Breakfastaganza

some mango for your majesty?

The gift of time is the most wonderful of things.

The Gauntlet

After writing this post a while ago, I have found myself being just a little more aware of breakfast. Less likely to just grab something and more likely to enjoy little changeups. It’s actually not that hard. I must admit I still LOVE an everything bagel (toasted) with smoked salmon cream cheese but there is a joy to having something great without leaving the abode. Life is good.

Mindfulness

I imagine all of the offerings of modern life if used wisely, might deliver us a bit more time. Mindfulness has come to me rather late in life. I am thankful for that despite wishing at times it might have come sooner. The premise of my Newsletter is we live in the best time ever to be alive. Rapid change and improvement are remarkable gifts. We are burdened by these bodies which, if we take great care, avoid unfortunate accidents, and be kind to each other might give us 100 years of tread life.

One hundred years means 36,525 days, and if you are a fan of the play Hamilton, equates to 52,596,000 minutes. Fifty-two million plus minutes and today we can talk about fifteen of them. The fifteen minutes I focus on are a parable of what the last 250 years have delivered. It is INCONCEIVABLE to me that King George III of England, likely the most powerful person on the earth in the 1770s, had a better breakfast than I did today. It is better not to imagine the legion of minions and resources required to pull together breakfast for George. Life is good.

I decided the fifteen minutes focused on my breakfast would allow me to talk all about the things I take for granted. I decided a “laundry list” of technology that transformed this little window of time for me would be a great place to start. It is now after my breakfast and in my mindfulness exercise, I am flabbergasted by how many touchpoints my bit of breakfast required!

It takes a lot to make breakfast.

First, let’s begin with how we got to these fifteen minutes. I LOVE FOOD and cannot emerge effectively in the morning without some fresh coffee. I like a little bit of everything and try to change it up most days. The items with an asterisk are my everyday breakfast stuff. The rest I adjust. The menu this morning is (1) virgin bloody mary* (2) coffee* (3) dark chocolate* (4) pink grapefruit* (5) mango (6) black beans (7) a cage-free organic egg and (8) a slice of toast w/ cinnamon.

A plan involving eight different things for breakfast can only exist in this modern world with a lot of assistance from the things we take for granted. How did it all come together? I have adjusted my plan these days as we have downsized from our home recently and are exploring what is next. In a small apartment, we are all simply closer to each other. My dog awakens if I get on the treadmill. It used to be in the basement “workout space”.

Human beings, including me, are adaptable. I have shifted my use of the treadmill to the evening but early enough so as not to affect my sleep. In the mornings, when I rise I can stretch or lift some smallish weights to start the day off right. Today I got up at 610 am, just before my 615 am alarm. I stretched and played with dumbbells for about twenty minutes. Once those “gotta dos” are out of the way, life often pivots to Denny. He is most likely our best example of a creature of habit. Same water bowl, same food bowl (rarely cleaned), same food, and always the same place “at the table”. I don’t actually believe Denny needs to do his morning business as much as he knows it will be followed soon after by “first dinner”. I am quietly reading a book shared by a new friend on the deck overlooking the roadway near the apartment. It is about 640 am and I hope to read for about 30 minutes. Life is good.

It is now about 705 am and I hear the first beginnings of an earnest whine from Denny, the cocker spaniel. Grab the leash, a bag for keeping the grounds carbon neutral, and the keys for getting in and out of the building. Denny is ready to start the day. He has no illusions regarding what breakfast will be. We are out pursuing the best spot to fertilize this morning. Once back inside, a half cup of dog food and I could pivot to my plan for myself. I had already taken my morning course of medications and tested my blood glucose to understand how my day might unfold. It was a bit higher than normal overnight, a symptom of restless sleep. It is quite reasonable now, reinforcement to the value of a bit of stretching and some moving of dumbbells. I have exercised, the dog has been out and, I have taken my medications. Time to get cleaned up and take on the day.

It is now 725 am, the dog has eaten, and I am feeling clean and ready…it is FINALLY time for breakfast. My blood sugar has continued to drop a bit in response to the exercise. All is well in the world. I have already checked my blood glucose three times since getting up (1) before exercise (2) reading on the porch and (3) getting ready for breakfast. I have not had to prick my fingers even once through the magic of technology. Life is good.

I join this adventure of breakfast knowing it will be the material for a post. The fact that I am thinking about it probably means I am less likely to spill stuff or cut my fingers. Mindfulness is a good thing. So it begins!

