The Workermonkey

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 6/03/2012 06:14:00 PM

On the weekends, i like to make a nice breakfast and read the paper, maybe make a drink, cup of coffee maybe and just relax for a bit. a nice little routine for a sunny, Sunday morning. Over the past year and a half I've taken to photographing my weekend breakfasts. what follows is an overview of the collection. follow this link to see the whole group of photos. i certainly missed a few with pics, and you'll see a couple doubles but all of these were cooked and consumed, by me 100%.

This is typically how it goes. bacon starts in a pan while i get sausage and ham ready to throw in afterwords. those cook until its time for the eggs, a little cheese on top and they're ready. the coffee goes on once the bacon is in the pan. from here there are several variations of other foods along the way. often this is all preceded by a walk to the store to get the paper or a final ingredient.

I prefer to cook all the food in one pan. i don't like to do dishes so using fewer dishes is one of my ways to reduce the need. i have a solid nonstick frying pan i like to use but the cast iron comes in handy and gives it all some good flavor. holds the heat well too. plus the bacon grease is good for it.

when its all done i'll eat and read the paper while watching meet the press or listening to music while sportcenter loops in the background. its generally the only day of the week i pay attention to the news. other then CNN.com headlines, i usually avoid it. can't stand the local news, so bad.

The small sausages you'll see pretty predominately are from Dakin Farms in VT, near where i grew up. best breakfast sausage ever. hands down. i buy 5 lbs of breakfast sausage when i go there. they never have enough on the floor. i get he bacon there too, great bacon, cob smoked. the lighter sausages you see are chicken sausages from Longhini. also fantastic.

I usually fry the eggs, i never have milk on hand so i hesitate to scramble them with out it. i would usually just cut up whatever i had on hand for vegetables, like peppers and onions and crack the eggs on top of that. when i fry the egg its a little easier to control the cheese and i like the salsa on top, that's the red stuff you'll see on the eggs. i buy the fancy eggs most of the time. they do taste a little better and i like supporting the good ones. plus eat organic and local and all that jazz. good stuff.

One of the things that i noticed going through all these pictures is you can certainly tell when i didn't have any clean dishes. you'll see food in tupperware when i'm out of plates. i apparently have quite the mug collection as well, plenty of different glasses in there.

I've started trying to get more fruite into this mix. after reviewing all this along the way i started to realize how much of a heart attack waiting to happen this must be. i cut back on the beans and maybe one less egg, or half the bacon. i have lost a decent amount of weight lately without making much of a change to these breakfasts. i generally just eat a bowl of oatmeal in the morning during the week. the rest of my diet is pretty solid so i don't worry too much about it. all my numbers keep checking out at the doctor so i seem good for now. i really only get to do this like 2-4 times a month. when i 'm traveling or partying i don't really get the chance. there's been a million other awesome breakfasts along the way that didn't make this collection. i wanted to keep it to just ones i made at home.

Many of these breakfasts have been initiated after a walk to the store to get the paper or a quick jaunt to get something that's missing. a nice walk on a sunny day helps to slow me down a little when things are getting hectic or stressful. its good to get outside and clear the head a little. then come back and feed it with delicious meats. when i lived in beacon falls the gas station carried both the NY Times and the Hartford Currant for me. its was a 5 minute walk away, very nice. here in Enfield i can walk over to the CVS but they don't carry the Times, bummer.

If you look around the plates in the pic's you can usually get a glimpse of what i'm planning on doing with my relaxing day. you'll see a lot of the news paper, you'll see some video game controllers, the stereo remote, and the mouse/keyboard on the table. the only time i really use Pandora is when i'm reading the paper and looking to listen ot something i normally wouldn't hear. I've got a jazz station that's freaking sweet, my classical is solid and I've got the best movie score station that's all star wars, lord of the rings and batman stuff. it's quite dramatic and great for playing boards games.

Depending on how the previous night went, many of these breakfasts have been closer to late lunches. during baseball season they precede the 1:00pm games. a nice base for drinking while watching sports. you may have noticed the blood mary ingredients, those have been few and far between. i really don't need to be drinking that early in the day. but they are a nice way to start the day if it was an easy night before. day drunk is fun, plus there's a ton of goodness in tomato juice, so its good for you too.

This ends up being a pretty big meal for me. i generally only eat very little else the rest of the day. i'll have a small dinner late because i still won't be hungry after this. i made one of these for Tim and Mo once with the whole shebang and it was a ridiculous amount of food. a good way to start the day. also good for a hangover, just enough grease for it. plus all the protein helps.

Many a animal had to die to make these possible. foremost, the delicious wonder animal the pig, who gave ham steaks, bacon and endless maple sausages. thank you. chickens taste amazing as sausages too, they shall not be forgotten. beef gets in on the party with leftover steak and the occasional corned beef hash.

This will continue. at some point in the future i'll post an update to all the pics. i like my routine and is certianly something i'll continue for as long as possible. it'll take on many forms and occur in many places but will make me happy with a full belly.

The Bloody Mary Postscript:

So here's the story with the bloody mary's. i was trying to figure out how to get more good things for me into these breakfasts early on and didn't' want to just add more food since it was already pretty big of a meal and i didn't need to gain anymore weight. so i figured i'd drink something that was healthy. OJ was a good start but it's expensive and i don't always have it. so what else do people drink for Sunday brunches? mimosas and bloody mary's. didn't have the OJ for mimosas and i wasn't going to buy a bottle of champagne for Sunday mornings. i was excited by the prospect of trying to drink V8 again. i keep trying to like it, but never do. its terrible stuff. even the spicy one.

the first attempt involved V8 but pissed me off when i realized for the 27th time that i don't like V8. i was cleaning out some junk getting ready to move and came across my dad's old bloody mary recipe in a drawer. went with just plain tomato juice and added everything as written in Barone lore. fantastic! dad certainly passed on a family recipe. figures that its a drink. simple, its pretty easy to make a success. yes the salt and pepper are necessary. i tried it in a blender once to use crushed ice, not a good idea. it gets funky and watery. but a delicious addition to good Sunday mornings reguardless. add a nap in the sun and i'm a happy man.

The Workermonkey

Sunday, June 03, 2012

The Year of a Thousand Breakfasts

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 6/03/2012 06:14:00 PM

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