NOLA Cafes: Who Dat Coffee Cafe

June will mostly be a repeat of April for me in that my work days will look different. When the school buildings are free of teachers and students, yet you're a member of the CMO year-round staff, the location isn't as critical, as long as you're completing tasks. Starting at 8:30 or 9:00 is fine as long as you put in the hours. 

All teaching staff & school leaders will return to school on July 7 (and the students on July 21), which means I have just short of one month to:

-prepare curriculum scope & sequences for the new school year

-design unit & lesson plan templates to match said curricular trajectories

-(most importantly): prepare the professional learning sessions I'll hold for the network's PreK team for 4 of the 10 days of opening days of work. 

While my quest to find the perfect coffee shop in NOLA has not come to a close, I have found myself returning again and again to a spot only 6 blocks from my house, on my very own street, called Who Dat Coffee Cafe.  

Who Dat serves delicious coffee & espresso drinks, LARGE and yummy pastries, breakfast and lunch. They're truly a full cafe (not unlike Satsuma, which will be featured soon enough). 

One feature of Who Dat that I have not taken part in yet is their cocktail hour. They serve wine, beer and like to put a spirited twist on your favorite coffee drinks.  One in particular I'm looking forward to trying is their "Dirty Filthy Chai Tea"...for those of you who know about a dirty chai, which is chai tea latte with a shot of espresso, take that and stir it to perfection with a shot of Kahlua. Perfect compliment to a large homemade cookie or piece of chocolate cake after dinner. Hmmm!  

Keeping things sober during the work day, I've enjoyed the many cozy corners offered in the Who Dat Coffee Cafe while sipping--well, okay, gulping--strong hot coffee, banana nut bread and jumbo sugar cookies. In fact, I was there every day last week...and I believe the predictability of the space and the people made me more productive.

{My spot}

 Here's to a highly caffeinated & efficient June! Clink!

NOLA Cafes: The Green Fork

Over spring break, among the new coffee shops and cafe's I tried out was The Green Fork.  While they do sell sandwiches, salads and a few pastries, what they're known for are their raw juices and smoothies. 

With the weather getting hotter by the day, there's not much more refreshing than a cold, fresh juice made from local organic produce. 

If this place was closer to my house, it just might break the bank. The minute you walk in, you're blasted with the crisp, clean smell of citrus and a variety of herbs. It was hard to choose my first treat. In the end, I went with a caffeine-loded "LOL" which, among other things, contains cold brew coffee--lots of it. It gave me the lift I needed. 

The Green Fork offers a few different "Three Day Cleanses"...they're expensive, but sound amazing. Just think of the energy you'd have after wiping the slate clean, inside and out!  Maybe I'll find a way to duplicate this recipe in my own kitchen...and on a more realistic dime. What you see here costs $165! My husband and I don't spend that in groceries in a week!

NOLA Cafes: Upper Nine Doughnut Company

Oh, the temptation... 

My poor, innocent sweet tooth is tested each time I visit this place.  

Source of this image as well as more information on how Upper Nine came to occupy this space can be found in this Gambit article. 

On day two of my work-from-coffee-shop-pseudo-spring-break week, I'm nestled in a new cafe down the street from my house that specializes in sinfully perfect doughnuts.

Upper Nine  is currently subleasing in the space that used to be occupied by Sound Cafe. They have limited hours and the sweets go quickly, so arriving early to start my work day worked to my advantage.

Louisiana Strawberry & Praline Bacon

My favorite: Orangesicle

Hello, new work habits. I like you. 

There was no soundtrack to this cafe because they played NPR all day...which is just fine in my book. Felt even more like home. 

I just wish this place was open every day! 

This is, by far, my favorite space so far; what can be better than drinking strong coffee and being surrounded by books?!

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon: New Orleans Edition

Half marathon #3

The half marathon is officially my favorite race to run. 

Even though I'm wiped out for the rest of the day...and after about an hour and a half--every time--I seriously question my decisions, I have officially completed 3 half marathons and can now declare that it's my favorite distance to race.

