Saturday, August 1, 2009

Saturday Morning At 8:43am

Sometimes deconstruction brings nothing but comfort. This is my breakfast.

There is really nothing about my breakfast that I dislike. Or causes me worry. It's tea. Tea has been proven to be good for you. Oh, I know green tea or white tea is better than black, but if I am feeling compelled I switch for my second cup. I started drinking tea in England, the year after college. I like remembering that I was lucky enough to have that experience, to live in England, to work for a man on the verge of a great career. And this tea is organic. So no lurking anxiety about pesticides. Good thing.

My toast is whole grain from La Brea Bakery. Real whole grain, to the point where I am picking seedish things out of my teeth for a while after I eat. That's actual butter on top. And given the fervor with which I avoid saturated fat on other occasions, I celebrate the butter on my toast. It's organic too.

I like white china. I like my mug, it's big enough to provide all the tea I want in a first cup with a sense of abundance. I like the shape, it's smooth. The handle, it's balanced. And when the time comes to wash up, my dishwasher is close by, unlike the days when I lived in an apartment in Manhattan and had to wash everything by hand with a terrible speed to avoid feeding cockroaches. I like remembering Manhattan, although I tend not to focus on the scuttling cockroaches.

Breakfast is one of the times where delayed gratification brings me the most happiness. I like my breakfast so much, the sweetness of milky tea even without sugar, the crunch of toast and slight tang of salt in butter, the matching of tea quantity to toast quantity, that I can go to bed slightly hungry, thinking of how nice it will be to wake up in the morning. Which helps me stave off the chubby stomach that is doing its best to make a home on my slowly aging body. You see? Absolutely nothing but comfort.

I wake up early. It's almost always quiet when I eat breakfast. Except for the roar of the almost broken refrigerator of course. But even that is comforting. I like the quiet, and the morning light as the California marine layer slips away. The sun shines a little brighter every minute. So here's to breakfast. Go breakfast. Thank you breakfast. Have a wonderful weekend.

15 Comments:

Blogger Kalee said...

I too am a big tea drinker and also find it very comforting. Nice post.

August 1, 2009 at 10:23 AM  
Anonymous Maureen at IslandRoar said...

I love tea. Never drink coffee.
Love your mug, that's very important in the whole tea-drinking experience. And whole grain toast and butter? There are nights when no kids are here and I'm lazy that I actually have that for dinner. Yum.
I too, go to bed anticipating breakfast. But mine is a small glass of OJ and whole grain cereal or oatmeal with a little brown sugar. That is my decadence, like your butter.
Nice, relaxing way to start the day.

August 1, 2009 at 10:35 AM  
Blogger Tippy said...

Love this post. So lyrical and soothing.

My favorite breakfast these days is a toasted English muffin with homemade strawberry jam a friend brought me a few weeks ago. Fresh fruit jam on toast is a real summer treat.

August 1, 2009 at 11:58 AM  
Blogger f8hasit said...

I think we were up at the same time this morning, doing the same thing...savoring the quiet. The serene. The simplicity of simple things...like tea, and toast.

Although for some reason I have switched unknowingly to overly sweetened dark cuban coffee in my mug, which is shaped just as yours, but black in color not white.

Funny thing.
We must be kindred souls.
:-)

Happy weekend to you AND your breakfast!

August 1, 2009 at 12:56 PM  
Blogger materfamilias said...

Lovely post. I, too, am a tea drinker -- a bit fussy about it, using a looseleaf blend (my own, a mix of Russian Caravan and Lapsang Souchong) and always drinking it in a fine bone china mug -- lip and handle are perfectly shaped to my liking. Milk, no sugar. Also enjoy a seedy toast and yes, butter for breakfast toast can be compensated for in other caloric trimming elsewhere, but nothing tastes as good on toast, really.
Sometimes simple pleasures are best.

August 1, 2009 at 5:04 PM  
Blogger Hopsy said...

I LOVE tea and Mightly Leaf is one of my favorite brands! You must try their passion green tea.

August 1, 2009 at 6:09 PM  
Anonymous Academic, Hopeful said...

Your post was perfection, LPC. I am right with you on thick, smooth cups, grainy bread and the quiet comfort of the morning. If, a little later, I can add a peach or mango or some strawberries too, all the better. Aahhhh...

August 2, 2009 at 5:36 AM  
Blogger Victoria said...

what a cute post :) I love breakfast- easily the best meal in the day

August 2, 2009 at 9:09 AM  
Blogger Victoria said...

Hi :) Yes, it is, it's swedish indeed .. Oh, really :) How nice ! U liked it ?

August 2, 2009 at 10:01 AM  
Blogger Julia said...

I didn't love tea until I started tried it with milk. Now I'm a convert.

Your mug looks like a good one. Big, heavy, white. The other way to go is small, delicate, and handpainted floral. Nothing in between is quite as good.

August 2, 2009 at 2:24 PM  
Blogger C.J.M. said...

I love breakfast (and more specifically, tea in the morning) for all of the reasons you listed. It really is the most pleasant part of many days.

August 2, 2009 at 2:31 PM  
Blogger Kate said...

This looks like you took a photo of MY breakfast, which I love for all the same reasons!

So intrigued that your bag post elicited so many comments. I say: good on you. You seem to have a high aesthetic which you enjoy, but you counter it with a sensible, 'my happiness is not imbued in these objects" feeling, too. Surely a recipe for success. (Good luck in the interviews!)

August 2, 2009 at 3:59 PM  
Blogger Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

I love breakfast and the quiet of morning! However, mine must be coffee...also from a big white mug like yours...and a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and sliced strawberries on top...so summery! Happy week!...Debbie

August 2, 2009 at 4:27 PM  
Blogger Brown Eyed Girl said...

I'm a tea drinker too and Mighty Leaf is one of my favs!

August 3, 2009 at 7:06 AM  
Anonymous Maya@A Beach Lovers Place said...

Love my real butter on whole wheat bread in the morning. Don't cook with it but on the bread it belongs, always. I do drink a cup of coffee with that but did love the British afternoon tea culture with the biscuit.

August 3, 2009 at 9:10 PM  

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