Sunday, March 11, 2007

Breakfast notes

When I was in northern Wales 23 years ago (23 years ago!) I learned to love real oatmeal, the kind that sticks to your ribs and cures in the pan like concrete. So what was that pabulum I had eaten before? Instant mush evidently, giving the Quakers a bad name (and Quakers are very cool).

Served with Lyle’s Golden Syrup (with it’s Victorian-Gothic logo of a dead lion swarming with bees: “out of the strong came forth sweetness”), oatmeal is actually one of the wonders of the world. (This from somebody who rarely eats breakfast food for breakfast, or any other time, although occasionally I love waffles for dinner.) I had some brilliant oatmeal in the Scottish Highlands last spring: it was cooked slowly overnight in “the Aga” (“the what?” I asked; it’s a furnace-like stove). This morning, I had some McCann’s Steel Cut Oat Meal, from the can. It takes 30 minutes to cook, unless you know the overnight secret, which is to boil the water, pour in oatmeal, stir, turn off heat, put lid on pan, leave overnight; then cook it up in about 10 minutes in the morning. Of course, like making risotto, the long method is both meditative and calming. Eaten with a spoonful or two of Lyle’s from the English store that closed up its shutters and some half & half. Ahhhhh. I am so set for the day.

I got some lavender sugar from the Slow Food people at yesterday’s BBG event. It's pretty girly. And in the goody bag was an envelope of organic Triple Play sweet corn. Says on the package: “if raccoons find your corn, it’s a sure sign that harvest is imminent.” Ah-huh. So where am I going to plant this?

Hmmm, the Composer got back in touch with me. She used to be known as the "Musician," but composer-vocalist is more appropriate. She’s not Amy C who’s listed on my Crushes. I met Amy on the bus coming down from the Cape once. Before she was famous. The Composer is already famous.

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