This is the "2nd" course of the all-day-long breakfast we enjoyed recently with Jaden & her family at the Mount Dora Historic Inn.  The main dish was the Italian Strata, but after looking at these photos I'm not sure how I even had the room in my tummy to move on to a 3rd course!  (But I did finish the plate ... every last tasty morsel.  Then I ran 17 miles that evening so I could keep my girlish figure.)

Now, when Chef Jim said he was making "stuffed" French Toast, I imagined two thick slices of some soft bread sandwiched around ricotta and raspberry.  But he goes extreme.

Gigantic.

HUMONGOUS.

COLOSSAL!

One slice of bread ... that is literally ... the size of a whole loaf. Whoa.

And he says he made this bread from scratch too ... but I have to see that live and in person to gather photographic evidence to believe it.  It's just too perfect.  Gives me a baking complex.

My next question to him was, "how in the heck do you get it to cook all the way through?"  To which is reply is, "watch and learn young grasshoppah ..."

Try out his recipe and drool over the photos Jaden took of the whole process.  And yes, it tastes just as good as it looks.

Ricotta and Raspberry Stuffed-French Toast

INGREDIENTS

Photos by Jaden Hair

2, Loaves Italian Sandwich Bread (not too crusty, more doughy)

Filling
6, Ounces of  Whole Milk—Ricotta Cheese
4, Ounces of Red Raspberry preserves

Cream (French Toast) Mix
8, large eggs
2 to 2 ½ cups of ½ and ½
2, teaspoons vanilla extract

PREPARATION

1) Blend Ricotta and Raspberry preserves in a large bowl

2) Slice loaves on a 2 inch bias (slanted), about 20 degrees or to preference, and

save end pieces for a Strata—another breakfast fave!

3) Cut a slit length wise across the top of each piece of bread (corner to corner), and place on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil for easy clean up

4) Spoon mixture into bread pockets and set on cookie sheet so opening is facing up—this helps to keep filling from oozing out

5) Make cream mixture by whisking together the eggs, cream, and Vanilla extract—use a large bowl for this

6) Roll each, stuffed piece of bread in the cream mixture until just wet—do not over saturate, then place pieces on a cookie sheet (slit up), and drizzle remaining cream on top

7) Cover with saran wrap and allow to sit overnight—this allows the bread to surrender to the cream.

COOKING PROCESS

1) The following morning carefully unwrap your uncooked French toast and roll the tops in the remaining cream to wet—set aside

2) Preheat for 10 minutes an electric griddle (275 degrees) —very important to use an electric griddle—they cost about $30.00 and they are fantastic for Pancakes, French toast, Blintzes, etc.

3) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

4) After the griddle is preheated, coat with cooking spray

5) Brown French toast (about 3 minutes for the first side and 4 minutes for the second side—check by tilting the French toast with spatula every minute or two to ensure they do not burn

6) Place on a (Baker’s Secret) cookie sheet covered with tinfoil and bake in oven (400 degrees) for 5 to 6 minutes per side.  These double-layered cookie sheets (Baker’s Secret)—are readily available at your local grocer—prevent the bottom of your toast from burning

7) Powder sugar on each plate and then on French Toast

8) For presentation, you can slice extra strawberries on either side of plate; personally though, I like to plate the French Toast with bacon or kielbasa (Mmm…

healthy).

9) Serve with your   favorite syrup and butter

Note: As this dish is finishedin the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes, the outer surfaces of the French toast should be pastry-like (crispy, not burned) to the touch.  If not, than it should be baked a bit longer.  If you do not have a double-layered cookie sheet, use two cookie sheets (nested—one on top of the other), this is not the best method; however, it will help.

###

Coming into the New Year marks a birthday for me, personally, as well as a 1st birthday for InnTheKitchen.com.  What started as a small category on InnsideStory.com grew into this wonderful collection of breakfast recipes that I've enjoyed creating, eating and sharing. I've compiled my favorites below.  Breakfast is the first meal of the day, start it off well!  Celebrate the day.  Happy New Years!

"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas."  ~Author Unknown

#1 -- Cherry Almond Oatmeal Bake

Looking for a hot & steamy breakfast? I'm not talking about a romantic breakfast for two ... but instead a bowl of sweetness that fills your belly full and gives you the same comfort of a warm fuzzy blanket on a cold morning. Perfect for filling up before skiing or any other outdoor fall and winter activities where you have a houseful of cold and hungry folks to feed. (Read More ..)

