Are the Coffee-Beaners hotter than the coffee they serve?

Is it me or does Coffee Beanery in Nicosia hire the best/best looking staff? I was there the other day ordering one of those sickly-sweet coffees in a mug the size of a bucket and well – I realized the staff was beautiful and extremely helpful. Does Coffee Beanery go and find its staff in a modeling agency… in Brazil? Or Sweden? Are they trained in Paris? I have to admit that the service was excellent. And the looks… phew! Actually when I say I’d like a cup of coffee I mean I’d like you in it too.

Also good service is Gloria Jeans, which is a more hip place to people watch and drink coffee. The people there too are friendly, and very American-esque, and serve coffee with a smile which I like. But we don’t support Gloria Jeans as a company due to the company is anti….

My favourite coffee place has to be Flo. Especially the one in Stasikratous. The one in Ledra is swarming with tourists and I just can’t deal with that when I want to relax and read my book. Starbucks is filled with kids. Costa is filled with 40-year olds thinking they are kids but I do like the one near the uni, as its near to my house and filled with students who are always fun and the people that run it also get a gold star for service. But I miss those independent coffee houses where people know your name (like Cheers) and are not mass produced. You’d think that Cyprus that guzzles hundreds of gallons of coffee a day would realize that but surprisingly we haven’t. Coffee anyone?

PS... the next post will be the 300th!

The Times on Omonia Square

Omonia Square, Athens
By John Carr, Times correspondent

Omonia Square is not what it used to be. Older Greeks still remember it from about 1960 to 1990 as the glitzy bustling heart of modern Athens, its neon signs featured in almost every Greek film of the period. But when the Albanian border burst open in 1991 Omonia Square quickly became the abode of young Albanian unemployed men lounging everywhere, too quick to turn to crime.

It was not uncommon to find human excrement on then disused escalators to the Omonia underground station. Now there's a spanking new Metro station, the escalators are working and clean, but the area still is home to pickpockets and druggies - mainly Albanians, Asians and African hookers, especially at night.

Tourists are generally not molested, though it's wise to keep money and valuables well hidden. The square's souvlaki joints are worth a visit - on condition that you don't go around looking like a typical tourist!

Secret Appetites

As I’m slim, people assume I don’t eat or am anorexic. Truth is that I don’t like eating much in front of people. It’s my thing. I’ve just always found it too... personal and I only enjoy food when am with good friends rather than alongside strangers (who I often find have the strangest eating habits). The upside is that people think I have pristine table manners as I bring the fork to my mouth about three times during the whole dinner. Truth is I inhale food like an alcoholic guzzles booze. But it’s what we do in private that reveals who we truly are. In which case I have an endless appetite and am constantly hungry, although most assume I give my food away to the next person.

But like everyone else, I have habits. And when it comes to food I am particularly fussy. I have been kosher for over 2 years and only eat three type of meats; beef, chicken and turkey and two types of fish; salmon and tuna. Yet, my eating habits are strange. Before bed I always make a hot chocolate (winter) or milkshake (summer) and eat Pringles in bed. I can never be without any Pringles in the house. It’s like running out of toilet paper! Only more important, as there is always… well… the newspaper!

I never eat spicy foods (refer to above section where loo roll is not priority – that’s why!); pepper is spice to me and will avoid even a sprinkling of it – I doubt I even have some at home. I can eat honey and yogurt by the truckload, as I can with salads although I will never touch onion in the off chance that I kiss someone that afternoon.

But my worst habit is not cooking. And its not that I can’t cook, it’s that I can’t work up the interest of learning to cook. I’d rather clean. Although as I am writing this now, I am starving and hating the idea of cleaning my apartment this afternoon! Maybe I’ll go to a psistaria.

On why I hate the suburbs (again)

I hate the suburbs. I go there as rarely as possible and when I do it’s usually driving through them to get to the beach. You see, the suburbs in Limassol aren’t that bad – as they are filled with mansions and have sea views. In Nicosia, they are filled with roads that confuse you. Ok, so not all are bad, Makedonitissa is nice and Engomi is perhaps my favourite place in Nicosia. Aglantzia is a city suburb with its own centre, Skali and Plati and Latsia feels more like another city completely. But other than that the suburbs suck. I avoid Lakatamia like the plague and every time I hear the word Strovolo my heart skips a beat (unless I am in Acropolis, but as the name suggests I am in the ‘edge of the city’). I’m sorry. I know this must be rude to those who live in the suburbs; especially the outer suburbs but it might as well be outer Mongolia. It is so far to get to, there is nothing in it and it’s depressing. It’s just a row of houses. Maybe every now and then you chance upon a place of interest, like Jumbo or Pavilion but… there is nothing. True, Nicosia is not the most beautiful city on the planet, but at least everything happens in the centre. In the suburbs, people get desperate, even the Nicosia Housewife is thinking of buying an apartment in the CC (penthouse of course) where it will be easier for her to do her shopping. But that means not having a pool, which is a big sacrifice.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I much prefer the city to the suburbs, although I hear that in the suburbs…

Summer 2009: DC, Philly, NYC, Boston, LDN

Washington DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, London...
...and that's why I've been Missing in Action