Marcus Buckingham, the co-author of Now, Discover Your Strengths and a string of organizational effectiveness books, spoke at my work the other day to ①plug his new career development program (for men) and ②grant the most amazing and fabulous one hour of our lives (for women). He was handsome, charismatic, well spoken, funny and … British.  Need I say more?

Between wiping off the drool and trying to remain somewhat composed (it was, afterall, a company event), I heard him speak about his basic philosophy — that success comes from enhancing one’s strengths and not necessarily from pouring all the effort into improving his/her weaknesses.

I would say that Mr. Dreamboat will surely be proud of California Cookshack, a popular coffee shop located in South Pasadena that only focuses on serving breakfast to locals. Moreover, the restaurant is open only on a weekend.  Talk about finetuning its strength and not messing around.

And strenght it is.  The menu is pretty straightforward – with the basic selections of eggs, bacon, pancakes and all the usual suspects  — but one thing that sets this place apart from other coffee shops is the generous portion of the moist coffee cake that accompanies every meal. It is called a coffee cake but it’s more like an old-fashioned corn bread with a bit of a twist, and it could, I kid you not, be the best freebie you’ll ever get before 9:00 a.m..  It is simply divine.

I’ve had several breakfasts here and my favorite is the make-your-own omelet. I like mine with spinach, tomatoes and feta cheese – simple but full of flavor (top). The Breakfast Burrito (above) is not bad either although it’s terrifying to see that it is almost the size of your face.

I wish I can sit on my ass all day and eat, eat and eat because I’m quite good at it (Look, mum!  I can make that burrito disappear!). But what Mr. Dreamboat neglected to mention is what you’re suppose to do if your strength happens to also be your bloody weakness.

California Cookshack: 1929 Huntington Dr., South Pasadena, CA 91030

★★★★☆