Birthday Breakfast at Pawpaw Cafe

Here's another cafe that opens early enough for us to have breakfast at on the way to work. Just across the road from the Foxy Bean, Pawpaw Cafe is a simple establishment. Simple tables, no decorations other than a fabulous painting done directly onto the wall of the cafe of an Asian beauty.  I loved the painting so much that I even inquired about the artist but apparently this is not their usual style and as this is painted directly onto the wall I guess I wont be acquiring something like it in the near future!! Shame.
We dropped in here for a birthday breakfast last week. The food is always good though who loves sprouts anymore?  They are on top of everything and we dislike them but a simple scrape  and they are gone. I was a little disappointed to find Kale mixed in with my nicely cooked mushrooms. Really, it's not that nice so to have so much in a dish just dominates everything else. Ah well, the mushrooms were good.
Campos coffee is served here so it's usually a good drop but for some reason they refuse to put lactose free milk on the menu, it's not that hard!
While I have a few minor grumbles about the food, for the most part it is good and I do love to sit by the huge opening windows and enjoy the start to a morning there. I even managed to spot a friend coming out of Foxy Bean the other day. Will we go back there? Yes, because it is consistently ok, it's on the way to the city and it opens early. 

Silly Season Gourmet Madness

Well this has been a productive week. It is definitely the silly season in our family with not only Christmas but 3 birthdays in 2 days! Josh's birthday on Dec 11 was also taken by our grandaughter, "the birthday stealer",  as she is known and Big Red's birthday is the following day.  I usually make birthday cakes for all 3 but this year there is a fabulous cake-baking girlfriend to take over the baking of Josh's cake and Little Miss wants a rainbow cake from the Cheescake Shop so I just had to make the obligatory Carrot Cake with an insane amount of cream cheese icing (coronary inducing I am sure) for the man of my life to take to work for morning tea (that's so we don't sit and eat it all ourselves - we have been known to do that!). 
I needed to put on my organisational hat as I had a week full of meetings, work to be done, 2 dinners out and a birthday breakfast to fit in.  On top of that I had seen a fabulous idea to replace the Gingerbread House - a Gingerbread box filled with gingerbread goodness. I decided to bake that for the dinner we were going to share on Friday night, it would suffice for a nibble with coffee plus some treats for the kids and I had done the Gingerbread House for Mid Winter Christmas with this same group of people so I didn't want to repeat it.
A whole day was allocated to cooking and yes, it did take me all day to cook the carrot cake, the Gingerbread box and goodies plus a batch of muesli. In the middle of all that I had to rush off to the gym to help take a class. I was shattered but satisfied by the end of the day.

I turned on the air conditioning so that I didn't expire in the humidity of the storm season and then started with the gingerbread as it needs time to rest in the fridge before working with it.  Once that was resting the oven went on and I started the Carrot Cake.  This recipe was gleaned from the cake shop around the corner from our business back in the 80's.  We paid for far too many slices of this cake in the years that the shop was there.  Eventually the shop closed and as a parting gift Gail gave us her recipe. It is the most delicious Carrot Cake I have ever made. Big Red rates me against his memory of Gail's cake (thanks Gail, however I think the bar moves higher each year) and apparently this year it was a little drier than usual. I'll aim for a more moist cake next year.....   
 Just in case you are interested here is the recipe for Gail's Carrot Cake. 
 

Cake                                                                                                                   Topping

125 gms butter                                                                                           1 cup Icing Sugar

2 tsp cinnamon                                                                                          1 cup butter (softened)

1 sml tsp salt                                                                                               1 cup cream cheese

2 baking powder                                                                                        Dash of vanilla

1 tsp dissolved baking soda

225gm tin crushed pineapple

125gm chopped walnuts

2 heaped cups of grated carrot

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 heaped cups of sugar

2 heaped cups of flour

To Make the Cake

1.     Turn on your oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

2.     Grease and flour your cake tin.

3.     Mix all ingredients except flour and sugar

4.     Add flour and sugar and mix together

5.     Pour into the prepared tin and place in oven for 1 hour.

6.     Once cooked turn out onto a cake cooler 

To Make the Icing

1.     Soften butter

2.     Blend in Icing Sugar, Cream Cheese and Vanilla

3.     Spread lavishly over the cake and sprinkle with whatever you love (walnuts, toasted coconut flakes, cranberries, finely grated lemon or lime rind.

