review: georgie’s diner

We used to have this little silver diner. It was good basic diner food, and they’d let me have the kids meal pb&j when I was sick or poor. And then they got bought out by a Greek restaurant, and I hadn’t been back.

I really should have tried sooner.

Because what they did was combine the diner food with the Greek food, and it resulted in this excellent breakfast you see here: Gyro Omelet with Feta. They don’t skimp on the gyro meat, and the egg is nice and fluffy and well-browned, and the feta is creamy and strong, but not overpowering. The hashbrowns are excellent (you can judge the quality of a breakfast plate on the quality of their hashbrowns), and the biscuit is light and very buttery and perfectly toasted.

They’ve also got a spanikopita omelet, and the more usual breakfast items and some sandwiches, but I’m glad I picked this one: it was exactly something different, and that’s what I was wanting.

Review: Nestum

An odd sort of babyfood cereal, but tasty none the less. Very smooth, and it doesn't require any heat-- just add it to milk, milk substitute or even juice or water, stir and eat! It's not too sweet, and it's fairly healthy, but I think maybe I'll use it mostly as a sweetener for actual oatmeal or cream of wheat. The smoothness makes it a little like wheat pudding, and my brain doesn't know what to do with that.

Fruit-Topped Waffle

For dinner last night, I made waffles on our ancient but sturdy second-hand Belgian waffle maker. Apparently, waffle irons have gotten bigger since that was made, because the recipe that the box said should make 4 came out as 8, so there were leftovers for breakfast this morning. Usually, I eat waffles with butter and jam or with peanut butter and honey, but today I wanted something more substantial. This is what I wound up with.

The fruit topping is 1 red pluot that I've had sitting in the fridge for almost a month (we won't even start on how scary it is to have fruit last a month like that) that needed eating and a handful of frozen cherries. The pluot was a little hard, a little bland and poorly ripened, and starting to dry out a bit in the fridge, so I chopped it into the pan and added a tablespoon of butter and a few tablespoons of brown sugar-- less than a quarter cup, just eyeballed in. I cooked it all together until the pluots had softened and the cherries had almost dissolved, and then dumped it on top of the toasted waffle.

Yum! Way better than the fresh pluot had been! It came out a little tart, a little plummy, just sweet enough (which is nowhere near as sweet as pancake syrup), and a little buttery. The pluots were tender without being mushy, and the sauce was almost like a home-made fruit syrup. I was going to add cinnamon and ginger, and didn't even have to-- there was enough flavor already. This combo would make a nice jam. I think it would work just as well with peaches, plums, nectarines, all cherries, pretty much any of the drupes. It'd be good with nuts. And I keep wanting to throw herbs in, but that will take more testing-- maybe fresh thyme? Basil? Anise would be good...