The best coffee I had this week! Gone but still memorable!
Love Note: Tablespoon Coffee & Dessert House
Exams hit me hard this week. The first one on Monday morning was kinda bad. Not kinda…it was very bad. I will have to take it again in June next year. Fortunately for me, on my way to the exam center I noticed a sign that said, “Tablespoon Coffee & Dessert House” and after that horrendous exam…I needed a pick me up. Plus I was I saw ‘dessert’ and was curious to find out if they had tiramisu. Becasuse, tiramisu! My ultimate pick-me-up!
While they didn’t have tiramisu (but they carry it sometimes…so I will be back if only to try it) they served up some extra special yumminess that totally made up for the lack of my absolute favourite dessert and the memory of my crap exam.
Tablespoon is located in Curepe, heading east, just before Massy Stores formerly HiLo Food Stores on the Eastern Main Road. It’s been around for a while but has been under new management for the last six months or so. What was amazing to me is that even though it is located right on the main road, traffic noise inside the coffee-house is non-existent. I sat facing the road, but had I turned my back on it, I would not have known that the traffic was right outside the door. The owners did a good job in creating the right ambiance.
The menu is simple and offers both hot and cold drinks, great coffee and tea, as well salads, sandwiches and some yummilicious desserts. I ordered the salmon burger and was informed that it was indeed a House menu favourite. After biting into mine…I knew why. It is simply delicious! Down to the caper sauce drizzled on my plate – which quite frankly tasted like Christmas in a sauce, was so good I broke off a piece of bread to sop it all up lest even a tiny bit go to waste. Happy tummy indeed.
Tablespoon Coffee & Dessert House: 221-8504, 79 Eastern Main Rd, Curepe.
Stand outs: My entire meal – The Salmon Burger and that caper sauce. My coffee was also really good. It was the House brew, which was a decadent, whipped cream, cinnamon dusted bit of heaven. Life is way too short not to get the whipped cream…but if that’s not your thing, Tablespoon has a plethora of options for you to try.
I bought a triple chocolate buttercream cupcake to have at home and I’m glad I did…because it would have been embarrassing for anyone to witness the enjoyment a single cupcake can bring a person.
I will be back for: The Shinta, this is a House Special, which unfortunately I couldn’t try because the coffee machine was not working properly and while I was down for trying it anyway without the trappings, the lovely ladies behind the counter: Samantha and Christiane insisted that I would be short-changing myself and offered to make me something else. And of course the Tiramisu!
I would like to take a moment to mention Christiane here, she was friendly and attentive, in fact I was able to interact with three members of staff and the service is excellent at Tablespoon. Truly a rustic but cozy little Coffee House, certainly raising the bar for coffee houses in the East if not all of Trinidad.
Things to note: WiFi is free and they open on Sundays from 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. So if you are in need of little coffee and dessert on a Sunday afternoon (which I am always down for) it’s worth the visit.
Because Tiramisu
Tiramisu Always Makes Me Happy!
It’s my thing!
Those yummy ladyfingers soaked in coffee liqueur wrapped in the gossamer blanket of ecstasy that is whipped mascarpone topped with oh so decadent chocolate…
I cannot do justice to the assault on my senses whenever I bite into a really good tiramisu!
In fact I am on a quest to find the very best the world has to offer. I will have it every time as long as it is on the menu! And if it’s not…I still ask…just in case.
For the uninitiated, tiramisu is an Italian dessert, which means “pick me up” or as I like to call it, “Heaven in My Mouth”.
So light, so creamy with just the right amount of coffee and chocolate…
This love affair started in the early 00’s when I went to work for a friend of a cousin of mine. This job was supposed to be a summer experience, until it turned into a nightmare. Thankfully it was a blessedly short one, since I left after a couple of weeks. The one shining moment during that whole ordeal, was that the owner of the company treated her female employees of which there were only 2 to a nice Italian lunch. For dessert, she ordered the tiramisu for us, and to this day I am still grateful. There can be some good in every bad situation!
I have had great tiramisu experiences at restaurants here in Trinidad & Tobago. But by far the best experience has been at Aioli Restaurant. It is faneffingtastically fabulous! And I go there just to have it. But it is so special a treat…it must be for a special occasion. To be savoured. To be lingered over. To be shared with extra special company! It.is.that.good.
