coffee & donuts

Whipped up beignets for breakfast.
Went along perfectly with Vietnamese iced coffee.
Finger lickin' good.
I think Marco enjoyed it...

Vietnamese Iced Coffee or Cafe Sua Da:
Pour 1-2 tbsp. sweetened condensed milk into a tall glass.
Fill a Vietnamese coffee press with a 2 tbsp. of medium ground dark roast coffee.
(I like Cafe Du Monde for this particular recipe)
Wet the coffee with about 2 tsp. of boiling hot water.
Screw on the press and place on top of the glass.
Fill the press up to the brim with boiling hot water.
Cover and watch it drip.
Tighten or loosen the press if it is dripping too quickly or slowly, respectively.
When it has finished dripping, stir with a spoon, add ice and enjoy.
Make extra and freeze in ice cube trays.
Use these in place of regular ice cubes.
You'll never have watered down iced coffee ever again.
Not to mention you'll get one helluva buzz!

Labor Day!

Labor Day means summer is coming to an unofficial end. Boo-hoo! Goodbye long days and short skirts! Gone too are summer's bounty of juicy, succulent fruits like delicate strawberries on top of my 'golden spurtle' oats this morning. Just a little brown sugar mixed in, too. Yum.
Had a fabulous WARM day at the beach with Mr. Vern and then... dinner! The official Labor Day menu was done on the grill and consisted of hamburgers with grilled onion, heirloom tomato and avocado, grilled sweet corn, and my traditional caesar with herb-parmesan croutons. We whipped up a strawberry milkshake for dessert and I was in heaven!

How was your Labor day weekend?

Herb-Parmesan Croutons Recipe
Day old bread
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 dried parsley
1 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven 350. Cut bread into 3/4 inch cubes. Place on sheet pan and sprinkle all other ingredients on top of the bread. Use your hands or thongs to toss everything together and to evenly distribute. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Voila!