Breakfast for dinner

(this is actually a box — sorry about photo)

Post our holiday I was thinking about my favourite meal of the day. Which is breakfast.

This conclusion was reached after many years of purchased breakfasts eaten at a work desk; long Saturday AM diner breakfasts; grazing from fancy buffets on holidays.

As a teenager I didn’t eat breakfast. First meal of the day for a number of years was lunch at school. On a good day, tuna on white and a Coke. On a more average day, something Hostess (Twinkies or chocolate) and a … Coke. When I moved schools in 10th grade I moved from suburban-Westchester- can’t-leave-the-school to a place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where you could leave and my food intake improved exponentially (sandwiches from deli down the street; fruit).

I enjoy a good or fancy dinner as much as the next person. But, fancy dinners can be hit or miss (eg, the fantastic place in Brittany with lobster risotto and one of the most beautiful plate of small desserts I’ve ever seen after an irritating holiday fight vs the very disappointing birthday dinner for my then husband at chi chi seafood restaurant Le Bernardin in NYC).

In any case I love me a toasted everything bagel and smear with a milky coffee or, better yet, an iced coffee with half-and-half from a deli; a really good croissant with a latte; a plate full of tropical fruit, mini pastries, yoghurt and iced coffee eaten under a fan wafting tropical breezes; a plate of scrambled eggs (loads of pepper), hash browns and toast with milky tea.

On the last day of our London trip, we went back to where we used to live in London to buy bagels from the best bagel shop outside of New York. Alas, when we went by it had become a sweet shop. A casualty of covid, I think. That made me ludicrously sad.

When we returned home we mused over the food — fulsome about some things – including the filled naans (bacon or sausage) and bottomless chai. It occurred to me a food writer I quite like had mentioned that Dishoom, the Bombay-style café where we got all this, did a filled naan and chai box for delivery.

So, I ordered one — which arrived today, late afternoon. So, breakfast for dinner.

We weren’t quite able to re-create the fluffiness of the naans, but they weren’t bad at all. And the chai was quite decent (I am still drinking it as I write). Another box is definitely on my Christmas list now (well, along with the bagels, cream cheese and lox we have on Xmas morning – so maybe this can be had on Boxing Day morning).

This all sent me off to get Serge Lutens Arabie (dried fruit, spices), which I love but gets stuck in the box all summer. While the top of this is cumin-heavy on me, it settles nicely into a sweet dried fruit and spice basket. And even though we’re still getting warm days, the mornings and evenings are much cooler, so Arabie slots in well.

What about you? What’s your favourite meal of the day? Any outstanding memories? And which perfume might you pair with such a meal?

PS For Patty, my one tuberose produced a very small set of blooms. The fragrance was gorgeous and I’m hopeful more will come up next summer

  • Patty says:

    Oh, the tuberose!!! How lovely. I don’t really favor any meal more, but I do love a breakfast if there are a lot of people there – either in-house or at a restaurant. I think it was growing up with those early morning breakfasts around the table, it’s like a tribal early morning merge that is often really silent, but companionable.

  • Dina C. says:

    Your food descriptions sound delicious, Cinnamon! So yummy. I always am greatly disconcerted to find old stores and businesses not where they used to be. Just today I discovered a branch of my bank had gone from an old location. Grrr. Your holiday food ordering plans sound so good. I should think ahead and do something similar!

    • cinnamon says:

      Thank you. I think at this point if we’re holidaying together the biggest issue is where to eat. What to see is a reasonably distant second. We’re starting to see articles about certain food shortages for the holiday season. So, we’ll see what is really available come ordering time early November…

  • ElizaC says:

    I don’t really eat breakfast food at home but I love diner/cafe breakfasts 🙂 Precovid, my hubby and I would spend New Years eve with my sister in Tacoma (about a 30 minute drive from Seattle) enjoying a wonderful, downtown wide arts and music event. New Years day would be started with a diner breakfast – if we were really lucky the Old Milwaukee Cafe would be open. Owner operated (only 2 people) with huckleberry pancakes as big as your head. Amazing hash browns, the evil buttered toast that you would never make at home and those little individual jam packets! The owners just retired – we will so miss that breakfast tradition!

