17 September 2012

Sharks and dinosaurs

I think the only times Hanno and I have eaten breakfast out was when we've been travelling but last week we had breakfast at a local beach cafe. Hanno had an OT appointment at 7am and as we had other things to do during the morning while we were out, instead of going home for breakfast, the OT recommended a nearby cafe and we went there. I thought there'd be only one or two other breakfasters but the place was packed. I bet you're thinking they were all young people on their way to work having a quick coffee and toast but no, most of our fellow diners were our age. 


I had my heart set on grilled cheese on toast and black tea. Hmmm, not available. How about cinnamon toast and black tea? No. Plain toast and tea? Uh-uh. Poached eggs on toast? Nope. Scrambled eggs? No. We could have sweet muffin of the day with cream, or bacon and egg bap with caramelised onions and BBQ sauce, or poached eggs, hash, hollandaise sauce and bacon, or smoked salmon, grilled asparagus, creme fraiche, sourdough and poached eggs (for $18.50), or what we had - toasted organic fruit loaf with citrus curd. Hanno had coffee, I had tea and although there were enough tea and coffee varieties to sink a ship, we both had the basic versions.

How times have changed.


I don't want to eat 'new' food for breakfast. Breakfast is for old favourites - grilled cheese on toast, porridge, boiled eggs and toast. I don't like my food stacked up. I want it all sitting on the plate. I don't want dots of oil, sprinklings of micro herbs or caramelised balsamic.  And no foam.  Thank you.

I would like grilled cheese on toast soldiers and black tea.

I'm not talking about a toasted cheese sandwich. I want the authentic pre-1950s bit of toast with slices of cheddar cheese on top, grilled till it's melting and golden. It's not such a big ask but it seems that, like Elvis, it has left the building. Food fashion has dictated that grilled cheese on toast has turned into fried haloumi on sourdough wedges with white balsamic dots, a sprinkling of oregano and lemon. pffffffft!

If you've been reading here for a while you would know that I love change but the things that change should be the dinosaurs, those things that were inefficient and ridiculous to begin with (like fried haloumi on sourdough). Sharks, on the other hand,  have barely changed over millions of years. There is no need for a shark to evolve - it was close to perfection to begin with. Grilled cheese on toast is a shark, no need for change. It may have turned into fried haloumi for most people but here in my home, it will always be on the menu.

If you're ever at my home for breakfast expect a variety of sharks to be on the menu - porridge, tea and toast soldiers with homemade jam, crumpets and honey, baked beans beside the toast (not on it), bacon and eggs one day a week, and tea, always black tea. Not English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lady Grey (or any of the Grey family), Russian Caravan, Queen Mary, peppermint or green. All breakfasts are served with loose black tea, usually the King brand, made in a tea pot and poured through a strainer. That is another shark.


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92 comments

  1. How true!!! Why does everything have to always be "new" and "improved" instead of "tried and true" instead? I had never heard the analogy of the dinosaur and the shark. This post is very thought-provoking and entertaining!

    Angie

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  2. cheese on toast is definitely NOT breakfast in this house - it's more for tea (evening meal) on a wintry afternoon :) (and there's a place for halloumi here - very occasionally - but again, certainly not for breakfast, and not *instead* of ordinary cheese on toast!) Aren't we particular sometimes?

    Glad to hear Hanno is up and about again xx

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  3. I have a feeling that you and Hanno had quite a gripe about the fancy-pants cafe after you left :) Personally I like Haloumi and sourdough...but never for breakfast!

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  4. I love it...you got your rant on! So agree with you. Pffffft, indeed! And I love your blog. You have helped me feel a real pleasure in my home making that was lacking. What a gift. Thank you.

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  5. Hi Rhonda,

    I have to admit I'm a fan of traditional breakfasts - boiled eggs with toast soldiers, bacon and eggs, scrambled eggs on toast etc. I love toast with plum jam too. Thanks for recommending King tea, I will have to try that. (I usually have Dilmah)

    Cheers Fran.

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  6. My son makes the best cheese on toast, just right and with a dash of Worcestershire sauce Its a regular in our house, maybe we are shark people.

