The Awful Waffle: the Opposite of Awful

When you read the words the awful waffle, what do you assume?

I assumed the owner wanted to create an establishment people couldn't easily forget by using an oxymoron, rhyming, and straight-up shock value. Calling your stuff awful seems counterintuitive, although for this outdoor, walk-up style, gourmet Belgian waffle cafe, it works.

Pumpkin Pie Waffle and Mint Hot Chocolate

At the suggestion of the waitress/cook/cashier, I ordered the Fall Special: the Pumpkin Pie Crepe (except I chose a waffle base). The very first thing I want to say is-- I want another one! This Pumpkin Pie Belgian Waffle was heavenly. Belgian waffles are one of my favorite breakfast foods to start with, but the texture of this Belgian waffle was simply fabulous with a nuttiness to it, cooked to toasty perfection. Then to top it off, the crushed graham cracker, pumpkin pie blend, cream cheese icing, whipped cream, with a dash of cinnamon sugar combination created a taste sensation not to be easily forgotten!

Did I mention that I want another one?

Waffle with Strawberries, Whipped Cream, P.Sugar

The guests I brought with me chose simpler entrees.  Ali got one of the waffles topped with strawberries, whipped cream, and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. This was really tasty as well.  The strawberries were fresh and bright, beautiful red--full of flavor. The whipped cream had just the right touch of sweetness.

crêpe with strawberries, whipped cream, and p. sugar

Liz chose to be a bit different and tried a whipped cream and strawberry-topped crêpe (also with the essential dusting of powdered sugar). She enjoyed it, but when I sampled some of it, I felt like it didn't have anything distinctive about it--nothing to make it worth choosing over one of the waffles. The flavor was just fine and it was as fresh as the rest. It merely lacked that little something more that makes someone recommend a dish to a friend.

If you like gourmet hot chocolate, you will adore theirs. I suggest the mint version with their wonderful whipped cream. Quite mintalicious.

It was a unanimous vote that the Pumpkin Pie Waffle was the winner-- and sure reason to return.



Reasons to head to The Awful Waffle include: when out shopping in Provo, before or after school, on a lunch date, to/from Sundance, or anytime you crave something different and delicious.

For Prices and a Peek at the Menu:
The Awful Waffle: Creators of Divine Belgian Waffles 

Where to find it?
815 North 700 East
Provo, Utah  84604
Near the southeast end of the BYU Campus

Call  (940) 300-5358 for hours of operation

a gift on my doorstep

Have you ever found gifts dropped off on your virtual doorstep? I have. Mine came in the form of a link posted to my personal Facebook wall...

It might as well have been Christmas since I cherish memories so much, yet have an extremely difficult time hanging onto them myself. Much of my childhood and adolescence are faint wisps and only a photograph, story, or hard-wired association (such as a particular food or smell) can awaken these wisps into something more substantial. I long to remember any and all of the good, funny, amazing, goofy, ridiculous things I participated in and the following story captures a part of me I hardly remember, but now--because of this story--my brain has been able to conjure up a few more images and details to hold onto--and laugh about:

Savvy and Sage: Wiseguy Wednesday - Irrational Fish Fear: "I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot."

I am thankful to have a BFF, superfriend, bestfriend, tell-anything-to-her girlfriend, should have been my sister, better than a sister, long-time, knows-everything-there-is-to-know-about-me-and-still-loves-me friend, who remembers for me some of my most outrageous moments and tells the tale as if I were some ultra-fabulous female Byronic hero.

Now, my only hope is that I am that sort of friend in return.

The Best Pumpkin Cookie Recipe Yet Written

photography by Shannon J.

Autumn is a fabulous time to bake up some yummy, warm pumpkin cookies and that is precisely why I share this particular recipe with you now. Well, and a certain sister-in-law has been reminding me to give it to her for months now so her husband (one of my brothers) will stop bugging her to make them and they can enjoy eternal marital bliss once again...

So anyways--

My mom did not need any particular season or holiday to get her in the mood for these scrumptious delights. She continually kept on hand around 10-20 cans of pumpkin. And mind you, they were not the small cans. They had to be the chunky double-can sized cans because it was "cheaper that way". 

(Honestly, I think she just wanted to make sure she could make those cookies even if World War III broke out.)

Mom would have piles of the cake-like cookies steaming on her two large cooling racks, on the light country blue counter, making the house smell delicious. 

Whenever I bake these cookies, I think of home-- my mother's home she created for me, for my brothers, for all the many cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and strangers she and my father welcomed through their door. How can cookies mean so much? I don't really know, but that smell and flavor bring it all to the surface and I am standing next to her, watching her mixing the batter with her large wooden spoon, which also doubled as a bottom-whooper, and waiting for that first batch to get out of the oven. 

 

So for your Autumn, Thanksgiving, November, and ANY TIME pumpkin-craving enjoyment, 

I present to you:

My Thoughts Exactly

"So let it be written; so let it be done." 

~ Pharaoh (Yul Brynner, The Ten Commandments 1956)

This fortune is my motto when deciding what bit of information to chat about or photograph to share or whim to play off of when writing for this extraordinarily fabulous purple niche 

All Things Purple: the blog.

Hope you are enjoying the adventure!

A Hard Song to Hear - Adele

this song hits my heart like a brick...just sayin.

Adele - Rolling in the Deep: the music video creates a deeper sense of the song within the heart.
Watch it.

p.s.

don't forget to PAUSE the music player at the bottom of the blog in order to more fully enjoy the music video being presented.