earlier in the week, we were on our way to starbucks to try the new signature hot chocolate, when we stopped by the menu posted outside circle cafe. top of the hand-chalked specials list was turnip and chesnut soup!
it was so unexpected, interesting and enticing, that i immediately pulled the plug on the starbucks idea. maeve didn’t seem to mind; “this one?” she said, “climb stairs?” and up she went.
the soup was a lovely shade of camel, sweet and smooth — a potage, if you will. even maeve liked it, although she had her own plate of sourdough toast with grilled mushrooms and roma tomatoes to contend with. but the trouble with soup is that it leaves no room for belgian hot chocolate, to say nothing of the chocolate brownies doing laps in the revolving dessert case up front.
so when carla gypsygirl came to visit us friday lunchtime, bearing gifts of ice-cream hairclips and rainbow beaded bracelets, we went back to circle. you must know by now that my favourite lunch is breakfast, and that is what i had. the all-day big veggie breakfast is similar to the all-day big breakfast: eggs, mushrooms, hashbrown, tomatoes, and sourdough toast, with a mountain of sauteed spinach replacing the tangle of bacon and sausages (which is what carla had to counter the effects of a dodgy chicken dinner. props!).
half the big veggie breakfast though, is not quite enough to fill a belly; after maeve polished off all the tomatoes and half the mushies and an unexpected amount of toast, i was back at the front counter ordering my belgian hot chocolate and the lucky last brownie on the tray. the brownie is studded through with big chunks of chocolate, and is served warm so that all those chunks go moist and runny.
i had ordered it to share, three ways, but i think that the kid won that battle. of course.
7 Comments
aah those mushies look lovely. i had a plate of swiss brows to myself at yesterday’s breakfast. such a good way to start the day!
so have you gone back to starbucks ? i can say the signature hot chocolate is also very good.
when i had it on thursday night the starbucks girl got confused when my friend emily gave her name and when i requested skim milk. the cup said: EMILK
Mmm mushrooms. A girl with a brownie is a girl indeed.
deb: i can’t quite remember (the days bleed into one), but it is entirely possible that although i was too full and sloshy for belgian hot chocolate in the cafe, by the time we walked up the street and passed by starbucks with the girl outside and her tray of hot chocolate (with whipped cream!) and spicy chocolate muffin samples… that i was quite ready to go in and have a hot chocolate!
mmm. ’twas thick and creamy, and made me wonder if there was something evil (other than cream) lurking within. why have they only introduced this now, at the end of winter?? next time i shall ask for a shot of raspberry syrup.
sue: i once was a brownie!! what kind of girl does that make me?
spicy chocolate muffin??? i need to re-visit! it was thick and creamy… but maybe because i had skim milk in it it felt less evil. but who really knows… the shot of raspberry would be perfect for a spring
i just noticed in the picture how maeve have hiked up her beads… to get to the brownie more comfortably perhaps? clever girl!!
i read recently that simone logue supplies the muffins to starbucks. the spicy chocolate muffin was like the chilli tim tam, in a way that it was deceptively normal in the mouth, but once it went down there was a subtle chilli kick.
and yes, i have seen maeve up to her elbows in chocolate, so perhaps she’s learnt something after all.
Oh that is too too delicious! I want! I want! The brownie, the brownie of course!
I love the look of concentration in your daughter’s eyes for that brownie.