breakfast blogger

Poor KJ… her computer was suffering from terminal BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death. As you can see on the side here, it was some sort of pagefile problem. After 15 minutes of fiddling around trying to cure it, it began apparent that this wasn’t going to be a simple fix. So off we went for breakfast to mull over our options, KJ’s treat! Woot, this is the best kind of computer call… one that comes with a free breakfast!

KJ took me to the White Horse, not too far from the Ottawa VIA train station at 294 Tremblay Road. I was pretty impressed with the breakfast and they have great prices too!

I had the Rib Steak and 2 Eggs:

And KJ had the Two Eggs with Corn Beef Hash:

mmmmmMMmmm, yummy… Mine was $8.95 and KJ’s was $4.95. Very awesome.

Stay tuned, KJ’s computer is now fixed and I have to return it next weekend. Payment is another free breakfast!

Yay! The kitchen at the new house is finally set up. I celebrated with fried eggs covered with freshly cracked pepper and a hot Italian sausage.

I missed something for the nose! :-)

First off, I want to congratulate Az on her last post which got featured on a link roundup on boing boing! Great stuff! We managed to survive a 4000+ surge of hits over a few days last week.

Things have been nuts for me the past few weeks with the new house. For one thing, the kitchen is such a mess half the time, I can’t find room for the griddle to cook myself a decent breakfast! Yikes!

So it’s awesome that a breakfast joint pretty close to where I live opened up not too long ago here in Hull. It’s a small place run by a friendly lady and always has a Journal de Montreal available for me to read when I go. This is a biiiiig bonus in my books. They’ve got a wide variety of breakfast items on the menu, including healthy fare.

I didn’t go for the healthy stuff this particular time that I went… but it sure was yummy:

33 Saint Joseph Blvd, not far from Alexandre Taché. They’re only open for breakfast and lunch. Super yummy!!!

About a month ago, I ventured off to Ottawa for a computer call and was lucky to manage a breakfast to discuss the work to be done. It was in the Byward Market here in Ottawa.. an area where I’ve had only a handful of breakfast adventures. Any tips to places I haven’t tried yet are greatly appreciated!

The Dubliner is located at the end of William Street where it meets George Street, on the southern-west corner. I had the Irish breakfast: two eggs, sausage, roasted tomato, sautéed mushrooms and onions, baked beans, homefries and toast. Oh my.

Yummmmy… $9.50 with coffee.

Oh my. Here’s something our kids don’t need:

And this on the heels of the announcement that Kellogg would phase out advertising to kids 12 and under unless their product is of certain nutritional value. I’m suspicious about that considering that it’s up to food manufacturers to come up with what constitutes a “portion.” Have you ever tried to compare the nutritional value of things while at the store? You might want to bring a calculator because it’s anything but straight forward. And then try convincing your kids to eat just one “portion.” I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I’d eat two huge bowls of Rice Krispies in the morning. The whole thing stinks.

My suggestion? Screw the kids breakfast cereal industry and make some granola at home and serve it with no fat yogurt and berries:

Homemade granola:

6 cups rolled oats (not instant)
2 cups of chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, cashews, sesame seeds, etc… go nuts!
1 cup of dried unsweetened coconut shreds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A wee bit of salt
1/2 to 1 cup of maple syrup (or honey or a combination of both)

In a large pan, cook the oats, stirring every once in a while until they change colour and start to smell nice. Around 4 or 5 minutes. Use two burners if it helps.

Add the nuts and seeds, stirring often. 2 minutes later add the coconut and stir some more for another 2 minutes. Add the salt, cinnamon and sweet stuff then stir some more.

Throw that into the oven at 300 F for 20 minutes, stirring a couple of times during that period.

Once it cools, store it in a sealed container and put it in the fridge.

Starting your kids off with a breakfast like this is the way to go. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the sugar in commercial breakfast cereal is contributing to the behavioral disorders we hear about…

Link to the Froot Loops Cereal Straws story. Via boingboing.

This one is dedicated to KJ who is moving to a new office in Ottawa. Nat and I managed to get a breakfast with her at the Bistro Renoir last Friday on her last day:

All of the sudden I saw it… those giant toast ears and yellow yolk eyes were staring down on me… It was THE BREAKFAST MONSTER!

Was I about to become the eater or the eaten?

Your guess ;)

If you work in the Portage complex in Gatineau, there is a little spot in Phase III called Teri-Q that serves up the best breakfast bagel around:

Made with cheese and homemade mayo, this thing is one tasty little sucker. I like how it’s made with the bacon extended on one end.. they look like little bacon legs ;-) $2.85

Since the Senators won last night, I thought it would be appropriate to find breakfast somewhere along Elgin a.k.a. the Sens Mile.

I kept my eyes open for a place I hadn’t tried yet (not easy!) and saw the Lieutenant’s Pump at 361 Elgin was overflowing with people:

Since it was just me, I thought they could possibly squeak me in somewhere and I was right, however it would have to be inside at one of the bars. Once again, I had my fingers crossed that I would have enough light for my pics. I ordered a regular breakfast with bacon and sausage and relaxed reading up on the game and sipping a coffee. I chatted a bit with the bar maid about how nuts it must have been around there last night and after a bit, breakfast was served:

Mmmm yummy. You can’t see it there, but hidden behind the bacon, sausage and home fries is a nice portion of fresh fruit too. $8.99.

GO SENS GO!!

I had been eying Carmello’s On Cooper (one block east of Elgin) for a while and decided to take some friends there a couple of Sundays ago on the last day of Ottawa’s Tulip Festival.

We couldn’t get a window seat but managed to get a nice booth. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be too dark for my pictures and ordered the Eggs Benedict along with Italian sausage ($9.95):

Steve had the Carmello’s Benedict– the difference here being it was with prosciutto and a smoked provolone cheese sauce ($9.45) instead of back bacon and hollandaise:

I think I regret not making the same choice… but it was still very yummy indeed.

And here’s a picture from the last day of the Tulip Fest:

Introducing the Corona-Matic:

This is just too damn cool. Keyboard shaped waffles bring out the geek in this breakfast blogger ;)

Link via boingboing.