What do you usually eat for breakfast?

Usually just strong coffee. On weekends eggs & toast.

I freeze lots of fresh blueberries every year. Most days for breakfast, I take about 1/3 cup of frozen blueberries and microwave them for a minute to make them hot. I then add a little yogurt and dry cereal (usually kashi) to fill the bowl.

[Robin Garr]

I remember being at a very large convention hotel, I think it was in Madrid, where they had a huge breakfast room that appeared to be trying to cater to every cultural desire in the world for this first meal of the day in an enormous buffet.

Hmm, I remember a buffet like that in Lisbon. In general, it seems to me that European hotels that cater to a wide audience of visitors, not just locals, tend to have this kind of selection.

I usually try to eat a healthy breakfast ... always a bowl of some kind of fruit, somewhat determined by the season but often grapefruit and bananas; peaches in season, then fresh figs in season, pears, berries ... anyway, a decent serving of fruit. Often an English muffin on the side. Less often a a single egg, usually sunnyside up or fried. Caffeine after, not doing, sometimes a 2% latte or espresso or regular coffee to take back to my office after I eat.

For indulgence, it's nice to have a batch of biscuits or popovers for Sunday breakfast. Or go out and have something special - eggs Benedict or an omelet filled with something good ... or even a buffet such as you describe.

Hmm, I think I'm ready for breakfast ...

I haven't run into this in Europe yet, but had the same experience in China. I did the same thing as you, Randy; sampled way more than I should have. But every breakfast ought to feature chili-garlic sauce. (BTW, the only Star Trek babe I'd have been looking for is Kes)

At home? Coffee. Toast. Period. If I have company, I'll cook something with eggs, and for Jimmy, on a weekend I always do waffles.

8 oz of Yoplait and a cup of Earl Gray tea.
OR
grapefruit sections, toast and a cup of Earl Gray tea.

Within 15 minutes of waking, I have a 16 ounce glass of water.
Within 30 minutes, I have a 4 ounce glass of orange juice.
At the hour mark, I have my first cup of coffee, with a bit of half and half. The second cup immediately follows the first.

Six days out of seven, I eat a bowl of cereal - I always mix my cereal - there must be a flake; e.g Total, Wheaties. There must be a square; e.g. Chex, Life. Finally, there must be Cheerios. These are mixed in equal parts. This is topped with a cup of skim milk, and half a banana. I follow that up with a spoonful or two of plain yogurt.

On the seventh day, all hell breaks loose, and I will have two eggs, bacon, and buttered toast.

Within 15 minutes of waking, I have a 16 ounce glass of water.
Within 30 minutes, I have a 4 ounce glass of orange juice.
At the hour mark, I have my first cup of coffee, with a bit of half and half. The second cup immediately follows the first.

John,
Do you use a stop watch?
Bill

John,
Do you use a stop watch?
Bill

No. The clock in my taskbar.

My "everyday" breakfast is about 1/2 cup of granola (no cinnamon or dried fruit), with about 1 cup of vanilla yogurt (prefer Yoplait fat free) and if I have fresh fruit, I add some, but it's not at all necessary.

Since Friday however, I have instead been enjoying a scoop of warmed sweet potato souffle with pecan streudel. Decadent.

Cereal (and possibly a slice of toast) six days per week. On Sunday, I make a full-blown breakfast, e.g., scones, waffles, eggs, hashbrowns, etc.

BTW, it's better for losing weight to eat a little something for breakfast rather than nothing. That little something revs up your metabolism, which will burn up more calories.

I've never been a breakfast person. Drove my mom nuts when I was a kid. I tend not to want to eat for the first couple hours I am up.

Sometime in the middle of the morning I'll have some fruit and some cheese, or a half a bagel, or a hard boiled egg, or a bowl of oatmeal, depending on where I am.

If I have houseguests, breakfast is always done though.

And often to celebrate a special occasion we will go to brunch instead of dinner, then take in an afternoon concert. And I love that!

3 cups of coffee
Glass of Juice
Buttered Toast/ English Muffin
2 bottles of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
'Winger

[James Roscoe]

Captain Crunch!!!!!

