Food

i was heading east again, to the cute little town of black mountain. all ready to walk the downtown streets and find this new cafe called the artisan. as i approached the town, i typed the address into my navigation system and was slightly confused when it showed me a route that led through downtown and then south a little bit. i had no idea that i'd be outside of black mountain. and i didn't understand how (or why) a new little cafe existed off of one of the windy country roads. but, i listen to my navigator's voice and headed south.... but, i got lost. or i did't get lost, actually. what happened was that i ended up circling back around on some back road which spit me out in the middle of downtown black mountain again.

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it was mostly cloudy and chilly, and all i wanted was to find a little, dark, cozy cafe corner all to myself. i wanted to order something warm and pumpkin-y and yummy. i wanted to open my computer and sit there for a couple of hours. working, nesting, snuggling. sounds perfect, huh? do you think that's how it went for me? nope. it did not go like that. not at all.

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well, get ready for a ton of photos. seriously. i'm sharing so many with you because this place is absolutely beautiful. it's like walking into an old, english library. or a museum. or an early 20th century men's billiard room (without the billiards). well, it's actually all three rolled into one. and it is perfect.

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there is a place where i can go if i am homesick for sweden. well, perhaps not sweden specifically, but at least something that's a little bit european.

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everyone's talking about dynamite coffee roasters. like really. quite of a few people have mentioned it as their favorite place. so, i decided that's where i needed to go. and i was looking forward to all of the hype. the only problem, to tell you the truth, was that i was feeling excited and blah all at the same time. i think my mood matched the weather...

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i found myself driving on i-26 north today. and that could mean only one thing.. i was headed to weaverville, a small town just about 10-15 minutes from asheville. i had not planned this at all. like i said, i just found myself on the highway, headed north.

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let's face it. there is nothing better than coffee and books together. they go together like peanut butter and jelly. like peas and carrots. like tom and jerry. don't ya think? i certainly do. so, to get my week started off right, i decided to head downtown to malaprops... THE bookstore in asheville. a staple in asheville's cultural and artsy scene. an independent bookstore, a supporter of local authors,  an advocate for peace & equality & coexistence, and a community-oriented gathering place. but, it's not just a funky, cool bookstore with lots of books of all kinds  - mainstream, and not so mainstream. it's also a cafe. and it's a cafe that encourages sitting down, sipping coffee, and reading books.

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just off busy hendersonville road, south of the biltmore estate and biltmore village, you can find biltmore coffee traders. set back from the road a bit, the cute, red cottage looks inviting and, based on my previous experiences, i knew to let all expectations fall to the wayside. i just parked my car and went inside.

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today was weird. at first i was excited about my fika visit. for once, i knew where i was going. and i was really looking forward to it. not that i had any real major expectations or anything, but i had passed this particular cafe numerous times and knew that one day soon i'd visit. and, hey, i was in west asheville. and, if you're following me during my 40 days, you know by now that i seriously dig west asheville and haywood road.

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i had a little time today, so i turned on some good ole bluegrass and made the 15 minute-ish drive to black mountain. asheville really almost runs into black mountain, thanks to swannanoa and east asheville, so there is really no excuse for you to not make the drive as well. you won't regret it you can either take the highway (I-40) or the old business highway 70. i decided to take I-40 out there, and hwy. 70 through, swannanoa, back. the day was just way too pretty to just park and go inside some coffeeshop. i needed a mini-roadtrip.

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