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BSS | Breakfast Interrupted from Bruton Stroube Studios on Vimeo.

OK, it's true. I've recently become sucked into the whole meta-meta-media-filter/'trivial aspects of life as pithy haikus' phenomenon that is Twitter. Between daily pics from Rick Bayless' service line, and what Sasha Frere Jones calls "digital biz yap that makes me feel like I crashed the meeting I spent my life avoiding", there are some trivial treats to be found.

One thing I quite enjoy are the breakfast tweets from Torontonian music promoter My Man Henri.

Here're a few samples:

"Good Morn World: oatmeal x vanilla soy x chopped fruit with METALLICA TCKTS FOR OCT SHOW @ ACC!! W00T!!! Riding Lightning today!"

"Good Morning. Bkrfst: Vanilla Yogurt x Banana Nut Cereal x Sierra Mix. K.I.S.S. Today, the sun still shines - just not here."

"Good Morn World. Huevos con cebolla y espinaca. Need that. Busy week ahead."

I don't know what 'banana nut cereal' or 'sierra mix' are but I don't mind hearing about them at all.

Just in case you, too, find the cataloguing of the morning meal to be a calming business, here's today's breakfast in Cologne Germany:

One 99-cent 'New York Bun' (non-sweetened spelt flour, dark choc chips and dried cranberries), and a smoothie made with frozen blueberries and mango pulp. The mango pulp is imported from India by our friend Demian's father Jelly (who I blogged about earlier, in a post about his christmas bakery).

How would I write that as a Twitter post of up to 140 characters in length? Hmm, let's see:
"Happiness= choc/cranberry/spelt brkfast roll. Drink: frozen german forest blueberries pureed with hippie import mango pulp.Yelp! Peace y'all"

Just kidding -
..I wouldn't write 'Peace y'all'.

After you've lived in Northern Europe for a while, finding good coffee is like hitting the jackpot. And Munich is a veritable gold-mine.

Yesterday morning I was introduced to a new-ish spot, Café Loretta, which is just around the corner from Aroma. They use Danesi beans and offer the soy milk option... which is only civilised in my opinion.

I asked my boss Many and his friends why Muncheners are so well caffeinatedly catered for, and they explained that with all the Italian immigrants, Munich is "the northern-most Italian city"
....but I've heard this claim about Cologne before too. Supposedly something to do with the Roman paving stones and the fact that people like to hang out drinking on the street: 'Sweet doing nothing' ('dolce farra nulla').



Continuing on the egg-theme begun in the post below, another stand out feature of Loretta is the breakfast option of 'Ei-im-Glass' (Egg in glass). You get two hot soft-boiled, peeled eggs in a glass with a sprig of basil. The idea is to mash them up with your fork and eat away. Many tells me it is very good with white truffle or 'schnittlauch' (chopped chives).



Other menu options include a range of toasted sandwiches, cake and paninis, and all the usual German café breakfast treats like home made quark with herbs and bread, sliced cured meats, cheeses, or yoghurt with walnuts and honey.

A Munich journalist and editor, having a pain-au-chocolat:



Some Bavarian dude:



Café Loretta

Müllerstr. 50
80469
München

Öffnungszeiten

Mo-Fr 7-22h, Sa-So 10-22h
Tel.: 089/23077370

I like the idea of eating out breakfast.

From a nice crispy croissant and espresso at a European café to a traditional rice and miso soup fare at a Japanese hot spring ryokan, it sounds decadent, lazy and special, as opposed to hastily swallowed breakfast cereals coming out of box.

I like soothing jook (rice congee) breakfast in Thailand, too, but greasy American breakfast occupies a special place in my palate.

While in grad school in North America, one of the easy and affordable half-day weekend escapes was at a breakfast diner, where they serve very heart-unfriendly yet very hearty and yummy waffles with cream chantilly, eggs Benedict, crispy bacons, eggs Florentine, home fries, blueberry pancakes and French toast covered with maple syrup. Aaaaahhh. Comfort food.

My American friend who worked in rural Vietnam for a few years told me that such diner-style breakfast was what she missed most.

Luckily, in Thailand, you can find greasy American style breakfast even outside the capital city of Bangkok. Bake & Bite in Chiang Mai serves yummy breakfast a la white people like it fashion, and is one of the places I like to go after spending a chunk of time in the real rural hood.


Cereal pancake and boiled eggs. I like it how special boiled eggs look when they are served on egg stands.



Whole wheat pancake with bacon bits inside, with side order of cooked spinach and tomatoes.



Cheesy potatoes with bacon, scrambled egg and extra avocado. Usually served on English muffin but they were out of it, so it's on seven-grain toast instead.



Bake & Bite, Chiang Mai
Chang Klan Road: 053 820761
Nimanhamin Soi 6: 053 400577

A couple weeks ago it was a long weekend for Buddhist Lent...so with my Dad's car on loan we drove to Khao Yai national park...165 kms out of BKK and 57th wonder of the world apparently

We saw a monkey on our first encounter through the park. I gave her a banana and she became fascinated with us and the possibilities of more bananas



Some people stopped and tried to lure her with potato chips to no avail...apparently they hadn't got the message that monkey's don't really know what potato chips are


we arrived late without a hotel booking so drove around a bit until we found Cabbages and Condoms, a hotel/ farm/ restaurant/ community development project funded by the UN to raise aid awareness and stuff about population and development. We had a great meal there with mushrooms fresh from the farm including shiatke, oyster, eringi and black cloud. But the rooms weren't very nice.

