As an American, I grew up on hot breakfasts (the American variation on the English breakfast, i.e. bacon, eggs, sausage, muffins, pancakes, that kind of thing) and didn’t discover the excellence of a real Continental breakfast until living in Holland and Germany in my late teens and early twenties respectively. Living in England now, I love the full spread of eggs, bacon, muffins/toast, baked beans, fried tomatoes (though I pass on the black pudding) but always look forward to getting away on a business trip or vacation to the Continent where I can enjoy salami or ham and various cheeses on warm crusty rolls (Schrippen or Semmel) and amazing butter and jams on toast as well as delicious yoghurts. (And of course pastries/croissants and hot chocolate in France.)

On cereals, the picture is much more bleak here in England and also on the Continent than in America. America has a lot more to offer in this category. In Germany, “Corn Flakes” actually means “breakfast cereal” in the same way that “Coke” just means “soda” back in Dallas, and the variety of cereals available doesn’t extend much beyond actual Corn Flakes or a given supermarket’s generic alternative. Back in the states I love Lucky Charms, Cap’n Crunch, Count Chocula but also Wheat Chex with sugar, raisin bran, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, etc. I’ve never been big on the cereals that are mini chocolate chip cookies, oreos or peanut butter cups or whatever — at some point it does go a little too far. Any kind of granola is wonderful but I’ve never been a fan of Müsli.

America also beats England or the Continent on hot cereals. Growing up, when we had cereal instead of eggs and toast, it was often hot cereal followed by cold cereal, i.e. the rule was that if we ate our bowl of hot cereal we could have a bowl of cold (sugar) cereal. Alternatively, there was a rule that we could have a bowl of sugar cold cereal if we had a bowl of unsweetened cold cereal first.

I grew up loving cracked wheat, cream of wheat and oatmeal (the latter being the least favorite of that group). I haven’t had cracked wheat since I was a teenager, I don’t think. My grandparents spoiled us with freshly cracked wheat for breakfast, something my mom also did as it was something she grew up with. There is something different about oatmeal in England and on the Continent than in America — its slimy here and the texture is also different in other ways as compared to simple American oatmeal. I have no idea why it’s different or how that can be. Also, semolina is what’s available in England instead of Cream of Wheat, and it’s not quite the same. Grieß in Germany approximates American Cream of Wheat better than semolina in England but it’s a desert in Germany and also isn’t exactly the same either. Nothing beats brown sugar on any of these hot cereals, although maple syrup comes in as a close second.

I love grapefruit with breakfast (not for breakfast on its own but on the side) but almost never eat it because I have a hard time buying grapefruit knowing that my parents have more than they can use for free (they have nine grapefruit trees), even though they live more than 5,000 miles away. It’s irrational and deprives me of grapefruit much of the time but I just can’t do it. I pick up a small, pale grapefruit at the store and think about the large, mild, pink grapefruits on my parent’s trees and just put the grapefruit back down.

That was fun.

My favorite cereal is Crackling Oat Bran, but I don’t buy it often because that little tiny box is usually gone by the time it’s my turn to eat, and I don’t like to start the day bitter. Weekdays it’s usually mini-wheats or nuttycrunchyflakes or homemade granola for everybody, unless I make a pot of oatmeal (which my kids always request on test days). Weekend mornings if we’re lucky the man of the house makes breakfast. And I make a big breakfast-for-dinner about once a week, on average. Breakfast rocks.

When it comes to eating them, though, I really can’t stomach breakfast cereal in the morning. 8:30pm is just-right for a big bowl of Mini Wheats.

…and now that we have 2:30-5:30pm church, brunch has become popular at our place. Everyone sleeps in and then Dad makes eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, juice, whatever. It’s da bomb.

I used to like sugary cereals a lot, but then I developed diabetes.

My favorite breakfast now is fried potatoes, with onion, carrot, sausage, and eggs.

dad – grapefruit + toast + boiled egg
mom – nothing
7 kids – fight over sugar cereal, until left with corn flakes and puffed wheat.

The night before you want the cereal, boil three cups of water in a pot with a lid. When the water’s boiling, add 1/4 tsp of salt and a cup of cracked wheat (or steel cut oats). Put the lid on and take the pot off the heat. Leave overnight. (Four servings.)

In the morning, you can microwave however much you want to eat. I like cracked wheat hot with honey and steel cut oats cold with yogurt and fruit. I’ll often make extra since it can be refrigerated for about a week. (If you’re a sanitation freak, the cereal doesn’t ferment or go bad overnight, but if you want to, you can put it right in the fridge, and it retains enough heat to cook thoroughly before it gets cold.)

I let my kids eat sugared cereal during weekdays, but have found the best way to get them up and ready for church on time is to prepare a nice breakfast of eggs, muffins and fresh fruit. Saturday is traditionally pancake day at out house.