Tag Archives: breakfast

Not-so-green hybrids

Posted on May 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Did you start your morning right with a cronut?

If you answered ‘yes,’ you’re definitely a New Yorker, because this brand new croissant / doughnut hybrid is only available here in the Big Apple…at the Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring Street.

cronutWhy is everyone crazed for cronuts?  They’re fried, cream-filled and sugar-coated.

Set your sensors on stun.

When the bakery opens at 7:30am, there is already a long line.  They’ve had to set a limit of six cronuts per person…and they go for $5 a pop!

Rumor has it ‘influential’ food bloggers can get them delivered…

(Better plan a trip downtown.)

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Posted in Humor, Foods, Travel, Life, Blogs, Shopping, Cooking, Restaurants

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Bean wake-up call

Posted on April 30, 2013 | 1 Comment

Rory and I are watching Chopped, enjoying some couch time together post-Singapore, and one of the basket items is…

Baked beans

baked beansOf course, there is much discussion about how the beans are going to work with the striped bass, yadda yadda yadda. But it immediately took me back to Monday morning in Singapore when I ordered your typical bacon-and-eggs breakfast before my training session, and the hotel served them with a side of baked beans.

That woke me up.

But I have to say — they were awesome.  Sweet and smoky in flavor, the baked beans were perfect with the bacon.  In theory I guess it’s not that surprising, but it was a first for me.

May not be the last.

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Posted in Commentary, Foods, Humor, Life, Television, Travel

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Call me trendy

Posted on September 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

A lot of famous folk have been talking eating disorders lately.

Demi Lovato appeared on Katie Couric’s new talk show to discuss hers, which prompted Katie to spill the beans about her own bulimia.  Lady Gaga used to have one, too.  So did Stacey London of What Not to Wear.

It’s like eating disorders — or admitting to having had one — has become the fashionable thing to do.

Well, call me trendy — I have one, too!

I like peanut butter…a bit too much.

I like it for breakfast on toast.  I like it for lunch on bread or crackers.  I like it with chili (on the aforementioned crackers) for dinner.  Or if there’s no chili about, I’m good with the peanut butter and crackers again.

And if there’s no bread or crackers, it’s pretty great right out of the spoon.

Some people might consider this an eating disorder.  I think of it as dedication to a childhood friend who has proven himself again and again.

(But I’m not sure that is on trend right now.)

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Posted in Celebrities, Food, Health, Humor, Life

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Seeing double

Posted on August 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Brian Williams, you have a doppelganger.

And it only took me 14 years to notice.

This morning, while avoiding the news programs, I happened upon the 1997 Bette Midler-Dennis Farina farce That Old Feeling. It wasn’t that good the first time I saw it, but it’s still better than watching Today. So I let it run in the background while I ate breakfast and checked email.

A young James Denton plays the groom in the wedding that begins the film. I had kinda forgotten that detail. So today I did a serious double take — it looked like NBC News anchor Brian Williams on screen!

Now, I’ll admit, when you look at them side-by-side, the differences are more apparent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James — or Jamie as he called himself at the time — has more even features and works it a bit harder in the smolder department.   (He was on Desperate Housewives, after all; he has a lot of practice.)

But if I didn’t know who the two men were, and someone introduced them as brothers, I would totally believe it.  Wouldn’t you?

No need to thank me when ‘Doppelganger Day’ rolls around on Facebook next year, guys.  It was my pleasure.

 

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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, News, Television, TV

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Good gravy

Posted on April 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

I cooked last night.

Yes, this is a blog-worthy event.

I made breakfast for dinner.  Biscuits — from a can, I admit — and milk gravy.

Here in New York City, the term ‘milk gravy’ is greeted with much confusion.  So I will explain further in case you are also reading this with your head cocked to the side in bewilderment.

In a skillet on medium heat, I browned flour in vegetable oil.  (Bacon grease is the first choice, but I didn’t have any.)  To the flour, I added milk, stirring constantly over low heat.

Now, during this process, there was a lot of adjusting — how much oil, how much flour, how much milk.  I even added some water at the end to thin the gravy…plus salt and pepper to taste.

But, I must say, the final product was nothing short of amazing.

Filling?  Yes.  Heavy?  Oh yes.  I even added bacon to the plate, so there’s nothing about this meal that my doctor recommends.

But it does a heart good to enjoy such a feast on a good, damp New York City night.

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Posted in Cooking, Dieting, Family, Food, Foods, Health, Home, Humor, Life

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Poppin’ fresh

Posted on April 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve mentioned before in this space that my go-to breakfast every day before grade school was Pop-tarts… specifically, Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-tarts.

No frosting — just pure cinnamon sugary goodness with a cold glass of milk.

The breakfast of champions.

Of course, that was back when most Pop-tarts weren’t frosted.  When they weren’t bright, noxious colors with swirls and rainbow sprinkles.  When they still looked like breakfast pastries, not Play-Doh experiments.

They were just as bad for you — they just looked a whole lot better.

