LUCY BURDETTE: Most days I eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast--with oat milk and sometimes bananas. Or blueberries if they are in season.
I certainly don't order cereal if I'm out to eat. On New Year's day, this was my fried chicken and gravy on waffles, bloody Mary in the background. Once a year, I figure I can get away that.
But on vacation, I cut loose and eat large.
Croissants in Paris...
Eggs benedict in Dublin...
In Australia, breakfast was really large. Here's the plate we were served in one of our B and B's:
Isn't that gorgeous? In case you can't tell, it includes fried tomatoes, English bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and eggs on wilted spinach and toast. This turned out to be the standard "brekkie" combination in Australia, and one of the best I've ever had.
There was a stretch of a few days when John and I decided we must cut back. We ate corn flakes until we ran out of them, and then bought a box of Australian granola.
John to me the next morning: "This is the worst cereal I've ever eaten."
I took a mouthful--chewy like a cud, and pasty, too. We ground our way through our bowls, but I had to agree.
Then I thought to read the directions on the box: Cook for five minutes in water to cover.
Isn't that gorgeous? In case you can't tell, it includes fried tomatoes, English bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and eggs on wilted spinach and toast. This turned out to be the standard "brekkie" combination in Australia, and one of the best I've ever had.
There was a stretch of a few days when John and I decided we must cut back. We ate corn flakes until we ran out of them, and then bought a box of Australian granola.
John to me the next morning: "This is the worst cereal I've ever eaten."
I took a mouthful--chewy like a cud, and pasty, too. We ground our way through our bowls, but I had to agree.
Then I thought to read the directions on the box: Cook for five minutes in water to cover.
Imagine eating raw steel cut oatmeal and you'll get the picture. We threw that out and went back to bacon and eggs.
What's for breakfast at your house Reds? Do you change the menu and step out when you're traveling?
What's for breakfast at your house Reds? Do you change the menu and step out when you're traveling?
We have several breakfast favorites and sometimes we have breakfast for dinner . . .
ReplyDeleteEggs and bacon [sausage for John] . . . pancakes . . . waffles . . . French toast . . . John likes cereal but I'd much prefer a croissant or a scone . . . .
Your breakfasts sound great Joan!
DeleteDuring the week, we each have a piece of toast, blueberries, half a banana and a small dish of yoghurt. And a cup of hot chocolate. On weekends, Rajan makes an omelet or I make pancakes or French toast.
ReplyDeleteThat all sounds perfectly reasonable!
DeleteUsually I eat some yogurt with granola and berries, or a banana with peanut butter, or cereal with milk. If I am running short in time I eat a granola bar in the car in the way to pickleball or water aerobics.
ReplyDeleteWe usually eat breakfast out on Sunday after church. My go to is eggs, fruit and wheat toast. Sometimes bacon.
My husband likes the chicken fried steak meal with eggs, hashbrowns, bacon or sausage, and a biscuit. He usually takes the biscuit home. Often that is our only meal of the day.
Lately, he has been trying chicken and waffles everywhere they have it on the menu. It hasn’t ever been served with gravy on it, like yours Lucy.
Breakfast foods are my favorite and I will gladly eat them morning, noon, or night.
Tell him to look for the gravy Brenda, it's the best (and worst) part!
DeleteSomeday I would like to try chicken and waffles (and that white gravy). It looks intriguing or awful, I can't decide, but doesn't seem to be a Canadian thing where we live. I suspect it is like gumbo - you need to be in the place of origin to taste the real thing.
DeleteBrenda, I used to love granola bars for breakfast when I was teaching, eating then (in a hurry) in the car on the way to school.
