I like to learn. A lot. I have a lot of interests and passions. I have done college several times. I don’t have a bachelor’s degree. Yet. I do have an associate degree from the second college, which landed me my previous healthcare job. And now I am back in retail again. Hop, hop, hop. Where to hop next? Life is an adventure.
My first college experience was at SUNY Fredonia in Fredonia, NY. It is smack dab on Lake Erie, 40 minutes south of Buffalo. I started as a music major there (did some psych too). I originally wanted to be an opera singer, and I can still blow the pipes. But that will forever be a party trick or an occasional for-kicks gig.
When you leave the nest and go to college, you are FREE. A FREE ADULT. The freshman fifteen? Lack of parental supervision. You can live on soda and ramen. Order pizza and wings every night. WHO CARES!!!! And oh yeah. Beer. BEER!!!
Food on campus was ok. It was college sludge. We all made do by adding extra yogurts and juices to our mini-fridges. We stockpiled ready-to-eat bowls of Captain Crunch and Fruit Loops. This was all paid for with a swipe of the SUNY card, which parents put money on. Ah, sweet life.
Those were the start of my coffeehouse days. My Brown Bean days. It was originally started by college kids and taken over by Steve and Mary, a middle-aged couple who ran it for most of my time there.
A coffeehouse is a bit like a bar, a Cheers where everyone knows your name. You belong to a coffeehouse family once you become a regular. I strolled in, ordered a mocha, settled into a nook near someone I knew, and conversation ensued. Easy-peasy. It is NOT like a bar in that no one wants to pick anyone else up. No meat-market girls shivering in their skimpy tops in 40-degree weather. Cozy sweaters and no pressure. Though sometimes a romance did happen. But only after you were friends first.
My favorite things from The Brown Bean were many, two of which stick out. Dagwood-style bagel sandwiches with Chiavetta’s Italian dressing. After a while there was a bottle of Chiavetta’s in the back with my name on it. That is how much I loved it. The waffles were the best. Still the best. Coming in early morning bleary-eyed after night-shift waitressing, I collapsed on the couch and inhaled them fresh off the waffle iron. I was reprimanded for falling asleep afterwards. Ah, sweet life.
(The Brown Bean doesn’t exist anymore, sadly. It has been replaced by a more upscale coffee salon. No more comfy couches.)
Another coffee spot was Upper Crust Bake House, but they were more of a bakery/lunch hit. They make meaty loaves of multigrain and white breads. Fabulous potato rolls. So good you could walk around all day with a bag of bread product, ripping off chunks and noshing. Delectable cinnamon rolls as large as your knee.
The sandwiches and soups here are prized. Dipping a potato roll or crust of bread into the potato soup….mmmm. My old college pal Natalie and I revisited Fredonia in January and headed over for a late lunch. I tried the tomato-mushroom soup for the first time at Nat’s urging. Oh my.
Ah, sweet life. Some comforts do remain.
