Every Saturday morning I walk to Little Italy Mercato here in downtown San Diego to buy most of my produce and cheeses for the week. We live about 1.5 miles from Little Italy so I also get a great three mile walk in! This is precisely why on this lovely September morning, I decided to eat breakfast at the market. Why not indulge a little?

I’ve been eyeing the pastries from Loic Patisserie’s booth for the past couple months. Tasting a little here and there. I want to try EVERYTHING. These are the kinds of pastries I want when I crave a pastry! Flaky, buttery, beautiful pastries!

First I ate half of my ham and cheese quiche from Loic Patisserie’s booth. It had been on dry ice, so it was chilled, but still quite tasty. The crust was so lovely, and although chilled, the inside was still creamy in texture. I love me some quiche! I saved the other half for later.

Then, I ate one of three Parisian Macaroons I purchased. I chose vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate. I ate the vanilla for dessert. It was quite lovely. I’m trying very hard not to finish off the other two!

I also had a free Key Lime Pie popsicle from Viva Pops, but I’ll share more on that later in the week as to why it was free. Very exciting!

Then, I ate the rest of my quiche when I got home! Three miles, people! I was hungry! Also, I much preferred it warmed to cold. Next week, I’m getting a chocolate croissant. It’s settled.

Recently, my husband and I decided to try Cafe 222 a couple blocks from our new place. Little did we know it was featured on an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate where Bobby Flay raved about the Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast.

We arrived around 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon last Saturday. Had to wait about 10 minutes or so. It’s a small place so you’ll have to wait, but had a super friendly and helpful staff. While we waited, I started looking over the menu only to see a TON of things I wanted try!

My husband ordered the “famous” Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast, but really wasn’t impressed. I think he said, “Bobby Flay doesn’t know what he’s talking about…” or something similar. Maybe it was an off day for the french toast, but it was gone before I even could ask for a bite! I guess it wasn’t that bad.

I settled on Eggs Italia, but soon called the server back to order a Sweet Corn Waffle as well. My, oh my, was that ever a good decision. While the Eggs Italia were tasty, it was far too much food for me. I would have preferred the dish sans bread and potatoes. There was nothing really special about them. The eggs were scrambled with goat cheese, tomatoes and pesto. Quite tasty.

Now, let’s talk about that waffle. It was so very good. Basically, a cornbread waffle. Yep, that’s right. I drizzled just a little syrup over it as I munched away, and I my mouth was quite pleased. I would most definitely get that again.

Overall, we liked this place. It’s fun with mostly outdoor seating, and it’s very affordable for being a downtown San Diego restaurant. We’d try it again. Good for breakfast if you are in the area.

This weekend my Mom, Dad and little sister were in town to spend some time with us for the New Year. I’ve been studying Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook (that Dustin bought for me our first Christmas as a married couple) quite a bit over the last month. I used it to bake some wonderful Christmas cookies that I’ll share with you later. For breakfast though, I decided to try my hand at making Buttermilk Biscuits from scratch. The local Apple Butter my Mom gave me was so tasty on them, too!

Also, I made this Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust that I found on Martha’s website. Do I even have to tell you it was good? Well, it was amazing. The only change I made was topping it with grated zucchini instead of scallions. Dustin hates onions of any form… even leeks! (Which I love!) It really added some lovely color to the quite yellow table. Even my 10 year old sister ate this and enjoyed it, even though hearing “goat cheese” made her uneasy. And, of course, Bonsai was trying to sneak some off the breakfast table which I’m sure he could have managed had we not kept an eye on him.

Would you look at that crust! Mmm…