Eating English Breakfast at River Inn for Brunch with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in Big Sur, California by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
When my daughter Florence began high school at the Big Sur Charter High School, I would drive down to Big Sur to set up her curriculum at the school office at the beginning of each semester, which is right by the River Inn Restaurant.
After our school meeting, I would take Florence to the River
Inn for brunch. The River Inn is snuggled
under sequoia trees. We sat on chairs
and ate at tables made of sequoia wood with many rings. We identified years with little or a lot of
rain by looking at the width of rings in the wood.
The location of the restaurant makes it a little chilly, but
that is why we wear layers in Monterey County.
I would order two English breakfasts for us and told Florence to take
her time eating. There were not many
people in the restaurant when we were there in the morning, so we had time to
eat our English breakfast that was made up of the following items:
-2 over-easy eggs
-3 or 4 sausage links
-4 strips of bacon
-a large helping of sheet-pan baked potatoes made with
purple onions and garlic and coated in olive oil to bake – a little salt and
pepper makes them taste better
-2 or 3 broiled tomatoes with a topping of breadcrumbs mixed
with chopped garlic and parsley
-a pot of English breakfast tea with real cream to add, if
we wanted it (we did)
-white and whole wheat toast
-a choice of various jams and jellies, including marmalade
-Kerrygold butter
-wildflower honey
We would spend about two hours eating our English breakfast. If the restaurant were really not crowded, we
would spend about three hours eating, talking, and getting hot water refills on
the teapot.
The Big Sur River Inn has a large, enclosed dining room with
large, glass windows all around it, so you can see the sequoia trees. Pfeiffer State Park is down the road on
Highway 1 from Big Sur River Inn. Many
tourists make Big Sur River Inn their home base for touring Big Sur. There is a large, terraced deck outside that
leads down to the river. There are
tables, chairs, and heating units out there for cocktails and meals, too.
Many times, I would take out some paper, pens, and journals
and give Florence some, too, and ask her, “What do you think kids could do here
in addition to this just eating?” I asked.
We would both write up ideas, which include responses like
these:
-Memoirs Writing Workshops using Bill Roorbach’s
book entitled Writing Life Stories
-Foreign-language discussion clubs like the Goethe
Institute, the Alliance Francaise, the Cervantes Institute, and the Italian
Cultural Institute
-Film Clubs – for contemporary films as well as historical
ones by national cinema (There is an Oxford Guide to World Cinema that
has historical films listed by national cinema.)
-Theatre workshops for kids
-Puppet shows with nice stages (A beautiful Sicilian one is
needed for this. The town of Acireale in
Sicily makes these.)
-Sommelier training for Levels 1 and 2
-Nature Writing with lectures on the wildlife and
wildflowers in Big Sur, California
-Wildflower drawing workshops
-Tai Chi Club
I thought these were pretty good ideas and hope the current
owner of Big Sur River Inn might consider putting them in place. (Note: I reviewed the River Inn for the Monterey
Country Weekly when I was a restaurant reviewer for 2 ½ years for
them. I had fun being Mimi Sheraton for
a short time. Her book Eating
my Words is great fun for foodies.
I also like Diane Jacob’s Will Write for Food.)
In any case, driving down to Big Sur River Inn is a field
trip. We usually stopped to get soda for
the trip back to the Monterey Peninsula and listened to “World Village Music
Hour” from UC – Santa Cruz.
By Savvy Mom Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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