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  7. You are so right, Rhonda! These new fangled cafe's are not really catering for real folk. We, who know how to make a decent breakfast are the ones that are dying out, I`m afraid. Best have breakfasts at home and be able to have what feels right. Luckily, we still have a few decent cafe`s here in old Blighty that serve a decent enough breakfast. But, I`m gone off the fried breakfasts, and porridge, semolina or yoghurt with fresh fruits are on my menue at home. I`ve not had breakfast away from home since our Bulgarian holiday in June. Mind you, then it was mainly yoghurt with fresh plums and apricots from my sister in law`s garden out there. I prefer healthy breakfasts now and have not had a typical English breakfast for several years. Just like you I prefer what feels right for me. And eating out just doesn`t cut that crust. Also the comfort of your own home can`t ever be beaten by any eating out experience.

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  8. Brilliant post. I couldn't agree with you more. Any other meal can be 'improved' or changed but traditional breakfast (i.e. whatever you were brought up with) has to be the best. Oh how I miss the occasional bacon and egg breakfast here in France.
    Helen in France

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  9. Oh how i agree with you on this! I am not into that new fancy smansy food stuff. The kind of food that looks like a designer's delight. I like real food. Buttered toast in summer and oatmeal porridge in winter.

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  10. I totally agree with you, not just about breakfast though. On the rare occaisions we eat out, I am always always disappointed as they don't cook what I call 'normal' meals and I never enjoy it as much as homecooked food.
    Thank you for this post, I thought it was just me who felt this way lol

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  11. I like the sharks and dinosaurs analogy! Bit I have to disagree on the rest - if I am treating myself with a meal out, paying someone else to cook for me, I would like something a bit special, not something I can easily have at home... I love my porridge and toast but I have that every morning - no point paying someone else to prepare it for me :)

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  12. I think the only reason these places dream up "new" breakfast is so they can charge more money! I like the traditional ones myself, pancakes, french toast, poached eggs, soft boiled, oatmeal, etc. You brought back memories of my childhood with the cheese on toast, however. I have not had that since my mother made it for me 50 years ago! Wow - I'm having it tomorrow morning! Thanks, Rhonda!

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  13. I rather like the sound of the breakfast the restaurant was serving but they should also cater for those who like the traditional to start the day. When we're away we like to try different food (preferably not at $18.50!). My everyday at home breakfast is very simple but sometimes it's nice to try something new.

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  14. I must say I have one foot in each camp, I can't help myself I just love food no matter what. But I don't love the prices I'm seeing especially for breakfast and lunch! It's obscene!

    I know you are not a 'Grey' fan, but do try Twinnings Australian Afternoon Tea, I was always a Dilmah fan until I tried this, it's such a good drop, I've not gone back. It was a limited edition special release, I don't think they expected it to be so popular, and they keep extending the shelf life of it. (and it comes is loose leaf).

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  15. I'm a creature of habit - but love changes, too. I do like "plain" food that hasn't been changed or handled too much in the preparation. I eat pretty much the same breakfast foods, but do tend to make some changes with the seasons. Most of the time, though, it's eggs and toast. Maybe a little of my homemade ginger peach jam. Coffee, of course, with soy milk. Love your post - thanks, Rhonda.

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  16. .....and don't get me started on this new fangled music!!! Dreadful new stuff, these Beatles. Glenn Miller was good enough for me in my day!!

    I think there's room for toasted soldiers and toasted haloumi. On sourdough. Wouldn't it be tedious if there was no haloumi in the world?

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    1. LOL I actually prefer Foo Fighters, Radiohead and PJ Harvery and no, it wouldn't be tedious. ;- )

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  17. Melted cheese on wholemeal toast with a dash of worcester sauce. Or toast, butter and Marmite. Or scrambled eggs and toast with butter next to it.

    Very occasionally bacon and scrambled eggs and mushrooms and sausage and toast.

    Or smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and toast on Christmas morning!

    Always with Cafe Direct Tea. Always

    I love the idea of this as well Rhonda

    Glad Hanno is up and about and hope he is mending.