If I'm home:

Lots of black coffee
English Muffin topped with two poached eggs

On the road:
Even more black coffee
Instant oatmeal (Yes, I know it's yucky) and Trader Joe's yogurt (IMO, the only edible yogurt)

Coffee first thing to wake up (I am most definitely NOT a morning person - I firmly believe one should not be expected to think until at least 9:00 AM, which usually puts me at odds with my boss).
Then it's a package of Quaker Oats reduced-sugar instant oatmeal with 1/4 cup of diced & mixed dried fruits, eaten once I get to work. I'm usually running too late to take time to eat at home before leaving for the cube farm.

Weekends could be more oatmeal, or cold cereal (I mix mine also), or a fried egg & cheese sandwich on toast, or Krusteaz no-fat muffins, or whatever the hell I feel like fixing.

BTW, the oatmeal every day has played a large part in reducing my chlolesterol level enough that my doctor has stopped harping about putting me on medication to lower it!

[Jenise]

I haven't run into this in Europe yet, but had the same experience in China....But every breakfast ought to feature chili-garlic sauce.

I am SO not a breakfast eater. Typically I wake up and want a hot drink, sometimes coffee but more often green tea, right away, that I'll nurse for several hours. After about three hours, I'll be hungry, and make myself something that would look more like lunch or a dinner side dish to the rest of you: soup or some form of vegetable. Sometimes, avocado toast. Later, I'll snack on fruit.

But in China I ate breakfast every day. We stayed in five star hotels that had the kind of full Asian and Western buffets Stuart describes, and where I'd have avoided the latter I could not resist the former, which were usually Chinese dim sum or made-to-order noodle bars. For me, amazing food not to be missed. And during the nine days we spent on the Yangtze River where the breakfasts were all Western, we'd ask what the crew was eating. There was always some kind of delicious bao, usually quite hot since the crew was from Chongquing which enjoys the hottest cuisine in that country, and after a few days our waiter knew to just go get crew food for Annabelle and I without checking first. I ate that every day except the time the bao was stuffed with tiny, whole 3/4" long shrimp that felt like bugs in my mouth.

Likewise, in Denmark the combination of fresh nutty pumpernickel, stinky cheese and fresh fruit enticed me to eat every morning.

The thing is that even though I'm not usually hungry, when travelling I find the foods so unusual and compelling I eat breakfast anyway. But once back home, I revert to my usual spartan ways.

2 bottles of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
'Winger

Startin' the day right, I see..

Every single day of the year that I am home, I eat yogurt with fruit.

That plan is especially blessed when living in California.

The only deviation is when I'm at my mother's house or someplace else where I'm not preparing the meals.

I've never been a breakfast person. Drove my mom nuts when I was a kid. I tend not to want to eat for the first couple hours I am up.

That describes me, as well. I usually feel a bit nauseous if I eat within the first couple of hours after waking up. I do need my two or three mugs of coffee, though.

After that couple of hours, I'll usually eat something minimal. A dry bagel is about as filling as it gets. I sometimes keep Clif bars in my desk or I'll grab a couple of cookies if there are some in the break room. But the 3-egg omelet with hash browns and toast is something I can't face before noon.

Sometimes Greek yogurt drizzled with a good honey and fruit.

Always - in season fruit, two or three kinds. Every spring and summer, I freeze strawberries, raspberries (red and golden) blueberries, sliced plums, and peaches. So even in winter when we can only get grapefruit and apples that are any good, I have good fruit.
Cereal - maybe 6 times a year.
Toast or half a bagel - maybe two mornings, along with my fruit.

On days that I'm at work, I'll skip breakfast and eat an early lunch instead (c.at noon). On days that I'm at home, I'll eat - shock, horror - porridge! I like porridge with some of the berries that I've preserved from my parents' garden. Does no one else like porridge?

-O-

2 bottles of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
'Winger

Startin' the day right, I see..

You know what they say about it being the most important meal.

Or, as my Dad was fond of saying: "Only alcoholics have to wait until noon".

Captain Crunch!!!!!

If I could eat these and get away with it, I'd be right there with you James. My favorite!

Three basic choices:

Oatmeal with egg whites and olive oil, or

Left overs from the night before -- meat loaf or cold vegetables, especially (and I never warm them up first), or

Once a week pancakes or waffles or some other baked dish -- usually egg based but even baked apples get the nod from time to time.