Welcome to the Blog Cafe - Matt's Big Breakfast Today

So today we're going to take a little visit to a place called Matt's Big Breakfast. There are a few things that are really cool about Matt's - first, it's hard to get a table. They have you sign in on a little sheet of lined notebook paper they leave outside the door, and you put down how many in your party and they'll walk outside and let you know when they have room. In the meantime, they provide a little shade and some lovely orange flavored water to drink while you wait.




If you want to take a step across the street a block to the farmer's market, just write down beside your name "farmer's market" that way if they call your name and you aren't there, they'll wait and keep trying until you come back from your shopping spree.

Anybody remember the opening scene of the movie "Psycho" where they pan across the Phoenix skyline? This the the building you see in that scene, and also what you'll stare at across the way while you wait outside:


But when we finally get a seat it's soooo worth it. Because Matt's uses local produce only - and local farmer's who provide his bacon and eggs. It's super delicious. Like ridiculously delicious. And even if you aren't feeling like super heavy breakfast items, they have some other yummy yummy things, like a side of sourdough toast with homemade strawberry preserves, or fresh squeezed orange juice from local Phoenix oranges. You're going to love it. When it get's close to lunch time they also have things like grilled cheese, and egg salad. But mostly, it's a breakfast place and it's the best breakfast you'll ever have.Who still serves RC cola? Well, for some reason Matt does.



Oh yeah, and Food Network has featured this restaurant at least twice:


Okay so now that we're settled in at our window seat and feeling sorry for those people still waiting outside to get a table,

Let's open up our topic of discussion today. This week my parents were visiting from out of town. I grew up in a small town in Idaho and my parents still live there. There were great things about living there - like swimming in the ditch next to my house, roaming through the fields when I was bored and making huts out of grass and reeds, and generally feeling cozy (though all my fondest memories are of summer...not a big fan of the bitter cold winters...) But at any rate, I love living in Phoenix now and it's always interesting to me when my parents visit because I think they really like it too. But it's like they can't ever imagine themselves living here. And it's hard for them to accept that this is my home now, and I really imagine myself living here forever. There's a lot to love about this place, and frankly, if I'm being honest, I like it A LOT more than I liked living in rural Idaho. So one day I asked my mom - "Mom, if money were like no object at all - where else would you live besides where you do now? I mean, I know that you really like where you live (she's 69 and she's lived there her whole life) but where ELSE would you think about living or where do you think would be cool to live if you could just live anywhere you wanted BESIDES Idaho. And she really had to think about that. Like nothing just came to her mind immediately. And then I asked my dad and he sort of had the same response. And the most my mom could really come up with was that parts of Northern Idaho and Montana where they had recently been were "nice" and "I guess that might be okay". And I was like...well, sort of astounded. Because as much as I truly love where I live now - I have TONS of other places I would consider living if money were no object and there was no worry about income or jobs or kids or schools or whatever. And this is only a partial list, but I would seriously consider:


The greek islands

the coast of california, especially a house off a cliff around Big Sur:


The coast of Italy:

A Washington DC Brownstone near Dupont:



The Isle of Skye in Scotland:

San Francisco:

London:


or a Malibu beachhouse:



so two questions fellow blog cafe goers:

1. Do you ever dream about or imagine living somewhere else even if you love where you live right now?

and

2. Where would you go?


(And if you've never visited to the blog cafe before be sure to check the link on the sidebar for the calendar to see where we're meeting each Monday, anyone can join in the conversation, and if you're interested in hosting just look at the link and request to host and they'll get in touch with you about a date)

I'm interested to hear what you have to say!