#2 --  Autumn Sangria

I can't think of a better way to kick off the season than with a glass of spice infused Autumn Sangria.  My good friend, Maranda gave me this recipe and I always make a batch every Fall.  First I'm gonna show you how to make it.  Then we're gonna clink glasses and have a little toast.  Okay ... maybe just clink your glass to your computer monitor ... just be sure to not spill any on the keyboard.(Read More ...)

#3 -- Salsa & Eggs

This has to be the easiest and healthiest breakfast I've made in a long time.  Simple ingredients, fabulous flavor. It was given to me by the Grandison Inn located in Oklahoma City and it is their most requested breakfast dish among guests. Once you make it for the first time, it's the kind of recipe that stays in your head that you can whip up quickly without even thinking twice about it.  Don't ya just love those? (Read More ... )

#4 -- Blueberry Citrus Scones

Blueberries make a great low fat snack for munching while working on your computer or watching a movie.  But this recipe ... is definitely NOT of the low-fat-guilt-free diet variety.  But they're worth every calorie!  Besides, when you look at the ingredients ... some milk, some orange juice, some eggs ... you can convince yourself that this is a healthy breakfast.  Right?  Well ... at least believe me when I say that they're super delicious. (Read More ... )

#5 -- Rhubarb Jam

My grandmother's sister ... my great aunt ... came down to visit us from New Hampshire recently.  She still lives in the little teeny town they grew up in called Berlin.  I loved spending time with them and hearing about their stories of "the good ole days" which, ironically, were partially during the Great Depression.  Life was simple and much slower back then and everything they ate was grown in their yard and cooked from scratch.  (Read More ...)

#6 -- Marshmallow .. From Scratch!

Not really for breakfast, but could be!  My friend Eric always had some good treats baked up.  So when he told me he had a recipe for Marshmallow I begged him to share!   He had  me asking ... WTF is actually IN a marshmallow?  You mean they're not magically produced by Willy Wonka?  There are ingredients I can buy at the store to make these?  Awesome!  They're unbelievably easy! I'll walk  you through it step-by-step with photos and post the full recipe at the end.  (Read More ... )

#7 -- New Mexico Souffle

Want to add some color to your breakfast?  Then then read on because the blend of lavender, dry mustard, cayenne and green chilies makes this a rainbow of flavor.  But it's not sweet like Skittles. This New Mexico Souffle fills your senses with calm floral lavender and leaves you with a zippy heat from the chilies.  Get ready to have a party in your mouth, New Mexico style. (Read More ... )

#8 -- Cinnamon Rolls

Flour ... Butter ... Eggs ... Milk ... Sugar ... Oh, how I love thee ... let me count the ways.  It never ceases to amaze me how many different things can be baked from just tweaking a combination of the above ingredients.  I'll have to have a marathon-list-making post of all the different creations. For this morning, I'm going to make a traditional chilly-morning-gooey-cozy-comfort-food favorite ... cinnamon rolls.  (Read More ... )

#9 -- Beer with Breakfast

Inspired by a visit from Tom and Gayle, I paired breakfast with beer.  It was a late breakfast ... I promise ... after noon.  This was a little outside of my box as it was not an "inn" that gave me the recipe. I found the recipe on Tom's website, BrooklynBrewery.com . Having beer with breakfast intrigued me. While I have to confess that I'm not normally a beer drinker ... this was an AMAZING flavor pairing.  (Read More ...)

#10 -- Croissant Bread Pudding

We recently enjoyed a whirlwind weekend in San Francisco. It's a lot to see in only four days, but I'm really happy that we squeezed in drive out to Napa Valley where we met with the innkeepers at the Glass Mountain Inn, a gorgeous inn located in St. Helena.  How about a little Grand Marnier with your breakfast?   (Read More ... )

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I made a major faux pas this past weekend.  I had my family over for brunch with some fabulous pancakes and NO SYRUP!

GASP!

How could a breakfast girl like me not have syrup in the house.  I'll tell you how ... I used it all up when taking that photo pictured above and forgot to buy more when I went to the store!

So, I did what any cook in the digital age would do ... I Googled it.  There had to be a recipe for syrup online.  I found a ton of recipes, but they were all fancy flavored and I was just looking for plain old regular brown-sweet-not-good-for-your-teeth syrup.

