I had the two dogs for the night.  Not only did the fire alarm for the building go off in the middle of the night, forcing us to evacuate, I dragged them along with me in an attempt to view the solar eclipse that was supposed to happen at sunrise today.  Poor dogs.  If they weren’t fond of me before, they probably hate me now.

It was chilly out, and they had enough about 10 minutes upon arriving to the Croton Reservoir Bridge.  It’s an old rail bridge that the North County Trailway uses to cross the reservoir.  I have crossed it many times when I biked along the NCT, always stopping to soak in the view.

It was a very cloudy morning, as I saw in dismay while driving over.  Then there was the small mountain that was blocking the sun.  As I was walking to the bridge, two dogs in tow, the sinking feeling that it just wasn’t going to be visible started feeling real.

I should have really known.  I live in an area blessed with some jaw dropping sunsets.  Sunrises might be harder to come by…

Oh well, that early in the morning also meant I got the bridge all to myself.  A rare feat during daytime hours when the bridge is more populated.  So I tried to take advantage.

Dogs throughly chilled, we headed home for some Pumpkin Cornbread for breakfast.

Pumpkin Corn Bread (adapted from Tastykitchen.com)

The only changes that I made from the original recipe was I used a coarser corn flour and amped up the spices (more cinnamon, and included ground ginger and all spice).  I also preheated my pan so I could get a crispier edge.

Gather:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn flour (I used a stone ground yellow cornmeal)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat the 400 degF

Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, corn flour, baking soda, sugar and spices).

Mix together all the wet ingredients (eggs, oil and molasses)

Put the dry into the wet and fold until combined.

Put the pat of butter into an 8×8 baking pan and put into the oven for a few minutes until the butter is melted.

Carefully remove pan from oven, and using a brush, coat the sides of the pan with the melted butter.

Pour in the batter and carefully even it out.

Into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the test pick comes out clean (mine took less than 30 minutes).

Let it rest for 10 minutes then flip out and back over and let cool.  Best served warm, but yummy enough to eat at room temp.

Not sweet, but still flavorful due to the spices.  It had a coarse but moist crumb.  Goes perfectly with a good bowl of chili and can even be eaten as is for a snack or breakfast.