Don't judge a book by it's cover......

We have been enduring storm season here in Brisbane and Saturday started grey and drizzling so there was going to be no outdoor activities happening in our house. We decided that we three would all head out for breakfast and so off we went to try out Bungalow in Hawthorne.  I had been there the day before for a coffee and loved it so had thought I'd treat the others to somewhere new. Unfortunately it was FULL and as it was raining the outdoor tables couldn't be used. Sad Face. However, there are plenty of cafes around the area so we kept on driving and ended up trying out Our Haus on Riding Road.
It was raining so we made a dash and once we were under cover I've got to admit that we looked at each other and wondered if it was worth stopping but the rain, well, that decided it really.  We chose a table in the outdoor covered area and discussed just what it is that makes a cafe so inviting because Our Haus just isn't (inviting, that is).  Cute name but nothing about the cafe reflects that at all though there are lots of disparate good bits. Really the space was only as good as the company and thankfully for me Big Red and George make for good breakfast companions.

We really did have a nice surprise when great breakfasts were delivered and decided that you shoudl never judge a book by it's cover.   I had the Sweet Potato Hash cake and it was delicious.  Big Red ordered the Savoury Mince since I refuse to cook it for him - ever! It was a stable meal during my childhood and I hated it then so there is no way I will cook it for my family.  George had the Eggs Benny and declared them to be good. We surprised the waiter by all ordering double shots of coffee in small cups - I think we all needed waking up. Breakfast and the coffees got a thumbs up all round the table for a delicious hearty breakfast.The meals came to the table quickly and the service was good.
Before we headed back to the car, we nipped next door to Cork Leather. My goodness, if you like something a little different and great quality then stop for a look. I've never seen anything like these products which really are all made from cork.  I could gladly have taken home a few of the bags, the boots, and the cutest baby shoes.

 

A Bungalow in the Burbs

I spied this cafe when I took a different route home. Situated on Hawthorne Road, Hawthorne, Bungalow 4171 (the postcode) has been beautifully renovated into a warm friendly cafe.
The food offerings in the cabinet looked delicious and yes, I succumbed to the Pineapple and Coconut Gluten Free cake.  The cake was beautiful, light and full of soft pineapple sitting on the background of coconut. The tables were served by a charming and welcoming team in striped butcher's aprons.
The decoration of the cafe is consistent and a pleasure to the eye (something not every cafe "gets"). Personally I like to sit in lovely surroundings and this place does it for me.  The green tones throughout were really nice and I loved the wall of flocked paper.
I choose an indoor seat but as I looked out the window I caught sight of a man sitting in the row of outdoor Adirondack chairs chatting to his dog as he sipped his piccolo. It made me want to head outdoors except I knew it was hot.
As I left, I passed the little nook with two cute chairs in it and then the wooden outdoor tables down the side of the cafe. So there was seating for all tastes. This cafe might just become a regular and I'll be heading back to try out their breakfast menu.

Bisoux for this breakfast spot

Bisoux is open earlyish (7.00am) so when we were on the hunt for a new breakfast experience we stopped by for a try and were not disappointed.  Situated in the little antique/ restaurant precinct in Woolloongabba it was a pleasant spot not too far from the main road into the city but far enough to provide a little peace before the day really began. 
The service here is unique. The waiter who served us was interested in what we wanted, happy to offer his opinion when asked and went out of his way to ensure we had everything we wanted with a little flamboyance on the side!
Our breakfast was tasty. The seeded mustard in the sauce gave our eggs an interesting twist, the food was presented well and the eggs, well they had to be free range, look at their gorgeous colour!
Coffee wasn't stand out, but it was ok for a morning start up.
We sat at a table on the side walk and enjoyed the eclectic and eccentric (yes, really) company of our fellow diners (and their dog).
I like this little spot just for it's name - Bisoux - kisses.