I walk into the kitchen and say “Hey Google, start a timer for fifteen minutes and tell me about my day”. My little bit of AI will do the rest and fill the background and frame the day that unfolds after breakfast. I start assembling the gotta haves this morning from the fridge, fruit bowl, and counter. This of course includes some sliced carrots as Denny awaits dessert.

1. Fill the coffee pot 1/2 full with cold water. Flip the water at the sink to hot, plug the drain and let it warm up with a spritz of soap. Fill the Cuisinart coffeemaker and press START. I loaded the maker with a fresh bamboo filter and coffee ground last night before going to bed. I LOVE THE SMELL OF FRESHLY GROUND COFFEE and that was my resounding memory of the previous evening. Ah, mindfulness. We are off to the races. Fewer mistakes will result once fresh coffee is at hand. ~ 2 minutes so far.

   

   Life is short, drink good coffee

2. Back to the counter and the cutting board. One egg, a mushroom, and 1/2 of a Campari tomato with a splash of almond milk and salt and pepper beaten and poured into the plastic dish for my egg maker. Pour 3 oz of water into the measuring cup and put it in my trusty egg maker. Put on the dome and start the eggs. ~ 5 minutes

3. A scoop of black beans in the same dish I scrambled the eggs and into the microwave but don’t press start just yet. Put stuff back into the fridge.

4. With my favorite little ceramic knife, I slice up the mango. Most of it into Tupperware but some into a bowl for breakfast. Next, slice a pink grapefruit into quarters. Mango & Grapefruit for the next few days! Most into Tupperware in the fridge but 1/4 into a bowl for breakfast. ~ 8 minutes

5. Half a piece of dark chocolate. A great morning indulgence. The coffee is ready and the first cup of the day is upon me. I put the stuff I got dirty into the sink to wash. Nothing that was cooked so easy to clean. ~ 10 minutes

6. Pour a glass of virgin bloody mary mix over ice and enjoy that while making breakfast with my coffee. Throw a slice of frozen bread into the toaster oven. We are ALMOST DONE! ~12 minutes

7. As the toast is done the egg maker starts beeping. Get the egg out and put it in a bowl. ~14 minutes

8. Pull out the toast and start the microwave for the beans. In the apartment, running them both means the circuit blows :( ~ 15 minutes)

9. When I add in the time grinding the beans last night, I think this was about a twenty-minute affair. Breakfast was great. Everything except my coffee cup into the dishwasher or washed in the sink. Life is good.

I sure make a lot of dirty dishes. Mom did not have a dishwasher. By the 1990s they became standard in the American kitchen. I’m guessing King George had a fancier platter.

So what the heck is this all about? I often harken back to one of my favorite quotes from Ben Franklin. That is today’s feature photo. When I consider that only three generations ago in the case of my paternal family, they were boiling water, using an outhouse, saving fat to make soap, washing clothes by hand, bathing weekly, making their own bread, no electricity. My conclusion is that the challenges of life robbed them of time. The life we get to make the most of is quite amazing. Life is good.

The ease of the modern world and the means to have such a breakfast with little effort is amazing. A bit of mindfulness overwhelms me as I think about great coffee, ground and brewed fresh, mango, a fruit I didn’t know existed as a youngster, pink grapefruits EVERY DAY (I really like them). All of this is amidst air conditioning, a world at our fingertips via the internet. I pause and think: WHAT THE HELL ARE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT THE GOOD OL’ DAYS? I’m guessing the King couldn’t just say I have a taste for some mango regardless of the season. A wonderful day awaits and it is only 8 am. I wish I had titled this “The Modern World — A Love Letter”.

The Poll & Music

For me, the answer almost every day is coffee and virgin bloody mary. A great start to the day in my book. Here’s a song and another about time that you might like. If you are in the mood for Hamilton, here you go. If the big list of stuff that intersects with breakfast makes sense to you, we think alike. Today unfolded and I received so many gentle assists. If you disagree, tell me why I’m crazy…you won’t be the first :)

What’s Next

I hope tonight was fun. A bit about making the most of our time. My next post was a blast to research and learn about and is titled “Mass Extinction”. The title sounds a little hyperbolic. I kinda like stirring the pot. We should never take ourselves too seriously. I read a bit and was persuaded enough to write about it. Don’t forget to vote about breakfast, it is your civic duty :) If you wish, tell me about what makes breakfast special for you.