Talking of breakfast, I’m facing a mid-life breakfast crisis. After 36 years of cereal and toast, I am officially Bored of Breakfast.
I come downstairs in the morning and the thought of another bowl of dried up wheat product (or oats, or similar) makes my appetite fade quickly. I don’t fancy my 10,000th slice of Marmite/jam/marmalade on toast either. I want something different to eat first thing in the morning.
Digression: the best breakfast ever
The best breakfast I ever had was on the roof of a small hostel in Selcuk, Turkey. Kate and I had caught an overnight bus to get there, and arrived early in the morning, tired and dirty; and in Kate’s case, with a severe headache.
We found a nice room and Kate collapsed into the bed; I had a shower, and went off in search of something to eat. The hostel’s owner found me at the bottom of the stairs and said: “Breakfast?” I nodded. She put her hands on my shoulders and turned me around. “Up,” she barked. “Roof. I bring breakfast.”
So I went back upstairs, kept going past the door to our room, and emerged in the sunlight on the roof. There were a couple of tables, a pergola to provide shade, and a fantastic view. I sat down.
Soon my host reappeared with a tray. On it was a glass of hot apple tea, and a plate with feta cheese, fresh slices of tomato, a blob of honey, and I think a slice of freshly baked bread.
I tucked in, all alone on this rooftop, looking out at the view. I listened to the sounds of the town waking up; car horns tooting, people calling each other in the street below. When I’d finished I sat for some time, sipping more apple tea and reading our tatty, faithful copy of “Lonely Planet”, deciding what to do next.
It was the most delicious, most unusual breakfast I’ve ever had.
Back to moaning
So I’ve tried feta and tomatoes and honey at home, but it’s never been as good as the Turkish version. And anyway, I need more ideas. I’ve tried various combinations of fruit and yogurt, which is OK some of the time. I tend to be running late in the morning, so any fruit that requires a lot of preparation and cutting up is not a good plan.
In short, I need something tasty, quick, nutritious, inexpensive, and most important, different.
Any suggestions?
2 Comments
You didn’t say it had to be healthy though! Unfortunately the ‘full English’ fails on the quick criterion.
I am pretty much addicted to bagels right now. You can get different flavoured ones (onion, cinnamon, food doctor). I buy mine hot and toasted with butter from a shop, but they are also very easy to prepare at home.
I’ve been mixing my own muesli to the following recipe:
rolled oats
raisins
chopped dried apricot pieces (should have been figs, but they weren’t in stock when I bought them)
dried apple pieces
chopped almonds
Roughly 70% oats, approximately equal quantities of raisins, apricots, apple and then a few chopped almonds. All of my ingredients came from the organic shop but would have been cheaper at the inorganic shop. In that case though, I wouldn’t get the enjoyment of mixing it all in a brown paper bag that I filled with oats myself.
In the evening put a some of the mixed muesli in a bowl (about 45g or so, this isn’t much) and add some orange juice (personally I like to get it nicely moist, but not sloppy so I only put enough juice in to be soaked up by the other ingredients). Put the whole lot in the fridge for the night.
In the morning take your bowl of muesli and fold a couple of spoonfuls of natural yoghurt through it. Add some fresh fruit (apple, kiwifruit or whatever else comes to hand that appeals to you) and then drizzle a little runny honey over it and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Enjoy.
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