breakfast blogger

Not every Breakfast Blogger breakfast is laden with Hollandaise sauce, nor do I start each day with a side order of bacon. I do try to lead a healthy lifestyle and should include those sometimes insipiring and greaseless meals in this blog.

That said, when I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Hannukah with the family and friends of my VSL, I was given a few grapefruits from my VSL’s mother, who got them from her husband’s brother, who had just returned from Florida, the sunshine state.

I used my special grapefruit knife, which has a curved blade specially designed to carve out each grapefruit segment. Once this task is accomplished, i could enjoy each goegeous bite of grapefruit as an explosion of juice and pulp, minus the bitter, membranous walls which wereleft behind in the skin of the fruit. This is truly the best way to eat grapefruit.

I love the wake-up effect of the sweet/acid combination that just shouts at your palate, “W A K E U P , R I G H T N O W ! ! ! “.

Here is my bowl of grapefruit pieces, ready to eat:

And, after finishing the bowl, I love to squeeze the rind for all it’s worth and then drink a glassful of pure grapefruit juice. I was so excited that I forgot to take a photo of the juice. Sorry.

Here’s the Christmas breakfast I had at my folk’s place:

Super yummy eggs Benedict! Last year’s breakfast was really good too!

And here are some fine words from Bob and Doug McKenzie:

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Eight comic books
Seven packs of smokes
Six packs of two-fours
Five golden tuques..
Four pounds of back bacon
Three french toasts
Two turtlenecks
And a beer (in a tree)

After seeing that Café Diana closed its doors on rue Montcalm in Hull, I was wondering if some establishment nearby would take its place. Sure enough, one of my favourite restaurants in the area has taken up to the task with style.

Le Twist at 88 rue Montacalm (map) started to do weekend breakfasts in late November and I’ve been there three times since. They are famous around here for their yummy burgers and I was eager to see how they would do with breakfast.

I found out about Le Twist doing breakfasts after I saw a small flyer on my windshield after doing some groceries at the IGA in town a few weeks ago. I was pretty pumped up about checking it out. I headed out on foot the Saturday after that and stopped into a local dep (see the first urban dictionary entry on what a “dep” is here) to pick up a Journal de Montreal. Once there, I found it almost empty and took a spot near a window so I could get good pictures.

As you can tell from above, I ordered the eggs Benedict.. not shown is the side order of toast for the mopping up exercise after eating this kinda dish.

Most of their breakfasts come with a side of salad which is refreshing change from what I’m used to. Not sure if I like it, but it is different.

On my next visit I forgot my camera. I kicked myself. Ouch. Le Twist was still pretty empty, but a bit busier that time..

The pic above is from last weekend. It’s a Croissant croque - madame and it was yummy!

Since my latkes turned out so well last year, I thought I should post this recipe BEFORE the holiday begins this year.

If you are an avid reader of the Breakfast Blogger, you may well recall that last year I made latkes for a Hannukah brunch held in Toronto, where the guests were the extended family of my Very Special Ladyfriend. It was a high pressure situation and I pulled through with flying colors - I didn’t burn down their kitchen AND the latkes turned out fabulously. I am going to Toronto in a couple of days and will probably make latkes once again. I decided to post this thread now so everyone can make latkes before Hannnukah instead of after, not that you can’t eat latkes all year round. . .

Hannukah starts this Friday evening, so light your Hannukiah before lighting the shabbes candles . . . .and then eat your latkes!

I learned to make latkes from my mother, and we both use the recipe from a local cookbook that most Montreal Jewish homes seem to have sitting on their cookbook shelf. It is called Second Helpings, from B’nai Brith Women Montreal, 1977 - edited by Norene Gilletz, but almost all latke recipes are just about the same, so any will do.

The last time I made latkes, I used:

6-8 potatoes (Yukon Gold potatoes are best)
2 onions
3 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt and some pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
oil for frying

You can multipily this recipe if you are feeding many people - I usually do. Also, feel free to add an extra onion if you like your latkes a little oniony, or omit an onion if you prefer your latkes bland. I usually adjust the recipe according to the size of the potatoes and onions that I am using.

Peel the potatoes into a big bowl of cold water, to avoid them turning brown.

Now you have to grate the potatoes. This should be done by hand, but can easily be done in a food processor. The important factor is the consistency. If grating by hand, I grate the potatoes using both the big and small sides of a box grater until I achieve a smooth consistency - just keep switching until it seems right. You don’t want to see too many big potato shreds, but you don’t want it to be a puree either.

If using a food processor, grate all the potatoes first with the grater blade, and then use the regular blade to puree a few handfuls and mix it back in until it looks right. Now grate the onion, either by hand or with the food processor.

Put the grated potatoes into a clean tea-towel (or cheesecloth) and wring it out until most of the water is gone. Then mix in everything else and you’ve got yourself some pretty decent latke batter.

Now set the stovetop to medium and heat up some oil in a frying pan. There should be enough oil to submerge the latkes halfway, so when you flip them, the other side will cook without burning the edges (too much oil) or leaving the middle raw (not enough oil). As you are cooking, you will have to add more oil every now and then as the latkes do absorb oil when they cook. It may not be the healthiest food in the world, but consider it a ‘mitzvah’ as it represents the miracle oil that burned for seven days. Hopefully your heartburn won’t last quite as long.