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  18. I like simple for breakfast but I must admit baked beans?

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    1. Strange to Americans but a staple in England and Commonwealth countries. It has to be canned baked beans and canned spaghetti is also popular. Also used in a sandwich.

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  19. I so agree. I like "plain" food at breakfast.

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  20. This made me laugh, Rhonda Jean. You so rarely rant.

    I'm with Nicola above, however, and prefer something "fancy" if I'm eating out. Breakfast is always fairly basic in this house (toast, oatmeal, yoghurt, cereal, croissants, eggs) but something a bit different would be a treat. Although I can't imagine a situation where I would be eating breakfast outside my home...
    Cheese on toast for breakfast is way too rich for me but as a lunch? Yum, yum.
    :-)
    Karen (Scotland)

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    1. and that made me smile, Karen. There is nothing like a good laugh to start or end the day. :- )

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  21. I was pleased to discover sausages and mash on the menu at one restaurant I went to for dinner; it was lovely.

    Sometimes I'm after something fancy, sometimes I'm not. The problem is that you rarely get a choice. It's the same with clothing - if spring has arrived then the shops dictate that you are to buy pastel or floral clothes, end of discussion.

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    1. Don't start me on seasonal clothing! Trying to buy a swimsuit for my son's swimming lessons today - not a single one in the shops!

      Because all our pools shut over winter... not!

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  22. Shark lover here! I'll have to google Haloumi - I don't think it rates a mention in cafes in my area of the bush and I can't afford to frequent the restaurants so have no idea what it is. It's funny but I can't stomach "new" food anytime before lunch so I must need to start the day off with a shark style breakfast for a buffer otherwise I feel queasy.
    Cheers, Robyn

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  23. Our little family used to go out for breakfast once a week until we realised that we were paying sooo much money for a breakfast that almost always was not quite right. I always felt slightly cheated that we were paying so much for a meal far inferior to what we could make ourselves so we decided to pull the pin on the cafes and now enjoy our own lazy Sunday breakfasts cooked to perfection at home...in our pyjamas :)

    BTW - can you believe what they charge for pancakes? It's insane!

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  24. Your breakfast choices sound perfect to me and yes, definitely baked beans 'beside' the toast! :)

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  25. Oh yes, you have my vote.

    Spot on Rhonda.

    Blessings Gail

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  26. I love my breakfasts wherever they are. I also like going out for breakfast and having a big breakfast. I prefer it to going out for lunch or dinner. Its nice to get breakfast made for you every now and then and I usually try and have something that I wouldn't cook for myself at home. It may be expensive to do but we only do it now and then so it becomes a treat plus its usually cheaper than going out for an evening meal. Variety and change is good sometimes to experience.

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  27. Oh Rhonda the place's you are talking about are nearly all gone my brother lives in New Castle in NSW and comes and stays with me a few times a year and he has to eat at all kind of places but he is always happy to have our family breakfast when he gets here the same as when we were kids lol :-)

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  28. We rarely go out for meals but when we do I like to try something new. I can't stand paying top dollar for something that I can make myself at home. I agree though that cafes should offer something simpler as well as I know a lot of older people, like my mum, don't eat out because they don't like the selection on the menu or the portion sizes are way too big for them.

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  29. Great post! I must admit, I did smile reading it as you got so riled up & good on you for standing by what suits you both. To a degree, I'm a fence sitter on this one though..... I love our traditional variety of home breakfasts but when I am occasionally out for breakfast, I don't mind trying something different, but I refuse to pay an arm & a leg for it!!! With a chef daughter, I reckon I've developed an openness to trying most things that get offered to me...... some I've liked & some I'd never let past me lips again, but that's how we learn about different foods, I guess. I'd never heard of Haloumi until my daughter became a chef & I do enjoy it but not for breakfast, thank you very much! Oh, & my husband reckons the best cheese for grilled cheese toasted fingers is the good old Kraft Cheddar wrapped in the foil in the blue box. He loves it on a Sunday night for dinner,
    following a hearty Sunday roast lunch, after a busy day in the garden.... he's so easy to please!

