“Breakfast is a notoriously difficult meal to serve with a flourish.”
The sun is peeking a bit out of the clouds so the day is getting brighter. It’s warm, already 75°, and a bit humid. I may have a deck day today.
My usual Sunday breakfast was a bit humdrum. The choices never change, but I still look at the menu expecting a culinary miracle. Today I went with an omelet with Swiss cheese and linguica. I found it boring, further proof that breakfast lacks excitement. It is the only meal of the day with a minimum selection of food. You can eat anything you want for lunch and dinner, but for breakfast, tradition necessitates a narrow variety. I have sometimes strayed from the straight and narrow and eaten pizza, the square slices the Italian bakeries sell. Once I remember finishing left-over fried rice and ribs but I had a sense of guilt. I have eaten eggs in every configuration, but there is only so much you can do with an egg. When I was in England, they added a grilled tomato which did nothing for me, and I won’t even mention English bacon or sausages. One time I was served baked beans, and I’m still not over that this many years later. The filled plate hangs in my mind like a nightmare that still haunts me when I start to fall asleep.
In Ghana, after a few mornings of tasteless eggs with a strange look about them, I bought fruit and had the kitchen make me a fruit salad each morning. It came with toast and margarine, Nescafe instant coffee and evaporated mik. Butter is rare. It has to be imported. The best breakfast I remember was in Morocco with strong, dark coffee, fresh croissants and rolls, amlou, yogurt, assorted jams and a view of the Atlas Mountains with their tips covered in snow.
My father hated breakfast in Europe. He wanted his eggs and his bacon. Instead he found cheese, cold cuts and assorted breads. My mother and I loved those breakfasts, but we were far more like sea gulls, content with anything, than my father. I do remember one morning in Holland. There, on the table, sitting proudly in a rooster cup was an egg. My father was delighted at the thought of a soft boiled egg. He took his knife and carefully tapped the top. Nothing happened. He tapped again. Same thing-nothing happened. The third time he tapped the shell cracked all over. The egg was hard boiled. I’ll never forget the disappointment on my father’s face.
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September 25, 2011 at 11:27 am
No fried or cooked food for me that early in the morning (except for porridge then). My mother loves fried bacon and eggs with white toast, baked white beans is almost a must as well 🙂 All those things is great but later in the day for me.
Either I have dark bread with cheese and ham or spotted sausage. But lately I´ve had yoghurt (preferable vanilla) with müsli and two sliced apples in it. I also pour in cinnamon, ginger and cardamom 🙂 🙂
Yesterday was pone ofb the best days this year, today was quite dull. We did get some sun eventually but I think the only ones loving today were the mosquitos 🙂 I don´t think I´ve ever seen that many of them this late in the year.
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 25, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Christer,When I visited for the weekend, my Dad used to make breakfast. It was quite a treat and he loved to do it. I was always in charge of my own toast. It was eggs, however you wanted them, and bacon. I can still see him at the stove cooking.
I have coffee for breakfast most days and that’s it.
Today was hot and humid all day, still is at 9:21 pm.
September 25, 2011 at 11:50 am
Good Morning Kat.
You have described the full English breakfast. Personally, I can’t get excited about the beans or the tomato, but I love their version of bacon. It’s kind of a cross between ours and what we call Canadian bacon. Their version of breakfast sausage leaves a lot to be desired. Before my first visit to the UK I expected to find a country filled with bad food, warm beer and ugly woman. Two out of three misconceptions isn’t bad. I discovered some of the most beautiful woman living in England. Also, good beer tastes better if not served ice cold.
Breakfast should be comfort food. Your stomach should not have to digest unusual or very spicy things after awaking from a good night’s sleep. I still don’t understand how our neighbors in Mexico and here in Texas eat huevos rancheros first thing in the morning. Of course true Texans eat everything with either Louisiana hot sauce, or hot salsa, or with sliced jalapeño peppers.
Personally I like bagels, lox and cream cheese with a good cup of hot black coffee over anything else in the morning.
September 25, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Hello Bob,
I never could get excited about the tomaot, and I abhor beans of any kind. I always thought the English bacon was a bit too flexible for my tastes. I agree about the sausage.
English food has imporved over theyears. When I fist went there, I was not at all impressed by even the best restaurants, but now there are several which serve wonderful food.
In New Mexico one Sunday I had huevos rancheros and was none the worst for eating them, but I wolldn’t choose them on a regular basis. In Ghana they eat fufu or t-Zed with soup, not my choice either.
I love your choice of breakfast!
