Journey to the Future Me: 2012

I love breakfast food. This is a massive departure from me growing up who ate a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich for breakfast 5 days a week for at least 15 years of my life and would only touch scrambled eggs on Girl Scout camp outs if there was copious amounts of ketchup available. But in the last 5 or so years I've found a new found appreciate for breakfast. I'm not very good at cooking it and I can't do anything much more complicated then french toast, pancakes or scrambled eggs therefor I do most of my breakfast eating out. I've been on the quest for the best place for breakfast in the Tacoma area and I thought I'd start updating the blog with some of the places I've eaten over the last couple of months. I'll lump them all together in this post and then give them their own from here on out. That way if you're ever stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord or visiting the Tacoma area you'll know where to go! I'm going to rate them on a 1 to 5 egg scale with 5 eggs being the best.

The Bair Bistro- This place gets points for ambiance that's for sure. The walls are lined with relics and photos from the early 1900's and they can still serve you a soda from an original 1908 soda fountain. I ordered their Challah French Toast. It got points for great syrup and good bread but the French Toast itself was pretty meh. It was Orange scented which I didn't like because well I hate oranges but I thought it'd be more subtle then it was. It was like eating french toast cooked in orange juice. 2 out of 5 eggs

Galloping Gerties- This place wouldn't get points for ambiance if it tried. Located right outside the Madigan Gate for JBLM in Tillacum which is a town only accessible by the highway and mostly home to pawn shops, hair places, fast food and uniform sewing shops. However the food makes up for the lack of ambiance and location. I've eaten here a couple of times got the french toast once and the pancakes another time. I also got their hashbrowns during one of these adventures. It was pretty good. Nothing special, mostly greasy diner food but the service was good and the food good. 3.5 out of 5 eggs

Marcia's Silver Spoon Cafe- This is by far my favorite place I've tried. Its TINY and you have to be prepared to wait but the portions are massive and the food is delish. I've gone twice, once got the french toast and another time the breakfast sandwich. The first time I went I ordered a hot chocolate. The woman asked me if I wanted whipped creme. Because it was a Sunday and I tend to only eat 1 big meal on Sundays I figured SURE. She, no kidding, put a 6-8 inch pile of whipped creme on it and then a pile of rainbow sprinkles. It was a little embarrassing. About halfway through breakfast the couple next to me at the counter also order hot chocolate with whipped creme and I waited for her to bring it out to them. The look on their faces was awesome! 5 out of 5 eggs

Pine Cone Cafe- This was part of my quest for the best french toast. I really enjoy their french toast in that they covered it in cinnamon sugar so it had a great crunch but they basically just used white bread so to pay 7 bucks for something where I'm not even sure the loaf costs that much was a little annoying. This place gets pretty crowded for the after church crowd and I can't say that it was that great or that memorable over all. I went with a friend who got the eggs Benedict and found it pretty good. I used to love a good eggs benny but now I can't eat the holandaise due to my broken stomach. 2 out of 5 eggs

Old Milwaukee Cafe- This is the most recent place I've tried. I went out during Tacoma's BIG SNOW (lets ignore that there were like 4 inches of snow on the ground) because I wanted a rich hearty breakfast (and one of my roommates was cooking for his girlfriend and foiled my plans of cooking breakfast for myself). This place is SMALL. I think there are only 10 tables total. I waited about 30 mins for a table, I'm not sure why I waited other than I didn't really feel like finding somewhere else and dealing with Tacoma drivers. Once I got seated it took at least another hour to get my food. The food was okay, the scone with raspberry jam was GREAT (I don't even generally like raspberry) but I don't know that I'd be back due to the wait. I did like that the waitress (one of the owners) seemed to know everyone and really enjoy the regulars. But as a newcomer I wasn't super impressed by the food or the wait. 2 out of 5 eggs

Okay that wraps up my current quest for breakfast. Stay tuned for the next update!

Where I spend 40 hours a week!

Considering I am going to be moving into a new place (of my very own!) in about a month I figure I should let you see where I'm living right now. I am currently renting a room in one of Tacoma's um...more transitional neighborhoods. I honestly haven't really had any trouble living here and my block is really quiet if you ignore the yappy dogs in the alley. I did make the mistake at looking at the sex offender registry the other day and figure out that there are like 6 in my immediate area. But I guess that happens a lot of places! Anyway, I have 3 roommates,all male--D a nurse at a local hospital, H a podiatrist and S an accountant. They're pretty cool dudes and for the most part I don't really see them. I think I've only see D 5 or 6 times in the 2 months I've lived here. I see H (and whomever his flavor of the week is) and S the most. I have my own bedroom and bathroom which is great (and the only way I could probably live with guys or really people). I thought it might be a disaster (I'm not great with living with people...only child syndrome) but honestly I have no major complaints other than H's current flavor of the week is very noisy (and young) so when they're in the living room you can hear her in the tristate area. The house is old and creeky so when people move around in the hallway you can hear them but that's unavoidable. But without further ado, here are some photos of my living space (bedroom and bathroom). Oh and the bonus one of my cube above.