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  30. I'm with you all the way Rhonda. I love breakfast so, when it came up a few months ago, the opportunity to have breakfast at our favourite beachside cafe appealed to me. Breakfast was a menu almost like their lunch menu, lovely food but not my taste for breakfast.

    If I ever have breakfast with you will you make an exception and let me have black coffee? Mum will join you in the black tea but without coffee at breakfast I expire. No need to make a whole press, I'll bring my -- ahem! --unsustainable coffee bag.

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  31. "Elvis has left the building"...LOL!

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  32. I'd take cheese on toast for breakfast at home but I wouldn't pay for it at a cafe. I should hope a nice cafe would provide a diverse range of 'interesting' food. I go out to eat interesting food. If I want simple home-cooked than I have it at home or bring something simple with me when I travel. On the other hand I don't see why a cafe that has bread and a toaster wouldn't be capable of providing hot buttered toast to a customer willing to pay (except it is ecnomically better for them to have a higher paying table when they are running on small margins anyway). I think that there may be many customers that have kids with them that wouldn't want anything more fussy than toast. It is hardly difficult to prepare for the kitchen staff.
    Ali.
    PS. I love grilled haloumi. Yum.

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  33. So true. You can't beat the classics. Last night my kids and I had soft boiled eggs and toast 'soldiers' for a light evening meal. Yum! And oh so simple.
    Liz (Theodore Q)

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  34. this rant made me LOL....once upon a time i used to meet friends for breakfast once a week before work.

    we would try different place each week. All i wanted was one soft poached egg on one piece of toast....sheesh can some one please teach these cooks how to poach an egg without using vinegar in the water.....truly some of them had to be returned to the kitchen
    nice to get that off my chest

    Hoping Hanno is healing nicely

    love
    Elsam

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  35. Oh Rhonda I so agree. Friends of ours always go out for breakfast on a Sunday cost who knows.
    Sunday my hubby and I enjoy scrambled eggs (from our chooks) and bacon on toast and instant coffee, in our PJ's at our kitchen table or outside under pergola, that is the best breakfast I reckon. Di

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  36. I agree entirely. I would much prefer Breakfast a la Rhonda than the fancy pants kind of breaky that is served in cafes and restaurants! I don't drink tea but if you had plain old instant coffee your breakfast menu would be perfect. Breakfast to me isn't a time for fancy food. Basics are the go. As for grilled cheese on toast, what beats that???? It is the best!!

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  37. The thing is that Breakfast isn't breakfast. Breakfast in this sense has a whole set of other verb description but you could sum it up as "Recreational Eating". Eating is now turned into a recreational activity. It wasn't enough to have "dining", "picnics" and "doing lunch", they have added to the culture change with Breakfast. I don't think it is so much about what they are serving but more about why. We have culturally shifted on breakfast and I worry about the number of Australian schools now introducing the free breakfast. I would like to see families back on track with breakfast; wholesome, in the home and together.

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  38. Good post as usual!
    We are also sharks & we rarely eat out.
    I am so over every receipe I see in a magazine or on tv that has to finished with oil drizzled over it.
    Last week when my granddaughter arrived after school I made her puftaloons - fried scones. She thought they were some 'new' wonderful food.

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  39. Breakfast is the only meal I will eat at the Golden Arches. A bacon and egg muffin and a cup of coffee suits me better than any other bought breakfast. It's cheap, it's quick and it's something like we would have at home.
    The other alternative I can eat at the same place is to buy two plain toasted muffins and put the butter and jam on myself. That's not on the menu but it is available if you ask for it.

    I'm not an eating out sort of person and neither is hubby. Why pay big money for food that is not as good as what you can have at home but of course there are a lot of reasons why we have to eat out from time to time. I'm too old for fancy, just give me ordinary please.
    Carmel

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  40. I am sure you can hear my husband cheering. He is always on about 'arty farty' food and 'what happened to good old plain food where you can actually taste the ingredients?'

