day 50

Oops I did it again breakfast. Is it just me that struggles to juggle baking and small people? Today I almost ruined a perfectly good batch of coconut and banana bread by forgetting to take it out of the oven after turning the oven off. Somewhat deflating would be understating the effect of that particular oversight on the finished product. Unfortunately I can no longer use the blanket term "baby brain" to explain the absentmindedness, nor the usual sleep deprivation as I only got woken once last night, and that was by the dog. Thankfully although rather moist and now incredibly dense it tastes delicious. Which goes to show that this recipe is as bullet proof as Ramona described. Even after my usual alternate ingredients and health benefit additions. And I like that.


MENU: coconut and banana bread, coffee.

day 48

Catch up breakfast. Pre children I loved nothing better than a long leisurely breakfast with the weekend papers and a couple of cups of coffee. Me and just about every other parent in Melbourne I suspect. Of course these days if I'm lucky if I get to see the paper in short bursts in either the office  or toilet at home. Um hang on that last part might be a little bit of an over share, especially on a food blog but what the hell it's true. Today was a little different in as much as I did get half and hour with the newspapers while one child was napping and the other was busy with his first Kung Fu Panda experience. Shame they were last weeks.
MENU: Blueberry pancakes with butter and honey, coffee, last weeks weekend papers

day 45

Yawn.
MENU: organic bananas, honey, and tahini on Dench grain sourdough, coffee

day 44

Valentines breakfast for one. So it's back to work today and already I've started with the muffin and coffee take out combo. This time it's from my old high street haunt Palomino on my way back from an 8am doctors appointment for the littlest Larobina. Thankfully he's AOK. As was this breakfast.
MENU: soy latte, ginger and date muffin

Radio killed the video star breakfast. Today's breakfast was eaten in the car on the way to do my monthly craftiverse with my HML partner in crime Ramona on RRR's Grapevine. Did an all nighter with tag team toddler wake ups. Of course, because today I had to be organised and up early. My crafting compadre described this breakfast as sad. Can't say I disagree with her.
MENU: Dench grain sourdough, avocado, coffee;

day 43

Another by request breakfast. Max in mad for these big assed heavy pancakes. I load them up with chia seeds, LSA, buckwheat, banana and blueberries so he get's a helluva health kick while thinking that he's eating something so delicious it must be kind of naughty. Not that I believe in Naughty food - unless of course it starts back chatting me during preparation.
MENU: buckwheat and blueberry pancakes with butter and maple syrup, coffee

day 41

Easy being green breakfast. I realised this morning that the likely reason i'm so hung up on breakfast is because it's the only thing I regularly do to please myself. I'm not sure if this is a good or tragic revelation.
MENU: natural tucker sesame sourdough with avocado, Danish feta, parsley and lemon juice. Oh and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

day 40

French connection breakfast. So bored with the tiredness of teething, as bored as you are all with reading about it, but at least I know it passes quickly, so we'll all be able to move back to things more interesting like what I watched on the teev while eating soon enough.Yesterday at Finn's check-up the mother-craft nurse said today that ideally there should be no first children only second, because everything is so much easier second time around. I completely concur, but I digress. Back to breakfast - I really wanted something hot and savoury this morning because it was cold (so cold we actually put the heater on to warm up the house, crazy)  but there was only one egg and rubbish packet bread left over from my other half's BLT weekend specials. So what was I to do but turn to french toast. Thankfully we still had a solitary banana doing time in the fruit basket, so I was able to go with the walnut, banana and maple version of french toast which is my new favourite. Without getting all masterchef and talking about the nuts really adding another layer of texture, the nuts really do add another layer of texture to what otherwise can be a bit of a one note dish. especially when you get them coated in a little crunchy burnt brown sugar. Totally satisfying, and almost covered the fact that bread wasn't real.
MENU: cinnamon french toast with fried banana, walnuts and maple syrup, coffee

day 37

Trifecta breakfast. Melbourne is currently doing it's best to flummox even the most seasoned of seasonal dressers by turning on a different season each day. As a result everyone in the house is now either sniffling, coughing, sneezing or complaining. Summer colds, such fun. Today's breakfast is making nods to this by including anti-oxidant, cough suppressant, vitamin boosting and indeed stay awake ingredients in an attempt to cover all the bases and keep me upright while the rest of the crew stays cranky and bed bound. Less than convinced it will work but what the hell, anything's worth trying at this point.
MENU: bagels, avocado, coffee, fruit salad of oranges, grapefruit and blueberries.

day 36

Breakfast for two. House husband has man flu and 'could not be disturbed' so Maxwell and I left him and the baby and scooted (literally) down to Foxy Brown for a bit of breakfast for me and morning tea for Max. They do a great granola here that I keep trying to replicate at home, without success. Maybe it's time to just bite the bullet and ask if they'll either give me the recipe or make it up in bags for me to buy in bulk. Super windy and super hot today and Max chose the table right next to the open kitchen so noisy and bacony as well.
MY MENU: granola with berries, pears, yoghurt, coffee.
MAX'S MENU: banana and chocolate muffin, chino and three thomas books.

