At the base of mountains around Cold Spring, nestled along Route 9, attached to the vegetable and flower market Vera's, is the unassuming yet very amazing Cold Spring Coffee Pantry, which I've never seen before in all the times that I've driven by on my way to visit friends in Sleepy Hollow or White Plains. The Coffee Pantry is quite perfectly, one of the best looking coffee shops I've ever been into. Not only that, but its ambitious drink and bakery menu is unstoppable. This coming week, starting Tuesday March 18th 2014, they are pouring for the first time wine and craft beers, by the bottle or by the glass for those lounging in the Coffee Pantry (drinks must be consumed on premises and not taken away).

Let's start with the coffee. Our friends told us about this spot one play date when we were discussing coffee and my current obsession with my Aero Press from Bank Square here in Beacon. Our friends loved Bank Square and our local coffee shops of course, but they also shared their favorite weekend spot, the Cold Spring Coffee Pantry as their "splurge" coffee, which it may be at $2.50 a cup. Each cup is manually brewed in a flat bottom drip, French press, or espresso style. But for the right brew of a bean, this is quite worth it. So let's talk about the coffee brands for a minute.The Coffee Pantry carries a wide variety of brands, including Irving Farm Rosters, Handsome Coffee Roasters (my fave name of a blend: "Handmade & Damn Handsome...just makes me giggle!), Counter Culture, and many others!

Then there is the juice bar, with a selection of extremely healthy juice drinks on the menu, the produce of which comes from Vera's next door, which isn't sprayed with anything and some is organic. Talk about local farm to your cup!

And now let's delight in Ella's Bella's Bakery, having their own walk of deliciousness along the side wall and across from what looked like the craft beer kegs. Gluten free and vegan for those of you who need it, and plenty if butter based pastries for those if us who butter is a staple in our diets. Croissant sandwiches, chocolate, quiche, blackberry chia oat bars, whoopie pies...?

I can't even type this anymore because I'm getting so hungry and need to get in the car to start my Route 9 errands, hitting the Coffee Pantry first, even though it's in the opposite direction of where I need to go, as I'm headed to Poughkeepsie to fix a sewing machine, hit up a party store, and grocery shop at Hannafords.

Yum!

On Saturday morning, I met with the girls who run Hudson Valley Compass, the new website that helps you find things to do in the Hudson Valley. Beyond meeting two great people, I was really looking forward to trying a breakfast sandwich at Beacon Bread Company. I'm very particular about my breakfast sandwich, and on the weekend, I can pull out all stops for a large meal to carry me through to a great Saturday night dinner.

I ordered the egg sandwich on a Brioche bun. My breakfast partners ordered an omelet with spinach, which we learned was a garlic infused sautéed spinach. I piggybacked that side and added it to my order, and also ordered Gouda cheese in my scrambled egg sandwich. The eggs can come in any style you want. And they were gracious enough to let us be picky with our orders.

I like a cheesy egg sandwich, where cheese is oozing out the sides, and this cheese was scrambled in, so no ooze, but still delicious and hit the spot. Plus, I felt so healthy with the topping of spinach! To add to the excitement was my freshly squeezed orange juice, the squeezer machine of which you can see behind the counter. It's like a Farris wheel of oranges.

The Brioche bun filled me right up and I didn't need hash browns, although could have handled them. Just in the nick of time, the chef had finished cooking a bread pudding with raisins and maybe cinnamon, a sample of which was delivered to our table. OMG. Danger. You could easily have that bread pudding instead of French toast! Was so good.

For a great overview of Beacon Bread Company and how they started, check out this interview done by Wigwam. As for their bread, what owner and boulanger d’pain Ralph Clemente says in that interview is true: “Bread is just something I do. I know bread.” Yes he does. I've been buying loaves from Beacon Bread and All You Kneed for all of my bread needs since they opened.