    Janene

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  41. I agree, beans or eggs beside the toast not on top. Black Tea for breakfast. Did have breakkie out once, french toast with golden syrup (hate the stuff) nothing else was offered only golden syrup, ate it and survived.

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  42. well that post made me have a good old laugh Rhonda....just what sort of foam do they serve alongside bacon and eggs these days I wonder????

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  43. We used to go out weekly for breakfast, but it just costs too much now with the kids (and is too stressful with a little one trying to run around). I like a fairly simple breakfast too - pancakes, bacon and eggs or scrambled eggs. I don't like anything too strongly flavoured first thing in the morning. I'm quite shocked that they didn't accommodate your requests as they must have had bread, cheese and butter and likely cinnamon out the back.

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  44. Haha!!
    My sister and I often lament that we can't get a plain old sandwich for lunch when we are out at a cafe.
    Fancy ones are ok - occasionally; but sometimes you just want a plain old ham and tomato sanger on fresh white bread with salt and pepper.

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  45. This is exactly what I love about your blog! Despite the fact that you have written a book and lead workshops and all that, you are so wonderfully real and down to earth! Forget all the fancy foods they serve nowadays- all the food fads and fashions. Just give me the plain good old fashioned simple foods.

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  46. How right you are Rhonda! You know I had never 'gone out for breakfast' until I was 55 and met my (now) 2nd husband. I had always eaten my brekky favourites at home so I was not prepared for the extensive and expensive breakfast menu in the majority of eating houses. When we go out for breakfast now we both enjoy bacon and eggs with fried tomatoes on toast along with a nice mug of flat white coffee.

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  47. Oh for goodness sake its good to try new things thats how we grow as people you know you you just might like it if you try it

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  48. $18.50 for a single breakfast? I feed two adults on less than $20.00 a day, good nourishing old fashioned food. We're sharks too.

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  49. I am a chef and own a cafe. We are very busy for breakfast / brunch (and our brekky menu is available all day so often cook breakfast dishes for lunch too).
    Our menu is fairly traditional - eggs and bacon, pancakes, toasts, croissants, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, vegetarian options etc. we are always happy to accomodate special requests and have often made grilles cheese on toast and baked beans with toast! On the weekends we offer a broader menu with more 'fancy' dishes such as eggs benedict as people like something different to what they would / could make at home.
    Please remember that when you eat out you are paying for MUCH more than the ingredients in the dish - in fact they are generally a small proportion of the menu price. There are huge overheads in running a food business. When you pay for a meal you also pay for rent, wages, insurances, power, gas, to name a few....... So $18 for a hearty breakfast is quite reasonable. Many are probably unaware that we have to pay up to $35 per hour to a person washing dishes........
    Please continue to support your local businesses. Many of us are family run businesses supporting bith our own families and those of our employees. My own business employs 10 people and is also a strong part if the local community. We're not trying to rip you off with our prices - just making a living and building a sustainable business.
    That's my rant!!!!!

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    1. Totally agree with what you've written here. I'm so tight with money that I actively have to remind myself that I'm not so much paying for the food (I'm an OK cook), I'm paying for
      1. Someone to do the dishes
      2. Someone to do the cooking
      3. Someone to offer me a finite number of choices so that part of the decision making is made for me
      4. (At my fave cafe with an outdoor balcony) the peace and quiet and the atmosphere, looking over the rolling fields of Fife, and
      5. Someone else to experiment with ingredients I don't know and show me how good they can taste.

      Karen
      (Scotland)

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  50. I don't even eat out any more, so sick of all these fancy jumped-up dishes which hardly fill a quarter of the giant plate they're on and which cost a fortune, most of the time they're no better than I could cook at home. It's all just another money-making wheeze. Up with the traditional I say!

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  51. Sorry Rhonda, but I'm with Nicola and a few others out there. If I'm not having to do the cooking, I would like to try something a bit different. That's the only way that we will find out if we like something new or not!

    Obviously the cafe is doing something right, considering how many people you say were having their breakfast there. Good to see people out and about and enjoying their food.

