Cup of Irony, Cup of No

A well endowed house save a few essentials...

I woke up in Madame Blueberry 's house (in a tree and everything.)

My mother-in-law is a woman who has just about everything...two and three of some things...but yesterday morning, she had no coffee pods. Lots of tea [which I love] but not a drop of the kick-in-the-pants-in-a-cup that I needed to get me up and get me thinking this particular morning.

And my father-in-law Charlie runs a proud "gourmet" kitchen... he even went to a Johnson & Wales Camp once upon a time.  Imagine my surprise when I  discovered the man has no French press,  no grinder. 

And that's what made the bag of whole coffee beans ironic.

Or was it that they were the only coffee to be found in all the house? 

Either way.

I am here to tell you that I was undeterred.

I am also here to tell you that determination alone does not the cup of coffee make.

You need many other elements.

I found the closest thing to a grinder and made. . . well, ...I made coffee nibs if we're being honest. . . but since I was already squinting, my vision unaided by "the best part of waking up",  it wasn't SO hard to believe it was just a coarse grind. . . until I tried to brew it.

The water did change colors,  I'll give me that.

No French Press,  no coffee grinder and not a single mesh strainer to be found. 

 He does have a flour sifter though.

 Oh, yes I did. 

No,  no it did not.

What I discovered was that,  however coarsely ground those beans had been, they were not too chunky to sneak through the sifter and into the mug...not to mention my mouth.

Coffee nibs are chewy bits of goodness when mixed in chocolate, not so much the morning cup of joe, in this case a morning cup of 'No'. 

I mentally demoted Charlie from Grandfather Gourmet  to chief coup stirrer. No man can climb past that rank without a mesh sieve. It just can't be done.

:: rinse everything,  load the weeble wagon and hug the folks at Baker's Pride, who not only have an appropriate cup of coffee at the ready, but a danish to wash it down with::

Maple Street Morning

The morning of Clay's "Business Meeting" (Ahem: Golf Tournament) we roamed & roved until time to meet back up. I had long wanted to try Maple Street Biscuit Company, so when we stumbled across their new Beaches location, it was all happy anticipation.

We were not disappointed. The place has atmosphere... really nice atmosphere.

Above the drink station hang Mason jar lights, wire baskets line the dining area and the long sturdy tables provide plenty of sitting room for large parties.



Had the Atlantic Ocean not been lapping the shore just across the road, the warmth and earthy textures coupled with the friendliness of the staff could have convinced me that I was in a mountain breakfast house. Years of family road trips to North Carolina and Tennessee have left me quite fond of such places, though I'm inclined to believe most everyone has at least a  slight breakfast bias.

{Do you?}

One of the benefits of having such a "shoe-full" of children is that we are equipped to divide and conquer. We divided and conquered the menu with an eclectic order. Then we practiced our sharing skills at the table, so that each person got to sample a wide range of flavors from the menu.



We started with an order of "Bob Hash Ups" ~ home fries topped with cheddar, pulled pork & a fried egg.

LoLo opted for a Cinnamon Pecan biscuit:

Both boys opted for biscuits with gravy:

I went with The Farmer~ fried chicken topped with bacon, cheddar and apple butter

Rye had a butter biscuit with the special house made B2 Jam (blueberries, blackberries)

...and chocolate milk, of course.

 Something went a little awry with our order- I can't remember what it was but it was minuscule, like they gave me a soda cup when I needed a coffee mug or something... I really can't remember exactly what it was because I didn't think twice about it. However, to make amends for this 'huge blunder' they sent a plate of Cinnamon Pecan biscuits to our table with much customer service and goodwill.



We had more food than we could finish before it was over. Thankfully, they have take-out boxes.  The photos you see here are of non- morning people, IN THE MORNING! They don't drink coffee yet, so the smiles must have been put there by Maple Street goodness.

Actually, Chandler IS kind of a morning person... still, they are all looking forward to our next trip to biscuit town.