Corner Room Monochrome

If there is one thing I adore, it's a good hot breakfast. Unfortunately, most weeks, I only get a decent breakfast on the weekend, when my husband and I usually make a really nice breakfast at least one of the weekend days when we are at home. Other than that, it's yogurt or BelVita biscuits or if I'm lucky, toast with butter.

But on this beautiful sunny morning, my errands took me to campus, and I made sure I had time for a nice, hot breakfast at the Corner Room, one of my favorite downtown State College venues. I had my usual, of course, the early bird special, because it's quick and cheap and good, and it allows me to be in and out in about 15-20 minutes.

It wasn't too busy and I had my own booth by a window. When I finished eating my two sunny-side-up eggs, my crispy home fries, and my toasted English muffin, I got out my camera and looked around, and snagged a few shots. I love to photograph the old-fashioned interior of this place.

But this is probably my favorite view from one of my favorite booths, which has a view out onto South Allen St. But of course this time I was looking back into the restaurant, not out onto the street.

The huge wall mirror gives me lots of cool reflections. It is fun to take this shot both with and without people in the other booths, as they all show up in the reflections. I enjoy human figures in my scenes especially in monochrome, but on this day, there were none.

You've heard quite a lot already about my breakfasts here, and I've gone on and on about the French onion soup, which I've determined (upon many, MANY trials) to be the absolute best I know of in the entire area! Yes, the best! I know; I'm obsessed by it; obsessed enough to go out even in the very WORST of the winter weather to get some.  :-) So you must take my word on this very important matter.

Oh, and there was an interesting twist on this morning: a woman strolled in off the street and demanded a double screwdriver (alcoholic drink, mixture of orange juice and vodka). She asked if she had to order breakfast to get a drink, and there was some quibbling over whether she COULD be served a double, all at once, and whether she might have something else by way of food.

As I left, the woman was sitting happily in her own booth right next to mine, drinking a rum and coke and eating a bowl of soup with great gusto. SOUP! For BREAKFAST! Can you believe it? Now why didn't I think of that!???

The Corner Room is one of my favorite "happy places" in this area, and so I wanted a happy song to go with it. Here is one of my favorite happy silly little tunes, and the video is LOTS of fun, so please watch it. It's Tori Amos, with Happy Phantom, from her wonderful 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes, which I believe to be her very best album. I identify with this song, and sometimes I feel like I'm the happy phantom, flitting about all over campus and downtown. If you think of me at all, picture me . . . happy.  :-)