DeleteI think I may have gained a pound or two salivating over your international breakfast photos, Lucy! :) Now that my husband Rudi and I are officially retired and are not hurrying out the door in the early morning hours we have come to appreciate the pleasure of enjoying breakfast together at a leisurely pace. It has become my favorite meal of the day. No more making Irish oatmeal in a casserole dish for the work week and cutting out squares of it daily to reheati in the microwave. Or hard boiled eggs that could be peeled and eaten on the run...like Lt. Columbo used to do in that TV series. Do you remember when he would pull a hard-boiled egg out of his raincoat pocket then peel it and eat it while investigating a homicide? He never knew where to get rid of the egg shells... :) The bonus about enjoying breakfast now is that I have officially been relieved of having to deal with cooking it. Chef Rudi is now at the helm and I'm loving that fact completely. Every day if we are at home it is something different ~ scrambled eggs and toast (my favorite), dropped egg on an English muffin with Canadian bacon, cheese omelette with potatoes (I do prepare those) or waffles or Dutch Baby with sliced bananas. If we have to leave the house early for an appointment or event it will be a 1/2 toasted bagel with peanut butter. (Rudi adds pine nuts on top of his bagel) In the winter we enjoy a hot bowl of freshly-made oatmeal or cream of wheat with cinnamon and milk. The best part is I am only in charge of setting the table and perking the coffee. It's a sweet deal!
ReplyDeleteI love those scenes with Columbo
DeleteI don't remember the boiled eggs, but I can picture that scene with the eggshells:). And your Rudi's breakfasts sound divine!!
DeleteI love your traveling breakfasts, Roberta. I also love when a convention breakfast buffet includes bacon, something I rarely eat but love. It doesn't count when I'm away from home! If I'm in a restaurant I might order crispy hash browns with one over easy and ham or sausage, or something like eggs benedict or huevos rancheros, things I wouldn't make at home.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of home, I don't eat breakfast unless we have guests. Two cups of dark coffee with whole milk, and then water until the end of the morning. I might have a few almonds or half a banana or a string cheese if I get too hungry.
I don't buy bacon or pork, but it's soooo good. I couldn't make it through a morning without eating, Edith!
DeleteI love staying at hotels where breakfast is included: I try everything!
ReplyDeleteWhy not? Except the buffets are sometimes not so good...
DeleteMy breakfast may be cereal, eggs (on Sunday), and waffles. So far, I have not liked the bagels I've sampled down here. My family does not eat pork, so at home, there is no bacon. But when I travel or go out to eat , especially for breakfast, bacon has to be on my plate. I also get fried eggs, the potatoes and bagel or toasts.
ReplyDeleteI bet the bagels in NC are not up to NY standards Dru!
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ReplyDeleteLucy! Welcome home! What a grand adventure! Your photos are amazing. But we're talking breakfast today.
When we are home, we have home-baked bread (I choose from dozens of recipes for whole grain, fruit, nut breads) with peanut butter or cream cheese. Irwin likes to hit the peanut butter for snacks, too, so mostly he has cream cheese on his morning toast now.
When we are traveling, we usually have a big, full breakfast. I try to stay away from sweets in the morning and even if there are croissants, which are my favorite, I will resist because I just don't get enough exercise any more to consume fatty foods like a teenager.
While on the cruise last summer, we had room service bring fruit, coffee, eggs and toast. If I had a breakfast buffet to contemplate, especially one like they had, I would still be standing there spellbound by the selection. Many of our tours began early. I love cruising!
Thanks Judy, it was a great though challenging trip! I know what you mean about not eating like a teenager. Not fair!
DeleteAustralia is on my bucket list! (I’d better start working on it) I love breakfast! Most mornings we have cheerios with yoghurt and skim milk and toast. I’ve been making bread lately which is much better than what is available in the market. And once a week, except for summer, we have steel cut oats-cooked. 😊 have My husband makes either scrambled eggs or omelets once or twice a week adding some cheese and leftover vegetables if there are any in the fridge. When out for breakfast I love having French toast or blueberry pancakes.
ReplyDeleteOh yes on blueberry pancakes, and I love buckwheat too!
DeleteAt home, I alternate. Sometimes cereal with blueberries. Sometimes granola, yogurt, and berries. Or if I have some over-ripe bananas, I make a peanut butter banana smoothie. On vacation, I tend to go for omelets.
