breakfast for dinner

Starkweather Lake

TGIF! It seems like this week just started. Time flies when your having fun and eating well.

Capping off this week of camping food is a meal that I often make at home- breakfast for dinner! I know, a bit repetitive being that yesterday I couldn't so much as think of anything besides bacon, but you can't have too much breakfast food. Breakfast for dinner is wonderful because there aren't as many ingredients to lug around with you and you definitely don't need a recipe to whip together something tasty.

You have nothing but options: french toast, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, scrambled eggs, breakfast burritos... the possibilities are endless. We had french toast, scrambled eggs and turkey sausage (Jennie O is my favorite, and I've tried them all!).

Your fellow campers won't be disappointed, I promise you. And for sticking with me all week long (and for tolerating my weaseling out of posting pics and recipes for this meal), here are some pictures of Mammoth Lakes, Ca and my trip.

Peace

My renaissance man

Mom and Sis fishing

Jack and me playing fetch

The stream right next to camp

I love camping ♥

toffee chocolate chip scones

Have I told you that I started bootcamp? Not military style, buzz cut requiring, kick your ass into the ground bootcamp, but a kick your ass gently while encouraging you to do be better and svelter bootcamp. I can attribute, at least partially, my lack of posting in the last weeks to a few things: West Coast Bootcamp, waking up a 5am to make it too said bootcamp, and my food journal. Yup, you read that right. Food journal. :(

So, I've been cutting back a bit lately. I'm drinking less booze, eating fewer sweets, making sure that I eat more meals throughout the course of the day. I'll never eliminate anything that I love from my diet. I think moderation is the key to eating healthfully, but I'm giving their way of life a shot. I told myself that at least for these 6 weeks, I'd follow their food plan during the week (kinda sorta) and I'll eat how I normally eat on the weekend. Well, guess what! It's SUNDAY! And I want scones.

*Toffee Chocolate Chip Scones*
(adapted from this epicurious recipe)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup chocolate-covered English toffee bits
2 cups chilled whipping cream
zest of a lemon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Additional raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375.

Mix together your dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, toffee bits.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Add in the zest of a lemon.


Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Once they are combined, turn the dough out on to a cutting board and knead until it comes together - it will be sticky! Once it has come together, cut it in 1/2 and form it into 2 logs. Cut each log into 1/3's (forming basically 3 squares) and each 1/3 in 1/2 (diagonally). You will be left with 12 triangular scones.

Place the scones on 2 Silpat-lined baking sheet. Brush them with the melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar (I use Maui raw can sugar). Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

If you look close enough, it kind of looks like an alligator. A delicious, sweet alligator.

universal cafe

I swear, this is my last breakfast post from San Francisco! I really loved my super simple breakfast from Universal Cafe... grapefruit, oranges, kiwi, alongside toast with fromage blanc, cinnamon, honey. The fruit was ripe, the toast was yummy. My black tea was good. The service was not particularly personable, but it wasn't rude, either. No complaints here.

My fellow diners had more of a problem with the menu. They thought it was a bit too ecclectic. I have mentioned it in the past, Brandon (the hubs) has simple tastes. The fact that you couldn't order simple french toast bothered him a bit. I told him that he should at least try the rhubarb compote on top, and awesome, trusting husband that he is, he did. The french toast came to the table smothered with delectable whipped cream and some rhubarb compote. It was superb for the first piece, but the whipped cream melted within a few minutes. He would have been wise to get it on the side. He liked it, although I think he would have preferred the simple french toast by itself.
Audrey got the eggs benedict type dish... two perfectly poached eggs atop the fattest, softest latkes I have ever seen. All of this was drenched in a hollandaise sauce paired some sauteed greens. It was rich! She only ate half of this puppy and was full for quite some time afterwards.

Everything was really fresh. You could tell that the produce changed often and with the seasons, which I personally love. I could have eaten for days from the menu, but the other members of my party felt that the menu was limiting by the eccentricity. I would definitely go back if I were a local, but I would have to find another group to go with!

mama's grill

I'm not really too much of a breakfast person. Give me a simple tender scone and a cup of tea, and I'm happy. This probably doesn't ring true based on my last two posts, but there are certain things I look forward to waking up to. This is one of them.

Walking up to Mama's, you can tell that this joint is popular. Although possibly a bit touristy at times, it really does live up to it's badges of honors plastered along the outside wall. They scream "Trust me! I'm worth the 30 minute wait! Yelpers and Zagat think so!" They definitely do not lie.

The food was really yummy. I got the farmers omelet: bacon, melted leeks, goat cheese. I substituted turkey sausage for the bacon as I don't eat pork, and I think it would have been much better with the bacon my husband was indulging in. The home fries were not my favorite part... just barely done and a bit too al dente.

But then there was Brandon's cinnamon chocolate french toast. Super good. Everything about it was delicious, right down to the unseasonably ripe fruit on top.

Worth the wait!

tartine bakery

Brandon went to school in San Francisco... Berkeley to be exact. I was at school at UCLA at the time, so to make our long distance relationship work, he would come down once a month and I would make the trek up to SF once a month.

Food lovers that we are, we ate our way through San Francisco, one weekend at a time. We started in Berkeley, but almost always took at least one day to go on through San Francisco. We would BART into the city, eat somewhere, walk around a bit (just until we were hungry again), eat somewhere, walk around a bit, cycle, rinse, repeat. We wanted so badly to be hungry just a bit more often. In fact, this Onion article comes to mind, describing my feelings perfectly.

I digress. I wish I had taken pictures of my amazing pastries and tarts from Tartine, but it was rainy and I was hungry. Things just didn't work out. But we ordered a TON of food to make up for it.

I started with quiche of the day with nettles. Yes, I had no idea what nettles were, either. Apparently, they are a really mild leafy green, and barely noticeable in this quiche. It was absolutely divine. Soft, creamy, light eggs with a browned top and buttery crust. It was perfect with my English Breakfast tea. Brandon had the ham and cheese croissant, which he said is the best specimen he has ever had.

We had a banana tart for our breakfast dessert. It was very, very yummy. The tarlette crust was lined with chocolate and the bananas were bathed in a not too sweet caramel sauce. It was all topped with freshly made whipped cream and shavings of Valrhona Chocolate. Mmmmm.

In the car on the way home, we had the chocolate croissant and lemon tart. The croissant was very rustic, buttery and intensely chocolate. I have noticed that they like their pastries cooked a bit passed the golden brown color, and instead take it to a deep chestnut. It makes the crusts taste toasty and nutty all at the same time. The tart was sweet, but mostly sour, perfectly balanced. Definitely worth the food coma that ensued.

Oh my gosh, I know, I'm gushing. I love San Francisco, I love bakeries, and I love Tartine. Even in a city with so many enticing food options and a finite amount of meals, I do not miss a chance to go to Tartine.