day 35

Badly Behaved Breakfast. So the result of a lack of sleep turns out to be a lack of respect for the other people I co-habit with. Ouch and apologies to all. Mummy promises to do better tomorrow. The only thing (apart from a mid morning nap) I could think of to right the situation was to go back to basics and the bagel. And you know what, it has perked me up no end. Lucky I bought a six pack.
MENU: Glicks poppy-seed bagel, avocado, Murray pink salt, cherries, coffee.

day 33

Once, twice, three times at breakfast. Things started badly, sick baby, no sleep, big meeting in morning. I could barely open my eyes and stuff something in my mouth before leaving home. Very dissatisfied with my appalling attempt at breaking my fast so decided to try again at breakfast to see if I could manage to fill the enormous void left after the night sitting up in bed comforting snotty son.
MENU: banana, rooibos tea

So over to my favorite creperie for the mushroom crepe and coffee. Good but no cigar, still felt like death and barely coherent. What to do? Why not give it another crack - third times a charm as they say.
MENU: spinach, field mushroom and tallegio crepe, coffee.

So on to breakfast number three at meeting number two at mixed business in Clifton Hill on the way home - and at last we have a winner.  Two more coffees and a coddled egg and I'm finally starting to string a sentence together. Praying to the gods of sleep tonight or people are going to start thinking I'm "Winning".
MENU: coddled egg with silverbeet, Dench sourdough grain bread and something else sprinkled on top which I've forgotten, coffee.

day 31

Breakfast by request. Max insisted on pancakes this morning, I happily obliged... after all you know my feelings on maple syrup, its a little like my love of cream, the carrier is just that, a vehicle to justify the consumption of either. This morning I took a leaf out of my clever sister's kid friendly cookbook and added soaked chia seeds and LSA to the batter. Genius, super healthy, great texture and the nutty flavour definitely added something special. I'll be doing that again. I was also well chuffed with the crema on my coffee. All round a top points breakfast.
MENU: super extra banana and blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, coffee

day 30

good scones, good jam, good company... perfect.
MENU: Ramona and Womble scones with Miss Penelope's strawberry jam, lashings of double cream, coffee.

day 29

Better. Yesterday was a HELL DAY, sick as a dog all day looking after both kids in sweltering heat while in-house architect/renovator was under the house re-doing wiring for wall mounting television. First world problems. Thank God mum and dad pitched in to help with the wrangling of kids, the feeding of wires and knocking on floors trying to find said renovator. Today I'm trying out new crockery from my secret store. LOVE the new coffee bowl almost as much as the Mountain Muesli, which I am awarding 3.75 Neil Diamonds. I do believe we have a legitimate fall-back front-runner for the weeks we can't afford the award winning yet budget busting Brookfarm. How excellent, my accountant* will be pleased.
MENU: Aldi Goldenvale Mountain Muesli, organic blueberry yoghurt, dried cranberries, coffee.
*when I say accountant of course I mean the in-house architect/renovator, whose idea of a luxury breakfast is a bowl of Nutrigrain.

day 27

HOT HOT HOT. BURP! It's a beautiful scorching morning... summer has finally re-arrived and we're all in recovery after the mega feast yesterday. I ate three lots of dessert last night - cheesecake, trifle and chocolate pear cake so really I the last thing I should be doing is carb loading right now. Yet here I am with toast. AGAIN.
MENU: natural tucker sesame sourdough, avocado, coffee.

day 26

bonza, you beaut. Its the highly contentious Australia Day today, which I actually like to call Invasion Day for reasons too obvious to mention. I could go on about the lack of real self reflection and overindulgence of lamb, rhetoric and racism masquerading as national price that has become this day of back slapping but many others have done it much more eloquently than I so I won't. I will however take the goodwill and public holiday and get on with our own now traditional Clarke street BBQ with grace, good humor and an open door policy. There will be lots of un-Australian things like tofu and freekeh alongside the obligatory lamb, so I just need to power up with some coffee and muesli this morning. There will also no doubt also be at least one PAVLOVA which makes everyone happy, even a cantankerous old bird like me.
MENU: Aldi's toasted mountain muesli, fresh white nectarines, bio dynamic honey yoghurt, coffee.

day 25

Today promises to be a pretty weird one, too many mismatched activities (somewhat like this breakfast) and the pressure of getting ready for a big barbie tomorrow. AND MAN ITS HOT! (unlike this breakfast).

MENU: seedless sultana grapes, cherries, old school natural tucker sesame sourdough (remember when they were the only alternative bakery in town), avocado with sumac, and coffee.

day 22

Sweltering morning = fruit salad breakfast. You could put toasted coconut on pretty much anything and I'd eat it. Must have been all the toasted marshmallows from Darrel Lea I ate as a child. Anyhoo, no doubt most of today will be spent dodging my garden hose wielding three year old so I'd best power up with a decent breakfast.
MENU: cherries, white nectarines, yellow peaches, flame seedless grapes, toasted shredded coconut, coffee

day 20

I'm still not convinced muffins are anything but glorified cupcakes, despite knowing the butter vs. oil etc arguments. That said i'm totally into cake for breakfast, especially when it's filled with fresh blueberries. And yes that blue mug is a giant vat of coffee. It was a long night last night. Thank god I woke up early, checked face bag and saw that my friend Peters had posted this. Now I have cake, coffee and the little purple man wiping the floor with his freaky genius. PERFECT start to the day.
MENU: freshly baked blueberry 'muffins', coffee, prince.