La Collina Fine European Bakery, Saanich

It was a wind and rain storm, which meant of course I had agreed to go running with Andrea.  She decided that I would make a good wind break, and she had just run 10km to meet me, so I guess I could step up.  We managed to avoid the worst of the rain, returning home after a couple of laps Cedar Hill Golf course just before the heavens opened.  I really like the golf course for a good solid urban trail run... lots of hard hills to build up strength and some nice level stretches to just bumble along and thing about the world before the next hard part.

Anyway's, though I had avoided the rain, I hadn't avoided the wrath of Andrea. There was no carbs in the house, so we went on a food hunt.  First, De Dutch (for some reason).  There was a big queue.  Next, The Monkey Tree. Not yet open.  Finally, as the heavens threatened to wash away Mount Douglas, and Andrea's carb deprived mind was beginning to lose it, La Collina Bakery.

This is a small cafe next to the Root Cellar, serving a small breakfast menu and an array of pastries and bread. I grabbed an apple muffin along with a two egg and bacon breakfast plate and a coffee. The muffin filled up my glucose stores (honest) and the coffee did something to calm down Andrea's rage, which by now was threatening the western world with annihilation via tweets.  I am not sure how that would have worked, but as it's two weeks later and we are all still here, we didn't have to find out.

The breakfast plate arrived, and had some of the finest hash browns I've had in town. Not a grated patty, which I love and would rave about for hours to my bored friends. But small strips fried and bashed together into a mashed up mess.  Crispy, browned and smashed up as well.

The eggs were done fine on my plate, over easy with a runny yolk, puddling into the mashed up tatters.  Andrea ordered before me, so her eggs were on the burner just a little longer, and they had solidified a little in the centre, more Over Medium, I suppose.  The bacon was all crispy and crackling and piggy goodness.  The toast was pre buttered, but dry and a bit tasteless for wholemeal.  It all worked out and got our energy back for the 10 yard dash back through the rain to the car.

A pretty good spot for emergency fast breakfast.