome, but there are one or two... No, there's just one bad apple.

I'm not a feminist, or at least I don't think I am, but I do believe in equality. The alpha personality, maybe in combination with the different cultural background and 10+ year age gap, resulted in the use of the term "man talk" this afternoon by this person I work with. This older "man" talked about his experiences with another man (another coworker), and found enlightenment about the whole situation of working in our office setting, which then inspired him to apologize at myself and a colleague (NOTE: he did not ask for apology, he basically forced his apology on us). The apology was for yelling at us, on two separate occasions earlier on, after my colleague and I had provided feedback or raised concerns about his quality of work as well as ethics. This term was then used in the starting sentence of the apology; they were within the first 10 words he said to us.

Accident? Not sure.

Actually, I was so shocked to hear this term being used at that moment, in that small meeting room, that I stopped listening to the rest of his speech. I could not formulate a respectful comment to express my true thoughts and feelings, so what did I do?

I just kept my mouth shut to prevent yelling at this person for his use of these insensitive words. Also, there was no time to get into a further discussion with this "man", since it was the end of the day and I had no energy to waste. Perhaps, this term was used because he did not know what it truly meant.

Perhaps, I will send him a link to the definition tomorrow.

I will let it go now, because there's no point being bothered about this, but it is such a funny story that I just had to blog about it for the Internet and for future reference when I reread this post.

Thinking back to this dinner at Abe and Louie’s, my stomach is starting to grumble once again (I’ve also just gotten out of yoga class at Yyoga and I’ve worked up an appetite). I don’t usually go out for dinners like this, just because I’m not really a steak and potatoes type of person and these meals can really burn a hole in the wallet… But when travelling with other people, I’ll usually go with the restaurant choice of whoever is the most enthusiasitc and makes the reservation first. So, because I am not really into steak and potatoes, I opted for the halibut special:

The fish was served over a bed of lobster mashed potatoes and… I don’t recall the sauce, sorry. I did also have a martini, which may have added to the memory loss. I do remember how excited I was about the mashed potatoes, and how I wiped the plate clean! D thought the fish was a tad dry; I thought the fish was fine with the sauce and mashed potates to add moisture. The little seed net over the lemon really was an indication of the calibre of food that was being served.

We worked through our mains, finished the creamed spinach and what not (great sides too, I think any of the options would have been amazing), and it was time for dessert. This was the creme brulee, and it may have been one of the best I’ve ever had (#Drake). I couldn’t wait to eat it, so the photo above is not of the actual dish as it comes out.



Conversations over heavy meals like this can get pretty interesting, as everybody gets a bit more relaxed. I really am glad I work with such open minded people though, who can discuss almost anything, from politics to love to the weather. There can be so many different perspectives to a topic, and it’s not all 2 sided, like the wall that Trump wants to build.

Go to Boston Breakfast

Go to Boston Lunch

On the last day of Boston, I was getting really tired of sandwiches and catered lunches from the conference. I was craving something fresh, something blended, something in the form of a smoothie. Being in a downtown area, I knew there must be a smoothie place, and I was right. A quick search of the area brought me to Mother Juice:



Long waits aside (I stood there for about 20 to 30 minutes, I guess the lunch rush was strong that day), I was pretty satisfied. The smoothies were just what I was looking for, and also just what I expected. I had the one with ginger, and D had the one with strawberries and bananas. They were completely organic, and although they might look like they contain very little volume, each cup was a full meal. And they were EXPENSIVE! I always forget the cost of being healthy…



I don’t think I’d go back though, because of the long waits and the price. I’d probably go to Whole Foods next time, because it’s in the same area and usually has some sort of juice/smoothie option.

It does seems like there’s a common theme on this trip (in my life??), where I get tired of something and have to find something new to try.

Go to Boston Breakfast
Go to Boston Dinner

This post is the first of six posts, documenting the last eats of the past 2 weeks in Boston and Orlando.

The day cannot start without coffee:



It wasn’t hard to find a coffee place in the Backbay area of Boston, a few different options came up and they were all within walking distance of the hotel. I ended up choosing Pavement Coffee, because according to the internet, they had the best latte artists. I ordered the latte, and a very standard blueberry muffin. The coffee came out - I wasn’t disappointed by the latte art, but how was the coffee itself?

After having burnt Starbucks coffee from the lobby and airport for the past couple of days, this coffee was the smoothest kick of caffeine. It could have been stronger, and it could have been served faster, but I was happy enough to come back on another day.



The 2nd time I visited, I had the granola and yogurt with fruit, which was very filling and fresh. The other patrons of the cafe were having the sandwiches, which smelled great, and might be worth trying if I ever came here for vacation. Eating too heavily before work is not a good idea for me anyways.

Staying slightly hungry makes me work a little bit harder.

Go to Boston Lunch

Go to Boston Dinner