More Cheese More Chocolate

Happy Memorial Day!

After driving past Rustica Bakery about once a week for over a year and a half, we finally stopped in this weekend for a late breakfast.

We each tried a different variety of Dogwood Coffee and a chocolate croissant, and both were wonderful.  Matt even declared his croissant “better than a donut,” which is the equivalent of Julia Child eating a donut and saying that it’s better than a croissant.  I wanted to buy some bread, too, because Rustica was named one of the 10 best bread bakeries in the country by Bon Appetit, but someone talked me out of it.  I guess it was coupled with a compliment that my bread is probably just as good as theirs (maybe because I use recipes from two other bakeries on the list?), but one of these days I will be returning for a loaf of bread and an orange ricotta tart.  And probably another chocolate croissant.  Oh, and an eclair.  Man, you should see those eclairs.

When I was denied my bread at Rustica, I thought about baking some of my own, but I ended up buying a loaf of Seeduction while I was grocery shopping at Whole Foods.  Topped with a couple slices of creamy (dreamy) white cheddar, it was the perfect afternoon snack.

I spent part of my afternoon flipping through this beautiful book that my mom decided to buy for me because she’s awesome.

Then I baked a chicken…

And made buttermilk dressing for chicken cobb salads.

This morning I drank freshly squeezed grapefruit juice from a champagne flute just because.  It’s something I need to do more often.  Give it a try sometime.  It makes your morning feel special.

What goes with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice?  Grape-Nut bread.  More on this later…