English 191 - WRITING WORKSHOP II - Zimbler

BREAKFAST FOODS

    Morning, for me, is the gloomiest part of the day.  I always feel that I am missing about three hours of sleep.  Still, somewhere in my subconsciousness, I realize that if I don't wake up and get to where I don't want to be, usually my office, my livelihood as I know it would cease to exist! The car would be repossessed, and Fido might have to go back to the pound! What a prospect! Yet, as a cruel joke, I have to face the dilemma of what to make for breakfast as well. Being at the transitional state between dream and reality, it would help me to be more creative if the selection of breakfast foods is less limited and more enticing, but more often than not, the options include cold cereals, hot cereals, and the artery-clotting forms of food.

     There's a wide selection and various name brands to choose from. For people with a sweet tooth, the choice is plentiful. For instance, Frosted Corn Flakes, made by Kellogg's, is a grain cereal that consists of fine corn flour, sugar, sugar, and sugar, plus corn syrup, calcium carbonate, trisodiumphosphate, and topopherol to preserve freshness. For the health conscious, Honey Bunches of Oats is one of many alternatives. Made by Post, it is also a grain cereal which comes with a list of ingredients that doesn't sound like Chemistry 101! It contains corn, whole wheat, rolled oats, and brown sugar instead of processed sugar, almond, rice, and of course, honey. Sure, one can disguise a bowl of cereal with slices of banana or juicy strawberries, but that's where the excitement ends! No matter the camouflage, a bowl of cereal has the potential to become redundant quickly.

     Perhaps not as popular as cold cereal but just as quick to get to the table, this breakfast food does not fall in the "exciting" category. It does, however, command the respect of other health foods; it is wholesome and known to lower cholesterol levels. The only disadvantage is its extremely fixed quantity of assortment. One can only find three or four selections in any given supermarket. One of the most sold is Quaker Oats. Its ingredient is quite simple: one hundred percent rolled oats! Oats can be prepared effortlessly. With just two parts boiling water and one part oats, breakfast is served. Another variety of hot cereal, grits, is equal in taste but very different in texture. It is made of finely ground wheat and salt. It comes in twelve individual packets to a box which makes it convenient. Grits is prepared in the same manner as oats and just as quickly, so quickly  that there would still be time to prepare a bowl of corn flakes instead!

   This type of meal is not the quickest to make, but for certain, is the most desirable. After days of corn flakes and grits, this is a criminal's last meal before the execution! The list of choices is endless. Topping it, of course, is bacon and eggs. Bacon comes not only in different brands but also in different thicknesses, smoked and regular. Some bacon comes with less fat than others, but all comes with much more fat than it should. Eggs come in various sizes and colors: small, medium, large, and extra large. They're packed in half dozen, one dozen, or a baker's dozen of eighteen to a carton. Their shell's colors range from white, brown to pastel blue and pale yellow. Though there's only one way to prepare bacon, eggs can be cooked in numerous ways. They can be scrambled, hard-boiled, poached, pan fried, or made into omelettes. For those who prefer a "hardier" breakfast, a variety of sausage can be added to the menu. Pork sausage and Kielbasa sausage are the most popular. They can be baked and served sliced with warm bread. Although they're delicious, most sausage contains nitrite, a  quantity. However, preferable this group of breakfast food is, it contains too much fat and cholesterol and should be consumed with moderation.

    As the most important meal of the day, I wish breakfast would have more alluring choices. While cold cereal has a reasonably good taste, it incorporates too much sugar which has the power to transform a sleepy person into a zombie! Also its redundancy makes the draw of sugar less attractive. Hot cereal, though healthy, does not hold its charm for very long due to the bland taste and curdling texture once it becomes cold. The cholesterol-loaded foods, however, prevail over the rest, but because of the excessive amount of fat in these foods, they're not frequently prepared in most households. Moreover, due to the lack of time in the morning, these laborious meals cannot always be prepared. I now make larger portions for dinner and save the left-overs for breakfast the next morning. This is a healthier alternative, and it also gives me more time to sleep!