Mother's Day Brunch - For Moms and Moms-To-Be

I can't imagine we're going to be entertaining much post-baby, so M and I were eager to host Mother's Day brunch at our home. We went for sweet and savory, with a french toast casserole, arugula, sausage, and gruyere frittata, and a green salad.
The french toast casserole was a risky experiment as I loathe Paula Deen and this is one of her famous recipes. I read that the topping can be too rich but I thought my family could handle it (and they did!). Super easy and made the night before, this dish is a keeper.
M whipped up his delicious frittatas which were light, just salty enough and balanced out the sweetness of the casserole.
After a leisurely rest, we had dessert, fresh fruit and unsweetened whipped cream.

As the sunlight streamed in, we toasted the morning with guava and mango champagne cocktails (and water for me) and celebrated moms and moms-to-be everywhere!

The Park - Echo Park

For one of my last pre-baby dinners, tried The Park the other night with Portia. While our food took a tad long coming out of the kitchen, all in all it's a great addition to Echo Park. The Park is small, loud, and moderately priced and reminded me of a NY-type of establishment. As more and more restaurants move into the hood that are out of our "prepare for baby budget" (ahem, Lot 1), The Park's price points are appreciated, especially given the size of their generous portions.