porridge and tea

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breakfast, Comedian Steven Wright, cooking, food, health, healthy options, porridge, quotes, tea

We all know that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” or so they say. I have no idea if that is true or not but I do know that the word break-fast literally means to interrupt those hours of non-eating.

The benefit of that is that this kick-starts your metabolism which in turn raves-up your engine, so to speak,  burning calories and setting the pace for the rest of the day. Of course this does depend on what you have for breakfast, a sugary donuts or a muesli bar isn’t really going to work, but wholegrain toast, sugar-free muesli and porridge, fruit are just a few options that do.

I like a little bit of variety in the mornings but I do tend to tend to stick to muesli or porridge. And especially now, with the weather being so wet and miserable outside, a hot bowl of porridge with some cranberries and cinnamon and a steaming cup of tea always seems to warm my spirits and my tummy at the same time.

 

I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time‘. So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.

Comedian Steven Wright

partially porridge

Tags

comfort food, food, good food, health, magical possibilities, porridge, seasonal joy, winter

One thing I love about this time of year is the cold, the way little puffs of “smoke” float out of your mouth and mingle with with the wintery air. Wearing legwarmers and warm cuddly clothes, holding hot tea in your freezing hands, the crackling fire and mulled wine add to my favourite season.

But I have to admit that a big part of my seasonal joy comes from eating porridge in the morning. I know many people have issues with the hot, mushy, oaty breakfast but I wouldn’t want to miss it as it is more than just some good healthy nourishment, it is comfort food … a big hot hug from within!

We all know that food does more than give us vitamins, protein and minerals, it nourishes us emotionally too. And recently when the hurricane hit the east coast of the USA the United States Coast Guard acknowledged this by advising people to stock up on comfort/stress foods. Due to the lack of electricity they did only list “cookies, hard candy, sweetened cereals, lollipops and even instant coffee, and tea bag” but a recent poll showed that the list could have included apple pie, baked beans, beef stew, chicken soup, fried chicken, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, pot roast, pudding, pumpkin pie, tomato soup, and tuna casserole.

These are all food that tend to remind us of our childhood, reawaken memories of happy times and moments spent in joy. To me porridge reminds me of those cold wintery mornings as a little girl, longing for Christmas and living in a world filled with magical possibilities.

So my love of this time of year is partially down to porridge, the hot, slightly sweeten kind (I use raisins) mind you as there are few things worse than cold stodgy porridge.