Mine: blueberry waffles with pecans and maple syrup, a side and endless supply of crispy pepper bacon, an endless supply of orange juice, and a bottomless pot of coffee…
And a happy Father’s Day to all you who are fathers—or the sons and daughters of same.
THat’s not bad…I’m a great fan of raisins.
I just can’t imagine you as a grandfather, Bret–but congrats!
Favorite breakfast depends. Sometimes its a set of eggs, a pair of toast, hash browns and bacon. Sometimes it’s a fruit cup with cantaloupes, blueberries, pineapple, apple, and cherries, sometimes it’s my special mix of cereals with almond milk. However, I’m not much of a morning person either. Generally, I eat whatever’s handy. My family is at the “is this the last time” point — Dad’s 90 and frail, and every special occasion I find myself wondering, is this the last time. Mom and I are in the process of circling the wagons for the inevitable. I get these fruit bars that are nothing but frozen pureed fruit. They are such a treat in the summertime.
Weekend or holiday breakfast, in summer: a multigrain sesame-sprinkled croissant spread inside with soft goat’s cheese, a rusk spread with fresh strawberries in season, or half with home-made jam and half with Gouda cheese with cumin seeds, a glass of fresh-pressed orange juice and some light green tea.
Rusks are called ‘beschuit’ in Dutch, a very traditional Dutch breakfast staple – I think it’s what you’d call a biscuit cut in half (like a layer-cake, but each half is treated as a separate entity) and baked again until it’s dried out, light and airy, crisp and crumbly but a lot softer than knackebrod or most crackers. No-one makes them at home so I’m not sure; you buy them in rolls of 13 (a baker’s dozen) in every supermarket or bakery.
In winter: a bowl of rolled oats cooked slowly (so it won’t stick to the saucepan) in goat’s milk (I’m lactose-intolerant) with a bit of sugar and a handful of raisins, with cinnamon sprinkled on top when it’s poured into the bowl, plus the orange-juice and tea.
Or, as I’m not much of a morning person, I quite often end up with brunch instead of breakfast: scrambled eggs (3 small ones, from my own 3 little bantam Dutch hens), with one tomato and some diced or grated leftover Gouda cheese instead of salt (if diced, add at the same time as the tomato; if grated, add later when adding the eggs), on two slices of nice brown bread (with sesame seeds on the crust); a big mug of fruit-juice-and water (pear is a favourite) and a glass of water.
We have rusk, or did have, sometimes called Zwieback, which I think might be German for twice-baked. My mom used to give them to my little brother. I never acquired the taste for them.
But oatmeal, yes. Jane insists on cooking it herself because she’s afraid I’l mess it up: she uses milk. With cinnamon. Lots of cinnamon for her. Me, I love the taste of the oatmeal itself and don’t use the cinnamon.
Omelet, usually with Sharp Cheddar cheese and something like bacon pieces or diced bell pepper…
Yes, Zwieback is the twice-baked German alternative we get on holiday: it’s a bit more compact/less airy than the Dutch version, turns into fine powder instead of jagged crumbs under pressure but otherwise very similar. It’s quite tasteless and dry by itself – no-one eats it by itself, but combines well with all kinds of toppings without adding many carb-calories.
Believe it or not… cold pizza. And I rarely, if ever eat pizza.
That said, I have developed a “french toasted tortilla.” I don’t buy bread but do keep flour tortilla’s around when the craving for bread hits (for some reason I feel less guilty having a “wrap.” Anyway, one morning I woke up and thought, wow, french toast would be nice.
The rest is history. I actually like this. I’ve tried several different types of tortillas… don’t do the blue corn ones, not good (at least to me), whole wheat’s not bad, corn’s not bad, but plain ol’ flour is best, so far.
Other than that, cold pizza is still the best breakfast ever. (although ,chicken sausage, two poached eggs, black pudding, fried tomatoes and mushrooms is pretty good. Not a full on English Breakfast, but close.)