There comes a time in every man’s life when he gets kicked out of Gobbler’s Coors Light party, and realizes that he stands delicately poised between the horns of a dilemma: does he walk home alone through gangland, or does he take a ride with a guy who everybody assumes is sober just because he drives a taxi? Or does he sleep in Gobbler’s outhouse?
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Popularity: 29% [?]
Day 2, the fight to eat vegetables continues. I feel a bit lighter and have a little more energy, but also feel a little gassy (I know, gross). Yet, the challenge goes on, and yesterday I found myself at the hippie strip mall on Preston Avenue. I mean hippie with the best of intentions. There is a yoga studio, The New Body Mind Spirit, where I had the pleasure of speaking with a hippie instructor. Apparently if you are part of the elderly or pregnant population in cville, this is the yoga studio for you. They focus more on the “intention” than the movement like a traditional vinyasa. Next door to the yoga studio is Blue Ridge Eco Shop. This is basically a store that has more green than your stomach/wallet/house can handle. They have everything from clothes to lights to cleaning products, very cool.
And then in the corner a couple feet away is Café 88. What is it with Asian restaurants and double digit numbers anyways? The previous founder/owner of cville’s vegetarian haunt Ming Dynasty, Li Chen, started a new Taiwanese café. The place is teeny tiny like a little baby, and the menu is even smaller. While some might balk at that, there is something refreshing about having limited options…there are so many restaurants out there that give the consumer so much choice, it’s a task in itself to order.
Popularity: 31% [?]
I love the “Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar” , it is one of those hard-to-find-in-cville-unpretentious establishments. If that description weren’t oxymoronic enough, everything about it is somewhat contradictory -from its diverse clientele to the odd decor-
There is no other place in town where the drama kids, the goth high schoolers, the emo crew, the frat stars and the young executives coexist in the same locale. These aren’t pure breeds though… only here you will find the selfless commies sport their $2000+ Apple laptops; you will see the eventual executive roll his sleeves up, take his shoes off and drink a pot of tea on the floor and you will see the frat/srat all stars attempt to be earthy.
This freak show could only happen in a place with a decoration as diverse as its actors: teapots from around the world, surrounded by saint candles; figurines of buddha, shiva and ganesha; arabic and voodoo-like art work, origami ropes and mirrors. My favorite component, however, is no longer in place: a shrine of junk where people would get inspired to write and leave poetry, metro stubs, artifacts and all sorts of other mementos.
I love the Tea Bazzar, although I avoid it whenever they have live shows (the ones I’ve been to have always freaked me out); but when the coast is clear from the overly artsy shows (I swear, they once had a puppet show about cicadas and country music) I love to sit on the mats by the window while I clear my thoughts, disconnect from the world outside, people watch and read a book over a pot of tea. If you make it out, don’t miss my favorites: the hummus, the Moroccan mint, the five star and my new favorite: The Bloodbath
Popularity: 31% [?]