  • Eldarwen22 says:

    Never was a huge breakfast type of person. If I had to do breakfast it would be fried potatoes and sausage. There was a place near me that did fabulous breakfasts. It was just a simple hole in the wall but a hole in the wall restaurant will do the trick. French onion soup makes a wonderful meal too but never could successfully make it.

    • cinnamon says:

      I don’t eat potatoes much any more — they seem to be one of the things my body has grumbled about more as I’ve aged. I still love the idea of scrambled eggs and home fries though. Soup for breakfast … I once had miso and grilled salmon on a vacation but I can’t say that was a favourite.

  • March says:

    We had to dial down breakfast for dinner when my youngest wound up with carb issues a couple of years ago, but one of all my kids’ favorite things growing up was pancakes and bacon for dinner — which was easy to whip up if I was tired and made them ridiculously happy, so it was fun for me too! And I feel you on being sad when you discover a favorite food place has disappeared … our food memories run deep. I haven’t done breakfast for dinner here, but on my new schedule of “I can eat whatever/whenever I want” I’ll admit to a few days of super-healthy eating during the day and … oh I dunno, a few bites of cheesecake for dinner if I’m feeling peckish.

    • cinnamon says:

      It was such a great bagel shop — and a neighbourhood institution. I really don’t get why it didn’t survive. It’s funny how if we’re being generally healthy a ‘few bites’ of something decadent can be sufficient.

      The idea of cheesecake sends me thinking about Juniors in Brooklyn. Sigh.

      • March says:

        I’m still on the search for the “right” cheesecake here, which was much easier to find back east; I like mine with more tang and less of a creamy texture. I did a cheesecake tour of NYC once, it was GLORIOUS, I think Anita was on that trip. My (cheap and easy) fave was a place in Grand Central Station where I met the bus back to DC, I’d grab a slice to take with me to eat on the bus. Ah, those were the days. I can order Junior’s (I looked a couple of weeks ago lol) but then I have a whole cheesecake … still trying by the slice locally. There are worse challenges!

  • Portia says:

    Hey Cinnamon,
    Yes, I’m with you. Breakfast is wonderful.
    We rarely breakfast in this house but often have breakfast food for lunch or dinner. Bacon & Eggs, croissants, cereal, French toast or regular toast and tea/coffee make appearances after midday. I love bagels but they’re not a popular food here in Australia. Sometimes I buy a pack at the supermarket but having crap ones rarely scratches the itch.
    One of our fave breakfast for dinner meals is Frenched Raisin Bread with Bacon and Maple Syrup. Yeah, no idea why we are fat.
    When travelling though it is by far my favourite meal. We get together and plan the day, write postcards and gobble down enormous amounts of food and coffee. We find the older, not 5 star or multinational hotels often do a much more regional and delicious menu on the smorgasbord.
    Portia x

    • Portia says:

      PS> Jin has just last week taught himself how to make naan from scratch. We ruined our frypan making them but now he has bought a dedicated flattish naan pan and a brand new frypan.
      Yes, I know. He’s the freaking BEST! My last long term partner was Indian and he NEVER did that.

    • cinnamon says:

      You sent me off looking for a naan pan — and low and behold they can be found here. The frying pan we used really was too big and too high sided.

      Yes, a leisurely breakfast on a warm morning is a great great thing.

  • Tara C says:

    I love breakfast too, as I love sweets in general. My best breakfast was coconut pancakes with coconut syrup in a little breakfast place in Honolulu. Scent of Hawaii is always Kai or Monyette Paris. Someday I hope to go back! In the meantime, pancakes, waffles or french toast drenched in salted butter with lashings of maple syrup is my favorite.

    • cinnamon says:

      I prefer my crepes savoury, but a good banana bread with chocolate or a cinnamon bun are always welcome. I would love to return to Kauai…

  • Musette says:

    I absolutely love breakfast and couldn’t care less if I eat for the rest of the day, as long as I get some bacon and scrambled eggs in my maw in the early am!!!

    I rarely do breakfast at night because I rarely eat dinner but if I did it would be (wait for it) bacon & scrambled eggs. Though that lobster risotto might edge out the eggs… oooh! I could make soft scrambled eggs with lobster, mascarpone and thyme. Those are the most glorious eggs in all of creation!

    xoxoxo

  • Teresa says:

    Food and perfume talk on a Sunday morning…my favorite!