OhmyGOD is it hot!!! Seattle has been hit by a record breaking heat wave that we can't seem to escape. From Tuesday on we've been hitting the mid 90's to almost 100˚F!! Excessive heat warnings are constantly all over the news and popping up as notifications on my phone, which almost just make it worse, like a continuous, constant reminder of how our city feels like it's turned into the surface of the sun ☀️☀️☀️. SO quite honestly, the urge to cook has been quite diminished this past week. Simple, quick, little heat required recipes are going to be whats up for my next few posts, starting with this Cherry Mascarpone Breakfast Toast!
Back to that heat issue: You might think I'm being a little over dramatic, which is probably true, but we're a "mild" city where it rains pretty much every other day AKA my favorite thing in the world. We've had maybe 2 drizzly days all summer, no ran in almost 50 days, and now it looks like the depths of Hades outside; a blood red sun and shimmering waves of heat with the air so clogged by smoke you can't even see downtown when you're mile or two away from it ???????????? (I'm not exaggerating).
Canada has issued a state of emergency due to the insane amount of wildfires burning through British Columbia to north of us. The wind happened to be just right so that the smoke rolled right smack into us. Our air quality right now is worse than Bejing! I finished work on Tuesday, walked outside and thought I had been star trek style beamed back down to Los Angeles. The heat and the scent of smoke? Mmmm just a typical LA summer!
I was immediately reminded of when we had to evacuate our home when we lived in Los Angeles due to the Station Fire. The fire itself was on our mountain side, one of the more terrifying fires to threaten my hometown. I was actually driving home from college that weekend to visit and as I was passing through the Grapevine, I saw the tell tale, sky high smoke column and thought WHEW that looks close to home! Good thing there's a mountain range in the way...I got closer and saw that our mountain range was, in fact, the one on fire.
Firemen tried to deny me access to my old street saying everyone had to evacuate and wouldn't let me pass until I pointed at my house and yelled "I live RIGHT THERE!". We got the evacuation call the next morning. The photo below was taken by my dad at the end of our street ????. Granted there was a small canyon between us and that mountain side but still...not a very wide canyon!
So even though it's pretty gnarly here in Seattle at the moment, I count myself lucky that we just have the smoke and no actual fire nearby. In the meantime, I'll just be hiding over here next to my saving grace, the portable air conditioner, doing a rain dance every hour on the hour ????????.
Aaaanyway, back on track with some Cherry Mascarpone Breakfast Toast. Basically, imagine this: it's summer, you're hungry, and it's breakfast but it's WAY to hot to make anything of actual substance. Solution? Breakfast toast. Filling, easy, tasty and takes 10 to 15 minutes tops. And what better way to enjoy the literal fruits of summer than with dark red, juicy cherries?
Also, have you ever tasted the heaven that is mascarpone cheese? Sooo creamy and fresh and delicious! The perfect vehicle for summer cherries and a drizzle of honey. Plus a sprinkle of mint from the garden ????????. Speaking of which, anyone have any gardening advice for a certified and very busy brown thumb? It's gone completely wild and short of basically ripping everything out and starting over I don't see many other options. Any easy plants that won't invade every corner of the yard with full sun? Definitely don't need any more mint or raspberries!
One more thing. This Cherry Mascarpone Breakfast Toast recipe uses just 6 ingredients, and one of those is olive oil. That's one of my favorite things about breakfast toast. So few ingredients and it's so filling and satisfying! I've also figured out that in all its glory, breakfast toast is pretty much morning crostini. And there's not a thing wrong with that! I'd eat crostini all day every day if it was a nutritionally acceptable thing to do. And you know what else? You could totally eat this as a dessert as well. Maybe even with a drizzle of chocolate!!
OK, just got another weather alert on my phone. The air quality and the heat warning will continue through noon on Monday ????. Excuse me while I go hug my air conditioner, and eat nothing but Cherry Mascarpone Breakfast Toast (and the odd smoothie)✌????.
Cherry Mascarpone Breakfast Toast
- Total Time: 11 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- 2 slices Pugliese bread, ¾ - 1 inch thick
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ounces mascarpone cheese
- ½ cup cherries, pitted and halved
- 3-4 mint leaves, roughly minced
- Honey for drizzling
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Brush slices of bread with olive oil. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bread slices and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool 1 minute.
- Spread each slice with a layer of mascarpone cheese and top with cherries.
- Sprinkle with mint and drizzle with honey. Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 6 mins
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