I love the challenge & the satisfaction equally. 

You really have to prepare your body for this one. Not like 5K or 10K. Those are important--and very fun--but if you really had to, you could throw back a few beers the night before and still wake up and perform alright. 

My husband is still convinced I'll do a full marathon, but I'm not so sure. This 13.1 mile deal works pretty well for me.

Checked out the course ahead of time. We followed my old route almost to a tee, through Uptown and the Garden District...and then ended in City Park. You all should know by now my feelings on City Park.

Fellow racers doing the same thing the day before at the Expo, held at the New Orleans Convention Center. 

They literally rolled out a red carpet for runners to walk on for packet pick up. 

Oh the festivities. To quote my husband, "It's like Disney World for runners". 

Yup. Pretty much.

Mirroring the relief spots placed along the course, the fitting rooms were made out of port-a-potties!! 

Can't forget that "free" t-shirt. This one cost $100.

Morning of: The sun had literally just risen (when my husband dropped me off to warm up, it was still dark!).

Really HUGE crowd. You'd think it was the Olympics. 

Speakers booming, people cheering. So awesome.

Finish line. This photo was actually taken the day before the race. My husband plays frisbee golf at the park where the race concluded, and the race organizers were already setting everything up, so he snapped this shot for me.

Soaking wet (mist & light rain the whole time). 

Only slightly sore. 

Extremely proud and, let's be honest: TOTALLY SATISFIED 

To the blind eye, this probably looks just like all of my post-race snapshots...but this one was different...special...at the other end of the camera was my husband. 

He made it out to the finish line--timed it perfectly based on careful research of the course, road closures and my projected finish time--but it was not to be. My speed was obviously too much for him. 

I FLEW over the finish line. He did not see me. I did not see him. 

But he was there. 

I finished in 2 hours and 9 minutes. Two minutes slower than the half I ran in December, but I couldn't care less. I maintained my sub 2:10 goal, so I'm a happy girl.

The HALF makes you work for its affection. 

The HALF calls your bluff right around mile # 3, #8, and, without a doubt, mile #11. Those are the points when you have these fleeting thoughts about what the hell you're doing but then, as quickly as those thoughts came, you're smiling to yourself because you're running a HALF MARATHON, baby. Not everyone can do this... 

Best of all, after you finish a HALF, your crazy ass wants to wake up the next morning and do it again. 

I'm totally signing up for the Jazz Half  in November. 

NOLA Cafes: Spun Cafe at the CAC

Finally back into the swing of things at work, I finished my Friday morning meetings, took care of some personal business downtown and found myself with an additional hour of time on my parking meter.  It was time to dive into my afternoon work to do list and needed a place to settle.

I decided to try a new angle in my search for the perfect NOLA cafe and ventured into the Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans' Central Business District (aka: downtown).

A few years back, I went to some actual art exhibits in the CAC and didn't even notice that upon entering the beautiful old industrial brick building was a shop for "coffee & cocktails".

Parked right across the street, I had no choice but to pay a visit to Spun Cafe at the CAC.

Snuggled in my work spot, I had a perfect view of the magnificent architecture of this building. 

Despite the would-be distracting artwork and drool-worthy features of the building, I was able to get quite a bit of work done in this space. A double espresso never hurt anyone either. 

There were only about 4 more customers along with me, so crowd control was good.  The cafe was playing hip, jazzy music. My coffee was perfectly strong, and while I wasn't biting, Spun did offer a variety of good pastries and snacks. 

Bonus: if you come at a different time of day with a different agenda, the place also offers cocktails, so you can turn your visit into something more romantic or social. 

I'll have to try the cappuccino to really know where my heart is on this place, but the way it's looking now, I give Spun Cafe 4 out of 5 cups. 

This is part of the exhibit Water, by Edward Burtynsky 

I LOVE this one. 

The only thing that was missing for me was a bit more warmth in the decor. I like industrial, but when it's mixed with a little soft, rustic edge. 

Next time, I'd also like to add an art viewing to my visit. I live in a city saturated with art and it's really a crime not to take advantage.