I found a recipe for homemade maple syrup, cocked my head to the side and furrowed my brow thinking, "homemade maple syrup, what am I gonna do, grow a tree in my kitchen? I'd love a pop-up tree with a spout."  Turns out is sugar and maple flavoring.  Bleh.  My family is from New Hampshire, so I can't do fake maple.  But, this recipe gave me some ideas for what ingredients to start with.

Just 3 ingredients plus water.  But then, it was too watery.  So I modified.  And modified some more.  And ended up with a  sweet and slow running made-at-home pancake syrup.  And now that I know the ingredients don't have to include hydrogenated thingamajigies or Red Lake #20, I'll never buy store bought again.  Unless, of course, it's authentic New England Maple Syrup.

Pancake Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Water

1 Cup White Sugar

2 Cups Brown Sugar

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Corn Starch

Directions

1) Add cornstarch to white sugar and mix together.  Then add all ingredients to a large saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil.

2) Once it begins to bubble, turn heat down to low and stir until all sugar is dissolved.

3) Serve hot off the stove, or let cool for a bit and it will thicken up even more.

###

I'm so glad I finished all of my holiday shopping ... ah em ... I wouldn't say "early" ... but at least it's now Christmas Eve and I'm able to spend the day relaxing at home, baking and getting ready for family and friends tomorrow.

This recipe is perfect for enjoying with a cup of hot chocolate and warming up on a cold day.  And, oddly enough, it actually comes from a bed & breakfast in the warm tropical island of Key West, the Grand Guest House.  If you'd like to warm up even more on this cold winter morning, transport yourself to Key West with these two awesome videos by Vanessa ... Grand Guest House Video, and Scott's Sunset ...

On with the bread!

I love to bake.  It's one thing I actually do pretty well.  It also gives me a chance to use my clay baking stoneware which makes me feel more down to earth/natural/eco-friendly in a really weird way.  Especially since the only organic thing I used in this recipe was Cinnamon.  But I digress.  Must have too much Baileys in my hot chocolate this morning.

Here's what you'll need to make a Spiced Apple Walnut Bread ...

Let the butter soften to room temperature and then slice up to make for easy blending.

Add the flour ...

Some cinnamon ... well ... actually ... A  LOT of cinnamon ...

"Mt" Cinnamon ... they don't call it "spiced" bread for nothin!

Little free plug for Arm & Hammer.  Really ... do they have any competition?

Must be nice.  Don't notice any other baking soda's at the grocery store.

Pinch of salt.

Tangent: Now, when I made the breakfast pizza, I asked my boyfriend to pick up a wad of pizza dough from our local pizzeria and he looked at me like I had two heads.  A couple of nights ago, I asked him to put a dollop of sour cream on my chili and, again, he looked at me like I had two heads.

A pinch, a dollop and a wad are all perfectly acceptable units of measure to me.

Pour in the applesauce ...

"Technically" the directions say to pulse this all in a food processor.  My food processor is only big enough to make a small bowl of pesto ... definitely not big enough for bread dough!  Don't know how that changes things.  Maybe it wont rise or be as fluffy.  Still tasted pretty darn good though.

Blend ... breathe in the scent of cinnamon and apples ... Mmm ...

Scrape the bowl to make sure you get all the chunky bits ...

Add the walnuts ...

Blend again ...

Lick the beater, the spoon, the spatula, the bowl, your fingers ...

Dress up your bread pan with some oil, flour and sugar.  A bit more than a pinch, more like a dollop.  Except sugar really doesn't dollop ... so it's more like a large sprinkling.  Again, an acceptable unit of measure.

Another free plug for Dixie Crystals.  See ... this is why I usually pour out all the ingredients in dishes first!  But I was feeling a little lazy today.

Tangent: I had a cat named Dixie Crystals once.  A pretty white Siamese with blue eyes.  I was working in marketing for agriculture at the time and had a meeting with some sugar farmers.  She was a little kitten they had on the farm that jumped in my lap at the meeting, so they thought I should take her home.  My apartment at the time didn't allow me to keep her, so my parents adopted her.  After climbing curtains, bookcases, tv stands, and human legs ... she's been re-named Punky.  I shall start my own brand of sugar one day with a cool cat logo and call it Punky in her honor.

