Breakfast ... I Haven't Had a Full Breakfast Since Last Week

[DC1346]

I teach Culinary Arts and one of the fringe benefits I have is access to a large kitchen. Since I like going into work early (as early as 5 AM) ... I have stocked a refrigerator and freezer with some personal food items including whole wheat bread, eggs, and sausage patties.

For the past week, I've had the hankering for a simple open faced breakfast sandwich.

My breakfast sandwich always consists of two slices of unbuttered whole wheat bread. Each slice of toast is covered with a breakfast sausage patty which is then covered with a piece of crispy bacon that I've broken in half to form an "X." The bacon is topped with a fried egg.

So on Monday, I'm cooking breakfast and a teacher walks by.

"What's that I smell?" said the teacher after poking his head into my kitchen. "Are you cooking ... BREAKFAST?"

I was just about to plate my breakfast. The social niceties taught to me by my parents included a sense of hospitality and I found myself offering my colleague an open faced sandwich. He was happy to accept. This left me with half of my usual breakfast. (sigh)

On Tuesday I thought I'd be clever. I shut the kitchen door and even "forgot" to turn on the lights. I cooked breakfast at a gas stove in a far corner of the kitchen. The stove was illuminated by a hood light.

I heard a knock on the door and saw a bearded face peering through the glass. A moment later, my department chair let himself in with a master key.

"I came by to tell you about a meeting that we're having on ... are you cooking ... BREAKFAST?" I honestly don't know why everyone seems so surprised. I'm a chef instructor. I have access to a large kitchen. It's between 5 AM and 6 AM ... YES, I am cooking breakfast.

As with my unexpected guest on Tuesday, I found myself offering my colleague breakfast. The department chair was happy to accept and he left without having told me about some meeting that I'm supposed to go to. Oh well ... what I don't know I can't go to. Heh-heh.

On Wednesday I was again making breakfast and was still trying to go for my TWO slices of unbuttered whole wheat toast, each topped with a sausage patty, bacon, and fried egg.

The building engineer let himself into my room. He's a skinny guy who goes by the nickname, "Slim." He sounds a bit like Gomer Pyle.

"Could I help you?" I asked.

"Oh, ah'm here to see where you might want them paper towel dispensers," he said.

My ears perked up. I've been trying to get paper towel dispensers installed for over 7 weeks. Health code regulations REQUIRE a paper towel dispenser at each sink. My predecessor apparently got away from having to comply with this for several years because she was rarely in the kitchen. I have "advanced" students who don't know how to hold a knife, how to do basic knife cuts like the batonnet, the brunoise, or large, medium, and small dice. They don't know how to make mother sauces or sauce derivatives. I am told that last year they spent a lot of time working on thick bundles of worksheets. (sigh)

"Slim, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Ah surely haven't," he said with a grin.

I handed him an open faced sandwich and plated my own meal on another paper plate. I was just about to eat my breakfast when another teacher walked in. This was my aspie colleague who co-teaches one of my classes with me.

"Are you cooking ... BREAKFAST?" she asked. I hurriedly bit into my breakfast before parental social conditioning would have compelled me to offer her my remaining portion.

"Yep," I said around a mouthful of toast, sausage, bacon, and eggs.

The woman sighed and left. I did not want to offer her breakfast because her husband is a volunteer aide ... so if I had offered her breakfast, she would have asked for two. She used to come by for after school snacks and always asked for two of whatever I had.

So here we are ... Thursday morning. I'm making breakfast ... and one of the administrators walked in. "What's this I smell? Are you cooking ... BREAKFAST?"

You can pretty much guess what happened.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow? Will I ever get my full breakfast?

(double sigh)

 

[Myway]

Probably not. Breakfast is just something you might have to have in courses. One thing one day, something else another moment. It all depends. Maybe you should go hide somewhere and eat. Then you wouldn't be bothered by people. Just an idea. It might not work in your situation, but maybe, if you tried to hide, people might leave you alone.

 

[Mia]

Funny how enamored people are of breakfast. It brings up memories of that quiet time when you have the world to yourself for awhile. My breakfast is eaten while reading a book and I slide the bolt across the kitchen door and revel in the silence and my whole wheat toast and whatever else I'm having and my espresso. I don't speak until its over, otherwise I go into meltdown, I've been that way since I was a child.


