so what's for breakfast today?

Mushrooms and onions on toast.

roast chicken half-sandwich

Oatmeal. Just plain, no milk, no raisins, no sugar. No table, either, just a portable desk on my bed, with the TV news and my laptop easily available...

a package of instant oatmeal
a couple of giant mugs of no-name tea

shreddies and soy milk

cactus fig green tea

Good morning, ehBeth,
This time of year in eastern Maine (1 degree above zero this morning; gorgeous wisps of sea smoke over the ocean), I LOVE oatmeal. The tastiest, to me, is McCann's steel-cut, but preparation requires 20-25 minutes of constant stirring as it cooks. You do end up with two extra morning's worth this way (which you reheat in a microwave by adding a TBS of water and zapping full-tilt in a covered bowl for 90 seconds), but I get really hungry waiting for the original batch to take on the right consistency. On the plus side, the taste is genuinely nut-like, and the texture is un-mushy. Most winter mornings, however, I go for a single serving of McCann's Quick-Cook, which you can microwave with water in 85 seconds. I make up, partially, for the lack of nut-like flavor, by adding a TBS of slivered almonds, a TBS of unprocessed flax seed, and a TBS of real maple syrup. Pretty damn good!
On the side, this morning, I had a few dried plums and a big mug of chamomile tea. Good, inexpensive chamomile tea is hard to find up our way, even though the herb grows as a weed in many warmer places. I find that Garden of the Andes is a good brand; you can let the bag sit in your mug for 20 minutes, and you get a full-flavored drink that still tastes good. I would still kill for a mug of high-test black coffee, but, hey, I can live without the fierce pain (the caffeine and acid activate my case of Diffuse Esophageal Spasm, and that REALLY hurts). Does anyone know if Chamomile can be bought loose, in bulk, at a reasonable price?

I was going to have a bowl of cheerios, but after reading Mikios7 post, I'm opting for oatmeal.

G'day to Miklos and Alex!

sounds like it's a good week for oatmeal all round

Looks like I'll have to pick up some steel-cut oatmeal to try Miklos' technique.

I suspect that when it comes to loose/bulk camomile tea it's all about location location location (or maybe the internet).

Hot coffee (almost the last of the Peet's House Blend) - sorry, Miklos!, and a slice of pear raisin torte (almost the last of that too).

I love steel-cut oats! Haven't had them in years tho - I'll have to check at the market next time I'm there.

My mom used to make them overnight. She had a large thermos container and would put the oats and the proper amount of boiling water in and close the lid. It sat on the table all night and in the morning, we'd have nice cooked oats.

As far as rolled oats, I like the Old Fashion kind, not the Quick-Cook. Four minutes in the microwave and it's creamy and good.

Instant oatmeal isn't fit for grown-ups, IMHO. Too mushy and WAY too sweet!

the holiday season is good and bad
good food, bad calories
this morning one of my co-workers brought in carrot cake she'd made earlier who bakes at 4 a.m.?
then there was an email from the PTB saying since we'd achieved some goal there was bfast in the mini-kitchens on each floor
lordy lordy lardy lardy

Last Sunday was really cold here in NE Maine. So, when I pulled on a sweater and wandered out to the kitchen to cook breakfast, I tasted warm, rib-sticking food in my imagination. Without hesitation, I dropped a dab of butter into the frying pan, in which I crisped up a few ultra-thin slices of prosciutto. When the ham was taken out onto some absorbent paper towel, I dropped in three eggs (two for me, one for my wife). These I did over light and served them with toasted whole-grain bread, coated with butter and raw, unfiltered honey--accompanied by some fresh fruit and tea. Red pears are great this time of year! Not a breakfast I would have every day, but, when the sea smoke on the ocean has risen a couple of hundred feet, I want heavy-duty chow. We weren't hungry at all until 2:00 PM!

Hi Miklos; great to hear from you. My favorite cold morning breakfast is a sip of orange juice, fried eggs with Mexican re-fried beans and whole wheat english muffins with sprays of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" and sugar-free strawberry jam. I MUST have strong coffee with my breakfast--indeed, it's why I get up. I drink green tea, oolong tea and black tea in the evenings (with berries and yogurt).
How's the writing?

Hi JL, So good to hear from YOU. I love the sound of your cold-weather breakfast. I've had sugar-free strawberry jam, and I was amazed at how good it tastes; a fresh batch is far better-flavored than the sugared. Green tea is a favorite--have you tried the vast selection on-line at AsiaMarket? Good green cheap! I, too am addicted to yoghurt with berries. Have you tried either Faje Greek yoghurt (2% is plenty rich; the full-test is too much like eating butter) or Liberty goats-milk lowfat yoghurt (which the producer inexplicably labels as Cheese)?
I have a couple of short stories coming out sometime this spring. Otherwise, I'm still working on poetry. Thank you for asking. I trust you are painting steadily. All Best Wishes, Miklos7

Here is a favorite cold breakfast, which I had this morning, despite the sea smoke boiling up from the surface of Blue Hill Bay: Kashi's Autumn Wheat Cereal, topped with organic flax seeds, slivered almonds and raspberry-flavored goat's-milk yoghurt. On the side, fresh juice (prune this time), chamomile tea, and a handful of dried apricots. All these good flavors! And you can make it in 5 minutes.

No all so cold here today..

I just cooked a two egg omelet filled with monterey jack cheese, and a couple of sliced olives, the egg having lots of black pepper and some madras curry powder.. followed by two of what I call Obama Presidency cookies since that
was the day I baked them (oatmeal, flour etc, eggs, vanilla, almonds, cranberries, currents, a few chocolate chips).

Washing that down with hot coffee.

Osso,
What a GRAND breakfast! I forget about omelettes. They aren't that hard to make, and one can put all kinds of great stuff inside of them. Thank you for inspiring me!
Your Obama Presidency cookies should be mandatory at all state dinners.

Set and I went downtown this morning to have breakfast with the hamburgers at the Sheraton. Nice buffet in the Bistro on Two.

I started with a small (about teacup sized) bowl of McCann's oatmeal with brown sugar, milk, a big spoonful of some sort of very crunchy flake cereal on top and a dollop of hot strawberry sauce. Round two, about a tbsp of scrambled egg, a quarter Belgian waffle segment with good maple syrup and strawberry sauce (as near as I could make out it was mashed heated strawberries with more strawberries in it), a sausage, and about a quarter cup of sauteed mushrooms. Large cranberry juice, water and a pot of Earl Grey tea kept me company throughout the meal. Round 3, a mini croissant (about3 " long) with some fresh soft cream cheese). Round 4 more tea and another quarter Belgian waffle segment with syrup and sauce and butter this time, a different, smaller sausage - very lean - very good.

Rounds 1 - 4 ran from about 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Four hours later I am still not in the least bit hungry.

bowl of president's choice raisin bran with soy milk, 2 mugs green tea

Too bad, I'm hogging them all...

plus I burned some (there were both canola and butter) and had to toss those.