Cabbages and condoms garden


Khao Yai is also home to the Thai dairy industry, replete with Thai cowboys and all along the road are little milk containers for pick up

Milks bottles




and dragon fruit plantations



The next morning we went to Dairy Home for breakfast.... Dairy Home makes specialist yoghurt and dairy products for the Thai market

The restaurant reminded me of my step-mother...it was filled with cutsey pictures and plastic flowers

Dairy Home


The bread was that typically fluffy Thai white bread that reminded me of cartoon bread

Bread


Thai families most likely from Bangkok, if judged by their attire, turned up in hoards to eat this strange mix of Thai/American bucolic fantasy food


We found another hotel, Fah Sai Khao Yai...that wasn't very nice either and rather pricy, no jug or tea, no bath just basic...(we are fussy bitches) and we went for a bike ride up hill for 3 kilometres...until Hock's bike broke and we decided to call it a day...we rode to a nearby vineyard and had ice coffee and cake

In the evening we went to a restaurant recommended by Austin called Krua Khao Yai. We didn't order very well and had an average meal. Half of Bangkok was there. We shared a table with two middle class Bangkokian's. One who works as a construction consultant and protests for PAD in his spare time. I kept my politics to myself.

Anyway, anyway, anyway

There are two vineyards in Khao Yai that produce wine of dubious quality. Hock and I couldn't quite figure out why people bothered at all. It's a bit like deciding you want to grow mangos in the Swiss Alps, sure you may find a way to make it happen but is it worth it? It reminded me of a quote from an academic article I had read recently, about even the dreams and aspirations of the developing world being colonised. Although I'm not sure I agreed with the article, there is a distinct sense in Khao Yai that some high society Thai people are spending a great deal of money trying to recreate Italy or the Nappa Valley in Khao Yai.

After dinner we went to a faux Italian villa, which had a rather bad restaurant attached and candles lit up through the vineyard. We had some so so gelato, then went for a walk in the vineyard, until I saw a big ugly toad

Winery


The next day we went to the national park and managed to avoid paying the 400% farang mark up price of 400 bht per person and instead paid the Thai price of 40 baht. We went on a walk through the bush....which said it was to a water fall

there were lots of bugs and leeches!!!



The track took us to a swamp


I wasn't impressed. Hock told me to try and look like I was enjoying myself. I argued that the "appreciation of nature" is a recent phenomenon in human history and it was not until recently that we're all supposed to love leech infested swamps, previously humans feared the wild and avoided it or chopped it down. Now we are supposed to "appreciate it"

So, we decided that Khao Yai is beautiful but what makes us happier are noodles

So we took a detour drive back to Bangkok through Ayuthaya and stopped at Lung Lek's famous Kwayteow Reua joint and had excellent beef noodles

Well seems as its all about weddings and celebrations this week, I thought I'd post our celebratory food

Me and Hock's birthdays, and wedding anniversary all fall with a two week radius of each other

So we celebrate by eating yummy things

Wedding/ Birthday dinner at AOI in Bangkok...for the Kaiseki meal (2000 bht per person, or around $60 USD)



in a private tatami room with views of the queen sirikit park...replete with cool horse bell



And the meal began with a lovely place setting a cute grape/ sake pink iced drink


Cream cheese tofu, chilled grated sticky potato??? and grilled fish salad


masterfully cut sashimi course


wagyu beef



sushi course



grilled fish and daikon


home made udon nabe


The evening before my birthday Hock also surprised me with a box of Hokkaido uni and Hokkaido scallops



The uni I had last year for my birthday, but the scallops were a new addition this year. They were beautiful dense large scallops that were a bit like juicy seafood steaks


unlike other scallops that are often pumped full of water to look plump, hokkaido scallops and just all fleshy sweetness and they crisp up in the pan...a trick not likely with ordinary scallops


i put the uni on top of the scallops, drizzled it with really good quality olive oil, a little lemon and pepper and then nearly died and went to heaven


the following morning I was greeted with baked eggs in two different styles, one with chorizo and the other with zucchini and marscapone


Yesterday I spent two hours at the gym, 70 minutes of cardio and 50 mins weights, stretches and sit ups

Introducing Metzgerei Schmitz, once a butcher belonging (presumably) to a gentleman named Schmitz, it's now an organic cafe and the best place to spy hipsters, quiche and steak-frites in Cologne.

In summer its prime west-facing position means its kerb-side tables are at a premium all afternoon.

I was never a huge fan of quiche, but I must say the quiche offerings of Metzgerei Schmitz have come to occupy a special place in my heart, because they are hardly eggy at all, and the buttery crusts are packed with big colourful chunks of veges and things. I especially love the one with beetroot topped with a few thin strips of roasted camembert and sprigs of freshly snipped thyme - and the one pictured below, which has gorgonzola, leeks and small round grapes. Yummy.