When I was at school, I lived near the university. All of my then boyfriend's friends would appear at dinnertime, 'Just came by to get that book hey, is that spaghetti? 'Thought I'd drop in for some tea, smells like chili, sheepishly standing in the doorway.
Must have fed all of his friends for several years, from that tiny galley kitchen. They knew that I cooked every day.

 

[DC1346]

Funny how enamored people are of breakfast. It brings up memories of that quiet time when you have the world to yourself for awhile.

When I was at school, I lived near the university. All of my then boyfriend's friends would appear at dinnertime, 'Just came by to get that book hey, is that spaghetti? ... Must have fed all of his friends for several years, from that tiny galley kitchen. They knew that I cooked every day.

Yes, breakfast is a comfort food.

I don't know about your dining habits but mine seems to go in cycles. I will go for MONTHS without eating breakfast and all of the sudden I have to have breakfast. And not a variety of breakfasts that change each day ... just one breakfast, the same one every morning for days on end.

I once had a British breakfast of toast, fried eggs, kippers, fried tomatoes, sausage, and beans for a whole week ... and then there was pancake week and French toast week and Italian frittatas ... a Chinese congee (rice porridge), breakfast smoothies ...breakfast burritos ... chicken fried steak with country gravy, fried eggs, and hash browns ... fresh fruit with granola and yoghurt ... oatmeal ...and now I'm on this open faced sandwich kick.

And yes, I've had the same types of college dinner experiences. My roommates' friends always seemed to come by during dinner.

 

[Progster]

I work afternoons and evenings and so don't get up in time fro breakfast, though arguably one can have breakfast at anytime one wants I have brunch before I start work, and dinner when I finish. I have a coffee as soon as I get up, I want to be alone and hate being disturbed until I finish it.

 

[clg114]

Yes, breakfast is a comfort food.

I don't know about your dining habits but mine seems to go in cycles. I will go for MONTHS without eating breakfast and all of the sudden I have to have breakfast. And not a variety of breakfasts that change each day ... just one breakfast, the same one every morning for days on end.

I once had a British breakfast of toast, fried eggs, kippers, fried tomatoes, sausage, and beans for a whole week ... and then there was pancake week and French toast week and Italian frittatas ... a Chinese congee (rice porridge), breakfast smoothies ...breakfast burritos ... chicken fried steak with country gravy, fried eggs, and hash browns ... fresh fruit with granola and yoghurt ... oatmeal ...and now I'm on this open faced sandwich kick.

And yes, I've had the same types of college dinner experiences. My roommates' friends always seemed to come by during dinner.

Your posts always make my mouth water, even the ones without pictures. It is a good thing that I do not have your talents or I would weigh a ton. Food is one of my favorite things.

 

[Judge]

Breakfast. An interesting concept. In the morning it's usually a cup of tea or ice water and not much else.

 

[DC1346]

Your posts always make my mouth water, even the ones without pictures. It is a good thing that I do not have your talents or I would weigh a ton. Food is one of my favorite things.

Hah-hah ... thank you!

So ... I had a catering event today. To offset food costs and to help make up for an anticipated $1,500 budgetary shortfall, I had my level II students produced taco salads for sale to teachers and staff. To avoid over production, we took prepayment for 17 meals. Since I couldn't see my students making this meal without giving them a portion, we produced 26 lunches so that each student could also have a taco salad.

I stayed up rather late last night fretting about this. My level II students are regretfully quite deficient. I don't know what my predecessor did, but she clearly didn't spend any appreciable amount of time with them in the kitchen.

I had to teach my supposedly advanced students how to hold a chef's knife and since they didn't know how to use a knife, I had to remediate the instruction of basic cuts ... the batonnet (also known as the julienne) and the brunoise to name a few. These kids don't know how to make sauces. They don't know the difference between a mother sauce and a derivative. These are all things they should have learned AND PRODUCED last year ... but they didn't.

And so I lay awake and fretted.

In theory, today should have been easy (and it was ... but I didn't know this last night).

Earlier in the week I had taught them how to make a tomato mother sauce and then we made chili as a derivative. They worked on knife skills to prepare salsa which we made from scratch using lemon juice, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, fresh garlic, and jalapenos. They also cut up various mixed greens along with tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad.

I had estimated the exact amount of tortilla chips I needed ... and salad ... and chili ... and cheese, sour cream, and salsa. I had bottled water for the teachers, foam to-go clamshell hinged boxes, and plastic utensils.