    If I was a shark, not changing anything, I wouldn't have my new backyard chickens, my vegie patch with several types of vegetables that I've NEVER eaten before, just to try something new and see how it goes. Not all changes are bad!

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    1. Cassandra, I love change but I prefer to try new foods and recipes at home, then I know exactly what's in them and what I need to change if it's not quite to my taste.

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    2. You are a funny thing Rhonda considering your son's are top chefs? I have to laugh and wonder what they think about your sanctions on reduced balsamic and micro herbs and not to mention foam! :)

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  52. English Breakfast IS black tea - in fact you can't get black tea that's much blacker than that... I like a choice of tea when I go out, at least that way I don't have to drink the tasteless swill that usually goes under the name of tea in my part of the world.
    C.

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  53. I agree with you 100% Rhonda! All though I have never had crumpets and honey(sounds really yummy!)On a another note both my husband and I worked in the restaurant business and no place I know pays dishwashers $35 per hour. As a waitress I easily made that in tips, but never a salary. I retired a year ago and I'm quite sure it hasn't changed that much.

    -Happily raised by sharks

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  54. hahaha great post rhonda, aside from the breakfast not being the shark, i hope all went well with hanno.

    selina from kilkivan qld

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  55. I agree with everything you said - except about the tea! My cupboard is simple - porridge oats, one basic type of cereal, bread - but I have something like fifteen to twenty types of tea. But then we always used to have at least five or six tea variants growing up - my father liked basic black tea, which he jokingly called 'floor sweepings', while my mother drank Early Grey, with chamomile and green teas for evenings and flights of fancy. To this day, I still refer to plain black tea as 'floor sweepings'. It makes me smile.

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  56. Mmmmm, haloumi. I LOVE haloumi!
    Breakfast during the week is usually something I can snatch mouthfuls of while making brekkie and school lunches for the kids. But given half a chance and a bit more time (and preferably a child-free house!) I make sourdough with a runny poached egg, a side of avocado, baby spinach and a few generous slices of pan-fried haloumi. Oh, the delicious squeak!
    Sharon

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  57. Love your Post today Rhonda!i have to say i have never eaten out for Breakfast,and i never will,unless i am away on a holiday,i love what i cook,and i love to know what's in my food also!and paying $18.50....never!no Breakfast out is worth that amount of money!

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  58. What a refreshing post.

    Yes, I like to try a new thing every now and again. But mostly I want good food, old fashioned good, honest food, that tastes the way it always has and makes you smile with satisfaction at the end of the meal.

    Last time we were out I could barely stop my Lovely Hubby from licking his plate, all the chocolate sauce (that in his opinion should have been poured over the cheesecake and icecream) was in pretty little zig zags all over his huge square dessert plate.

    A waste of taste!!

    Sue xx

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  59. 'Don't fix what ain't broke' is a common motto where I come from. My grandmother's buttermilk breakfast biscuits (similar to scones)- a recipe she learned from her mother and so on- has stood the test of time. Just served them this weekend to my son's 15 year old friend who loved them. For a recipe that has been used for well over 100 years that we know off, not a bad reaction!

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  60. This made me laugh a lot - thanks Rhonda!

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  61. I just found your blog and am enjoying reading through the archives :)

    In terms of fancy breakfasts, I'm kind of the opposite because I prefer to eat food that I can't cook myself if I'm spending money on eating out. We are on a very tight budget and spending money on boiled eggs or cheese on toast when I can make it at home for less than $2 doesn't make sense.

    But I understand what you're saying about being fancy for the sake of it.

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  62. I really was an only black tea girl myself until I tried green and now I would not go back. The flavor is wonderful and it has so many health benefits that it is worth a try!

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  63. Yes! someone else who prefers Black Tea just like I do! I pretty much only drink black tea, green tea makes me nauseous and the other fancy ones usually take sort of like pond water to me.