September 25, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Hi Kat,
Aww, your poor father. There is nothing more disappointing than a solid egg when one is expecting lovely soft-boiled yolks. 🙁
I am not a breakfast traditionalist. Most days I will have the normal yogurt with cereal and sliced grapes or English muffins with butter and jam. Sometimes I will have Wassa bread, cheese, good mustard and an apple. Today I had leftover garlic lamb and lo mein and it was even better than it was last night. So, diners of the world unite! Throw off the shackles of traditional breakfasts and eat whatever speaks to you at the moment. And hope that it doesn’t continue to speak to you the rest of the day. 😀 😀
September 25, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Hi Caryn,
My mother and you would have been soul mates. She ate whatever she pleased for breakfast. I do as well but not as a matter of course. It all depends on what is in the fridge. Mostly I jusyt have a couple of cups of coffee andthat suits me just fine.
September 25, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I eat leftover pizza for breakfast once a week. I love to pan fry the squares so the bread is hard and oily. So sad for your dad. His stomach was expecting much more than hard boiled. I remember the morning we were leaving Vietnam we spent the night at the downtown Hilton Hotel. The breakfast menu was so bad we ended up having ice cream and garlic sticks. And about 5 ciggies and coffee.
September 25, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Z&Me,
I just let the pizza come to room temp before I scarf it down for breakfast. The bakery pizza is always room temp.
I’ll never forget the look on his face. The poor guy!
September 25, 2011 at 4:57 pm
It’s about 20 below freezing on a snowless January morning, and the elements of one’s breakfast have just completed their hour’s journey in a haybox. Scrambled eggs, ham, sausages, hash browns and french toast. But you’re hungry, and there’s lots of maple syrup, so it’s quite delicious.
September 25, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Minicapt,
I love maple syrup, hash browns and French toast. I think you just descriibed my favorite breakfast!
I would have waited in the cold all morning for that haybox!
September 25, 2011 at 7:27 pm
We grew up with a bowl of Corn Flakes or Rice Crispies followed by a full cooked breakfast including fried bread and toast and marmalade. The room was thick with cigarette smoke which usually produced an appropriate allergy reaction. Didn’t have baked beans in our home but there could be some random animal parts. My Poppa loved a kipper for breakfast.
And now your Detroit Lions have moved to 3-0 on the season after being down 20-0 to the Vikes and their useless quarterback and headache Percy.
Jump on the train…..SUH !!!!!
September 25, 2011 at 9:31 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I was a Rice Krispies fan when I was a kid.
My mother demanded we eat oatmeal on frosty winter mornings. It always seemed gummy to me despite the sugar and milk.
I jump on no foreign bandwagons!
September 25, 2011 at 9:38 pm
I still like Rice Krispies occasionally especially with strawberries or blue berries. It’s still great to start the day with a Snap, Crackle and a Pop. Corn flakes are a close second.
September 26, 2011 at 6:46 am
And don’t forget Rice Crispies were usually good for a baking soda submarine, or a (cigarette) card.
Your Detroit Lions are heading for Dallas on Sunday to remind the country that they are the real Americas Team
SUH
September 25, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Bob,
Those are my two favorite cereals. I like my Corn Flakes with a cut uo banana.
September 26, 2011 at 9:01 am
Right there with you on the boring narrowness of breakfast. If never saw another egg, I might not notice. I’ve often eaten cold pizza, and have wondered why you can’t get a burger or something instead.
September 26, 2011 at 10:04 am
Rowen,
I Iove cold pizza for breakfast.
It’s the fault of restaurants. Some places serve breakfast all day as if that were a drawing card, but the rest of the time the menu is divided into lunch and dinner. Never our choice-it’s always the restaurant’s.
In more countries than not, what you eat for breakfast is what you could also eat for any other meal. I vote for that!
September 26, 2011 at 10:07 am
My Dear Hedley,
I loved that sub and my mother was forced to but two boxes so my brother and I could each have our own. A few years back I found a place which sold them and bought several for Christmas stockings. Alas, this electronic generation was not thrilled and amazed by the sub and baking soda.
September 26, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Idiots! The Rice Crispy sub totally ruled. Of course half the fun was to open a new box and go fishing with a sort of clean paw to find this exciting gift. You could pull the bag out of the box and find where the sub was parked but that was never as much satisfaction. (I know and then the bag wouldn’t fit back in the box)
September 26, 2011 at 7:12 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I always opened the box from the bottom so I didn’t have to hunt. My mother was never pleased but it was better than rooting through the cereal though she didn’t think that much of an argument for opening the bottom.