It's asparagus time once again, and the best I've had so far this season was for breakfast at Schmitz: a delightful omelette, asparagus 'gratineed' with a sprinkling of parmesan, and crostini piled with balsamicky tomato and basil.



Generally I hold cake & hipsters in the same regard (can be pretty to look at, but have to be in the mood for them). The cakes at Schmitz are a little on the sweet side for me but they are very beguiling to look at. The one below has a nutty crust and the berries are johannisbeeren, which are tart jewel-like red currants.



Their Italian sandwiches are also quite decent too, I like the softness of the argentinian roast beef focaccia, and you can get them with Merguez sausage, or goats cheese and honey.



Metzgerei Schmitz is at 28 Aachenerstrasse, it has a bigger brother next door called Salon Schmitz but the bigger spot lacks the 'gemütlichkeit' of the original.

You know those Sundays when you wake up and suddenly spring seems to have come and the trees are all green and wavy and the sun is glinting off the train tracks - and that one train with the 'Neil Young' graffiti that never moves is sitting there all rusty and sun baked - and warm light and green currents of air are flooding through the window.

Then you just have, repeat, have to bake muffins. To a soundtrack of birdsong and imperceptible leaf rustling.

Muffins, a banal has-been fad of kiwi baking, written off long ago as cake repackaged, are somewhat foreign and exotic in Germany so you can pawn them off on your friends if you, like me, are prone to eat six in one day if they're just lying around all forlorn and unwanted.

But you don't need to feel too guilty since these particular muffins are chewy and soft with wholegrain spelt flour, soy milk, maple syrup, and raw sugar (which imparts a slightly malty, caramelised flavour) - infused with lavendar and studded with pinky-red chunks of organic strawberry.

Think of them as 'Laura Ashley vegan'.



Good with a Chinese green tea from the Parisian tea company Mariages Freres, fresh cut flowers and an open window.



Inevitably, having done this cheerful morning baking, you remember that you have got work to catch up on, and you end up chained to the laptop munching on muffins in your pajamas while all the other kids are playing outside.
Just a typical Sunday, I guess! Not quite so Laura Ashley though. I'm sure she would at least put on some pink lipstick.



Strawberry Lavender Muffins adapted from the 'Fresh at Home' cookbook, which in turn are based on a recipe from a Toronto baking company named Sweets of the Earth.

1& 1/4 cups soya milk
3/4 cup Grade c or D maple syrup
2 tbsp lavender
1 cup apple sauce/apfelmus
4 cups spelt flour (ideally a mix of light and medium wholegrain)
1/2 cup raw,unrefined sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups roughly chopped strawberries
1/4 cup sunflower, canola or olive oil

1. Grease the muffin tins
2. Heat soya milk, maple syrup and lavender in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat (don't worry that it curdles)
3. Remove from heat, cover and infuse for ten minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and add applesauce. Set aside and cool completely.
4. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
5. Add strawberries and toss.
6. Add liquid and oil. Mix gently until mixture just comes together.
7. Scoop into muffin pans
8. Bake at 180 degrees for anywhere from 30 minutes to 50 minutes depending on your oven. Make sure to test one - better to have them on the deep brown side than undercooked.

Well, my yum cha experiences are somewhat limited. I haven't been to the excellent-sounding East Ocean in Sydney, let alone Hong Kong. I spent six weeks staying in Melbourne's Chinatown, but found the yum cha there to be on the flabby side (at its best when scooped out of the deep frier), and wasn't impressed by the yum cha in New York's Chinatown either (I have read that dedicated yum cha hunters there go to New Jersey). I enjoyed the expensive dim sum at London's celebrity joint Hakkasan, but seriously, with those prices, who are they kidding? I found the great blogger Chubby Hubby's recommended yum cha spot in Singapore to be ridiculously cheap - and not outstandingly deliciously so. (The steamed carrot cake and custard buns were OK...A moot point since, for me, the top priority is non-gluggy dim sum, and a great variety thereof.)

I'm under no delusions that it's the world's best, but I must say a cracking yum cha spot remains Auckland's Grand Harbour restaurant down at the Viaduct. For taste & value for money, it's probably the best overall experience I've had. (Of course I do have greater ambitions: some day i hope to eat waves of dim sum made by a top Hong Kong or Singapore chef until I start to hallucinate). But here, for roughly eight euros p/p you can enjoy a veritable feast of dumplings, proffered by tolerant servers in a restaurant that is clean and comfy, carpeted wall-to-wall and bedecked with Ming-style vases filled with flowers. Seafood fans can enjoy a serving of NZ green-lipped mussels from a steaming cart, and the beef shu-mai are enormous - and juicy, not fatty. Judicious use of herbs, sweet corn, water chestnut, peanuts or brown vermicelli noodles is found in many of the dumpling treasures that end up on your plate - and the prawns and seafood elements are plentiful and fresh. The rice paper wrappers are never gummy. Those green beans in chilli oil were yummy, too.