Dupont Circle: Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe

by Kelly Amabile on

While I’ve got D.C. on my mind, it’s best I mention one of the coolest bookstores in town: Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe is probably the first indy bookstore I’ve been to where the cafe is bigger than the bookstore. Actually, the first time I visited this Dupont Circle landmark, it was a dark summer evening and we sat outside and had dinner on the restaurant side. I didn’t even know there was a bookstore on the other side.

This could mean that some folks who enter from the bookstore side are so immersed in their browsing that they don’t notice the cafe in the back…doubtful, but I guess still a possibility?! The point is, my dear readers, that regardless of which side you enter from, be sure to partake in both halves of this wonderful bookstore cafe, which recently celebrated 30 years in the biz.

Besides the bookshop and cafe, there is an adjoining bar and live music performances. I’ve heard great things about their Sunday brunch, and I can report that the generous serving of cinnamon ice cream is worth the trip alone. Do you need any more reasons to visit?

Bubble Tea: So Many Flavors, so Little Time

by Jamie Rhein on

Each country I’ve lived in has some food or drink item I came to crave. So, when I think of that food or drink I think of that country. Like how eating Creamsicles and pork rinds reminds me of my childhood. (Okay, I have some southern roots and I can not recall the last time either passed my lips.) Bubble tea reminds me of Taiwan. When I left there I was sure that was the end of my bubble tea drinking days, since I hadn’t seen it before I moved to Hsinchu. As it turns out, bubble tea made it out of Asia and it seems it’s the latest creation to rival Baskin and Robbins ice-cream in the number of flavors possible. In Columbus, Ohio there are at least three places I know if that serve bubble tea-two of the businesses revolve around it. One, Bubbles Tea & Juice Company, is at the North Market, a swank boutique like eatery that stalls with various offerings ranging from organic meats to high end baked goods to ethnic foods and the other is near The Ohio State University campus.

The bubbles in bubble tea aren’t really bubbles at all but tapioca balls that are so sticky if you shoot them out of a straw at a window, they’ll stick. I have never done this but I know someone else who has. The balls are black and settle to the bottom of the glass, which in true Taiwan fashion is usually not glass but plastic. The tea is served either with milk or without and comes in different flavors: red bean, litchi, green tea melon, strawberry, you name it, someone is making it somewhere. In Taiwan you can get it cold or hot. I prefer hot myself. In the U.S., cold seems to be the temperature of choice.

Here are links to blogs and articles about Bubble Tea spots in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Houston. Read them for flavor suggestions. Where do you go for your bubble tea and which flavor do you recommend? Here’s a link to a company, Boba.us where you can buy supplies to make your own.

Touring America’s Northeast with HP

by Adrienne Wilson on

Just wanted to give everyone here a quick update on my whereabouts since I haven’t sat still all year. Over the next couple of months you can find me riding around parts of America’s chilly north east as one half of Hewlett Packard’s Color Works dynamic tour staff. I’ll be hanging around the local Staples, Office Max, & Office Depot in places like Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia demonstrating how laser jets and ink jet printers can benefit small and medium business owners. Why am I telling you about all this? Mostly because I’m hoping to see some of the Gadling readers pop into a store from time to time to say “hi!” With a van like the HP Color Works one I’ll be pretty hard target to miss, so if you see it parked in a parking lot come on inside and I’ll give you the 411 on printers and other HP items.