While the restaurant experiences are good, nothing compares to the homemade tiramisu prepared with the care and attention of skilled hands. I am blessed with two friends – Kathryn & Chantal who make a killer tiramisu. If they both weren’t already taken I would “put them in house!”
I have tried my hand at making it (obvs) and if I do say so myself it came out great…but somehow I felt that making it myself, demystified the dessert and its sexy allure was dimmed a bit. Tiramisu is an experience!
Ha! I am a fool aren’t I!
And just a note to those who like to substitute ingredients (cake for ladyfingers, ugh!) – STOP IT! It’s no longer tiramisu if you’re using vanilla pudding for mascarpone. **CoughWildOliveCough**
Tiramisu in its purest form is as close to heaven on earth you will get!
Quote of the Day
7 for Seven
Happy December!!!
2014 is truly on its way to being history and it has been quite a year thus far for me. I am back in exam mode this week. So today’s post will be short and sweet.
I am also taking part in a couple of challenges this month only now as I think about just how busy December gets I might have bitten off more than I can chew…but hopefully I wont choke half-way through.
On Instagram I am taking part in #DecemberReflections for the entire month. And I am also taking part in this month’s NaBloPoMo: Joy. 
My gratitude practice, this weekly 7 for Seven…this attention and witness I give to all that I have to be thankful for brings me so much Joy! It is hard to be anything but thankful. This is what I do when I am feeling down…I review my 7 for Seven and I get the whipped cream on my coffee!
So without further ado,
…every Monday, we post seven positives from the previous seven days of the week as a reminder of what we have so that the week starts out on an upswing. There is much truth in the belief that happy people attract good things, so it is important to start the week out right. Sometimes it’s the more grand, but other times, it’s the simple things.~ Key + Arrow
7 for Seven originated at Key + Arrow and now let’s get into my 7 for this week:
Getting my coffee just right. I have coffee pretty much everyday…but some days I might get the measurements wrong for some reason and it might not taste as good. But this week I was 7 for 7 on great coffee brews.
The start of Advent. Happy New Year to those observing the Advent calendar. This is a time for introspection as we prepare for the birth of Jesus.
Business stakeholder meetings that turn into a fruitful networking opportunity. I had the privilege of being seated at a table with some fantastically awesome people. It’s mind-blowing sometimes what some people are doing right here in Trinidad.
Quality time with my family. This week my sister celebrated her birthday and my aunt and uncle also celebrated 54 years of marriage. We have so much to be thankful for. Here’s more celebrations like these.
Faith. I thank my mother every day for introducing me to God because if not for her and the example of faith she set, I don’t know what my life would be like today.
Prayer. Again this week. I had somewhat of a little ‘miracle’ happen on Sunday. I usually attend Mass at a church that is not really a “community” church. Meaning, it’s not my community. So I just attend Mass and leave. There is no socializing after Mass or getting involved in church activities. Something I have been avoiding since my mother died for a number of reasons. I was late for Mass at the church I usually go to so decided to go to the one which is right around the corner from me. Now understand, the reason I don’t go to this church is because it is a community church…so I expect it to be filled with families and everybody knows everybody kinda parishioners. I got the Mass time wrong and was about half hour too early, I was about to leave but decided to sit in the car for a bit and pray Day 2 of The Immaculate Conception Novena. While praying I decided I wasn’t going to leave and I would just go back inside the church and stay for Mass. When I got inside, the first thing I saw was an Immaculate Conception Statue. This was after praying for a sign. So there you have it.
Community churches that move my soul. I sat at the back of the church and observed a family of four – mother, daughter and two small boys. I don’t know what it was about them, but watching the boys interact with their mother and the daughter who appeared to be in her teens displaying her teenage angst, reminded me of family and two women I love and miss dearly. It was moving and while my tears reminded me why I avoid “community” churches…they also reminded me of how much love I have had in my own life and how much love I have to give.
And there you have it. My hope is that by turning my focus to all that I have to be grateful for at the start of my work week, by sowing my own seeds of faith and gratitude, I can carry with me and reap the rewards of “positivity + balance + bliss” throughout the days ahead.
If you’re reading this, this is me blowing some glitter and confetti on you because you’re super blessed to have received the gift of another 86,400 seconds today, to spend any way you desire. What made you happy today? What are you grateful for? I would love to hear from you.
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