If you also prefer Pop-tarts ‘au natural’, have trouble finding them on your grocer’s shelf, AND aren’t scared to turn on your oven, you’re in luck!

I found a recipe for making Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-tarts from scratch. (And they sound pretty darn good.)

All you need is about 90 minutes, a pizza cutter and a pastry brush.  The ingredients and instructions seem pretty simple, too.

Take a look at the final product — nice, huh?

You’ll notice the recipe includes instructions for a glaze. No doubt a nod to the frosted youth among us.

Oh well…at least it’s a color found in nature!

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Posted in Commentary, Cooking, Family, Food, Foods, Health, Home, Humor, Life

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Bacon benies

Posted on February 26, 2011 | 6 Comments

Ask any business traveler — the success of any off-site conference, meeting or training session hinges upon one essential element:

BACON

It’s that simple.

Any time you gather together individuals for two or more days away from home — away from their families, their routines, their creature comforts — you must provide bacon at breakfast to insure their stamina and good health.

(I mean mental health, of course.)

Even if these businessmen and women don’t regularly eat bacon at home, offering them bacon each morning during your meeting will automatically adjust their attitude towards the positive, making them more tolerant for whatever amazing agenda your company has planned.

I know of what I speak.  It’s Saturday.  I’m working all day at a meeting in Los Angeles.  My head won’t hit the pillow until the wee hours of the morning.

How will I motor through?

Bacon.  It’s what’s for breakfast.

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Posted in Airplanes, Business, Comedy, Commentary, Cooking, Food, Foods, Humor, Life, Travel

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Wake-up call

Posted on February 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

A Pop-Tart and a multivitamin.

That was my breakfast every morning before elementary,  junior high and high school.  It was the compromise I reached with my mom because I really didn’t like to eat first thing in the morning.

I still don’t.  My stomach doesn’t wake up until lunch.

My current compromise?  A lactose-free chocolate protein drink — which I actually kinda like — because I still  feel like I should eat something.  (I respond well to guilt.)

Well,  look out — the breakfast tables have turned!  A recent study by researchers in Germany has revealed that eating the morning meal has no impact on the rest of your day except to add to the total number of calories consumed.

You heard me.   Breakfast isn’t the ‘most important meal of the day’ like we’ve always been taught, especially if you are trying to watch your weight.  When folks skipped breakfast in the study, their caloric intake for the remaining meals was unchanged.

So, if avoiding the morning meal currently works for you?

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” the researchers advise. And in this case, doing nothing is just dandy.

Take that, guilt.

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Posted in Commentary, Cooking, Dieting, Exercise, Food, Foods, Health, Humor, Life

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Bread is buttered

Posted on September 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

I was singing when I made breakfast this morning.

It’s not that I was in an exceptionally chipper mood.  Instead, two recent events brought a song forward from the inner recesses of my brain.

  1. The cupboards were bare, and toast was my only option.
  2. My friend Joan mentioned on Facebook that she saw a very funny comedian at a recent stand-up show in Lexington, KY.

If you’ve ever seen Heywood Banks, then you already know the song that I was serenading Rory with after our morning walk –

Yeah, Toast!

If you haven’t heard or seen Heywood Banks, well, ya need to.  And a lazy Sunday morning is the perfect time to tool around his website and check out  “Yeah, Toast!” and some of his other classic comedy songs, including “Eighteen Wheels on a Big Rig” and “The Cat Got Dead.”

I even discovered a brand new gem when I was clicking around this morning called “Taser Her Again” based on a true story.  It’s no wonder the man has won songwriting awards.

And with his Uncle Sam coif, he deserves a few style awards, too.

When the first cave man drove in from the dregs
Didn’t know what would go with the bacon and the eggs
Must’ve been a genius got it in his head
Plug the toaster in the wall buy a bag of bread make toast….

Yeah, toast!

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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Cooking, Entertainment, Food, Foods, Humor, Internet, Life, Music

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Crazy good

Posted on August 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Unlike most of my friends, I didn’t have many food rules growing up.

My mother was a tremendous cook who always kept the kitchen fully stocked, and as long as we ate at mealtimes, she didn’t really fuss about snacks.  Heck, she liked to snack as much as we did.

She even let us eat Pop-Tarts for breakfast on school days.  So I did.  Every day.  She did put a multivitamin on the kitchen table in an attempt to inject some vitamins and minerals into the meal.

I can get behind that.

So, my mom was the first person I thought of when I heard that Kellogg had opened a Pop-Tarts store in Times Square.  I walked by yesterday on the way to an appointment; just seeing the store made me smile.

I plan to go this weekend and try the new Pop-Tarts sushi.  Create my own custom box of Pop-Tarts, which will definitely contain Brown Sugar Cinnamon and definitely not contain any frosted Pop-Tarts, thank you very much.  And taste test the more than 30 flavors on display.  (I know my sister is very jealous right now.)

Of course, they are also rumored to have t-shirts and the like.  I mean, it is a store in Times Square.

But I doubt very much if they sell vitamins.

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Posted in Advertising, Family, Food, Foods, Health, Humor, Life, Travel

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