Nearly every morning, Julia and I make breakfast together. It’s a nice little ritual shared by two non morning-people: she sits on the kitchen counter and helps me whip up something delicious to compensate us for the fact that we have to get out of our pajamas before 10.
Like me, she has an on again-off again relationship with eggs before noon, so our breakfast repertoire was getting a little tired: whole wheat pancakes, french toast and back again, with waffles (courtesy of David) on the weekends. Last weekend the three of us met our friends Karen and Anitra for brunch at one of our favorite places, Dell’ Anima in the West Village. Soon after we sat down, the waiter brought us a plate of beautiful morning crostini — toasted bread topped with spoonfuls of fresh ricotta cheese, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with pine nuts. Julia tore into them immediately, munching away in silence with a smile on her face.
Since then I’ve added them to our breakfast rotation. The creamy ricotta (low fat, I suppose, for the non-toddlers) and the crunchy toast are perfect complements, and the sunny sweetness of the honey and rich nuts help wake up the palate. My current favorite is flavor is pistachio, but toasted almond, Marcona almond and pine nut are close runners up. Julia loves them all.
