good start

the best latte i've had in months | cafe ponte

it's almost time for lunch, but i still got breakfast on the brain.

specifically, some of the morning meals we enjoyed in sf.

as soon as i had the address of the place where we'd be staying for the trip, i became a google maps-addicted, restaurant-searching fool.

when i found out that tartine bakery was within walking distance, i couldn't get there fast enough. 

[if we hadn't come in on the red eye, i maybe definitely woulda gone straight there.]

inside tartine

i think the boy and i saw something on food network about this place. or maybe it was in a magazine...or a blog? 

i don't really remember.

regardless of the media delivery method, we went there. 

and both loved it.

from top left: chocolate, morning bun, two ham-n-cheese

there's our haul, up above.

nice, right?

we tried the double pain au chocolat (awesome, amazing flakiness; a bit too much chocolate for my taste but delicious all the same), the pain au jambon (ham-n-cheese! this one was my fave), and the morning bun (good texture and tasty for sure, but personally, i'm not a fan of orange sugar. just plain ol' sugar woulda been justfinethanks).

layers of love

but the croissants were legit. there's no other word for them. buttery beyond belief and sooo flaky. 

(it looked like we'd tossed a pound of croissant confetti on the table after we finished)

_ _ _

but i'm still going through vacation withdrawal a bit. 

i miss it. 

i mean who doesn't feel that way after you first get back?

so last night while the boy and i finished unpacking (isn't it the worst?!), i remembered that before we left for this trip, we'd purchased the ingredients for these little no-bake energy bites i found on pinterest. 

(where else?)

via smashed peas and carrots

the recipe is really easy, and i think they turned out great. 

all aboard! 
ingredients 
(looking slightly disgusting in this light) 
waiting to be mixed

the original recipe doesn't call for the dried cranberries we added, but i think they made a nice addition. i'd probably chop them up a bit next time though, if anything. they were a little large.

the recipe does calls for ground flaxseed which was a new adventure for me (see above). i ended up with this brand from trader joe's. it added a nice nutty flavor to the mix. i think. i didn't really notice it to be honest.

and i'm not a person who has a whole arsenal of kitchen tips and tricks, but i do have two today:

the recipe calls for honey. and peanut butter.

i've found that with any sticky substance, if you spray the measuring cup (or your mom-gifted pampered chef gadget) with a little bit of non-stick cooking spray, it plops out easily. 

see how clean it is in the picture up there?

you may need to use a spatula to get all of it, but it's sooo much easier to spray first instead of scraping the measuring cup a billion times to get every last drop.

one more tip for this recipe?

you need to stir pretty vigorously to get all the ingredients fully mixed together.

so i like to put plastic wrap completely over the container i'm using. then, i pull it back from the bowl a bit more than halfway.

this way, i can really get my stir on and avoid a peanut butter-covered hand.

this works well for handmixing anything you don't want to end up all over the place.

i formed these into balls (using this trusty scoop that i also coated with non-stick spray), popped them in the fridge for thirty minutes and...

done!

they are super yummy. 

we still have some leftover, but i'm not sure they'll last much longer.

_ _ _

now i'm hungry.

more soon.