Cake, coffee and waiting

I was just thinking about how I can't stand waiting. I look at a line, say at Disneyland, and I just want to cry. I can't relate to most of humanity but I do on this point--I have no patience anymore and a big sense of entitlement. Why do I fucking need to wait?

Still, at Disneyland I get in line. Why? Because I want to see the new Star Tours. Or maybe I want a food product on a stick. Sure, I'll wait. And I'll try not to complain at least until my lower back starts hurting around the 1 hour mark.

Here are a couple other lines I've stood in this year.



Blue Bottle Coffee!


I've never even heard of this. I was visiting friends in San Francisco recently and was told there was a pretty good cuppa to be had at the Ferry Building. The line snaked. For coffee? Really? But I was intrigued. Drip coffee to order brewed by the attractive Asian American man in the photo above.



My friend and I stood in line for what I would say... maybe twenty minutes? I didn't look at the time. I thought I'd obsess over it and look at my phone constantly. I instead used the time to chat with my buddy and it was nice. When you shift the focus from the waiting to "living in the moment"—to use an expression I loathe—now you're really doing something. I know this is so obvious to you guys but it was a breakthrough for me. Easy lesson, difficult to remember and put into practice. Relearning patience. I need to get there.

The coffee is terrific but I'm also wowed by Peet's. Peet's is all over SF almost as badly as Starbucks here in SoCal. Surprisingly never ducked into one for a sumatra. Honestly, it's hard to beat my local fave, Groundwork Coffee, roasted locally and I mean specifically the Black Gold. Intelligentsia is also great but where in DTLA can I get it?

Back in April I was out wilding with some friends in Orange County. One of them had heard of some hot bakery in Irvine called 85C.





Why would anyone wait in two lines for a bakery? Well let me back up a second and ask, why would anyone circle the parking lot for a half hour to find a spot on the other end of the plaza and THEN wait in two lines (one outside and slightly shorter one inside)? Why was I in IRVINE? So baffling.

What they do here is a salted caramel beverage. That's the huge draw but if that's your pleasure, there's a very short drink line on the other end of the bakery.

So many people piling pastries, cakes, rolls, custards onto trays and standing in line. Yup. That's what Irvine is doing on a Saturday night. I did it once. Wouldn't do it again. It was fine but so are a lot of other Taiwanese bakeries. Maybe I'm spoiled living so close to San Gabriel Valley.



I'll leave you with this with hat tip to Scrappers