Every once in a while (lately, it’s been about every other week), I think about what I’m suppose to do AFTER the kids (I know, it’s early…and we’re just working on the first one) go off to school and no longer need me to be a stay-at-home mom.
Being one with limited imagination, I often return to the idea of opening up some kind of a cafe, especially after working at P**** Coffee & Tea for several months. Like many people, I love hanging out at cafes. I also love tea and coffee and basically beverages of various kinds. In fact, back in college, my project for my Entrepreneur class was a business plan to open a World Tea Cafe (where we would serve tea of all styles and offer supporting cultural/educational activities).
I know that I’m not the only one who has this dream; there’s a monthly magazine solely devoted to Cafes (operating, trends in, etc.) in Japan called Cafe-Sweets. And even Murakami Haruki, one of my favorite authors, once owned a jazz cafe/bar. [Hrm…so okay, who knows, maybe only the Japanese have cafe dreams like me?]
Today, the idea came to mind again so I googled “start a cafe” to see what comes up and this article (“Bitter Brew”) from Slate popped up.
I guess it’s a good thing that so far, we haven’t had the time or money to pursue our cafe dream. And now, maybe we never will…
Incidentally, here are some photos of Barefoot Coffee Roasters, one of Charlie’s favorite cafes (I like the coffee, but not the place) in our area. And here’s a link to their website.
JenJapan's 20-30-40 
Jenny, we are really much alike in many ways despite the age difference. I love sitting in a cafe with my friends when I was in Taiwan growing up. This kind of cafe culture exists more in Taiwan and Japan. Of course, Taiwan got that under the influence of Japanese occupation before. I do miss visting cafes in Tokyo and Taiwan.
Christina – I’m flattered that you took the time to dig through my blog. Even though I’ve only read a few of your posts, I felt a great affinity right away – I’m glad to know that you think we are similar too ^_^
Sadly although there are many cafes in my area, they mostly target teenagers (who have time and some money) so the atmosphere is completely different. Sigh…
By the way, did you know that Korea has a big tea culture too? I was surprised when I visited several years ago to find that traditional tea houses are very popular there – you know, the kind that just serves traditional style teas (nothing Western, no pearl milk type of drinks) and not even any food. In fact, the photo I used for this post is from my Korea trip.
Korea and Japan are all descendants from China centuries ago. They still posess lots of similarities from China. I was even surprised that Korea also used Kanji before.
I think I digged through almost all of your posts now. That is why I discoved more about you and how we are much alike(except the age, sigh…).