On with the bread ...

Make sure your pan is well sugared ... it creates nice sweet crispy bits on the crust.

Once your bread pan/stone is nice and sugared-up, fill it with your batter and bake at 375 for an hour.

Yes, that is a polka-dot apron and knee-high striped socks that you see on the left.  I guess I was just having a "Punky" kind of a day ... not normal for me at all.  I'm usually more of a conservative kinda gal.

Mmm ... warm, butter-meltin, spiced applesauce walnut bread.

Spiced Applesauce Nut Bread

from the Grand Guest House, Key West

Ingredients

1/2 cup safflower oil OR 1 stick unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/4  cups applesauce

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

4 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup walnuts

Directions

1) Place rack in center of the oven and preheat to 375.  Grease and sugar 6 1/4 cup (1.5 L) loaf pan.

2) Process all ingredients in food processor for 5 seconds.  Scrape work bowl and pulse to combine 1 or two times.  Do not over process.

3) Transfer to prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes.  Leave in pan for 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

###

We recently had my friend Jaden and her family up visiting our home town of Mount Dora for some holiday fun.  A little holiday shopping, a little man-made snow sledding in the park ... a lot of good food!

Ordinarily I'd happily invite friends over to stay at our home, but we've got a little 1920's  two bedroom cottage.  Hardly big enough for two families ... although, I could pitch a tent in the basement and we could make it fun like a good old fashioned grade school sleep over.  Hmm ... naaaah.

Instead, our friends Jim & Ana at the Mount Dora Historic Inn graciously hosted them at their Conch House Cottages so they could have their own home away from home.  It's literally just a few steps away from our front door.  The only condition ... we all had to do breakfast together.  Wonder what happens when you get a group of people together in the morning that love food?

Breakfast lasts aaaaall daaaaaaay!

That's my kind of morning.

We had much to celebrate after she and her son, Nathan, and I survived crossing 4 lanes of traffic led by a kamikaze pedicab driver across NYC's 5th Ave.  You can see some Flip cam action of that ride here ...

Notice that we're laughing hysterically.  Lesson learned, when in the face of death ... smile.

The photos in this post are from SteamyKitchen's talented eye and quick triggered shutter finger.  One cup of strong coffee and she's whippin around the kitchen with her 5 lb lens totally workin the food.

In the recipe below, I kept Chef Jim's instructions just as he gave them to me.  For one, I didn't remake this one in my kitchen yet, so I have no comments other than Mmm and Yum.  But you'll notice a few of his notes will make you scratch your head and say, "really?"  Yeah, he's a joker.  He had me once asking our local grocery manager what the difference was between "hens" eggs and "chicken" eggs.  There is none.  Ha ha.

First ... a little food porn ... some drooling ... and then ... the recipe .

I have no words.  No commentary.   Just pure silence awe.

Okay.  One small teeny little comment.  Notice the purple mug in the right hand corner.  Yeah, the one that is the size of a coffee pot.  Jim said his doctor told him he could only drink one cup of coffee ... so he just upgraded his mug.  For all the coffee lovers out there ... that's not lying, right?  It is one cup of coffee, it's just 20 ounces.  LOL!

And one final note ... this was our 3rd course that day.  Good thing I started running as a hobby!

Enjoy!

Italian Breakfast Strata

from the Mount Dora Historic Inn

Ingredients

Egg mixture
12, large eggs
1, tsp dry mustard
4, dashes of your favorite hot sauce
Black pepper to your liking
8, ounce sour cream
½ cup whole Milk
4 oz hand-grated Cheddar
4 oz hand-grated Muenster

Ingredients for Layers
Day old Italian sandwich bread—hand-pulled into ½ inch pieces—about a 1 ½
¼ each green, red and yellow peppers—cored and diced
¼ medium onion—peeled and diced
½ lb of boiled ham—hand-pulled into small pieces
4 oz hand-grated Cheddar
4 oz hand-grated Muenster

Method for Eggs

Whip together eggs, sour cream, and milk—then add spices and blend well—electric blender works best—set aside

Architecture of the layers

1) Grease well a standard pie-dish
2) Layer enough day old bread to cover the bottom of the dish
3) Sautee your onions and peppers in little olive oil—cool—then evenly layer over the bread
4) Then spread ham over the veggies and, finally, spread both cheese over the top
5) Pour ½ of the egg mixture over the layers and let sit for 5 minutes—this allows the bread some time to soak up the egg mixture
6) Add the rest of mixture reserving 1/3 inch of space from the top of the pie dish
7) Place in pre-heated oven ... Then pour remaining mixture just to the top-edge of the pie dish—this prevents spilling of egg mixture—on your floor, in the oven and on your shoes.
8) Bake for 60 to 65 minutes at 350 degrees or check with an instant read thermometer to 180 degrees internal temperature –Allow to temper and set for 6 minutes before slicing.