ReplyDeleteI've never warmed up to smoothies although I know they are full of good things!
DeleteFirst brekkie is a small bowl of cheerios with blueberries or raisins and a dash of 1/2 & 1/2. Second brekkie (after I exercise) is plain yoghurt with banana and berries and granola. I change it up when I'm traveling (not often) and like scrambled eggs,.bacon, sausage etc. The Australian breakfast looks amazing. I did enjoy fried tomato as part of breakfast in the UK.
ReplyDeleteTwo healthy breakfasts sounds good!
DeleteLucy, your breakfasts look yummy! Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. There is always something that I like to eat at breakfast. I travelled to many places. I remember the eggs benedict breakfast. My mom and I had breakfast at the Churchill hotel in Yorkshire, England. It was very fancy with place settings and finger bowls for washing your fingers after eating. I remember the ? soft boiled eggs and there were many wonderful choices for breakfast. Even when I was at Oxford, I always found something that I liked for breakfast. College dining is Not renowned for good food, though I always found something that I liked. I had Belgian waffles at University (in California) where I tasted them for the first time in my life. In the Netherlands (Amsterdam), I had their wonderful pancakes, which are more like our American crepes. When I visited a friend in southern Netherlands, we had dinner at their house. I was asked what I would like to eat and I mentioned that I felt like eating eggs. They cooked the most delicious eggs that I ever had in my life. I had eggs for dinner. I am one of these people who like to eat breakfast food for dinner. I am so sorry to read that you and John had one of the most awful breakfasts. That happens sometimes.
ReplyDeleteDiana, you're the biggest breakfast plan! Our bad bowl was our own fault for not reading the direction:)
DeleteSome years ago as I was struggling to get my cholesterol levels down to an acceptable range, I switched to oatmeal for breakfast and saw an immediate improvement, so I have settled into oatmeal every day when I'm at home, with an occasional pumpernickel bagel to break it up. In winter it is hot oatmeal with walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. In summer it it overnight oatmeal with raisins and chia seeds. In both cases, I make up a week's worth at a time so mornings are easy.
ReplyDeleteBut on vacations, I do indulge in big breakfasts. Throughout our trip to Japan the full Japanese breakfast was a delight. I can't even tell you what all the items were, but each of us were served a tray full of tiny portions of a fascinating mix of egg, meat, fruit, and vegetable options, with rice and miso soup available to serve ourselves. One of my favorite memories of our trip to Ireland (and there are many!) was the made-to-order breakfasts served by our B&B owner in Galway. And I never would have had the nerve to try haggis and black pudding if they weren't on the buffet at our hotel in Glasgow. I found I actually liked black pudding.
I'm going to try to get back to the oatmeal habit Susan!
DeleteMonday through Friday it's a protein shake with oats, flax seeds, and frozen berries. On Saturday and first thing Sunday, a bowl of cereal usually Special K Fruit and Yogurt or Blueberries. On Sunday afternoon, we often go out for "second breakfast" of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and an English muffin (although we are on the hunt for a new place after our favorite diner in town burned down).
ReplyDeleteBut vacation? Oh, if I'm not careful I can go hog wild. I try to limit myself to one "big" breakfast for the trip and limit to fruit, yogurt, or simple eggs the rest of the time. Emphasis on "try."
It's hard to be modest when you know what you might be served!
DeleteIce latte is the first thing for me for breakfast!
ReplyDeleteI love bagels with cream cheese, croissants, for special breakfast I like waffles or pancakes or cheese omelets.
All sounds good to me!
DeleteMost days at home, breakfast is a bowl of Cheerios. On the weekend, I might mix it up and have a brand of cereal more associated with some cartoon mascot. Some occasional Sunday, I might get ambitious and cook up some eggs, make some toast and throw some ham and cheese on that, cut it all up and have a breakfast "meal".
ReplyDeleteIf I'm out and in a pinch for what to have for breakfast, I'll get an egg and cheese bagel from Dunkin Donuts (then usually bring it home and throw extra cheese and some ham on it. Voila! the breakfast sandwich becomes a meal.
