An Explanation for our Silence

So here’s the scoop:

Cypress is out of the country! I’m not sure if she plans to (or if she even can) post while she’s away, but I know she’ll have plenty of fun things to share when she’s back state-side.

Britt’s apartment is internet-less and after losing her car, she’s not really at liberty find free wifi. When she moves at the end of the month, she’ll be back in action. (In the meantime, she refuses to leave her couch at risk of missing a single olympic event.)

As for Cyrille, our most dedicated editor-in-chief, a combination of depression from Cypress being out of the country and Britt being internet-less and car-less has left her with a massive case of writer’s block. A comment or two might boost her spirits. (Or she could just be glued to some Lifetime movie
marathon. . . comments would definitely be helpful if that were the case.)

In the meantime, send us an email (keepingnote@gmail.com) or drop us a comment. We want to have plenty of topics to discuss when we are no longer bloggingly challenged.

Chuao Chocolate Cafe is a Must for Chocolate Lovers!

I love discovering new places. Cypress, Gloria and I were headed to Anaheim for my birthday when we decided to make a Starbucks stop. As I walked in to my dismay, they had a dismal display of pastries. Ugh, I hate when there’s no lemon loaf. So, after walking out disappointed we wondered into Chuao Chocolate Cafe.

Things happen for a reason.

Chuao Chocolate Cafe, located in La Jolla’s UTC shopping center, is filled with delicious chocolate treats and the people that work there are affable and knowledgeable.

A woman named Summer approached us and answered all our questions about their gourmet chocolates and pastries with NO SALES PRESSURE. I love that. I’ve noticed people tend not to go into high end places because of the pressure they feel to buy to prove their right to be in the store. This store felt very welcoming.

Summer actually spent time with us and even explained about events CCC holds. They have a chocolate tasting event, which is 10 dollars a person, also if you attend this event you get a discount on your purchases for the day. Gloria, Cypress and I all agreed that it’s an event we’re going to look out for. She told us it’s held once a month and to call for any date changes.

The only thing that’s difficult about the store is trying to set a spending limit for yourself. I wanted to buy and taste EVERYTHING! They’re chocolate is so smooth and delicious.

Gloria and I ended up buying some brownies. We both agreed that we’ve never tasted a more delicious brownie. It had cinnamon and chili powder. It gave a slight warmth through out your mouth, it was chocolate-y but not so sweet that you couldn’t appreciate the coco.

Gloria also bought a chocolate bar and we discussed how yes, it cost more than the dollar chocolate bars at the grocery store, but the quality really was different because you don’t just taste sugar. This chocolate bar had depth. We’re rather have one of these a week than 8 a week of the dollar bars of chocolate.

This cafe doesn’t only sell chocolate, cypress got a delicious dulce de leche pastry and they sell gelato!

We loved our visit there and now we’re planning to treat ourselves there…often

Oh and a little birdy told me that a Food network show stopped by to tape there so keep your eyes open, we’re not surprised, Chuao is destined for big things.

CLICK HERE to visit their website and enjoy our pictures of our visit below!

The front!

Gelato!

Wonderful chocolate presentation!

Interesting design. (Wonderful small touches!)

Cypress gobbled the chocolate up!

Delicious!

So sad, my brownie is almost gone!

A Little Less Golden

A truely sad day today, Estelle Getty has passed away. She was 84.

She is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on hit 80’s TV show The Golden Girls. Next to Dorothy, she was my favorite character. Seriously, her stories, her wit and her sarcasm all added to the charm of the show. Without Sophia, the show wouldn’t have been as funny and the only person who could pull off this character was Estelle Getty. She will be missed.

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of watching The Golden Girls, you can still watch the episodes of Lifetime. They show at 9 – 10am, 4 – 5pm and midnight. (Yes, I watch a lot of TV)

Please enjoy the charm she brought to this clip from The Golden Girls!

Saved From the Juicer, For Now

To update you folks out there, my Mac is currently in shop. Apparently, my computer was built with a faulty hard drive so it was destined to poop out on me eventually. (Damn!) I guess updating my operating system just pushed it over the edge. (Even hard drives get stressed out)

Thank goodness for Apple Care or I’d seriously be out a pretty penny. (Perhaps this was Apple’s ploy all along!)

I feel incomplete without my computer! It’s bad when you can’t live without it. (But I want to meet the person who can so I can tell them they’re weird!)

California, california, who cares?

