Blackstone Coffee, Part II

Breakfast has to be my favorite meal!  If I have a chance to make something, I usually pick eggs.  Today, I had some time before heading out to one of our local amusement parks (King's Dominion).  I decided to re-create my breakfast at Blackstone Coffee. 

I was smart...  I did my weekend grocery shopping this morning.  I picked up two croissants and the eggs.  I had bacon and sharp cheddar cheese at home.  Once I got home, I convinced Darryl that we needed to have a good breakfast before heading out to the amusement park. 

I fried up two pieces of bacon to what I like to consider perfection... that is with some fat still soft and white, and the meat cooked but not crisp.  While that was frying, I scrambled four eggs with some fresh ground pepper, salt, and a few spices I had laying around.  (Sage goes very well with eggs, and I have a forest of it growing in my garden).  Once the bacon was done, I drained off most of the grease and then fried the eggs in the same pan.  I was careful to leave the eggs as attached as possible.  I figured that if my scrambled eggs looked a little more like an omelet vs. a lot of little pieces of scrambled egg, it would stay on the sandwich better.  As they were just about done, I placed a slice of cheese on top and let it melt a bit.  Final assembly was pretty easy (thanks to leaving the eggs look like an omelet). 

The taste?  It was out of this world!  Now, if you read my Part I blog, you know that the coffeehouse used pre-cooked eggs.  Freshly made eggs will almost always top pre-cooked eggs.  I say almost always because burnt eggs are just gross. 

Was my sandwich better?  Yes, and no.  Yes: the taste was out of this world... I think I'm going to make it again tomorrow, which means another run to Wegmans in the morning.  So, why the no?  The only days I have the time to make this sandwich are when I don't have class or something else going on first thing in the morning.  On those mornings I'm lucky to drink a breakfast shake or maybe even get a quick bowl of cereal in.  On those mornings, it would be much easier to buy this sandwich out at a place like Blackstone Coffee.  I hear the little shop on campus makes a good breakfast sandwich too.  Outside of the pre-cooked eggs, the sandwich at Blackstone Coffee was amazing... I would sacrifice the fresh cooked eggs for the convenience any time... as long as I don't have the time to make it at home. 

Moral of my story... if you have time to make this great sandwich at home... go for it.  If you don't, definitely try the one at Blackstone Coffee. 


Thanks for reading!

Blackstone Coffee, Part I

Nursing School has kept me busy since late August (even though we had "Quake Break" for a week, we still had assignments to work on)... and will keep me very busy for the next couple of weeks.  With that in mind, I didn't want to just let my blog sit on the back burner, like giblets simmering away on Thanksgiving.  Instead, I decided to combine school and the blog by visiting a coffee house and enjoying some food while consuming endless knowledge from my Pediatric Nursing text book.  Who knew that the growth of an infant was so complex?

Today, I decided to pack up my books and head around the corner to Blackstone Coffee.  This was not my first visit here, in fact, I met the owner while I was still promoting tourism for a local government.  Don and Paula Merritt are wonderful people... the kind of people you want owning and operating a local gathering place.

You can visit Blackstone Coffee's website to learn all about their history, or their Facebook page to check out all the cool things going on. 

Blackstone Coffee started out in the outskirts of Fredericksburg, (not quite in the City proper) with a really tiny shop and a great roasting operation.  Today, that location is still used to roast all of the coffee beans they serve and sell in their new cafe in Eagle Village, just across from the University of Mary Washington campus in the City of Fredericksburg.  The new cafe has plenty of seating for groups to meet, students to study, and live music performances.  You can purchase coffee beans or ground coffee to make at home, as well as a great deal of beverage options to enjoy in the cafe.  There are also a number of food options from special New York City bagels, quiches, pastries, desserts, sandwiches, soup..... all made by Chef Elan.  Future plans include adding a wine bar and related food.

Today was a nice break from the stress of school.  My fellow classmates can agree that this week back from "quake break" has been a bit stressful with skills check-offs, tests and quizzes.  It was nice to know that today, all I had to do was study.

To make the studying more enjoyable, I stopped in at Blackstone and ordered a breakfast sandwich and a medium roasted coffee.  My breakfast sandwich consisted of eggs, bacon and cheddar cheese, served on a toasted croissant.  I really enjoyed it.  The only time I ever splurge and eat breakfast outside of my house is when we are driving somewhere and stop at a Sheetz gas station for food.  (Don't get me wrong, Sheetz is pretty good at making fast food... better than most of the fast food options out there).  Eating at Blackstone was a real treat.  I could taste the freshness in the croissant.  The cheese was a much better grade of cheese, and my bacon was cooked to perfection, not a crumbly mess.  The eggs were better than fast food restaurants, but you can tell they are pre-cooked eggs.  At the same time, usually when places use pre-cooked eggs, they destroy them in the microwave.  My eggs were perfect!  Still nicely moist.  Overall, I really enjoyed my breakfast.  I don't think I could enjoy it more here at home... especially because I'll have to do so much work... mess up some dishes, actually cook the food, and then clean up my plates afterwords.  I will still make it here at home, but for this meal, it will be better enjoyed at Blackstone. 

I can't wait to go back... and maybe next time I'll get dessert for breakfast. 

Thank you for reading!