Breakfast of Champions

Hungry the second you wake up? Yeah – me too…

The solution? I find a nice hearty breakfast helps silence the hunger pangs.. And at the Catskill Country Store in Windham, I can get just that – and address my shopping addiction as well – what could be better?
Right – nothing…

It’s a beautiful drive up route 23 to Windham – a nice little ski town featuring a quaint Main Street with all the must-haves: a gallery, a diner, several gift shops and realtors with pictures of “vacation” homes on their window for tourists to drool over and imagine they can afford - yeah, we’ll just quit our jobs, open a Bed & Breakfast and live in the country! Yeah.. right..

Anyway, this homey restaurant also features a country store selling everything from homemade bread and jams to crafts, candles, slippers, art work, books and more. It’s a great place to browse for gifts..

Okay - back to the food..
The Catskill Country Store serves lunch and breakfast – and both are good – but going out for breakfast, to me, is one of the greatest joys in life.. And with menu items like “Gimme Smores” (pancakes with chocolate chips and marshmallows), and “Eggs in Purgatory” (poached eggs in salsa, served over pepper parmesan bread) – who wouldn’t love breakfast?

So I headout to breakfast – and upon my arrival I was seated and given a very large menu. As I took on the task of trying to decide what to get – it all sounds great – I overhear the inevitable “downstate” contingent – just in from their ski condos down the road, donning the latest in fashionable ski wear, filling up before they hit the slopes. Thankfully they are not interested in taking in the ambiance and manage to ingest their food at lightning speed and leave so as not to miss a precious moment on the slopes..

Back to me – so I decide to go as healthy as I can tolerate – 2 scrambled eggs, and rye toast, with a side of lean Canadian bacon.

So I tried to be good – you saw what I ordered.. and yet out comes my dish along with a sizable helping of well-done home fries, all nice and crispy, fragrant with caramelized onions and soft, sautéed red peppers .. I didn’t ask for home fries – they come with the eggs - but you can bet I wasn’t sending them back! Not only are my home fries delicious, but so is the side of marble-rye toast – homemade and addictive.. and the Canadian bacon was yummy too – Breakfast also comes with fresh berries, and a slice of cantaloupe and orange. The coffee isn’t bad either – and features an “endless cup”.

Ahhhh… now I’m all fueled up and ready to hit the slopes!
Wait.. I don’t ski.. Back to the treadmill...