Down the Rabbit Hole: What’s for Breakfast?
I’ve been making a point of having protein (instead of carbs) for breakfast most days: hamburger, steak, chicken. This has helped greatly with the weak/light-headed/dizzy spells I’d been having about a year ago. On the weekend I make a batch big enough to last the week and I’m set.
But on the weekends I look forward to something a little more extravagant: bacon egg and cheese on a roll from the deli, a pastry and cappuccino from the bakery, a salt bagel with tomato and melted swiss from the bagel shop. Right now (#coronavirusdays) those things are off my radar. A quick trip to a public place for prepared food is generally discouraged. Yesterday I ALMOST went to a 7-11 because I have been craving Real Coffee. And I’m not even a coffee drinker! I’m more of a weekend coffee person. And I have instant here…and I do drink it sometimes, but. Come on. It’s hardly the same beverage. It should have a different name. Like how Kraft’s “american cheese” is not REALLY “American cheese,” it’s “pasteurized prepared cheese product.” Instant coffee should really be called like “slightly-coffee-flavored hot beverage powder.”
So here it is the weekend and I’m really jonesing for something carby and satisfying. Plus, it’s rainy and grey. Which only increases the need for comforting foods. I flash on french toast for a moment, but I’m getting a little low on bread…and while the plan is to bake my own bread when this runs out, I already have a baking project in mind for this week (hint: waiting for the bananas to get JUST a little blacker). So, french toast is out.
But pancakes! I make a lovely lemon coconut pancake with blueberry sauce. But my stainless steel pan is still potato-encrusted from yesterday’s hash brown attempt (can’t manage to make frozen hash browns without losing 94.9% of them to the bottom of the pan) and in need of more soaking time. How about the electric nonstick skillet, which is my pancake tool of choice? Oh. Well, while I know where the SKILLET is, I do NOT know where the box from last apartment’s kitchen miscellany drawer is, and that’s where I kept the power cord for the electric skillet. A quick rummage through several relatively easily accessible, still packed boxes, is not helpful.
Not for today, obviously, but it might be faster to order a NEW power cord for the skillet than to find the original one. So…to Amazon I go. Wow, they’re between $15-20. Seems like I could almost get a brand new skillet for that, especially seeing as how the one I have was a WEDDING GIFT in 1989. So my search moves from power cords to electric skillets. Okay, so they’re not as cheap as a new cord, but…maybe I should just get a nonstick PAN, that wouldn’t have the inconvenience of having a separate cord to always lose track of or having to sit on already-limited counter space. So the search changes to nonstick pans and they’re not that inexpensive either.
BUT. Didn’t I just get an email this morning from CVS reminding me that my 40% discount off a single item ends tomorrow – Monday? They have a little kitchen aisle, don’t they? So the search moves over to cvs.com where I discover that while they DO carry non-stick pans, they are only available (at this time) in stores…and there’s no way to check individual stores…and if I was going to go to CVS for a nonstick pan, then I could just go to the deli for an egg sandwich! But…wasn’t I thinking about getting one of those round brush hair drying thingies? I tried Katie’s when I was in CA and while it probably wouldn’t be my “everyday” hair tool, it was very good for neatening up second-day hair, and at 40% off? Seemed like a plan. So the search moved to hair styling tools at cvs.com. But the one I wanted was out of stock…and the second choice was…you guessed it, only available in stores.
I hate to miss out on a 40% discount so I look at folding step ladders (so I can finally put a new bulb in the hallway light that’s been burnt out for over two months) but they’re not the kind I want and OAIS anyway; men’s razors (because I the one I JUST bought last year broke after ONE DROP in the shower…after the one I’d had – which had been my father’s – for over FORTY YEARS had finally just crumbled away in my hands), but the one that matches the blades I have is out of stock online; and my perfume that I ran out of probably more than two years ago, even with the 40% discount it’s only $1 less than I can get ANYTIME on Amazon, so that just doesn’t seem that imperative right now. I looked at heating pads, hair color, skin creams, water bottles, rechargeable batteries, biotin, indoor motion sensor lights, and on and on and on. In the end, after an hour and a half at the computer, I could not find ONE THING that, even with the 40% discount, was cheaper than Amazon’s regular price. So I got nothing.
