Crema: Best Accidental Quest Ever

Today is kday's birthday, so this post is going to be partly about Crema and partly about my terrific questing partner in crime, who is currently at her moot court competition in New York.

On Sunday, kday and I decided to go quest. At 5:00 p.m., after I had spent all day working at school and she had been mooting all afternoon, she came up to my office. She told me it was time to put down the Bluebook and eat some cookies. She said we could either go to High Rise Bakery in Harvard Square or one of the places downtown. I felt pressed for time and stressed about the coming week, so told her I wanted to go to the one in Harvard Square because we could drive and park and it wouldn't take as long as messing around with the T. We drove to Harvard and immediately upon arriving in Harvard Square, found The Best Parking Spot On The Planet. If you've ever driven to Harvard Square, you know that this simply does not happen. Even better, we didn't have to feed the meter. My stress began to melt.

We walked to High Rise Bakery, which sits just off the square on Brattle Street, and it was closed. Did my questing buddy or I think to check the hours? Of course not. Coffee shops are always open, right? But High Rise seems to be an actual bakery - the kind where flour-covered men come to work at 4:00 a.m. to bake actual loaves of bread - and so I guess their clientele really aren't the 6:00 p.m.-on-a-Sunday-cookie-quester type of people. 

This photo is from www.cremacambridge.com, obviously.
When we were there it was cold and dark, but the cafe was
all lit up and cozy looking. 

But kday was not to be quest-busted. We walked into Burdick's, home of the most delicious hot chocolate on the planet and lots of very fancy looking pastries, but no cookies. (Pats self on back for exercising restraint and not buying nine cups of hot chocolate). We walked into some weird vegan place, but no cookies. I got out my iphone. We googled "best bakery in Harvard Square" and came up with a list of places. Crema Cafe was about a block from where we were standing and we decided to give it a go. We got to Crema and were delighted - not only did they have chocolate cookies, but they also had seating and a pretty cozy coffee shop vibe. We purchased our cookie ($1.75!) and sat down in 2 empty seats at a large communal table. 

I took this one but no, those aren't our espresso cups. 

Crema was started in Cambridge for Cambridgeans, that much is clear - the menu contains walnut aoli and fancy PB&J, among other Cambridgey things. On their website they state that they wanted to create a "third place" between home and work where people could go and "meet, chat, sip, read, write, watch, think, taste and enjoy" in between all the other obligations in life. We sat there and did all of those things for about an hour. We caught up on what had been going on in both of our lives, talked about The Impending End Of Law School, and did a little bit of good old fashioned gossiping. We went on a secret  side quest right afterwards, which involved several fits of giggles. 

The cookie at Crema was delicious - very buttery, crispy on the outside and rather cakey on the inside, with milk chocolate chips throughout. It was a healthy size, perfect for sharing. But the real delight of this quest was that it exemplified the reasons we started questing in the first place. First, we were both stressed at the beginning of the quest - me with my Bluebook, she with her mooting - and put it aside to spend part of the evening together.  Second, when our quest didn't go according to plan, we found a terrific new spot that we will certainly go back to. Third, we spent longer than we thought we would chatting and catching up, suddenly oblivious to the stress that could have derailed the quest earlier on. Fourth, the evening ended in fits of giggles. 

So on your birthday, kday, I want to thank you. Thank you for telling me to put down the Bluebook and quest with you every week. Thank you for being someone I can tell my secrets to. Thank you for making law school more bearable. Thank you for giggling with me. Next year, when I have to continue Questing Boston all by myself, I will think of you all the time and miss you a lot.

Happy Birthday to the best questing buddy on the planet!