No mo' Ovaltine

While thinking about the Tupelo Twosome and A.T.'s reference to Rastus in a previous post, I realized breakfast has now become a "half-a-meal" that I consume in my car en route to work or in my first few minutes on the clock.

Which is soooo unlike me or my upbringing.

Until about the eighth grade, my mother and father made sure I had something with some steam to eat before I took off for school in the morning. My childhood breakfast wasn't always pancakes, eggs and bacon, but it was rarely a bowl of Cheerios or a cup of yogurt either.

Well, things done changed. Almost every workday morning, I grab a bag of almonds or a fruit bar or a protein shake or nothing at all and call it a breakfast.

I probably should get up earlier. Or maybe I should prepare my breakfast the night before. But somehow I doubt it'll happen.

Anyway, here's a short list of the breakfast goodies that I don't eat "no mo":

- Biscuits: I probably haven't had a really good biscuit since I lived at my mom's house a dozen years ago. And none of that gravy stuff, folks. I only put preserves, jelly, jam or honey on mine.

- Malt-O-Meal: Oatmeal and Cream-O-Wheat were the morning staples. But Malt-O-Meal only seemed to be served on special occasions. Now, the First Lady is knocking out a bowl or two per week. I probably should get a taste myself.

- Bacon/sausage: When I went through my Nation of Islam phase in the early '90s, I gave up pork. For whatever reason, that's stuck though I make allowances for bacon bits (don't argue this with me; bacon bits ain't pork).

- Apple coddlins: I think my pops found the recipe for this morning treat in an old Highlights magazine (remember Highlights?). I'm not sure how it all came together, but I think he skinned some apples, put them in a skillet, cooked them for a bit and then added some cinnamon and brown sugar. I've never seen anyone else make them. Anyone else ever heard of it?

- Ovaltine: It was like chocolate milk for breakfast. And since I wasn't allowed to have really sweet drinks - soda pop mostly - until the afternoon, this was a huge deal to me. Uh, sometimes I actually had chocolate milk, too.

Hey, it goes without saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'm going to try to do better. Starting tomorrow. Or next week. Here's some NSFW motivation: