Friday, February 19, 2010

recapturing breakfasts

My throat’s been a little iffy lately. When my throat is iffy, I think back to my childhood, when my mom was working crazy hours so being sick meant going to my grandparents and getting spoiled. My grandfather made the most perfect eggs ever. So when I’m sick, I make poached eggs.

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Along with oats (made with just water, to avoid dairy induced mucousness), an orange (vitamin C!) and tea (throat soothingosity!)

I use a snazzy poacher:

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(I filled the other cups with water to keep them from scorching)

But honestly, nothing will ever beat my grandfather’s eggs.

Another breakfast I had was trying to recreate a deliiiiiiiiiiiiicious concoction I had at our breakfast buffet in Thailand: are people familiar with Bircher Muesli? All I know is that it’s oaty and sweet and delicious and I’m going to do everything I can to recreate the goodness I ate in Bangkok.

My first attempt:

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The day before, I combined:

1/2 c oats
1 t. currants
1/2 apple, grated
1/2 c. milk
splash water

Then the next morning I added:

bit of lemon zest
1 t. ground flax (trying to thicken it!)
2 T almonds, chopped

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Thoughts? A bit too liquidy (although I like the mush!). And I wanted more oomph!

Attempt #2:

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Last night:

1/2 c oats
1 t currants
1/4 t lemon zest
1/3 c milk
1/2 an apple, grated

This morning:

1 T yogurt
2 T almonds, chopped

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SMASHING! Perfect consistency, peppy flavors. Oh, oats. You are miraculous.

Another of my favorite things in Thailand was FRUIT. Holy goodness.

So imagine my thrill when I, perusing the aisles for fun at Hmart as I am wont to do, I saw THIS:

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Jackfruit! My sweet love!

There is a lottttttttttttttttttttttttt of beautiful delicious perfect fresh fruit in Thailand. Lots of things that they have here (mango, pineapple, coconuts) but taste a gazillion times better there, and lots of things I’ve never seen before (sapadilla, durian, JACKFRUIT!). I brought it home stoked to share with the fam.

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Kind of fibrous, with a taste that actually reminds me of a fruitier plantain (my mom said ‘lychee’, I haven’t eaten enough of them to know if that’s an accurate comparison). LOVE jackfruit!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never even heard of jackfruit!!! Regardless, it looks delicious!

Tasha - The Clean Eating Mama said...

What a comforting breakfast =)

Katie @ Health for the Whole Self said...

That poacher is so neat! Where is it from?

Mo Diva said...

eggs pretty much did it for me! I have never seen an egg poacher before... must look into it!

Veggies, Cake & Cocktails said...

I need to get one of those egg poacher pans. I believe my mother-in-law has one and they work great. But then again everything she cooks is great!

I love going to memory lane. Especially when they are those warm kind of memories!

Genesis said...

that is one perfect poached egg. i have trouble eating runny eggs. just not my thing. its has to be solid or i just wont eat it.

your dishes are really gorgeous.

La said...

Ahhhhhhh jackfruit!! When we were on a hike in Chiang Mai our guide just reached up and pulled one off a tree and cut it up for us...Amazing.

The museli looks delish - loooved that in Thailand the few times we had it.

You know, I don't think I've ever had poached eggs but with a cool little contraption like that I think I could work around it...haha. My grandmother's eggs (scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese in a wrap) is my ultimate definition of comfort food!

Hope your throat feels better soon!

Tamara Marnell said...

What is jackfruit like? It looks like a peach--is it sweet like one?

Unplanned Cooking said...

Yummy! We're looking for something around here to replace those $5 boxes of granola.

Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen said...

My throat hurts today too! I have had tons of tea, oats and eggs also! Definite comfort food. I hope you feel better soon!

Jess said...

Those oats look fantastic!!

Diana said...

That is a spiffy egg poacher! I've only tried poaching eggs once, and it was the old fashioned way. Was not prepared for how difficult that is! I like your tool much better.