On the even rarer occasion of me going out for breakfast, I always get the restaurant's big breakfast option. That's 2 blueberry pancakes, 2 eggs scrambled, toast with apple jelly, bacon, ham, home fries and orange juice. If I get it to go home, I have authentic VERMONT maple syrup on hand to douse the pancakes in. (Yes, I'm a syrup snob, well when I can afford to be at least).
I agree with you on the syrup Jay!
DeleteIsn't it fun to see what the rest of the world eats? Another reason to love traveling.
ReplyDeleteAt home, usually while reading JRW, I have my single cup of coffee and a square of dark chocolate, nibbled to make it last. But when we travel I go with the flow, and try to eat a real meal that will sustain me for the day. The hotel breakfasts in Warsaw were so good I wanted to move there. Pain au chocolat and espresso in Paris; cheeses and meats on the breakfast buffet at the hotels. Juice choices in Peru and Ecuador from delicious fruits I'd never heard of. The amazing McDonald's bakery choices in Australia with really good coffee. Tiny bananas with hard-boiled eggs, granola and yogurt, and bacon for bush breakfasts on safari in Kenya.
Your Australian brekkie photo reminds me of the farm stay we did in New South Wales, the only guests that week in one of their six little cabins on the edge of the vineyards. Every morning a farm elf delivered a basket of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and milk to the front porch before we were awake. I cooked it all in the tiny, 8'-long kitchen, and it looked much like your picture, minus the toast.
The amazing thing to me is that, even with adding an entire meal to my diet while on vacation, I usually lose a pound or two, rather than gain. Either I am more active, or I should eat breakfast at home, too, I can't decide.
LOL on the breakfast elf. I'm afraid to get on the scale after this trip--we ate and ate and ate. I felt a little like a goose being prepared for fois gras...
DeleteBreakfast is not one of my favourite meals, but a very necessary and quick evil – I am shaking and starving when I get up. It always involves just protein, and so that breakfast from Australia looked absolutely fabulous. I think we will have it for supper, after I get some spinach and mushrooms – the cupboard is currently bare..
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law had congee while she was in China. She said it was the only thing on the breakfast menu, and after two tries she declared it really gross. Maybe it is an acquired taste?
As for me – the best breakfast, and it was worthy of a heart attack was in Montreal, when we were on a non-scheduled layover (the flight was cancelled mid way????). Breakfast was provided up to some price, but this one qualified. It was Eggs Benedict Poutine and yes, it was just as weird as it sounded, and even though the waiter only suggested that maybe I might like it – I sure did! Take eggs benedict, and substitute a savory breakfast mash-up featuring crispy french fries or home fries topped with cheese curds, soft-poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and bacon, ham, or breakfast sausage. The dish replaced the traditional poutine gravy with rich hollandaise sauce and used the runny yolks to coat the fries and curds. Mine had the home fries which were a bit overcooked – I think French fries would have been tastier, but none the less, it was delicious. Since it was from Quebec, the poutine was perfect, and since it was French, so was the hollandaise. For once I can say thank you to Air Canada for the disruption!
We will see if this posts – yesterday I seemed to be persona non grata – twice, so that leaves unanswered my question on the ducks. Are they back?
Eggs Benedict Poutine sounds wonderful; I will be on the hunt for it when I am in Montreal next year.
DeleteI would certainly try this once Margo!
DeleteMorning all ~ Breakfast, what a great subject. On every holiday I have bacon at home for breakfast. Plus, of course, healthy things along with it. My fav happens maybe 2-3 times a year. There is this nice restaurant on the corner of, hmm, well, don’t know the names come to think about it, but I can find it with my eyes closed. It is in a coastal town in California and where my son lives, so the first morning we walk several blocks to the restaurant and over coffee, bacon and eggs, potatoes or whatever else attracts, catch up on our lives. Food and family. The best.
