notice: change of address!

My dearest NinaMeetsCafe readers,

It’s been almost three and a half months since I was last here, and between then and now, much has happened. (Including the column I was writing for 13 weeks, where much of my writing energy was redirected.) But I’m really, really excited to say… NMC HAS MOVED.

This is a big deal for me, evidenced by how many hours I spent on the new site (my own domain!) instead of on the first major workload I’ve been assigned this quarter. But, hey, this is personal. And the personal stuff gets to me.

NinaMeetsCafe is changing a bit, though. There’s no chance I’m abandoning my dining endeavors, of course. But rather than just an exploration of the area, NMC has become an exploration of people. The craziness and mystery and beauty of our everyday lives is one of those things I’ve always been on the lookout for, and now I’m just sharing that discussion. This is what my column was about. And, now that The Stanford Daily volume is over, I’m bringing it to a revitalized NMC.

So, if you’re interested, you are welcome to join me right over here, at my new-most-likely-permanent address. –>

ninameetscafe.com.

Honestly, it would be wonderful to see you there.

With gratitude and warm regards,

Nina.

my new friend Zoe

Tucked away in a residential neighborhood with a closing time of 3 on Saturdays, there’s something quite charming about Cafe Zoe in Menlo Park. It’s got that air of being something only the knowing locals are aware of.

But hey! Off to Cafe Zoe it was for Anna and I, on a cool Saturday morning for coffee, breakfast pastries and the endless mission of readingreadingreading.

Neither of us knew what to look for in Zoe, but it was the cute, slightly politically active, picture of a small cafe that greeted us (as well as a sweet parking spot).

Ike’s famous sandwiches that came to Stanford

Stanford’s new Engineering Quad is beautiful. One of my engineering friends said that biking through it made him feel good about being an engineer.

PLUS, this very green and gorgeous campus region is home to the new Stanford location of Ike’s Place. People are pretty crazy about it.

Well, they must be, because the lines are pretty solid before 11.

The San Francisco Cappuccino at Cafe Borrone with my crazy-haired friend

Not too long ago, my favorite crazy-curly-haired Kuwait-harkening Korean-studying English-major friend and I reunited over the coffee of Cafe Borrone.

Borrone is a big, bright window-box of eats and drinks and highly contented-looking people. The multitude of colors should explain it all.

“A San Francisco Cappuccino?” I asked.

“It’s our special cappuccino, with chocolate,” the brunette cashier responded knowingly.

“OHMYGOSH YES,” I calmly responded.

Tootsie’s, un bar italiano per il lavoro italiano

Amidst sundry unfinished, highly pressing deadlines (think: MAJOR declaration, due right about… last quarter) my suite mate Anne Sophie and I have enjoyed being each other’s personal reminders for the study abroad application.

Thankfully, we’re both done now!

But several Fridays ago we most certainly were not.

That was the context for my proposal to visit Tootsie’s at the Stanford Barn, an Italian cafe I’d been eyeing for far too long.

 

 

Situated at the edge of the Stanford Shopping Center, it quickly became one of my favorite [almost-]on-campus locations, and not just for how positively pretty it is.

SPAIN, with vegetable-green paella pride

I have a fabulous new resolution, created in response to a couple recent realizations:

1. Less time, meaning less time I want to spend in front of a screen. (The same surely applies to you!)

2. A column I wrote last week (that’s right! – check The Stanford Daily every Wednesday!) made my readers jump through hoops and over hurdles e to find the point that I wanted to make.

Thus, the resolution is: convoluted-no-more, clear and concise posts. It’s an exercise in linguistic efficiency. So y’all ready?

For the dish last weekend that satisfied my love affair with vegetables?

 

 

rushing the re-cap

September 18, 2010. GUESS WHERE I’VE BEEN [seemingly] TIME-TELEPORTED TO:

JUNIOR YEAR.

Yes, the first day begins in almost 24 hours. That, of course, is simply the latest of the many Twilight Zone-like realizations that have dawned on me this summer. So let’s be quick in the re-cap, shall we?

Once upon a time, I was in Seoul for the umpteenth, but completely differently-natured, time.