Note: The Strata will get puffy on the sides first and then the middle will puff during the final minutes of cooking.  If the middle does not puff—it is not done!

###

Flour ... Butter ... Eggs ... Milk ... Sugar ... Oh, how I love thee.  Let me count the ways ...

It never ceases to amaze me how many different things can be baked from just tweaking a combination of the above ingredients.  I'll have to have a marathon-list-making post of all the different creations.

For this morning, I'm going to make a traditional chilly-morning-gooey-cozy-comfort-food favorite ... cinnamon rolls.  I have to confess, I usually make these by popping open a cylinder can with a certain giggly dough boy gracing the label.  The orange icing was my favorite.  Artificial ... yes, I know.  But quick and easy.

This recipe is not a quick one.  But it is easy.  Nothing artificial here.  And they taste soooo much better with the added ingredients of time and love.

There are a lot of different variations of recipes for cinnamon rolls, but this one in particular comes from Anchor Inn on the Lake in Branson.

Here's what you'll need ...

The magnificent 5 ... flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs ... with cinnamon, brown sugar and yeast.  I know, yeast is the only one that doesn't sound yummy.  It makes them big and soft and gooey though.

Add the yeast to a mixing bowl with just a little bit of water, about a 1/2 cup.  As the yeast dissolved into the water, you may need to mix it up just a bit to make sure there are no big clumps of yeast.

Scald the mild and melt the butter into it.  Do NOT boil.  This is on low to medium heat.

Break the egg into a separate bowl and beat with a whisk.  Sounds a little like punishment for the egg, doesn't it?

My friend Jim gave me another reason/need to break the egg into a separate dish ... it is so that you don't ruin your whole recipe in case the egg is bad.  Luckily I've never encountered a bad egg.

Add the eggs to the milk/butter mixture and mix.  Then add the milk/butter/egg mixture to the yeast absorbed in water and mix.  Then add the flour and white sugar to the wet mixture and lightly mix with a spoon, just so that all the flour/sugar is wet.  Cover with a towel and put it in a warm place (I place it on top of my heating oven) to let the dough rise for an hour.

In the recipe, Dee suggests turning the dough out onto a floured surface and kneading for 5 minutes, THEN setting it aside to rise.  I followed this instruction making my first batch of cinnamon rolls, and the dough never rose.  But I'm pretty sure that had a lot to do with the fact that it was a hot humid sticky sauna outside that day.  Even in my second batch, it did rise, but it didn't double in size.  As much satisfaction as I would have received from punching down the dough, I didn't want to fight mother nature.

Plop the dough out onto a floured surface.  (I probably have a little too much flour there!) Also flour your hands up pretty good, work into a ball and then roll it into a rectangular shape.

Spread on melted butter ... about  3/4 of a stick, and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll into a tight roll and pinch the edge together at the end.  Some cinnamon sugar gooeyness might ooze out.  That's okay.

Then slice into 1 inch think rolls and place onto a greased/floured cookie sheet or baking dish.

Mm

Next batch, I think I'm going to try adding the orange glaze from The Old Hen  Bed & Breakfast.  Then I'll have the full homemade version of my dough boy childhood favorite.

Try leaving a batch of these for Santa instead of cookies ... I'm sure he/she will be pleased!

Cinnamon Rolls

from Anchor Inn on the Lake

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Water

1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast

1 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup Butter

1 tsp Salt

1 Egg

4 1/2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Sugar

Filling

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Cinnamon

2 tbsp Butter

Directions

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 Cup warm water in a large mixing bowl.

Scald mild and melt butter in it.  Add sugar and salt to milk mixture.  Let cool to 120 degrees and add beaten egg to milk mixture.

Add mild mixture to yeast and mix well, then add flour.  Let dough rise until double.