I usually use 2 or 3 (or even 4!) pans simultaneously, depending on how many latkes I am making - this time I used 2. Shape some of the mixture, about 1 tbsp or a small handful, into a ball and carefully place it into the pan and flatten it using a spatula.

Repeat until the pan is full - usually five or six latkes at a time. Let each latke fry until the underside is done and then flip it to do the other side. you can get a really good rhythm going so you are always adding, flipping, or removing, without too much worry or hurry.

Put a baking sheet in the oven on the lowest setting (warm). As each latkes is ready, place it onto a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the extra fat and then place the latke in the oven to keep warm.
Keep doing this until all the mixture has been used.

I made about 50 latkes.

Here is what one plate of latkes looked like:

We served them with apple sauce and sour cream.

I hope your latkes turn out great. Please let me know . . .

In my travels, although I do enjoy and appreciate the hospitality of friends and family, I sometimes have the privilege of staying in nice hotels. Sometimes, perhaps about once a year, I get to stay at a really nice hotel. As part of a birthday gesture to my Very Special Ladyfriend, I arranged for us to stay at the Waldorf-Astoria - perhaps the most famous hotel in Manhattan, possibly in the world.

Their reputation is obviously top-notch, but after 100 or so years in operation, the service is most definitely beginning to show signs of slipping. After one reservations and communications mishap too many, the manager (impressive that a peon from Montreal should be granted an audience with the manager!) offered us free breakfast the next morning. Trying out my best Daniel Craig impersonation, I called his bet and raised.

“Sure. Breakfast, But, let’s make it ‘room service’”. To my surprise, he obliged.

Luckily, this converstaion took place whilst my VSL was soaking in the lush atmosphere of the Waldorf-Astoria lobby, which was filled to the gills with tuxedo-clad gentlemen and their wives about to attend one the many galas held each night in the ballroom. Eggsellent, a surprise for my honey.

That evening, we went to bed following a fabulous birthday dinner at Orchard. I will not divulge any details of that meal since it was not my first meal of the day - feel free to read a review of it here or wait for my new food website to hit the cyberworld in the coming days. We awoke at about 9am, and looked out our hotel-room window to discover that it was raining in Manhattan. The bad weather postponed, or even canceled, our plans to walk the streets of New York all day, window shopping, shopping, and eating. In lazy holiday moods, we switched on the television and watched a bad movie in bed, and then realized that we were very hungry. It was my VSL ’s birthday and she didn’t feel like getting up just yet, so I suggested that I quickly get dressed and run out in the rain to see if I could forage for breakfast in the streets of upper Manhattan. Of course, my VSL knew perfectly well that the only edibles within 3 blocks of the Waldorf would be street vendors grilling hot dogs or newsmen hawking candybars. Just as we were pontificating our sad situation, which was growing more desperate with each growl in our bellies, there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” I moaned, hinting that it could perhaps be another misinformed Waldorf-Astoria representative trying to tell us that we had to switch rooms, or should be checking out, or maybe that a couple of New York’s finest were here to take us away. I growled, hesitantly donned my Waldorf-Astoria bathrobe, and made my way to the door.

Then, surprise, surprise, I wheeled a room service cart into the room and surprised the begeezuss out of my VSL.

Full breakfast decorated with white roses and fresh squeezed orange juice to boot! There was also a basket of breads and croissants, coffee, and an array of jams and preserves.

What could be under here . . .?

Scrambled eggs with sausage!

And it comes with such cute and luxurious accoutrements:Fresh butter pats with nothing less than the Waldor-Astoria seal of approval.Mini bottles of Heinz ketchup (yes, of course I took the unopened bottle home with me)Naturally, they have their own silverware. (No, I did not take this home with me)Croissant with marmalade: Absolutely delicious.

After eating our breakfast in our triple-sheeted king-size bed, I decided to check out the room-service menu to see what this feast would have cost us.
Whoa. Thiry-one US dollars. That is actually sixty-two dollars for two of us, plus tip. It was good, but not that good. The eggs were perfect and the potatoes were first-rate. The croissants were actually decent considering we were not in France or Montreal, and besides, we expected them to to below-par since they call them ‘crescents’ in the USA. The juice was fresh-squeezed, but the sausages were weird: Chewy with thick, rubbery skins kind of weird - and a little too much fake hickory chemical taste. They definitely have to work on the sausages.

Let’s see some other prices . . .who could have thought that a bowl of cereal would be US&8.50? Nine bucks for half a grapefruit?!? Oy.

Well, all in all, this was a great breakfast experience, but I highly doubt I would ever had done this if it were not offered with the full compliments of the lovely Waldorf-Astoria.

By the time we showered and dressed, the rain had stopped and we proceeded to have a lovely day of strolling in Manhattan. Straight to Zabar’s…

We have been having technical difficulties over the past few weeks and it seems to be getting worse. BB may be very slow and might not even respond, but I’m working on getting it fixed. So relax, grab a coffee, and refresh the page if you are having problems.

Here’s to hoping things will be smooth as butter shortly:

***EDIT*** OK, got some SQL tables killed, fingers crossed that things will be running smoothly again.