Usually a weekday breakfast is something quick - a croissant, fruit and yogurt, a green smoothie or just toast and marmite. My daily cup of tea first thing and then a coffee grabbed on the way to the office (flat white please!).
And several days a week I skip breakfast altogether as I'm interested in intermittent fasting and by having dinner a little earlier than usual the night before, say finishing at 8pm, and then not eating until 1pm the next day, that's created a nice 17 hour break for your digestive system (and I find it easy to do, with a couple of coffees in the morning though - I'm not that strict about it).
But when there's time to cook something more special, and time to enjoy and spend longer over breakfast, chatting or reading, these are my favourite brunches. I'm not sure you can call them breakfast really when it's after 10am.
So after a cup of tea, after journaling, after a walk outdoors round the park, here's what I come back and make ...
A little garlic, a very little chilli, eggs poached in tomatoes and sprinkled with parmesan. Mine rarely make it out of the pan when I make this just for me as I dunk bits of baguette in and scoop spoonfuls straight from the pan.
Yes, another eggy breakfast. Eggs are good!
I love this Thai omelette - really savoury with minced pork, served with some chopped chillies in fish sauce. You can serve it with rice or have it on its own.
I also do a super-quick version using ready cooked diced chicken or pork.
3. Pad krapow gai - spicy stir fry with chicken and holy basil
I ate this all the time for breakfast when I lived in Thailand.
I loved that there was all the usual variety of food for breakfast, rather than 'breakfast food' as we often categorise it.
I'm not sure why that is, but it doesn't have to be that way and for me, a favourite first meal of the day is this very spicy, very good stir fry with rice - and sometimes with a fried egg on top too.
If you can't get holy basil, it's still worth making without it.
Especially good if there's been a rice dish the night before - I deliberately cook extra rice so there's some for breakfast as this is best made with cold cooked rice.
Just something so comforting about this dish (it's a good one for mopping up hangovers too).
5. And number 5 ... is a total cheat!
I couldn't decide, so it's 'anything made from a combination of these ingredients'!
Avocado, smoked salmon, eggs and spinach.
It could be avocado on toast with a squeeze of lime and a little salt and a few chilli flakes.
Or smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on spinach. Poached eggs on sliced avocado with a little dill on top. Any combination of these things is going to be a winner!