And it was lunchtime. And I had a can of soup.
joan
you inspired me to head straight to the kitchen and make french toast. Now I’m back to ask, please give us the recipe for lemon coconut pancakes w/sauce!
bettyewp
Yum, french toast. I can’t really make it as well as most breakfast restaurants can, anyway, so it’s just as well. But the pancakes are another story. I’ll share the recipe in a post later this week 🙂
Karen
Oh my gosh! I love crazy minds. I have one too! Seeing it in print is hilarious.
Happy Tuesday! Enjoy whatever it is you eat. xo karen
bettyewp
Today was hamburger, tea, cream of spinach soup, juice, and three oreos. So far. It’s 2pm.
julia
Ha ha! Wow, I stuck with you through that whole ordeal. Funny! You may already know this but I find the oil needs to be pretty hot before I put the hash browns in and that prevents sticking hopefully. This quarantine time is going to be different for sure! Take care!
bettyewp
Yeah, my sister mentioned that the other day. I did have oil in the pan but I probably didn’t let it get hot enough before putting in the hash browns.
Michelle
LOL, that’s quite a rabbit hole!
I didn’t use my CVS coupon either.
bettyewp
Look at all the money we’re saving, NOT using our coupons!
Rhonda
😂Well, at least you TRIED to use that coupon! Just think of the money you SAVED rather than what you didn’t get…I do (did) the same thing, in the days pre COVID…I’d have a $5 or $10 “free money” coupon from a store, then spend HOURS in the store looking for something that wouldn’t cost much more than the coupon. I’d usually end up spending WAY more than the coupon, and/or buying something I really didn’t need or use. Great marketing tactic for the store, but not so great for me😂
bettyewp
Yes, they are sneaky, those coupon givers. There is ONE CVS brand thing I buy, and only use theirs, so WOULD have gotten THAT, but of course I JUST bought like a year’s supply earlier in March!
Marian
Was this the post you thought would be boring? It was hilarious! Sorry…we can all relate!
May I suggest…buy some bagels to keep in the freezer and some cream cheese. A toasted bagel with a mountain of cream cheese is always satisfying. Buy smoked salmon and a purple onion and tomato and now it’s decadent.
Another quick weekend carby treat i love is frozen mini croissants from Trader Joe’s. They aren’t baked yet. You put them on a cookie sheet at night and they thaw and rise and you bake them in the morning. The house smells great and you get amazing fresh croissants.
I guess house arrest causes carb cravings and we’re all doing our best but some days you just gotta have it.
bettyewp
Yes, this was the “post about nothing,” ha.
You know, I DO have some frozen bagels in the freezer. I bought them early in the market madness JUST IN CASE. But I’m a bagel snob 😉 and if it’s not fresh out of the oven that day, I just don’t have much use for them. So I’ve had two of them, with tomato and melted swiss, the way I like them. But they’re just a different animal. Plus, even ahead of the curve, my options in the freezer aisle were only plain or everything, and I am a “SALT BAGEL WITH ALL THE SALT SCRAPED OFF” girl. AKA A Pain in The Ass.
I DO love the Traer’s Joe’s frozen cinnamon rolls (which happen to be accidentally vegan for anyone who’s interested), have never had the croissants. Will have to check them out, thanks!
jodie filogomo
Boy…you do go down the rabbit hole…haha!! It cracked me up.
XOOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Iris
Sounds like some of my online shopping ventures.
Proud of you for your morning eating habits. I’m not very good at that, but maybe protein should be my answer. We’ll see.
Grace & Peace,Iris
http://www.IrisOriginalsRamblings.com
Jaynn
YES, THIS is the kind of post I live for! Rambling and so real!!! Loved every word, laughed through it all, shared it with my mom even – and I never do that with blog posts. Sometimes you see (read) what you need when you didn’t know you needed it! Thanks you oodles for sharing this real life adventure!
bettyewp
Aww, Jaynn, I’m so touched! Thanks for saying that, I was really nervous posting that cuz it was really so…nothing! But I figure, that’s how most of life is!