Breakfasts & feeding the monsters....

The past week has been a strange one....I've had to find a new rhythm to my days since I stopped supplying the Coffee Tree...and also something new to blog about here! Almost all of my day to day baking at the moment comprises trays and trays of brownies...and while these taste & look delicious, they're not the most interesting of subjects to photograph or to talk about!

So for the moment I'll head back into more personal food territory, and see where that takes me. I'm beginning with breakfast!
Paul is someone who really needs breakfast. By that I mean that he just doesn't have a good start to his day if he doesn't eat properly. I, on the other hand, have to force myself to eat anything - it just doesn't feel natural at all. Perhaps that's the legacy of such an early start to my working day - I'd just rather get up and get out and get going!
But there's no doubt that I feel better when I do have something...and so I'm trying to train myself to be better at cooking for both of us first thing. I try and vary things every day...and we both like different meals. Paul adores a grilled kipper (especially on Sunday mornings) with brown bread & butter...I love yoghurt, especially gooseberry or rhubarb. This morning he had no time to sit and eat so I got the frying pan out...

and cooked some dry-cured outdoor bred unsmoked back bacon (very important to get GOOD bacon from as happy-as-possible-in-the-circumstances pigs, I think) and made him a bacon sandwich to go...

He likes his sandwich on untoasted wholemeal bread, buttered on both sides, with the bacon cooked but NOT crispy! Very particular, my husband....
I had a bowl of porridge - my absolute favourite thing on a cold, dark November morning...

made with water, not milk...sprinkled with cinnamon, seasalt flakes and just a soupcon of real Canadian maple syrup. I'm quite particular myself, come to think of it! Absolutely delicious. I also have to have at least one cup of (real) coffee...in one of my favourite mugs...

See a pattern emerging there? There aren't many Mozart mugs, but between my Mum and I, I think we must have most of them. And it makes me so happy to drink my coffee from one...it doesn't feel right any other way. It's the little things like this that help to start my day in the right frame of mind, I've found!
Fridays at this time of year are also feeding time. For my Christmas cakes that is...
They are all baked and ready for the Christmas Farmer's Market and other orders...and sit, tightly wrapped in double layers of clingfilm and foil, at the back of a cool dark cupboard awaiting the time when they'll be dressed in their icing finery nearer to the Big Day! But for now, every Friday they are unwrapped and fed with either brandy or rum (according to the fruits they contain)

this keeps them beautifully moist and ensures that they taste gorgeous on the Christmas tea table. Of course, I do make some with no alcohol too - but these are the biggest sellers by far. They do have their personalities, it seems to me, as they sit and glower in their cupboard...the small and squat ones, the bigger taller ones....cakes are like my babies, as you can see!

I'm just eating a wonderful bowl of soup, made with the help of my youngest nephew William yesterday. Carrot, cumin & fresh pear. The pear was his idea - inspired, it is absolutely delicious. We cooks should listen to three year olds more often!

I'd love to know what your favourite breakfast is...leave me a comment and let me know? Thanks so much for reading and have a wonsderful weekend xoxo