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  64. Eh. Food evolves. I'd much prefer to pay good money for something substantial and interesting than something I would have at home every morning. That way I am less aware of how much I am being ripped off. :)

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  65. Oh, Rhonda, I hear you, I do....but consider us poor midwestern Americans and expatriates who have to eat the, erm, "stuff" served up for breakfast at restaurants here while we are travelling...oh, I LOVED the big piled-up Aussie cafe breakfasts made of actual real food! The price was big but the food was divine. The bacon, ohhhhh the bacon! The slabs of crusty sourdough toast and the local eggs fried just perfectly with the yolk oooozing out, the little garnish of sprouts on the top. I think the benefit to Aussie-style breakfasts is that no-one thinks they should eat similar at home every day, while so many people here think that greasy sausage / pancakes drowned in syrup / insipid leaking scrambled eggs / poptarts / deep fried and reheated "french toast" / etc. is what breakfast "is" and think they are doing their families well by attempting to serve it up every day! That's my little rant. GO AUSSIE FOOD!

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  66. Traditional breakfasts are delicious, and I get you were having a bit of a rant. But halloumi is hard to beat...really good for frying and grilling and awesome with mint or oregano. Give it a try sometime.

    :-)

    AM of the bread

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  67. Rhonda,
    I'm with you on this one.
    We rarely go out anymore because we just want simple meals. Over the top menus might impress some, but we'd rather have a nice simple plate of food (or bowl of soup) at our own table. If we do find ourselves in need of a lunch or breakfast out, simple food is nearly always so overpriced we are filled with guilt and regret for wasting money.

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  68. Yes, what is is about stacking food up into a tower. I just want my food on the plate thank you!

    Oh what a fabulous post! Your analogy is so apt and your point so smart. Have a wonderful day!

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  69. I know this was not the point of your post, but it was so interesting for me to see what Australians eat for breakfast! Grilled cheese and baked beans I'm familiar with, but I've never seen them served as breakfast food. And I'm curious what toast soldiers are?
    Luci, in USA

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    1. LOL no we really don't eat toasted soldiers here in OZ! It's a slice of toast cut into four long fingers...soldiers I think are in fact English and are the same piece of toast but used to dunk into the yolk of a soft boiled egg.

      Funny hey :)

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    2. You're absolutely right Thom, a boiled egg and soldiers are a essential childhood staple in the UK, practical and fun!

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  70. I guess I am a shark too. Breakfast is very, very strong coffee, 2 plain poached eggs or a bowl of oatmeal and fruit. Nothing else ever. Ever. Breakfast come too early for me to accept change or conversation. And a 7 am appointment? I could never, ever do that either! I am generally a very flexible person, but not before 9 am. And in the US, beans are for dinner or at a cook-out. It just isn't a breakfast food here.

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    1. LOL again yes us here in OZ eat baked beans on or with toast anywhere any which way we can :)

      And a 'cook out' I am thinking must be what we call a BBQ?

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  71. OK, this comment is a little OT but I just had to laugh at your remark:

    "the things that change should be the dinosaurs, those things that were inefficient and ridiculous to begin with"

    Better not let my 11 y.o. son hear that! ;-)

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  72. Hi from far north Queensland! What an interesting blog!. I am a no fuss breakfast eater, although if I go out I would prefer the choice of course, depending if it was a special occasion etc. But just to put another spoke in the wheel, comparing cafes is another issue. Cafe 1: pot of tea with chicken, onion and cheese toasted wholegrain sandwich: $ 15
    Cafe 2: same order and paid $ 22.
    Whats with the huge price difference. By the way the 2 cafes were in the same shopping centre, both up market too!
    Definitely puts a person off, as far as eating simple food out!
    I also tend towards ordering evening meals that I don't usually cook when I go out, not that it is very often mind you, because of the expense. Great blog, love reading your comments, and glad hanno is up and about too!
    Di

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  73. Too funny!!!

    We're an oatmeal family here - or toast with jam. I too am not a huge fan of "froo froo" cooking - Often, all I can think of is "Really? And you're making me pay money for that!" :)

    I did find it interesting that breakfast food is so different for you than it is for us here in the upper-midwestern U.S. and I, too, am curious what toast soldiers are....

    Thanks for a great read (and a good reminder of why I eat at home the vast majority of the time!).

