Love and Cooking

For years, I have been going to the Homemade Cafe in Berkeley, and not even bothering to look at the menu, because I know what I want.

Huevos Rancheros.

Two eggs on a tortilla over easy, topped with cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.

Served with spicy black beans, some more tortillas, and a pile of the best homefries in town.

I would waddle back home, contented, and not need to eat for the rest of the day.

I went less after I figured out how to make it for myself. Except for the homefries part, but I could deal with some things in order to not have to hassle with the usual weekend wait.

Yesterday when I went in, though, I was extra-double-plus jonesing for potatoes, and I was open to the possibility of something else, because the potato portion with the huevos had shrunk somewhat over the years. That, or I'm just what Bud Trillin might call "a big hungry girl" these days, because I used to not be able to eat it all and had to take the extra beans-n-taters home for breakfast the next day.

I saw the specials board: EGGS BENEDICT, FLORENTINE, OR BENJAMIN $8.50

After determining that "Benjamin" (smoked salmon) was not what I wanted, and that homefries did indeed come with it, I ordered the Florentine. (Eggs Benedict usually means "sub-par bacon/ham" to me.)

Two perfectly poached eggs on a bed of fresh spinach and mushrooms, with tomato slices on the side, COVERED in Hollandaise. Reminded me of Vera's in Seattle, where M and I ate a lot, where the sauce pooled on the plate. Yum.

And a veritable mountain of homefries. Between the produce on the muffins and the taters, it almost qualified as your five servings of fruit and veg on one plate. Bliss.

I couldn't finish it! Guess what I'll be ordering if I see it again there.

(Instead of trying to catch up on all my activities since I last blogged, I'm just going to post what I can, and hang the dates. Otherwise I would just get too overwhelmed. So some posts are going to be seriously out-of-synch.)