Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries | fabliss

49th Parallel Coffee | Vancouver, BC

i finally got around to sifting through all of our vancouver pictures! our first stop after we got off the train was 49th parallel coffee on main street with chelsey (who we haven’t seen since our trip to italy in 2011)! this is her favorite coffee / doughnut shop in vancouver and highly recommended it since we love both of these things.

coffee / lattes are $3-4 (CAD). they also have doughnuts that are made fresh every day by lucky’s. we went with ice coffees with almond milk and a few random doughnuts (one of which was a bacon apple fritter…it was intense).

everything we got was good. it definitely hit the spot since we were looking for a quick snack before dinner.

ambience: we love the ambience! is industrial chic a real thing? because this is how i would describe this place. if this were in los angeles, i would coin it sceney/hipster. great outdoor seating. i would definitely snag one of those seat if the weather is awesome.
service: high efficiency here.
parking: we had to drive around for a minute but didn’t really have issues.
overall: good coffee that goes great with the doughnuts. kyle loved the bacon apple fritter. in his words “it was the best bacon doughnut i have ever had.” i would definitely point out that he probably has only had a handful of bacon doughnuts…but this is apparently the best. i liked the soft, sugar doughnut. yum. if we weren’t trying to see everything in vancouver, i would have loved to stick around here for hours.

thanks chelsey for showing around your city!!

49th Parallel Coffee
2902 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T 0C1
Canada
Neighborhood: Mount Pleasant

By fabliss | February 23rd, 2014 | Canada, Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Food, Photography, Travel | 0 Comments

Island Vintage Coffee | Honolulu, HI

we were uber lucky when i had to take a quick work trip to honolulu! even more lucky that it just so happened to land on a 3 day weekend! we have both been maui and kauai together… but kyle had never been to oahu! you know what that means! food adventures!

ok. this will be quick and very simple. we fell in love with island vintage coffee.

best taro smoothie. ever.
best acai bowl. ever.

we probably walked the main strip back and forth about eight times and kept debating whether or not to get a coffee here. thank goodness we did.

i am usually not one to eat an acai bowl for breakfast… 1. because i am always hungry. 2. i don’t do healthy for breakfast. …but this is life changing.

acai bowl – think acai smoothie topped with fresh fruits, granola and honey. i’d eat this every day.
taro smoothie – delicious. not too sweet. tastes like heaven.

there’s seating inside and outside. warning: this gem gets crowded.

ever since we came back from honolulu, we have been on the search for these two things in los angeles. obviously i would highly recommend this to anyone visiting honolulu!

Island Vintage Coffee
2301 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815

By fabliss | February 20th, 2014 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Food, Hawaii, Travel | 1 Comment

Brian’s Shave Ice | Tarzana, CA

brian’s shaved ice is one of two of our favorite shave ice joints in los angeles (get shaved is the other one). the original location is in west la. but great news for all of us valley folk! one popped up in tarzana!

so, we love brian’s shave ice! (my hubby is obsessed) our go-tos:

flavors: tiger’s blood, POG, coconut, pineapple, lychee, mango
filling: i always get azuki beans (sweet red beans) because i love red beans. kyle always goes for ice cream (macadamia nut or taro if available)
topping: snow cap (condensed milk). always get this…it make your shave ice creamy and delicious!

a tip: go with tropical flavors, always. it’s hawaii in a little colorful flower shaped cup! btw, we found this place because there was a groupon for it. thanks for the introduction, groupon!

tip #2: we got the dole whip before… and probably will not get it again. don’t get me wrong. i love the dole whip at disneyland in pineapple juice…buuuut the whip didn’t really jive with my flavors (it was a little sour).

parking: both locations have ample parking in plazas.
atmosphere: the tarzana location is slightly smaller than the one in west la. both are clean!
note on the staff: they are awesome, friendly and helpful.
overall: give this place a shot whether you are in west la or the valley!

Brian’s Shave Ice & Boba
19572 Ventura Blvd
Tarzana, CA 91356

11301 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

By fabliss | February 16th, 2014 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Dessert | 0 Comments

Philz Coffee | Berkeley, CA

while visiting a friend in norcal for the weekend, we went to philz coffee since she knew i twitch without my coffee in the morning. she made me drink the mint mojito iced coffee. i will not lie. i had reservations since i usually associate mojito with insanely sweet.

nope. it was freaking amazing!! refreshing, perfectly sweetened with a nice mint kick. i love mint. i daydream about this little cup of heaven pretty often. (every day) i just had to post this since it’s too good not to share.

Philz Coffee
1600 Shattuck Ave
(between Cedar St & Lincoln St)
Berkeley, CA 94709

By fabliss | January 27th, 2014 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Best Desserts: Los Angeles

i am a huge dessert person (i usually hold back on dinner in order to make room for something sweet). however, being a non-chocolate lover limits me when it comes to desserts… lucky me! my husband usually researches restaurants who have non-chocolate desserts! (he rocks, i know)

i decided to make a list of my favorite in los angeles! here are the top 5:

sara j – strawberry shortcake
firefly – banana bread pudding
green street tavern – white chocolate croissant bread pudding, blueberry and white chocolate sauce
salju dessert – best shaved snow
prosecco trattoria – best panna cotta