Spending Time ~ Showing a Little Love with Brunch (crispy french toast style)

Have you ever heard of the 5 Love Languages? It’s a theory to help you understand how you receive love & also how you express love. The 5 love languages are: words of affirmation, quality time (spending time), receiving gifts, acts of service, or physical touch. Each of these languages is enjoyed to some degree by all people, and I believe we need all of them but you usually have 1 or 2 that stand out more for you than the rest.  One of my top 2 is Spending Time.  I feel the most loved when I’m spending quality time with friends & family.   It’s such a special thing to me when someone takes time out of their busy schedule to have dinner, lunch, breakfast, or ice cream with me - basically anything revolving around food & drinks! And I also show love in this way so it’s no surprise that I love to invite people over to my place to eat.  My other strong love language to express love to others is Acts of Services.  So even though I HATE to cook; I LOVE to cook for the people that I adore (and don’t even mind it)! A few years ago I did a brunch for a friend & have been doing it ever since.  I think its a nice way to start the weekend off.  I love having people over and feeling the spirits of my friends enjoying a good meal (I hope) and getting the chance to catch up with others.  Living in Los Angeles, things can be so hectic & crazy, and sometimes I find that just taking an hour to get together with a group of good loving people can put your feet back on the ground.  I think we all need that time to time.

Check the photos of the recent brunch my roommate & I hosted at our place.

I had extra scraps of this pretty paper & thought of this idea so they wouldn’t go to waste.

I made these paper napkins rings that say “Grub” on the front (I find that word cute so I had to add it!), and on the back of the napkins ring is a “fortune/inspiration quotes” – like a fortune cookie. It was such a frugal & cute touch to a simple brunch.  Most of our guests enjoyed get an inspirational or encouragement fortune – none of them were males though. The boys didn’t seemed phase by it at all! Haha!  But the girls really enjoyed it.

I went to Texas in September & my friend took me to Cafe Express.  She kept raving about their french toast & she was abosoulty right! The reason their french toast is so good is because they make it crispy.  We don't have a Cafe Express in LA so I had to figure out how to make it to fix my craving for it!  I made my own creation of crispy french toast with peanut butter!  I love Peanut Butter & could have it in every meal.   I will post my recipe shortly.

I’m actually not a fan of eggs. I’m very picky about eating them & have to be a particular mood for them, I can’t ever eat them alone, I need some kind of bread or tortilla to eat them, would never eat a omelet or a quiche(YUCK!), they have to be scrambled ; it’s a whole ordeal!   But amazingly enough, my friend Katherine makes the most amazing eggs! I don’ know how she does it but I would eats her eggs alone anytime, any day! She said her secret are the spices that she adds in them, fresh onion, & that she lets her eggs sit for a bit when they’re first on the grill before scrambling them around.  I don’t know though – because I’ve tried & my eggs tasted like plastic paper. Not that I’ve ever eaten plastic paper but if you ever wanna get an idea what plastic paper would taste like – I’ll make you some of my eggs!

I usually make a breakfast potato casserole but this time I also made a few into potato cupcakes.  The potatoes have all my favorite things inside: cheese, sour cream & potato!  My brother in-law calls my potato casserole “A Baked Potato in a Bit”

The best thing about doing a brunch is that you can have a party inexpensively.  I usually do some sort of a pot luck style so everyone can contribute a little something which ends up going a long way.  I find it best to do it that way, because everything starts to add up.  I usually hit the cheap grocery stores when feeding a big party.  My favorite inexpensive grocery stores are Vallarta Supermarket in Van Nuys & Superior Grocers in North Hollywood. They have other locations in Los Angeles as well.  Lately, Vallarta has been my go to they have really good prices on produce, meats, & breads.  Costco is also good especially if you’re feeding a party larger than 20.

We have a couple of friends that have a “condition”.
Lol! Not really, they just can’t have dairy or wheat products.  So I made a label out of chalkboard paper & put it on my cake cover stand to designate a special area with their dairy & gluten free products.  I didn't want them to get sick on my watch!

We had a lot more people than we anticipated but that was an awesome blessing. It was our first official party we did together, as roommates, & we loved having it.  We might just have to do another one in the near future....and this time we should do the Love Language ‘Gifts’....and everyone brings us a gift! Who wouldn’t love to do that?! ;)