French Toast

I found out there was a farmer's market -- the kind where real farmers show up -- every Wednesdays and Sundays around where I live. Excited about this, I drove down Wednesday afternoon to check it out. After stopping by some booths, picking up chicken and fruits, I smelled a heavenly aroma -- bread.

Oh my word.

This man had cinnamon rolls on steroids!! Then he showed me the cinnamon loaf with pecans. Now, I'm not a huge pecan lover, but Jose loves sweet breads (ok, ANY bread) and pecan pie. Then, like he actually has to convince me to buy any, the bread man says (as I pick up and smell the cinnamon-pecan loaf) "Yeah, these make GREAT french toast!"

Genius!! I set down the beast of a watermelon I'm holding, pay him, and get home asap to... hide the bread. Now, before you start thinking I'm a horrible wife, I'm not hiding it so I can keep the starchy, buttery glory to myself. In fact, I plan on surprising him with breakfast the next day!

I'm ridiculous about "gifts." I love giving them, and I LOVE surprises. So the whole night, I was reading up about french toast because I HAD to make it right. I couldn't ruin that beautiful loaf with my clumsy cooking skills. Every now and then, Jose would walk by while I was reading the recipe online and I would yell "Don't look at my screen please!!" Or he'd open the pantry door and I'd say "STOP!!" The loaf was wrapped in plastic, but let's just say our pantry STILL smells like cinnamon. That stuff is crack!

(Picture I snapped during my wedding tasting: french toast, soaked in french vanilla ice cream the night before!!)

Anyway, I decide to prep the milk-egg mixture the night before. BUT, I also read that stale bread makes the best french toast (absorbs the mixture better apparently). This means I need to pre-slice my bread and leave it out during the night. So I prop Jose's laptop on the kitchen counter as I'm prepping everything AND meticulously making him stay in the living room. If you don't remember, we're in a condo so this is just a large room (living + dining + kitchen).

Right as I'm finishing things up, I find this video revealing great tips about french toast. However, what I DON'T remember is that when I used Jose's laptop earlier that day -- I had the volume on FULL blast for my workout video. Before I get the chance to even hit pause, a woman's voice BLARES out of the speakers "Cooking FRENCH TOAST IS"--- I hit the pause button and immediately look over at Jose on the couch with the desire that he SOMEHOW did NOT just hear that after spending the entire day keeping everything secret!!!

He busts out laughing.

Ugh. I could have dumped the egg mixture on his Mac. But then I wouldn't be able to watch my workout videos.

And want to hear something else that's funny? We didn't have VANILLA. So Jose suggested I put vanilla YOGURT in the mix. This is the same guy who brought me banana nut bread when I had a stomach virus because it was "practically a banana."

I have to admit it's those pieces of him that I love so much. They're so ridiculous sometimes that they just make me laugh. Okay, AFTER the fact. Cause I was not laughing at that stupid video. I'm talking FULL volume people. The NEIGHBORS KNEW I WAS MAKING FRENCH TOAST!

The french toasts? They turned out great. Vanilla yogurt and all.