While I was up in Westminster, I not only got my coffee drink from Birdie’s, but I wanted to get something to eat. I have walked by Molli’s Cafe several times, but never actually went inside. I had decided last week that I wanted to go here, and I was able to do it today.
I was thinking along the lines of something portable, so I decided to go with their Biggins’ Breakfast. Egg, sausage and cheese on my choice of bread, and I decided to go with whole wheat. This was sort of a double sandwich. The sausage was sandwiched between two eggs, as well as the bread. So it was a nice surprise for me. The whole wheat bread was a nice change of pace for me, and it worked well with this sandwich. This was a good first visit to Molli’s Cafe, and I look forward to going back there again. They have some Waffle Sandwiches on their breakfast menu, and I would definitely want to give those a try. This was another continuation to a great Saturday morning and it continued to keep me in a positive frame of mind.
The final stop during my morning up in Westminster was to go to Bullock’s. The grocery stores have very limited meat availability later in the day, and I thought that going to a fresh meat market would provide me with better opportunities to find some meat.
I was right! There were plenty of options, and as a result I was just walking back and forth in the store for about 10 minutes before I decided on what I was going to get. I ended up getting some ham ends, ground chuck (90/10), bacon, and loose sausage. I’m not sure exactly what I will be cooking with the different meats, but I have some ideas, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share that tomorrow.
This store has even more to choose from than the pictures I shared. I almost got some chicken, but didn’t want to go overboard with everything that I was already buying.
This ended my morning excursion in Westminster, and it was a great finish to the morning. I am looking forward to doing some cooking tomorrow and maybe creating something really flavorful, which will hopefully bring out some of the unique characteristics of each meat that I purchased.
The weekend is upon us and I had plans to go to Westminster for some goodies. I woke up around 3 in the morning due to the heavy rain, and it just kept coming. I left the house right around 8, and my timing worked really well. As I was driving up to Westminster in a heavy downpour, there was a moment where there was a bright light in the sky that felt like it was about 100 feet above my car, and a crash of thunder at the same time. It was a very cool experience, and it did not cause a jolt to my heart at all.
By the time I parked, the rain had slowed to a slight drizzle, so I wasn’t going to have to worry about getting soaked while getting in some walking. I made my way over to Furnace Hills Coffee, which I’ve been to a number of times. They make good coffee drinks, and they do things for a good cause, which makes it even more worthwhile.
I ordered a blended Peanut Butter Cup coffee drink. This has been my go-to drink, and it’s always really good. The combination of the peanut butter chocolate and espresso almost give it a roasted peanut flavor, which I enjoy, and it’s probably why I order it a lot.
I wanted to provide some extra support for the local small business, so I also picked up an espresso roast. Since I make my ice blended coffee drinks during the week (usually four days during the week), I thought this would be good to have as part of my base. And the great thing about this is the aroma. Their coffee smells really good, so I had the pleasure of that in the car, and I get that nice smell in the house now.
With all the things that are happening right now, one of the things that hadn’t crossed my mind is the small businesses who supply food, materials, supplies, and more to the businesses. With the businesses closed and employees working from home, that’s a huge chunk for some of these small businesses. So I’m happy to go out and show my support while I can.
Having a great coffee drink in the morning, especially when I was really tired, helped get my day off to the right start. It was the beginning of what I hope will be a great weekend!
I had some errands to run today in Westminster. When I was trying to plot out my morning, I had in mind to try Rutter’s. I had seen a couple of those gas station/convenience stores when I was in Pennsylvania, but I had noticed there was one in Walkersville, MD as well. The convenience store part of the business sells frozen coffee drinks, and I wanted to check it out to see how it compares. My errands in Westminster would have been quick, so I was planning on leaving a bit early, getting the coffee drink, running errands, and then heading home.
Sometimes plans don’t always go as you might like, so you have to improvise. I didn’t end up leaving the house until about 11:30AM. It’s probably better that I didn’t leave until then, since the weather was colder than expected and the fog was really thick on the drive. If I had left earlier, it might have been very icy with extremely low visibility.
