Simple Simon's Bakery & Bistro

If you are ever in the vicinity of Riverside, California, make sure you stop by this bakery either for breakfast or lunch. We were lucky to get there early enough because, by the time we left, there was a line of people waiting to order.

They had a special that morning which was an egg sandwich with tomato, bacon, and cheese on their freshly baked sourdough bread.  It was very good. Sandi had the Winter Omelette which I should have gotten. It had Gorgonzola cheese, roasted pecans, sauteed apples, and grilled onions.  That was interesting and wonderful.  Sujata was not impressed with her egg omelet as it was rather bland. Even their homemade jam was delicious.

I bought 1 Sticky Bun to take home a few large Oatmeal cookies which looked divine. I loved the sticky bun and the loved the cookies even more. They were not at all sweet so you could really taste the oatmeal. My only regret is I should have bought a dozen of the cookies!

Simple Simon's Bakery & Bistro is located at 3639 Main St. in Riverside, California.

Egg Salad Sandwich from Tous les Jours

This might be the best egg salad sandwich I have ever had. It is made of whipping cream pan bread. Aside from eggs, it has small pieces of bacon, just enough not to overpower the eggs, Romaine and Iceberg lettuce, honey mustard, celery, onion, cranberries, mayonnaise, sugar, and black pepper.

It has 860 calories and costs $5.00. Well worth the calories and a bargain for the price. I got the sandwich at the Tous les Jours inside H Mart in Torrance. I imagine they have it in their free-standing store on Sepulveda in Torrance.

Duane's Prime Steak & Seafood

Duane's is located in the legendary Mission Inn Resort and Spa in Riverside, California. We celebrated our friend Sujata's birthday there a few nights ago along with experiencing the famous Festival of the Lights in and around the hotel.

The ambiance alone is enough to set you in a romantic mood but in the case of three women, we settled for a very festive mood. We brought a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to help us celebrate the occasion. The birthday celebrant ordered the Chilean Sea Bass which was served on top of spiced Beluga lentils. Sandi had her favorite Alaskan Halibut which was pan-seared served with celery root puree and mustard cream. Both were outstanding.

I had to have meat so I settled for the Steak Diane, medallions of super tender beef with Boursin whipped potatoes, sauteed asparagus with mushroom sauce. I had Sandi taste the medallion and she quickly commented that she was able to cut the piece of steak with her fork without using a knife. And that's how tender it was. Just writing about it makes my mouth water all over again.

After our meal and just before dessert, Santa stopped by and greeted Sujata a Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. The carolers who strolled from table to table also made their last stop at our table and asked for requests. I requested the German Christmas song; Oh Tannenbaum and they happily obliged but not before singing "Happy Birthday" to Sujata.

They asked us what dessert we would like, the consensus was the Banana Pie since the souffle had a longer wait time. They did bring the pie with a candle which they lit for the birthday girl to blow off. We were surprised to see that they had charged us for the dessert as most restaurants do not charge for it, especially for a very expensive restaurant.