Aldi has been quietly adding more whole bean coffees, and I finally grabbed the one that checks every buzzword box: Organic, Fair Trade, single origin, medium roast, 100% Arabica, and somehow still under five bucks for a 12 oz bag.

I am not the kind of person who can taste “stone fruit” and “rainforest moss.” I can tell the difference between roasts, I know what I like, and I know when a coffee tastes burnt. That is the entire resume.

So I did a simple side by side: this Aldi Simply Nature Organic Peru whole bean coffee against a much more expensive bag from Bean & Bean, a local roaster I genuinely like.

The surprise was not that the expensive coffee won. The surprise was how close the Aldi coffee got.

2017 was a stressful time and not great for my fitness goals so in 2018 I found myself needing to lose a decent amount of weight again. 🙁 I'm a few lbs away from my goal and thought others might be interested in knowing how I'm doing it and what free apps I use to help.

In the beginning of 2018 I just focussed on exercising more and trying to be more careful of what I ate. More vegetables and fruits, less fried foods, cut out eating out almost entirely, no more making cheesecake or ice cream (which really hurt,) etc. Exercise became more frequent as well. I started making time to hike regularly again.

The weight was coming off but it was slow. Then in October 2018 I set a goal to lose 2 lbs a week. That's pretty tough but there are a few apps and other tools I use to help me stay on track and monitor my progress so I can lose the weight faster.

For a few years now my uncle has been telling me about this impressive waterfall he saw one time while walking along Shore Trail somewhere between Englewood Cliffs and Alpine. That's a section of the park I haven't explored very much of but I finally had the opportunity to look for the falls while doing the Clinton Point Hike.

I'm in the park frequently but normally on shorter hikes that are closer to home. When I went to do Carpenter's Loop II a few days ago, Ross Dock was closed and there was a sign from Englewood Cliffs indicating the trail was closed. I looked at the map and realized I didn't have time to do the northern hike and I'd probably want at least a snack for that duration. It's about twice as long as Carpenter's II. I was able to get through Carpenter's but the next day I decided to finally tackle Clinton Point.

It was an incredible hike and Greenbrook Falls were pretty impressive.

Clinton Point Hike Description