When I got to the Rutter’s in Walkersville, I decided to check out the store. It is a nice sized store and was very clean. I checked out the menu on the kiosk for the coffee drinks and decided on a cookies and cream frappe with an extra shot of espresso. The food menu looked really good, but I wasn’t ready to eat anything. They offer some standard sandwiches and subs, but also have tacos, burgers, noodles, and more. These are made to order foods, not just free standing grab and go. There is an open kitchen where you can see your food being made. The frappe was a good drink. The consistency was nice and smooth, no chunks of ice at all. I could get the distinct cookies and cream flavor, but I also got the deep flavor of the extra shot of espresso, which provided a nice layer of depth to this drink. I may not go 45 minutes out of my way for another coffee drink from there, but it’s good to know the things that this has to offer. It will come in handy on my next trips into Pennsylvania or Western Maryland.
When I was driving back towards Westminster, I decided that I should probably get something to eat (it was after 1PM). My first thought was a quick bite at a fast food place, but then I thought about Hahn’s Pork & Beans. I had seen the name mentioned in various flyers, but it was a place that I had never taken the time to visit while in Westminster. Today, I decided to take the plunge.
Hahn’s has been around for more than 100 years. They have a huge smokehouse, and they roast coffee on-site (thus the pork and beans). You can get the aroma from the smokehouse before you enter the store, and once in the store you get the nice smells of the coffee. They also sell a variety of local products, so you can definitely get a small town feel both inside and outside the store.
I looked through the menu and decided on a tavern ham sandwich (I figured I should go with ham). One of the bread options was a pretzel roll, which I could not turn down. I added Swiss cheese, mayo and mustard, and opted for a side of macaroni salad. They have Dr. Brown’s sodas, which I don’t see too often where I live, so I went with a root beer as well. I started with the macaroni salad. The macaroni was nice and firm, and it was prepared well. The flavor was really good. Much better than expected. I enjoy macaroni salad, but the flavors on this one stood out more than most. The potato chips were warmed slightly, which was a nice touch. When it came time to start my sandwich, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The roll was warm and had a nice texture – good bite through on the outside and soft on the inside. The inside of the bread was not dried out at all, which made a huge difference with the sandwich. The ham was sliced thinly to perfection. It was moist and flavorful with a mild smokiness. It didn’t break apart with every bite, and it wasn’t tough to bite through. It had the right amount of tenderness. The ham, cheese, mustard, and bread all combined for an excellent sandwich. This is a place I plan on visiting again in the future.
My day did not go exactly as I had planned. But the delay in the start gave me the opportunity to get lunch at a place that was on my wish list. Sometimes things work out well. Sometimes things work out better than expected. As I reflect back on my day, this was a tremendous day. A very happy day. A very positive day. I look forward to more days like this.
Starry Night Bakery is located in Westminster, Maryland, which is about a 20 minute drive from my house. I’ve visited a few times, and they do a really good job with coffee drinks and sweets. They participated in Cupcake Wars for a reason – they know how to bake.
I started off with ordering a coffee drink. I ordered a dark chocolate mocha frappe with peppermint. The drink had nice flavor to it. The dark chocolate and espresso worked well together, and there was just an underlying hint of peppermint flavor. The consistency was also nice. There were a couple of sips in the beginning that were thick (but not icy), but after that, it was all good.
I took a few pictures of some of the offerings. They had some nicely designed specialty cakes, they had vegan friendly treats, and they had treats other than just cupcakes. So there are options if you have different cravings. I ended up ordering three cupcakes. One Total Eclipse, one Oreo Stuffed, and one Pumpkin Maple.
I started with the Pumpkin Maple cupcake. The consistency of the cupcake was very good and moist. The maple frosting had a nice flavor and was not overly sweet. The flavor of the frosting and flavor of the cupcake paired very nicely. This was a very good cupcake.
The next one I tried was the Oreo Stuffed cupcake. There was an Oreo cookie baked into the cupcake. The cupcake itself had good flavor and was moist. The Oreo was soft, but still had a little firmness, so it wasn’t soggy. It was the perfect consistency for a cupcake. The frosting worked well with his cupcake, and the added touch of Oreo pieces brought everything together.
The final cupcake I tried was a larger one, the Total Eclipse. The cupcake was really good. Nice and moist, good consistency. There was some chocolate filling in there, and then a really good fudgy frosting. Although all three cupcakes were really good, this was by far my favorite. I look forward to trying more flavors in the future.
I decided to head over to Westminster this morning. The main goal was to visit Furnace Hills Coffee, but I also wanted to check out a place that I hadn’t visited before – Jeannie Bird Baking Company. I also had plans on going to the Downtown Westminster Farmer’s Market. I was able to visit all three, so I had a fun packed morning and was able to be on my way before the rain hit.
