I typically start my day with a cup of tea, but I also love treating myself to a nice fancy coffee beverage. I love a cappuccino, flat white, Vietnamese iced coffee, cafe con leche, Hong Kong milk coffee, affogato, etc. I’m a sucker for almost any combination of coffee, dairy and sugar. So when my brother and I were lunching at a sweet little Greek restaurant last week, and I noticed they had some interesting sounding coffee drinks, I had to grab one.

Raf coffee is something I came across multiple times in Armenia, and it was glorious every time I ordered it; smooth, creamy and delicate. The Einspänner, supposedly, was created in the 1800s for carriage drivers, because the layer of whipped cream sealed in the coffee and kept it hot for longer! They used to serve it at Julius Meinl cafes here in Chicago, but they closed all the locations during the pandemic. T_T Greek Frappés are new to me! I guess I’ve seen drinks called frappés before, but I’d never had one quite like the one at Kala. It was delicious! And Dalgona coffee apparently become super popular in South Korea during the pandemic; I don’t use the TikToks, or I might have heard of it earlier. >_<

This is one of my very favorite things: when different humans all over the world find inventive ways to combine the same few ingredients together, and create completely different experiences. It makes me so happy!

Upcoming Events:

Next up I will be at SLICE Expo in St. Louis, MO on 👻 HALLOWEEN! 👻 This is a fantastic indie comics show, full of some incredible talent. Come by and say hello before you go trick or treating!

What I’m Into Lately:

I’ve been working hard on finishing up the manuscript for the cookies book, so I haven’t had a ton of time for video games in several months! But I just picked up Little Witch in the Woods, and it’s very charming and sweet. I love a cozy game with lots of low-stakes fetch quests, and this one is ridiculously cute. Gather materials, mix potions, make friends, solve puzzles, go fishing and use the fish you catch to befriend adorable cats. It’s been a delightful little snack.

What Toki’s Into Lately:

No photo of Toki this week, but I did unearth this weird old Caravaggio painting: