#destinationrunning

destination: SCRATCHbread, bed stuy, brooklyn

mileage: 2.3 miles

musical inspiration: laughter & church...in tongues?

you can take the gal out of brooklyn, but you can't take the brooklyn out of the gal...

many of you might already know this, but sarah, a key ingredient in destination running, has recently shaped up and shipped out of brooklyn. though she will be terribly missed as a neighbor and fellow brooklynite, this will only make our weekly destination runs that much more special. 

this week's run to SCRATCHbread was definitely a memorable one. after quite the long evening of celebrating a dear friends 'dirty thirty,' we were in no shape to be running. sometimes though all you need a partner in crime to drag your butt out of bed, be it after three hours of sleep or nine, and force you out the door, in hopes that you can sweat any toxins out of your system. after a steady, slow run, michelle nearly coming face-to-face with concrete, and a distance of a little over two miles, we not so gracefully touched down at our destination. 

SCRATCHbread is a "walk-through" of sorts; a rather large window opens up with a bevy of their menu offerings on display. as the line builds up behind us, the two dudes behind the window keep cool, calm and collective, mind you, with smiles on their faces and genuine hellos. this little nook offers up a handful of edible items on their chalked-up stoopbrunch menu along with a green tonic, drip coffee and coldbrew - the latter two courtesy of stumptown. although they are known for their homemade breads, this time around we opted for the 'build your own' paper cups. sarah created a cup of creamy grits and raw kale with a kale+dandelion pesto, while michelle fashioned up a cup of kale caeser (surprise ingredient: smashed potatoes!) with spicy broccoli topped off with a spoonful of sicilian salsa verde. the perfect amount of food after a short run.

as far as the coffee is concerned we decided to share a cold brew, not knowing if our stomachs could handle the green tonic, and it was divine! like most cold brews, not much needs to be added to further perfect it. if you've been following DR for a while, you're well aware of our distaste for a rather acidic stumptown roast (sorry, but until proven wrong, that's just the way the cookie crumbles) however, we will raise the white flag and surrender to the fact that stumptown is one of the few who have perfected a cold brew. bravo. maybe it's because with most coldbrew-brewing methods, almost all acidity is lost, making it a slightly sweet, shockingly smooth juice-like beverage. coffee juice?  heads up: cold brew packs a mean punch of caffeine, pouring it over ice (and not drinking it on an empty stomach) will most likely buffer any jittery side effects.  

all-in-all another successful run, another destination checked off and added to the 'thumbs-up' list, and another write-up for you all to enjoy. 

destination: la colombe (the original), philly, pa

mileage: a philly 5k

musical inspiration: each other and a few chirping birds

this is going to be quite a long post so grab your morning joe and find a comfortable spot as we catch you up on our recent philly adventure...

earlier last week sarah approached me with a genius idea to get back to our DR roots with an inspirational destination run in philedelphia; an idea that couldn't have come at a more perfect time. after a long couple weeks of cramming i can proudly say i scored a big fat 'A' on my last ever final! (adding a couple new slashes to my long list of occupations: cdp/hhc -- certified drugless practitioner/holistic health coach -- WOOHOO!). so a celebration was in store and how better to celebrate than with my partner in crime in a city virgin to our nikes while doing something we absolutely love: destination running. 

i will shamefully be the first to admit that i've talked a bit (eh...okay, maybe a lot) of smack about philly, and i quickly put my foot in my mouth as we entered rittenhouse square. breathtaking. we barely made it down the first  street before we were jumping out of our seats pointing at places to check out for lunch, mind you it was only 9am.

destination running, as some of you may know, started for us on our rejuvenating california vacation last september where we decided while in san francisco that what better way to view a city than to run through it? better yet, being baristas we had a list of cafes to see so why not make that a destination and in between do some exploring and get in a good workout. this is what inspired us then and what keeps us motivated now. with no clear path in mind we set out to run to la colombe's first ever cafe off of south 19th street. what a beautiful adventure it turned out to be; zig zagging through the streets exploring what to us was unknown. this is the first time sarah and i actually destinationed sans music - i could get used to that, it was nice being able to fully grasp why so many call philly home and to be able to point out all the little things we noticed along the way. 

la colombe (don't be fooled, it is not columbian, it is french/american) has come up in a few of our posts with cafes serving up their namesake blends: corsica (drip) and nizza (espresso). so having had their coffee numerous times, we figured we should go straight to the source: the mothership that resides on the outskirts of rittenhouse square. some nineteen years ago, two fairly handsome young men by the name of Todd Carmichael (from seattle) and Jean Philippe Iberti (from france and better known as JP), revealed their first four classic blends to the world of culinary coffee. the cafe is rather large. three boys are enthusiastically kicking out a line of about twenty, that doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. you get the feel when you walk in that the shop is quite old and the clientele are those of habit, probably most finding the long line to be second nature by now. being used to new york's "double shot only" cafe etiquette, we were surprised when asked if we preferred a single shot, we're new yorkers, double us up fellas! we've had their nizza a handful of times and each time its been just as precise as the last - whether diluted with milk or black as night, it's caramel and slightly nutty notes find it's way of shining through. 

to top it off, what's a trip to philly without a trip the mütter museum, right? what. an. experience. to say the least. sarah knew more about what is known as america's finest museum of medical history than i did, so i was a bit, ummmm...shocked (maybe even startled) when i walk in to see to my left, displays of preserved collections of anatomical specimens (hearts, brains, even babies in jars and heads growing horns...that type of stuff) while to my right were rows on top of rows of skulls (preserved, mind you) of all shapes and sizes...and reasons of being there. the 19th century "cabinet museum" setting also played home to containers of organs exhibiting different types of cancers diseases and outcomes of excessive cigarette and alcohol consumption. too much? ehh...maybe. not suggested for those with a weak stomach, but this experience is absolutely mind blowing, and i highly recommend you invest in a visit.  

of course we had lunch after the museum. a bit queazy, but hungry none-the-less. though we came across numerous places to eat, this one little bagel joint, spread bagelry, with a line like that of la colombe, stuck out to us. we figured, if people are waiting, it's got to be good! montreal style wood-oven bagels (made fresh daily) lightly toasted with a thin layer of homemade roasted garlic and veggie cream cheese and a thick, fresh slice of tomato? yeah, our gut instincts were right on point.  

on that note. i could easily pack up my brooklyn studio and find a home in the little 'english village' or a studio situated on panama and delancey. sundays there are filled with couples strolling the park still in workout clothes doing their own destinationing to the areas' surrounding bakeries and farmers markets. sarah says it reminds her of a neighborhood in london, though i've never been to england i can easily see what she means...

thank you beauty, for bringing us back to our roots and reminding me why it was that we started this destination adventure in the first place... 

Xx