Just a follow up to our previous post. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

iPhone Leaves People Hot and Bothered

I showed up for work at 5 am (Starbucks in a mall with the largest Apple store in the city) to find people sleeping in lawn chairs and tents as far as the eye can see and a scary ‘little’ line waiting for coffee as well. I guess I underestimated the dedication of apple fans. . . and they overestimated Apple and AT&T’s devotion to them.

Apple made some changes, requiring iPhone fanatics to sign up for a 2-year contract and activate their phone on the spot. AT&T made some changes as well. The mandatory contract is more expensive, an additional $30/month on what most iPhone users already pay. Because consumers weren’t just buying a phone, but setting up contracts, the line moved just below a snail’s pace, leaving that huge line in the hot sun for much longer than expected. You could expect the sleep deprived to be a bit peeved.

Upsettingly, the majority of people in the first half of the line (arguably the most devoted) were denied their AT&T cellphone upgrade, probably because their 2-year contract from last year’s big iPhone release wasn’t quite finished yet. Our espresso bar seemed much more like an alcohol bar with people telling their sob stories about iPhone experiences of the day.

If it wasn’t the extremely slow moving line, the unexpected expense of the contract, or the flat out rejection, Apple fans had plenty else to complain about it and Starbucks was all ears (and caffiene) for the the morning. The phone’s cool factor couldn’t keep them crabby all day, though.

You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me!!

So, I’m frustrated! I love Mac and will always love Mac, but right now I want to put my Apple through the juicer!

I saw that I needed to upgrade my iTunes and Leopard (nothing unusual there) so I take all the proper steps and wait for it to restart. When it restarts, a flashing folder with a question mark pops up and refuses to boot up properly! And to top it all off, the Genius Bar appointments are all booked up until tomorrow and I have to make my way to a mall that it farther away than I would like.

As I will soon post (pictures that is), I had a mini freak out and am know without a computer in my apartment. (I’m currently in the computer room of my apartment complex and stationed at the only working one!)

Damn you my lovely Apple computer!

The TV Show is Better.

This the first and, most likely, the last time you will ever see me write this sentence. I’d never met a book I didn’t love more than it’s audio-visual recreation until now.

Darly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay is by no means a horrible book, yet it didn’t have the humor, irony, and intrigue that Showtime gave it. After reading the book which inspired the television series and watching the complete first season, I can say with absolute certainty that the book is not better.

The writer’s for the Showtime series really took their rights to the book’s content seriously. The show and book are mirror images of each other for the most part. None of the characters are altered and some dialogue is cut and pasted. It’s not bad, though. The producers saw a great idea, yet mediocre excecution, and decided to give it all the depth, drama, and devotion Dexter deserved.

The book isn’t bad, just mediocre. It’s nothing I’d write a high review of, yet something I’d recommend for a quick and mindless, yet entertaining read. This is why I’m giving the book two bolts. I’d give it one if it were just a book, but the story is really something amazing, hidden behind boring, uninteresting prose and a weak progression of events.

Looking for New Wallpaper?

For the past couple of Pixar movies I’ve been obsessed with some of the artwork. For The Incredibles, I loved the comic book style promo posters, for Ratatouille there were posters that resembled French Café and now for Wall-e, there are posters that reflect the old 1970’s ride posters Disneyland produced.

After some thorough research, I found out the artist is Eric Tan. According to his blog, he’s a graphic designer/doodler who grew up in San Diego. (And that’s about it) All I really know is I love what’s he’s done and his artwork now graces my computer screen.

P.S. He’s also done some other work and I thought you should check it out. Also, if you want an actual poster, you can go to Acme Archives to purchase one. The problem is they are a bit pricey.

Heroes feeds our TV addiction

I have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to television. That’s why it makes me extremely happy to find a show like Heroes, which indulges my obession.

Heroes is not only a tv show, by an online “graphic novel” or comic book. The show’s website has continually posted weekly comic book issues since the first season. The comic books follow along with the show and even precede what happens on television. This isn’t fan fiction, this in association with the show and connected to, even spoiling, the storyline which take place on television. It’s amazing.

Well, now the wonderful people of Heroes have compiled a book of their comic book issues. While the artwork of these comics is great to admire online, I’m really excited to see that this is in print. If there’s one form of print that will never die, it’s artwork and these novels definitely fit that category.

Look for the book in stores and definitely keep up with the nearly 100 issues on nbc.com/heroes.