A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee

Adam and I took ourselves and a very excited Lucy Lebowski to Little Si on Sunday. The clouds seemed to clear once we were about 20 miles out of the city, and the cool, lush, fern covered forest was a welcome break from the concrete jungle we call home.

While not officially an off-leash trail, Lucy was on her best behavior and was free to bound ahead of us, skidding through mud puddles and chasing an endless array of decaying sticks. Impressively, not leaving her muddy paw prints on any unsuspecting new friends she met along the way.

On our way to the trail head, we stopped by Tweeds Cafe in historic downtown North Bend for breakfast. Affectionately known by Twin Peaks fans as "The R & R" since neither Adam or I have seen the show. This means nothing to us. I selected Tweeds because: 1. I don't know of anywhere else to eat in North Bend and 2. Adam has a tendency to favor truck stop breakfast over, say, vegan breakfast like me.

The coffee, actually was pretty damn fine. Despite our tendency towards coffee snobbery. We skipped cherry pie, as it didn't seem an appropriate choice for breakfast before hiking. The issue we immediately encountered was with the menu: crowded, confusing and lacking descriptions. Adam appropriately compared it to a menu you'd see traveling; written in English, but doubtful that the wait staff, the kitchen and the customer have the same idea of what will actually appear on the plate. Our 17 year old, small town waitress was impressively patient with our questions.

A: What is the country mix?
W: Oh, thats the best one! It has bacon, sausage, ham, potatoes, peppers, onions, olives....
A: What about this one?
W: Well, the other one has all the meat in it, but that one is good too. It has...
E: Babe, it has all the meat in it.

I decided on a spinach, mushroom and feta scramble (no, not like the mix, I'd like the omelet, but scrambled, please). I think it was made with six eggs, and I think I ate 1/4 of it before it was impossible to take another bite. Adam supposedly asked for a half order of biscuits and gravy (not vegan, apparently, vegan gravy only exists in the city) but you would have never guessed by looking at his plate. We were defeated by quantity. When I paid the bill, the waitress seemed concerned.

W: Was everything, alright?
E: Yeah. Great. Its just...I think there were six eggs in that.