I started my morning at Jeannie Bird Baking Company. I had walked by it several times, but never took the time to step in. I read up on it and there were quite a few things about it that intrigued me. One thing that caught my eye was that they make their own English Muffins. I do enjoy a good English Muffin breakfast sandwich from time to time, so that was my main goal. When I got to the store, it was already pretty busy. I was waiting in line and could hear people behind me who knew some of the people in front of me. This was something that happened time and again, so it really had a nice, hometown type of feel to it. The employees seemed to know almost everyone as well, which added a comforting feeling to being there. I looked at all the different pastries and there were a few options that I was thinking about, but I wanted to stick with the breakfast sandwich. The English Muffins are not the same as what I’m used to from the grocery stores. They were a little smaller in diameter, but much thicker. So when I ate the sandwich, I was able to enjoy more of the muffin. I would normally order a meat as part of the sandwich, but I wanted to make sure I was able to taste the English Muffin, since meats sometimes become the primary flavor and minimize the other flavors in the muffin sandwiches. I was able to taste the English Muffin, and I enjoyed it. The outside was crispy, but the inside had that nice softness that you usually get. Since it was thicker than I am used to, I was able to really taste the bread and the enjoy the texture. By the time I was finished eating, the line was out the door. It is definitely a happening place. I will be going back, since they have so many other options that I plan on trying on future visits.
After I finished my breakfast, I walked over to Furnace Hills Coffee. They won’t be starting on the pumpkin drinks until October, so I decided to go with a Peanut Brittle blended coffee drink. The drink has caramel and peanut butter flavors. The first sip had a strong peanut brittle flavor, which was pretty neat. The consistency was good and the staff is great. Here is a not so great picture I took of their specialty drink menu.
I walked over to the Downtown Westminster Farmer’s Market while drinking my coffee drink. It was a small Farmer’s Market, but there were some good options there, which I will look into more the next time I visit there.
I bought two bags of coffee at Furnace Hills Coffee for my sister. One is called “Buddy Walk” and for every pound of coffee they sell, they donate $5 to the National Down Syndrome Society’s Buddy Walk. That is reason enough for me to get it, but the flavor of it is also good. I also got Erin’s Blend, named for their Chief Roaster.
Although my sister won’t get to enjoy these for a while, I will get to enjoy the aromas that are emanating from these bags. Even though I don’t enjoy straight coffee, but instead prefer the ice blended Frappuccino type drinks, I still like the smell of fresh coffee. Go figure on that one. I like and appreciate what Furnace Hills Coffee does. They not only make good coffee drinks and good roasted beans, but they do things for what I think is a good and honorable cause. You can’t get much better than that on a Saturday morning…
Today has been a pretty good Labor Day. I had an early start to the day and decided to head out early for a coffee drink. My plan was to go to Westminster for a very specific coffee place, but I got there more than an hour before it usually opens, and I wasn’t even sure it would be open today. So I had to improvise and go to Wawa’s. I’ve been there a number of times for their coffee drinks and continue to be impressed at how good they are at their job. Since I am still going on the seasonal theme, I decided to go for a Pumpkin Spice Frozen Cappuccino. The dangerous part of this is that Wawa is currently running their Siptopia promotion. This means that a 24 ounce drink is only $3 and a 16 ounce drink is only $2. A lot of temptation and I felt that I should go for the 24 ounce drink. The drink itself was good. Mainly the pumpkin spice flavor, and no issues with too much ice. It’s a larger drink than I usually have, but the consistency lasted and didn’t melt to pure liquid, which is another plus. I also decided to get an apple cider donut. The flavor was good, but the donut was not as moist as I would prefer.
The coffee place I was going to visit (and will be visiting in the next month or so) is called Furnace Hills Coffee (www.furnacehillscoffee.com). I’ve had their coffee drinks before and they do a good job. I’ve also gotten coffee beans for family, and they have gotten positive reviews. The thing I like about this place is their mission. It is Special Coffee roasted by Special People. And that will have me continuing to back there as long as I can.
The rest of the day went well. I tried the new Mountain Dew flavor (Voo Dew). It is a mystery flavor, so I won’t even try to guess. My favorites are still Baja Blast, Pitch Black, Livewire and Code Red, but it’s nice to have something a little different for a change. I grilled myself a cheeseburger and had some beans on the side, so I think it is fair for me to say that this has been a successful Labor Day!
Noninsightfulness 