Pannikin (Del Mar)

(Louie living the good life.)

I like coffee shops that write their menus on chalkboards.

I’ve previously been to the Pannikin in Encinitas, but had only passed by this one in the Flower Hill mall (which has the enviable location of being next to an independent book store).

What we primarily came for, atmosphere, was just what I was looking for. A quiet place where people say hi but otherwise leave you alone. Extra points for non-corporate décor. And the outdoor patio is covered, so I’ll never worry I’ll burn or Louie will overheat.

The mint tea is fabulous.

Just inside the shop sat a women’s knitting group. At one point, a knitter stood up and modeled a blue two-toned sweater vest, needles still hanging off various seams. I was impressed.

Overheard at Pannikin: whether, or whether not, would-be first-time buyers should pull the trigger on a home in Escondido. The young husband had a background in ornithology, and as he and his wife and his in-laws watched the little patio birds, he said birds that eat too much bread develop clubfoot. He used to tag birds somewhere in Ashland, and had noticed a rise in the condition. The best guess is that it comes from hand feeding in public places, and scrounging in parking lots. So Americans aren't the only ones who get by on empty carbohydrate calories.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

This coffee shop is a little more than a mile away, but difficult to walk to. So Louie and I packed into the car and drove over.

It wasn't clear which teas on the menu could be brewed hot and which were available iced (I was hoping for the latter). So I asked the barista and he rattled off a slew of words that do nothing to give clues about what they might taste like. Fancy Formosa Oolong? Lung Ching Dragonwell? Genmaicha Green? Sound like items you'd find in a Burpee catalog.

Wanting to minimize my geekiness factor, I ask for something fruit-flavored and end up with Tropical Passion. Which I assume has some sort of third-cousin, twice-removed relationship to the passion fruit. It’s tasty, although at $1.95 it's fifty cents more than Starbucks, and ten cents more than Stratford.

Their outdoor patio--the real reason I've come--is great. It's open with plenty of tables and chairs, and I think this airy feeling contributes my ability to create fake worlds. I could definitely sit and work here for several hours.

The clientele leans more “Del Mar.” I overheard talk about whether or whether not a girl inside the shop was indeed a girl named Paris, and what it meant that one girl hadn’t said hi to her, although she had smiled. Like, oh my Gawd!

But there was one sweet couple reading newspaper headlines to each other like they genuinely wanted to the other to know these things. They weren’t doing it to knock society, to brag, or one-up the other.

And Louie? He’s a simple dog and I think his simple needs were met. I appreciated the water bowl for dogs passing through.

Tomorrow? Perhaps a shop with a little more glam.

Stratford Court Cafe

(Louie with his biscuit.)

Day one of Michelle and Louie Find a New Writing Hangout. Lou and I had been to Stratford once before with my mom for breakfast. The cafe is in a historic building, but you sit out front on their shady patio (trees and umbrellas). I ordered a peppermint tea, which I love and which the old Starbucks didn't carry. Louie got a Straford dog biscuit. :) The atmosphere is low-key, with Sting and Coldplay albums playing softly. The best sounds were the birds in the trees. It was like they were rooting for each word I typed. :)

Overheard at Stratford: One girl trying to read a word in the newspaper to her mother and sister. She was trying out different pronunciations that sounded a bit like vestal, vestibule, and vestigial. I finally decided it was the last one, and helped her out. I never know if it's rude to correct someone like that. But I figure if I didn't know something and someone could help me, I'd be grateful. And these women today were congenial.

Stratford was good, but is probably better suited to eating a meal. Tomorrow brings another adventure.