Birthday weekend in the Catskills: coffee, memories, and Morning Sunshine

I am just days away from celebrating another spin around the sun. Geminis, stand up! My birthday has always fallen somewhere on Memorial Day Weekend and this year it hits the bullseye — the last Monday in May. Memorial Day was created to honor those who have served our country. Over time, the three-day weekend has also become the unofficial start of the summer season.

Growing up, having a birthday around a holiday wasn’t always a good thing. I often celebrated before or after the long weekend when people didn’t have other plans. But my mom is a G! She created some great memories, like my party on the Schooner Pioneer at the South Street Seaport in 1982, when I got Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album as a gift. A little later in high school there would be my birthday weekend in Fire Island where friends and I could run amok in the carless streets, in town, and on the beach. Good times.

For this birthday weekend I will harken back to my childhood memories and to April of this year when I spent a couple of weekends at my friends Marya’s and Nick’s home in the Catskills while they were away on vacation. Many a good time has been had there, but these weekends were also about discovery and seeing things anew.

I invited a couple of my friends to stay each weekend. The biggest consensus is what time to set the coffee maker to begin brewing in the morning (the answer is not 6:30 a.m.). We of course cooked in the 1950s tiny pass-through kitchen and grilled in the yard to dine at the mid-century modern table, or at the cobalt blue picnic table outside. Nights were set to a fire with robust conversation and some board games.

Once I am at the house, I am set. I don’t need to go anywhere, but with friends who have never been, there is license to roam and experience the area. So on one Saturday, my friend Adam and I drove into nearby Ellenville in search of a breakfast morsel and a cup of joe. Spoiler alert: what we found was a gem of an experience!

We pulled up to Morning Sunshine (3-5 Clinton Avenue, Ellenville, NY), a free-standing building with orange graphic writing and a mini nursery in front. As soon as I opened the door I was taken by everything in the clean, modern, Scandinavian-like space from the specialty handcrafted tabletop items and the branded merch, to the artfully merchandised locally-made food products for sale. Though I don’t need any of it, I wanted all of it — all at once.

We ordered coffees and shared their BEC. Coffee was on point and the BEC a thing of beauty, meticulously prepared to order with thick perfectly rendered applewood bacon on a warm ciabatta roll. I savored every bite. Then, as much as I wanted to fight it, the thick slice of banana bread with dark chocolate chunks called me like a lost lover. My goodness, take me back…

Turns out Morning Sunshine owners, Natalia and Tori, are a former Brooklynite chef and marketing professional couple that opened their business in 2021 in response to the isolation felt during the pandemic. Since then, they continue to be an instrumental part of Ellenville’s growth and its artistic and queer community. Outstanding work!

Respect and gratitude to all who have served in our military. Get out of the city if you can and have a memorable holiday weekend (slash my birthday)!

Thanks for reading and happy eating!

Kysha Harris is a chef, culinary producer, and food editor for the NY Amsterdam News. As a consultant and owner of SCHOP!, a personalized food service in NYC for over 23 years, she remains on the hunt for the city’s next great bite. Follow her on Instagram and on Facebook, @SCHOPnyc.

Questions, comments, requests, feedback, invitations! Email us at AmNewsFOOD@SCHOPnyc.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, @NYAmNewsFOOD.