Under Adan’s recommendation, today I got a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. It is excellent. However, it doesn’t taste bitter and coffee-ish. I think next Wednesday I shall try the espresso shot from Starbucks.

ps. Free bagel Fridays are wonderful.

I’ve never had coffee before. I mean, I drink frappucinos from Starbucks, but I’m pretty sure you’ll all agree that frappucinos don’t really constitute coffee. They taste a lot more like frozen hot chocolate than frozen coffee.

Despite my lack of experience with the wonders of coffee, I currently have a hot cup of French Vanilla coffee in hand. Why? Well, there are two reasons.

Firstly, sleep has become a rare commodity since I’ve started work. It just doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day for everything I want to do. Which means that I’ve been getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night, instead of 8. Which, in turn, means that I’ve been very sleepy at work. The really nice drippy rainy weather outside doesn’t help the sleepiness. Today’s weather is perfect for staying at home, tucked in bed, listening to the rain on the window and reading a book. But instead, I’m at work.

Secondly, work has free coffee. Not just free coffee, but free “gourmet” coffee. They have a couple of hazelnut blends that I think I will try later (or tomorrow). Here are my first impressions of my first real cup of coffee.

It tastes burnt. Or rather, it tastes of burnt stuff. Which makes sense, seeing as how coffee beans are roasted before being ground up. It’s not very bitter (probably because I happily dumped three small packets of sugar in), and I’m wondering if I added too much or too little milk. How much milk is one supposed to add to one cup of coffee?

I would have expected coffee to taste stronger than this. I think this is largely because it’s opaque.

Well, there ya go. Any advice from experienced coffee drinkers? What’s good coffee? How much sugar and/or milk?

Who said that? Well, whoever it was, they were lying. On the other hand, I figure someone somewhere pays for it, but I didn’t.

As you’ve probably gathered by now, I was treated to lunch today. It was vaguely business-related, since everyone who was at lunch is an employee. But since the purpose of the lunch was to introduce everyone to everyone else, it was very informal. A lot of joking around, a lot of goofyness (which was fun ) and a lot of good pan-asian food. We went to Ruby Foo’s. We shared a few dim sum dishes, and I had a hot and sour soup and the Wok Chicken with Wild Mushrooms, Asparagus and Spiced Pecans. Very yummy.

It just occurred to me that out of 6 people at lunch, 4 of us had names starting with S. hm.

Just had lunch at Utsav, this fancy Indian place across the street from work. It was my welcome lunch from my boss, and she was kind enough to pay for it. It was a beautiful meal. The rice was perfect, the Zaffrani chicken was tender and spicy (but not too spicy) and savory. Must remember to bring Adan to this place. Maybe next Monday, when he’s not working and my first paycheck will have gone through. It was a little pricy, but not insanely so. About as much as Olive Garden would cost. Mmmm, yummy. Now I have to fight off the post-lunch afternoon lassitude.

For Maggie — Serendipity III is a little place up on 60th and 3rd Ave that’s famous for its desserts and drinks. They serve normal food too, but why eat sandwiches when you could have Dark Double Devil Mousse? Another good point in their favor is that they’re located close to the Lexington Ave stop on the R. Which means that, door to door, it’s less than 20 minutes from my apartment.

I’m feeling headachey today. It started last night, before bed, and hasn’t gotten any better. Last night, I figured it was just due to overindulgence at Serendipity III, but I guess not.

Alex, Katie and I went to Serendipity yesterday, had frozen hot chocolate for a starter, then shared their Outrageous Banana Split and Forbidden Broadway Sundae. We weren’t able to finish everything, and all three of us felt really, truly, close to puking when we walked out. But it was soooooo yummy… sigh.

So I figured the headache was caused by overconsumption of chocolate, but I guess not. I’ll go get some painkillers during lunch.