Colazione Italiana

Last week, I traveled to Florence, Italy for a few days to visit my best friend who is studying abroad there for the semester. As seemingly insane as it was to be on a plane for 8 hours and have a 2 hour layover in Switzerland, both coming and going, for 2 full days and 2 half days, spending a weekend in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with my best friend was an amazing experience that neither of us will stop talking about any time soon. Breakfast is not a huge ordeal in Italy, probably due to the obscene quantity of food served for dinner, but we did manage to find a little cafe that we ate at each morning I was there. Our morning crepes and cappuccinos were delicious, and enough to hold us over until the real marathon of eating began a few hours later.

con amore,

All Things Autumn

Today, with the first sight of orange and red leaves out our kitchen window, seemed like the perfect day to make apple muffins. I used this recipe and I can't wait to see how they taste with the apple butter and pumpkin butter we bought last weekend. Something tells me these muffins are going to be eaten for more than just breakfast...

            

Baking playlist: Two Coins by Dispatch, California by Joni Mitchell, Time Bomb by Iration, Best For Last by Adele, Heart of the City by Jay-Z

with love,

I like my eggs runnyy

This morning for breakfast, I had two fried eggs with runny yokes on top of two pieces of honey oat bread (same loaf from Clear Flour Bakery). I topped the two slices with grated asiago cheese. I forgot how much I loved runny yokes....yum!

Stephanie S. 

Dessert for Breakfast

Baking, over the past year, has become somewhat of a therapy for me. The smells, my roommates all taking turns licking the batter off the spoons, and adorable little final products can turn just about any mood into a good one. It has been almost unbearably hot and humid in Boston the past few days and Thursday finally looked like the day it was going to rain. With my afternoon off and a supposed impending downpour, I decided it was time to put the oven to use to bake for the first time in our new apartment. Half an hour later, I had made 15 cranberry scones and there was not a drop of rain to be had. All but three wound up being eaten before breakfast this morning, but that's the beauty of dessert, a snack, and breakfast wrapped up into one fruit-filled, sugar-coated package.

Baking Soundtrack: Coldplay on shuffle

with love,

A Granola Kind of Day

After a weekend away, I'm refreshed and ready mostly ready for the week to begin. I have an intense week of exams and papers ahead of me. Today for breakfast I had greek yogurt and granola. I had honey flavored Chobani greek yogurt with Bear Naked banana nut granola. I finished my breakfast with a piece of toast coated with 4 berry jam, a homemade gift from my grandmother. 

Breakfast playlist: Only Exception by Paramore, Meantime by the Futureheads, Music when the Lights go Out by the Libertines, and Me and Mia by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

Stephanie S. 

Country Roads and Crepes

This past weekend marked our first weekend trip of the semester. We made the hour-and-a-half trip out to UMass Amherst to visit my best friend. Our night of bonding and experiencing a Saturday night on a true college campus with my oldest and dearest friend and his roommates was followed by all seven of us going out to breakfast together.  We found a creperie in the quaint town center of Amherst and went to town. After explaining just exactly what a crepe is to my friend's roommate, Stephanie and I both ordered the "Christian": bacon, egg, cheese, and tomato on a crepe. Perfect. Out party also ordered banana, nutella, and whipped cream crepes and apple, brown sugar, and whipped cream crepes. Breakfast with Sunday afternoon football on TV and actual trees with actual leaves changing colors, something we don't see a lot of in Boston, was exactly what we needed to get ourselves ready for the fall weather that is creeping into Boston this week.

with love,

Stephanie C.

While there is nothing quite like sleeping in, there is something to be said for waking up early. Apparently, my body has gotten so used to my early class schedule that I am physically unable to sleep in when I don't have to be up for class. Wide awake at 7:15 Friday morning, even after a late night of wine-drinking and giggling with my roommates, my breakfast of an omelette with Mexican cheeses and red peppers and gluten-free toast was made, eaten, and cleaned up all before any of my roommates woke up. Moving on to my second cup of coffee and researching study abroad opportunities all before 9am made me feel quite accomplished. Maybe this whole waking-up-early-everday thing isn't so bad.

Breakfast Soundtrack: Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks & Don Henley, Manhattan by Kings of Leon, Amsterdam by Coldplay, New York City's Killing Me by Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs, Bold As Love by John Mayer, Addicted to Love by Florence & the Machine

with love,

Les Oeufs au Chevre

While Steph’s attachment to breakfast is no doubt innate to her very being, my obsession developed overtime. I attended a boarding school in Pebble Beach, CA. Every morning, my three best friends would wake up and walk to the dining hall for breakfast. I don’t think I went a single day. I would always complain that it was too early and breakfast wasn’t worth it. After coming to college, I’ve realized the true pleasure that comes with a delicious breakfast. Two eggs over easy, spinach and feta omelettes, greek yogurt and blueberries, or even a simple bowl of cereal and some milk can really help start your day.  Stephanie and I are quite the little travelers. This summer, while she was in Greece I was in Montpellier, France taking French courses.  As she became obsessed with feta, I became obsessed with “chevre” or goat cheese. I’ve been putting the ingredient in my scrambles and omelettes ever since. This morning, I had goat cheese scrambled eggs and two pieces of part crack-wheat, part whole-wheat toast with butter. The bread is from Clear Flour Bakery in Allston, MA. Enjoy your day!

Breakfast playlist: Drink to Me Babe, then by A.C. Newman, Spitting Fire by The Boxer Rebellion, Everyone is Golden by Portugal. the Man

Stephanie S. 

Grecian Brunch

I have had a sincere attachment to breakfast for as long as I can remember. Maybe it's because of the huge festivities that surrounded weekend breakfasts and brunches with my family growing up, or perhaps it's the near obsession everyone has with the bagels that come from northern New Jersey, where I grew up. Either way, as I got older and my love for Cheerios transitioned to one for Grand Marnier French Toast and my morning Juicy Juice became my morning latte, my morning ritual did not change. No matter how late I sleep in or what time of the day my first meal takes place, it must be breakfast food. With a class schedule that has me waking up practically in the dark and coming home when my roommates days are just starting, I can luckily manage to call this first meal of the day a kind of brunch. As of recently, following my first trip to Greece this summer, I have been feta-obsessed. This "morning"'s feta omelette paired with gluten-free toast and Orangina, another life-long love of mine, was the perfect start to my afternoon.

Breakfast soundtrack: Jilted Lover & Broken Hearts by Brandon Flowers, You've Got the Love by Florence & the Machine, If You Run by The Boxer Rebellion, New York City's Killing Me by Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs

 with love,