Recession Breakfast

I'm a morning person, and I love most parts about the first portion of the day: the sun, the option to get up and seize something or to be languid and pretend that I'm wealthy and living high on my trust fund when in fact I'm doing nothing but amassing debt horrible debt, the seemingly limitless possibilities that aren't actually possible, and not least of all the food. Breakfast is an extraordinary meal and not just because it will help you perform well on your standardized tests. It can make you remember how great your night was if you have good leftovers. It can warm you if your house doesn't have adequate heat. When acompanied with music it can even help you face those possibilities that the day is forcing on you that you'd rather were impossibilities. It's the one facet of your morning that is always under your control, and it can do a lot to set the tone of your day.

All of this talk about possibility is really just high minded illusions though. I very much like routine and similarity. Usually I'll go on breakfast kicks that last eight or so months where I eat the same damn thing every morning. I think my favorite one was fried egg over salsa over toast topped with cheese (x2). mmmmmm--I shudder just thinking about it. The bread was this really nice alfalfa sprout grain bread from TJs that crisped in the perfect way when you toasted it. The eggs were fried in olive oil. But enough! Those times have past. I no longer live in a basement without heat alone on Long Island. I now live in what was, at least, the finance capital of the world shortly after the biggest economic implosion of my lifetime. So far I've seen effects of this implosion but haven't felt them. There are more vacant storefronts than I'm used to, and I'm frequently reading news things telling me how much less money will be spent on services within Manhattan now that the major value-added industry is about as verile as those barely living fish you see in the Chinatown markets off canal street that are just sitting outon the side in the fishy smelling air. So, when I realized that my days of a 2 cheese omlett and potato breakfast were numbered I thought the impending fiscal doom ought to play a role in my decision.

I'd always had an aversion to slimy-mushy-warm breakfasts, but the cheese grits I had at RTR gave me the will to try s'more. I love the smiling old quaker man on the cylo of instant oats that are only $5 for like 3-4 weeks of breakfasts, so I took the plunge and decided to go with oatmeal. I'm acutally pretty happy with the decision. It's really fun to cook (though cleaning the pot afterwards is a pain). When the bubbles start to come up it looks like you're staring at some weird geo-thermic field in a place where the terrain is almost swampy. It took me about 3 tries to get the consistency where I like it, but now I can regularly and without burning the oats ensure that my meal is firm enough that I don't feel like an old person who is eating something only because I'm too lazy to put in my tentures and it's the only thing my toothless mouth can handle have no more teeth. (I know, I know, that's a pretty runny ony sentence) I learned somewhat quickly that, while great with grits, cheese and oatmeal is not a good combination. However! if I slice a banana lengthwise and then cut each half into very small pieces it's pretty delicious. I love banas, but usually they go bad if I get a bunch because eating an entire banana a day never feels right. Now the bunch is gone just as they start to get little black/brown spot. Also, I find that getting one really long thing that isn't rigid at all and slicing it early every morning is gratifying in it's own way. Finally, I've got a favorite bowl that I haven't been using as much as I'd like, so it's been really nice to get re-acquainted with it.