Breakfast is sort of a hit and miss affair chez nous. The other two meals usually merit our full attention, but for the French, it is literally a breaking of the fast; dejeuner- undo the fast, not important except as a little something to go with one's coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
We are an exception; I was born in the US and I love breakfast. I dislike bacon, eggs, sausage, toast and orange juice with floaties in it. I still remember clearly in the hospital after I'd fractured my skull when I was 3 years old.
They served me that exact breakfast and left me alone. The nurse returned to find my toast stuffed into my glass of o.j., my eggs squished with the bacon into the milk glass (I must have drunk that) and a napkin shoved in on top of that. She was really angry! She asked me (most likely through clenched teeth) what would I be willing to eat. "Cereal." I got cereal for the rest of my stay, it was perfect. At a breakfast event with my great-grandmother a couple of years later, I discovered French toast. The love affair was begun and sealed the same day. My great-grandmother, nicknamed Twerpie, spent every Saturday morning baking cakey bread and caramel rolls for our family.
They served me that exact breakfast and left me alone. The nurse returned to find my toast stuffed into my glass of o.j., my eggs squished with the bacon into the milk glass (I must have drunk that) and a napkin shoved in on top of that. She was really angry! She asked me (most likely through clenched teeth) what would I be willing to eat. "Cereal." I got cereal for the rest of my stay, it was perfect. At a breakfast event with my great-grandmother a couple of years later, I discovered French toast. The love affair was begun and sealed the same day. My great-grandmother, nicknamed Twerpie, spent every Saturday morning baking cakey bread and caramel rolls for our family.
Pierre went to Denmark as a teenager and fell in love with eggs, cheese, herring and ketchup for breakfast. It completely grossed out his parents for ever after. However, his general dismissal of the importance of breakfast as a meal has not changed all that much. It should be eaten, and sometimes it is good to make it special, but toast with hot chocolate is just fine.
So the kids either wake up to a gourmet meal or cereal. There is one constant; a hot drink to start the day. On Sunday, Daddy makes pancakes, about half the time there are eggs, and a couple of days a week I come up with something yummy. Chocolate bread, French toast, baked eggs and, of course, smoothies. If I eliminate all things green, the kids will drink the smoothies. If I hide it quick enough and they think it is just blueberry bits, they will drink it. If they come upon me in the kitchen with a handful of greens and the blender out, it is a doomed effort. This is the photo of my favorite smoothie and latest caramel bread effort; easy recipe below.
We take breakfast fairly seriously. The kids eat either cereal, that is Bear only, as Missy hates cereal. Or a Nutella sandwich, or an omlette, boiled egg or whatever. We have a savory egg toast for breakfst on Saturdays and Sundays an omlette, hash browns, some turkey sausage, oj and toast. I wish my kids ate oatmeal but both have a texture aversion.
ReplyDelete