    Lea

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    1. Hi Lea, toast soldiers are just toast cut long ways into 3 (or 4 pieces) as in picture one. Usually called soldiers for young children to entice them to eat them up as well as being smaller for their little hands to hold.

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  74. I'm sorry I missed your post yesterday. Love it!
    Dad, 84, is a weetbix man, every morning no fail. I like a bit of variety of the old staples with oats as main choice, either as porridge, or my latest favourite is soaking the oats in water or juice overnight & eating with a little fruit & yoghurt.
    I have never understood why someone would toast bread and then put baked beans on top to make it a soggy mess -- 'baked beans on the side please".

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  75. I guess it depends on your cultural background. There are places in the world where Halloumi and Sourdough are considered old staple foods. It's a new breakfast type food to Australian pallets, but they've stood a rather long tradition in other places around the world.

    I personally love Canadian fry-up breakfasts. Sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and maple syrup. Throw in some creamy dill and parsley mayonnaise too! Or just a bowl of plain homemade yoghurt with chopped banana. Depends what mood I'm in and what's in the fridge.

    I don't like weet-bix or toast for breakfast any more, even though I virtually grew up on the stuff. For me it's not that food changes, people's tastes do. Some like meat and potatoes for the rest of their lives and it gives them a great deal of comfort. Others like to taste what food is like somewhere else in the world. There's no "right" way, just personal tastes. They can stay the same or they can change. Whatever appeals to an individual's appetite. :)

    I used to be a meat and potato type person, then I married a chef, and I reckon Halloumi for breakfast is pretty awesome now. He's also served it up with a side of fried Italian chorizo in scrambled eggs. Halloumi may go out of fashion in Australia (no doubt - just like grilled cheese on toast did) but in the places they originated, they will keep serving it as a shark. :)

    I think because you and Hanno have been running around to all sorts of appointments to help fix his injury, it would have been nice to sit down to something you really wanted for breakfast. It would have been a simple pleasure in what was otherwise a non-stop run on visits to elsewhere. We all want our comfort food when feeling overextended. I'm glad you enjoyed a leisurely cruise on the Noosa river recently. It would have been like a soothing balm. :)

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  76. I do so agree with you Rhonda and your post made me smile and laugh out loud. I never have the same thing twice for breakfast , variety is the spice of life... The last time we ate out was when we went to Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania. Breakfast can be toast and vegimite and or honey or bacon and eggs or beans on toast or porrige with cream and milk ,NO sugar only a little salt. That's the way I was brought up in Scotland. I've got a recipe for Scotch Sausage and sometimes we have that with an egg from our chooks or scrambled eggs or banana on toast or tomatoes on toast ,I could go on and on but it get's boring after a while. Glad to hear Hanno is improving . Keep up the good work ..

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  77. By far one of my favouite posts that you have written :)

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  78. I have to confess, breakfast is one of my favorite meals out because we only ever have oatmeal at home--cheap, easy and nutritious for me and the kids since I serve it with fruit and plain yogurt mixed in. Anything else is a special treat that I typically don't have the time to make at home. Breakfast meals are often more economical here as the ingredients tend to be less expensive. I also know that I am paying for someone else to do the work--very worth it on occasion. We all have our moments of wanting simple, familiar, comfortable foods though. English Breakfast tea, whenever I'm not pregnant anyway, is my shark.

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  79. Fascinating post! I have never heard of eating baked beans at breakfast. We would eat them with burgers at a BBQ. Cheese toast is generally eaten with soup for a quick supper. However, for breakfast we prefer grits with a little egg and perhaps sausage stirred in or oatmeal.

    Valerie in SC/USA

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  80. Just looking through some of your old writing and had to reply on this subject. Although I live in Hawaii these days, I am originally from NZ. When I go to NZ I am always on the look out for the old kind simple meals that you are talking about and find gourmet cafes have taken over. I remember looking all over one small town for a place to buy a meat pie for lunch....and nothing. Then when I actually got to have a roast lamb dinner as a special nostalgic treat they had no mint with vinegar sauce but some other fancy mint thing. Time to go back to the old time comfort foods.

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