I lay in bed worrying about what Friday would bring and because I stayed up late fretting about today's production, I missed waking up at 5 AM as I usually do and actually "slept in" until 6 AM. By the time I was showered, shaved, and dressed and by the time the cats had been fed their breakfast, it was 6:30 AM ... so I didn't get to school until 6:35 AM.

I produced the breakfast that I have been trying to make all week ... 2 slices of unbuttered toasted whole wheat bread covered with breakfast sausage topped with bacon and a fried egg.

I made two open faced sandwiches, plated them, took them to my classroom, and was just about to take a bite when a special ed teacher (an aspie colleague) wandered into my room.

"Are you eating ... BREAKFAST?"

I took a bite before answering. Unable to speak with a full mouth, I nodded.

The special ed teacher stared at me. "Are you alright?" she asked.

I'm not sure why she wanted to know this. Having taken another forkful of breakfast, this time from the other open faced sandwich, I nodded.

She sighed and left ... and I was able to enjoy the rest of my breakfast in peace.

It's FRIDAY! YAY! No more work for the weekend. I actually stayed on campus until 6 PM writing lesson plans and recording grades so that I wouldn't have to do any work this weekend.

LET THE WEEKEND COMMENCE!"

 

[DC1346]

It's the weekend!

Wheeeeee!!!!

 

[Mia]

I took a bite before answering. Unable to speak with a full mouth, I nodded.

The special ed teacher stared at me. "Are you alright?" she asked.

I'm not sure why she wanted to know this. Having taken another forkful of breakfast, this time from the other open faced sandwich, I nodded.

She sighed and left ... and I was able to enjoy the rest of my breakfast in peace.

Brillant

 

[DC1346]

Set phasers to FUN!

 

[DC1346]

Oh ... and the catered luncheon turned out just great. My level II students were all smiles after several teachers came to the kitchen to get their lunches. Several of my colleagues took a bite of their taco salads before leaving. They raved about the salsa and the flavor of the chili. The kids really needed to hear this because in addition to being extremely inexperienced, they also lack self confidence.

The principal even sent me a congratulatory email for a great start to our student operated bistro.

What a GREAT WAY to end the week!

 

[Ste11aeres]

Traditionally in this area, breakfast is meat pie, baked beans with maple syrup and fried eggs, creton on toast. Bit too heavy for me.

I've never heard of a breakfast like that. Clearly we live at a great geographic distance.

 

[DC1346]

I had to google leaf lard and creton. The creton sounds a bit like a Pennsylvania Dutch scrapple ... but the creton is more spreadable.

I've never heard of meat pies being served for breakfast. I'm not opposed to it ... I've just never heard of it and as a former expat, I've enjoyed breakfasts all over the world.

Baked beans drizzled with maple syrup was also a new one for me. I'm not a fan of Boston baked beans, so I probably wouldn't like mine with maple syrup either.

Now that the weekend has come, my craving for the breakfast I've been eating all week is gone. I never have breakfast on the weekend never mind the fact that I'm usually up and about by 6 AM. During the workweek, I'm usually up by 4:30 AM.

 

[DC1346]

As for the meat pie, many cultures have similar ideas, cornish pasties and the like. Thinking of things like samosas, calzone, empanadas, jamaican meat patties. Most are simply meat inside of some sort of pastry.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not saying I don't like meat pies. I make my own. I also make calzones, empandadas, and Cornish pasties ... I've just never seen any of these served for breakfast. Nor am I condemning the use of these for breakfast. I am, after all, somewhat eccentric .. and have long enjoyed non-traditional breakfasts of anything from roast duck with steamed white rice to lasagna to meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. I once had cornbread dressing topped with a couple of fried eggs for breakfast ... and steamed dumplings ... I LOVE Chinese steamed dumplings for breakfast.

Here's a vegan "beef" cornish pastie that I made a few years ago. I liked this recipe so much that I published it in one of my cookbooks.

 

[DC1346]

We should have a history of food thread, one of my interests.

Good idea. Why don't you start it? I'll reply. Right now I'm watching an episode of Dark Matter and after that I'll take a much needed nap.

 

[AsheSkyler]

There should never be a time limit on breakfast.

I grew up on biscuits, gravy, sausage, and bacon. These days it's cereal or oatmeal if anything at all. Sometimes I'll have enough energy to do pancakes with eggs and sausage or a fried bologna and egg sandwich.