ReplyDeletethat sounds like a perfect meal Paula!
DeleteI love breakfast buffets when we travel! I load up on eggs, fresh fruit, yoghurt, and local cheese. And skip lunch.
ReplyDeleteAt home, it's a banana and breakfast bar I make once a week: rolled oats ground in the food processor, milk, baking powder, and dried fruit (raisins, apricots, cranberries).
Yes! Always the local cheese!
DeleteIn Scotland a few weeks ago, one of our hotels had an amazing breakfast menu. One day I had Scottish porridge with brown sugar, cream and a dash of whisky - it was just enough to make it very fragrant. Another day was mushroom toast with a delicious sauce.
ReplyDeleteIn Nice my husband usually grabs croissants or pain au chocolat when he does the morning baguette run.
Lisa, may I ask if the Scottish breakfast menu was in Edinburgh?
DeleteWhiskey in porridge? I don't think I'd choose that one:)
DeleteDiana - it was in Glenfinnan, west of Fort Williams.
DeleteWelcome home! And cannot wait to hear all about it! I love breakfast so much, I look forward to it every day! I usually have egg whites and coffee, so delicious. And for a treat, I’ll skip the egg whites and have a piece of cinnamon raisin toast. If I could have bacon every day I would, it is one of my favorite things in the world. But I save it for special occasions, and book tour.
ReplyDeleteyes bacon is a special occasion treat!
DeleteWhy! I have bacon every day, i am slender and my cholesterol is excellent! Many of the breakfast items mentioned have more calories and are not better for your body.
DeleteLove breakfast!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite breakfast story: I was traveling overseas on business and staying in a pretty fancy hotel. One early morning at the breakfast buffet in the lounge, I'd put some bread on the toaster and was looking over the potential toppings when one of the servers saw what I was doing and asked me if there was anything in particular I was looking for. I told him I was just wondering if they had peanut butter and he responded (not at all sarcastically!), "Why, yes, of course, Madam, but we usually only put that out when children are joining us."
So funny, Robin!
DeleteOn my first trip to Europe I found Nutella on every breakfast buffet, and I developed a fondness for it. When our youngest was in the Munich Sisters Cities Exchange, the German group came to Cincinnati for two weeks, and we had several group activities. While chatting with one of the adult leaders the topic of breakfast came up, and I mentioned Nutella. She derisively said, "You mean what children eat on their bread for an after-school snack?" That told me!
That's funny Robin! John has pb every morning too
DeleteWhen traveling, it is imperative to fortify so well done. At home, it's sadly peanut butter toast or yogurt and fruit. Give me a nice fry up whilst traveling, tho!
ReplyDeleteI cannot begin to tell you how much I love peanut butter toast. It is absolutely ambrosial!
DeleteWhen I'm traveling - all bets are off - fill that plate, but at home....same old same old. Half a cheese omelet and half a breakfast sausage for me, two eggs over easy for hubs, and - dare I say it - an egg cooked for the dog. He's not too spoiled!
ReplyDeleteoh dear, I won't dare tell Lottie about the egg...
DeleteWeekdays breakfast is Greek yogurt and berries, Sunday I like a bagel and 2 eggs over easy, but when on vacation like you - all bets are off!
ReplyDeleteWe are constantly in mourning for decent bagels. What they call a bagel here in New England is a hockey puck imposter. Too big. Too tasteless (bread shaped like a bagel). The wrong proportion of outside to inside. No "chew"...
ReplyDeleteThere's also no descent lox. What's packaged as smoked salmon is a pale imitation.
So my usual breakfast is cinnamon raisin toast (and a banana or whatever fruit I have around). (It's also hard to find raisin bread with sufficient raisins to merit the label - best available is Thomas's.)
I know I know, first world whinging.
Hallie! Please try When Pigs Fly cinnamon raisin bread. If you can’t find it, email me your address again!
DeleteBest travel breakfasts we EVER EVER had were in hotels in China. Completely spectacular breakfast buffets, second to none.
ReplyDelete