a foodie filled day

I made up for the bogus breakfast my mom and I tried to get at that organic restaurant yesterday.  My Aunt found this awesome little restaurant in Tremont, called Grumpy’s Cafe.  First of all, Tremont is a super cute area, filled with restaurants, cute coffee shops, yoga studios, historic churches, art galleries, etc.

Our main reason for going there was that they had PUMPKIN PANCAKES on the menu!  We split 2 pumpkin pancakes and vegetarian style eggs benedict.  The pancakes were light and fluffy and full of pumpkin flavor.  The eggs were SO good.  The veggie style version was stacked with an english muffin, avocado, tomato, the perfect poached egg, and a delicious hollandaise sauce.  OH, aaand all of the meals come with cajun style home fries…YUM, were they good!

The restaurant was really clean, the staff was extremely friendly, and the decor was simple but stylish. 

The pancakes were great but the eggs benedict stole the show! They had tons of other yummy sounding dishes, including chocolate french toast.  I will hopefully be going back there 1 more time before I go back to Colorado =)

After breakfast, we headed to The West Side Market, which is always a ton of fun.  My dad came to meet us there too!  I have been going there for years with my dad.  We would get up early on a Saturday, every so often, and head to the market.  There are two HUGE aisles of produce, most is not local, but good quality and pretty cheap.  On the inside of the building there are tons of local Cleveland bakeries/delis/cheese shops/candy shops/ethnic food/etc. 

The market is in this building.

so.pretty.

yum yum fruit

Aunt Sherie + Dad

*starfruit*

shoppers

If you didn’t know, the Ohio State University mascot, is the Buckeye.  There is a DEE-licious candy they make that looks like the buckeye nut.  It is basically a glob of peanut butter [mixed with a few other things] dipped in milk chocolate.  Here was a caramel apple, Buckeye style.  Very tempting…but we left this one in the case ;)

Sampled some amazing goat cheese that dad bought a 1/2lb of.  Can’t wait to snack on that!

I could definitely snuggle with one of those…

Balcony view of all the vendors.  I love coming here =)

One of my favorite stands at the market, has fresh pierogis.  I bought 2 filled with butternut squash and cannot WAIT to try them out!

Leaving the market…I had such a good time with my aunt + dad =)

Dinner time. 

Corn pudding in acorn squash – Round 2         

I forget what the crazy looking squash was called, but it tasted exactly the same as the acorn.  The hardest part of this recipe is cutting off the ends to make the squash halves sit flat.  I cut through to the inside on 1 this time.  Last time it was 2.  If that happens though, just seal it as tight as you can with foil and you will still be able to fill it with the corn pudding.

It was the perfect dreary, chilly day, to make this meal.  My mom loved it but my dad didn’t get to try it yet because he was at the Cav’s game tonight.

Round 2 was even tastier.  The side of broccoli was delicious too.  I pan sautéed it with a little olive oil, s+p, and garlic powder, for about 8min on medium.  It’s a nice change of pace from boiling or steaming it.

Not sure what all is in store for tomorrow…

Check back though =)

Ashley