breakfast

I've been told that I was just a few years old when I started making my own breakfast. I was an early bird but my mom wasn't. I would climb up the cabinets in the pantry and get the cereal and a bowl. Then the milk and make it myself. Yes, just a little independent.

For years, cereal was my breakfast. When we went grocery shopping, Nancy & I would race to the cereal aisle to pick our favorites. She seemed to always grab the Cap'n Crunch. My favorite changed a lot, I remember Count Chocula and Sugar Pops and Sugar Smacks. In high school, my favorite was a mixture of Life combined with Special K.

We didn't have family breakfasts except at Christmas and Easter. Then it would be fried eggs or pancakes. Waffles were a special treat since they took so long to make. A few times a year, we would go over to my grandparents' house and have breakfast. Marnie made peppery scrambled eggs and dried bacon and hungry jack biscuits. We loved her biscuits! She put butter between the layers and on top so they were practically dripping with buttery goodness when they were done. Then we put on more butter and honey!

Sometimes we made Cream of Wheat. I don't remember what it tasted like, I do remember it was hit or miss if you didn't make it right. Later on, instant oatmeal became a regular on the shelf.

My mom's favorite meal was breakfast at any time of day. I hated when my dad had to cook because it meant breakfast for dinner and I only wanted breakfast food at breakfast time. Though I did love when my mom made fried egg sandwiches for lunch.

When Gail moved in, we started having big breakfasts on the weekend. I would make homemade biscuits of muffins along with eggs, bacon or sausage and hash-browns. Or waffles or pancakes.

When I was pregnant with Andy, I developed an intolerance for milk. I would double over in pain after I had my breakfast. I switch to lactose free milk which was sweeter but more expensive. Luckily, it corrected itself after he was born. Then my teeth started getting sensitive to cold. Eating cereal would leave me with a tremendous mouth ache. (I clench my teeth at night and think I must be wearing out my enamel.) So no more cereal. I've been eating what they eat, bagels or biscuits.

Now I am trying to eat better and have switched to oatmeal. Steel cut oats with raisins, yogurt and orange juice. I was worried that the oatmeal would make me to warm but it seems to be OK. Today, I had the oatmeal sans raisins and then had a smoothie with plain yogurt, orange juice, pomegranate juice, frozen blueberries and strawberries. Why does mixing those things together make them seem more decadent? Breakfast might become my favorite meal of the day.