However, I’m currently studying in Ireland and am trying to get back in to better breakfast habits, since the coffee around here isn’t like my coffee back home. A cup of tea with whole milk & a little raw sugar, a hard boiled egg, and 2 slices of dark bread, toasted, with a bit of butter and orange marmelade.

I don’t like to start my day with anything heavy or greasy (hence the coffee routine), so I don’t even cook the stuff. “Donuts” were always a rare treat as a child, and I still can not understand how anyone can consider that to be a true breakfast.

It’s been warm enough in the mornings around here lately that I’ve been eating cold cereal for breakfast (ones lower in sugars, usually with a bit of fruit added as well as the milk) with my coffee. In the colder months, I tend toward oatmeal or another hot grain cereal, also with fruit. But if I’m going out at breakfast time, I tend to treat myself to goodies like eggs Benedict or crispy waffles drenched in maple syrup. There’s just no point in cooking things like that for one, and I don’t want to be responsible for Mr. Twistie’s early demise.

Of course, when the larder is very bare around here, I’ve been known to slather toast in butter and whatever flavor jam we happen to have on hand and make do with that until lunch.

Then again, from Casey’s description, I clearly have to make it to Cafe Brioche for breakfast one day, even if Palo Alto is a little far for me to go for breakfast on a daily basis. Mrs. Henry is welcome to join me on said jaunt.

I have instant oatmeal to which I add dried berries and cinnamon (if I could buy instant oatmeal in bulk, I could premix this) and coffee in a French Press, so all I have to do is wake up, put the kettle on, go brush my teeth, and pour. Easy.

If I had some fruit I could eat an apple or something, too, but I don’t.

Turkey bacon isn’t bad, actually; turkey’s flavour goes well with the smokiness, and it’s lower in fat than regular bacon. But of course, being Canadian, I would only ever touch back bacon or double smoked Irish bacon. Not that I would make any of these for myself for breakfast. I don’t do any heavy lifting before my coffee’s hit.

There are healthier options at cafes: Starbucks has the fruit and nut bar, which has protein and a fair amount of vitamins and fiber, or the blueberry bar which is full of antioxidants and BLUEBERRIES! Or the lowfat fruit bar. I’m sure other places would have similar things if people started asking. Ask even if you know they don’t carry them, because staff will tell the manager and he might bring them in.

My fallback position when I’m on the road is a decent-quality granola bar and an orange in my handbag. The bar may get crumbly, but an orange doesn’t bruise like an apple.

I’ll also go for my own home made bagels with smoked salmon, goat cheese, onions & capers. Bagels are really easy to make and naturally Cook’s Illustrated has parsed the definitive recipe; they weigh less than 4 ounces and are solid, chewy, malty and not the Van Allen Belt poofs of the breakfast chain versions.

now if I could conquer my yen for sweets in the late afternoon — aka CUPCAKE TIME!

The honestly-named “dough nought” is the reification of its own nutritional value. It’s an edible rebus. Come to think of it, the thing has elegance after all.