Punch down dough and roll out into 9x13 rectangle

Spread butter or margarine across rolled out dough

Cover with brown sugar and cinnamon

Roll up dough lengthwise into tight roll.

Slice dough into 1 inch slices

Place slices cut side up on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

###

on an open fire ... jack frost nipping at your noooooose ...

Okay I do apologize for getting that holiday song stuck in your head for the day.  It is one of my favorites though.

After coming back from NYC, I miss one of my favorite street snacks ...chestnuts.  Every corner had a vendor peddling these piping hot little treats.  They're one of my favorites this time of year.  Warm and hearty, kind of like bite sized bits of buttered baked potatoes.  And surprisingly, though pistachio growers would have you think otherwise, chestnuts are the lowest calorie nut around.

I've never actually roasted them on an open fire, but I do know how to bake 'em.

Here's how ...

Roasting Chestnuts

Just pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.

Place a dish towel over a cutting board (to prevent rolling nuts and missing fingers!) and cut an "x" into each chestnut. This helps with two things.

One ... it makes for easy peeling and eating.

Two ... it lets out the steam from roasting so they don't explode in your oven.

It might sound nice in the holiday song ... "hear the chestnuts POP! ... pop, pop, pop!" But it wouldn't be a pleasant picture.  Quarter-sized projectiles would be a little dangerous, actually.

Bake them for about 30 minutes until the shells have started
to peel and the insides look golden brown.

Let them cool, then enjoy!

###

A second helping (follow up) to the recent pumpkin cheesecake post. (To see the full recipe, click here.)

A little explanation before you watch the video.  First ... cheesecake takes longer than 4 minutes.  Second ... if you have never been in a television studio ... it is FAAH-REEEZ-ZING!  That being said, "room temperature" in the studio was not exactly warm enough to soften up the cream cheese so in the end you'll see it looks a little lumpy.  It's not supposed to be.  (wink).   As long as your kitchen isn't as cold as a TV studio ... or ... let's say ... Antarctica for that matter ... and you follow the recipe, you'll have a smooth and creamy cheesecake!  Check out the Daytime clip below ...

DAAANG!  iPhone takes a good photo.  Thanks to my friend Beth for snapping a shot during the shoot.

And here's how my at-home cheesecake turned out.  Yum.

I'll be modifying the Autumn Sangria recipe for the holidays on Daytime next week ... so stay tuned!

###

Just got back from takin a bite outta the big apple with my friend@SteamyKitchen.  New York City is really magical this time of year ... the glittering lights, the holiday decorations

It was a quick trip, but we really covered a lot of ground ... LITERALLY!

Let's see ...

we played ChopSticks on the huge floor piano at FAO Schwartz ...

survived the subway thanks to the kindness and navigation skills of a true New Yorker, @ChefMark ...

had dinner at trendy Nooch in Chelsea ...

almost died crossing 4 lanes of traffic in the back of a pedicab...

took a carriage ride and went ice skating in Central Park ...

walked down to Bryant Park for a festive dinner and village-like shopping (big Thank You to @morganbreadwine for the suggestion) ...

stood in awe at the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center...

marveled at the window displays on 5th Avenue...

shared a giant nutcracker flavored doughnut from Doughnut Planet (found it at Dean & Deluca, never made it to the lower East side) ...

soared high on sugar at Dylan's Candy Bar...

got to hang out on set and in the green room (that's not green at all) at CBS Morning Show where @SteamyKitchen cooked up some holiday treats.  My favorite ... the chocolate wontons.  But that's just my sweet tooth talkin.

and on our last day Jaden even waved her arm high in the air and successfully hailed a taxi.  Pretty impressive for a Florida girl!

And one quick check mark off my "bucket" list ... Breakfast at Tiffany's ...

Doesn't my croissant look like it's glowing?  It was probably basking in all the attention it was receiving at we passed it around to take photos.  It must have thought it was the star.   Or ... it could just be the crappy exposure on my phone's camera.  LOL!

Ever get lost in a corn maze? In my last little ode to fall, I went on a little day trip with fellow Innkeepers Jim & Ana with the Mount Dora Historic Inn to a local corn maze. A maize maze. I thought getting lost in 6 acres of corn would be a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the weather and walk off all the tasty holiday indulgences.

Check it out in the video below and test out the crazy recipe for corn cupcakes that we came up with while trying to find our way out of the maze!