That Being Home Feeling
The many joys of breakfast
Do you know how can you start the day with some joy already in your pocket?
With a delightful breakfast.
I know it’s probably not possible to do it everyday, what with all the jobs and the schedules and the whatnots. But having a joyful breakfast once a week? Oh yeah. We can do it.
Anchor In Uncharted Waters
This month it will be two years since my husband and I moved to Genève. Along with the thrill of the adventure, the excitement of moving to another country, starting a new chapter in life, there were all the challenges you can expect. Language1, culture, even the weather2.
We moved continents with just six suitcases. We didn’t know anyone here. Everything was new, different, unknown, and uncertain.
Since the move was short notice, and it’s really hard to get long-term rentals over here, we had to book three different Airbnbs, a few days each, just to have somewhere to stay for a month. Knowing that we may have to move again once the third Airbnb was over.
And you know what helped me find home, anchor and joy amidst the uncertainty and the stress?
Breakfast.
That Being Home Feeling
Food is one of the best ways I know to make a place feel like home.
I’ve been in situations were food was not always a given. Decades later, having food in the pantry is still one of my biggest joys. Something that makes me feel safe, content.
Being able to go to the grocery shop and just… buy food, is a miracle in and of itself.
Breakfast for me means starting the day with joy, pleasure, and the feeling of being safe. Having enough.
So one of the tings I remember the most from that time, those first days, are the things we had for breakfast.
Our very first breakfast was so very simple: mate, pain au chocolat3 and a box of Bis4 we brought from home. We had it sitting at the tiny balcony of our first Airbnb, which was little and charming and had a view of the Mont Blanc in clear days.
Going Back To That Joy
The stress of trying to find an appartment, navigating the world while understanding maybe 30% of what people said to me, and the heat - holy gods the fucking heat - it all got to me after the first week, and I felt sick and lousy for a month5. But breakfast always cheered me up, made me feel at home.
Helped me feel ready to face another day of challenges.
Once we moved to the second Airbnb, we were a bit more settled, and our weekend breakfast became more “elaborated”. Croissants besides pain au chocolat, to eat with butter, ham and cheese. Jam, orange juice and yogurt - all of this felt like such luxuries.
And some probiotic drinks, because at that point I was trying anything to feel better - even stuff that offers mostly psychological effects. 😅
This year, I’m going to recreate those first, simple breakfasts, as a way to celebrate the past two years. My intention is to make of this a new tradition, to go back to that joy every year. That feeling of potential, possibility, adventure.
A New Day
Breakfast was about the best part of the day. There was an almost mysterious feeling about passing through the night and awakening to a new day. Everyone greeted each other in the morning with gladness and a real sense of gratefulness to see the new day. If it was a particularly beautiful morning it was expressed in the grace. —Edna Lewis, The Taste of Country Cooking6
This is not something I think about often, but it could be a source of joy every day: awakening to a new day.
Both in the sense of being alive, and the sense of new opportunities, new possibilities.
Here’s a new day, when you can start again. Try to fix what went wrong yesterday, build upon what went right. Get another chance to do something you didn’t get to. Do better, feel better, find more grace, for yourself and for others.
Breakfast can be a celebration of that; a little space to think about what you want, things you’re looking forward to in the day that’s beginning.
Simple Joy
“The honest simplicity of breakfast is so captivating. The most delicious breakfasts usually derive from the humblest of ingredients (money alone does not buy good food).”—Marion Cunningham, The Breakfast Book
A joyful breakfast doesn’t have to be expensive, fancy or complicated. You don’t need to go out for it (though you certainly can).
Think back and see if you have any happy memories of breakfasts past. I bet some will be “special occasions” like fancy brunch and other celebrations. But you’ll also find simpler moments, just as special.
I remember sitting in my mother’s sunny kitchen, at the big, solid wooden table with benches on either side. We’d have coffee or chocolate milk and buttered bread, sometimes ham and cheese. I am the oldest of five siblings; I was already married, and the three youngest were still in high-school. But I visited often, and we’d all sit together in the morning when I was there. We’d share what we dreamed the night before, talk about nightmare fears and absurd plots that resembled movies. We’d chat about homework, classmates, how my trip had been, stories about the neighbors.
We laughed a lot, too.
There was absolutely nothing fancy about those breakfasts. A humble kitchen, humble food. And yet, over 25 years later, remembering them still fills me with joy. (And nostalgia, but that’s a topic for another day.)
The Many Rituals of Breakfast
Breakfast is one if the most common, most accessible forms of ritual.
It assumes many shapes, and has very few conventions - even the “typical breakfast food” is entirely dependent on who is eating the breakfast, and where.
For me, breakfast is based on some type of bread or pastry, plus mate, coffee or tea. That’s typical for Uruguay. Many other Latin American countries eat black beans and rice for breakfast, like in the UK. Sausages, bacon, and noodles are common in many places, but for me all of that is lunch or dinner.
It can be a shared experience, interspersed with laughter and stories, or a quiet time to enjoy the silence. It can take place very early, when the sun is still waking up, or late in the morning, after sleeping in. It can be just a cup of coffee, or an entire brunch spread.
Which is to say: you can make of it whatever you want. Find your own breakfast ritual, your own joy.
Choose Your Own Breakfast Adventure
Some inspiration and things to think about as you go on you breakfast joy quest.
Good-for-you Breakfast
The one that makes you feel good not only because it’s healthy, but because you know it’s good for you. I’m partial to yogurt and fruit.
Indulgent Breakfast
The one that makes you sigh with pleasure just thinking of it.
For me, it’s warm bread slathered in butter, piled with very nice ham. Luxurious pastries - croissants, pain au chocolat, danishes - and jam. A bowl of Greek yogurt topped with strawberries. A creamy cappuccino and fresh orange juice.
What’s yours?
Time-For-Me Breakfast
Just you, sitting in the quiet, maybe reading a book, or writing. Sipping your coffee, pondering the questions that most interest you, enjoying the time to do nothing in particular.
If you manage to connect with the moment, it can be an almost meditative experience. A place where you can find peace.
Breakfast Together
That joyful thing when you get together with someone to share laughter, stories and news over the table. It can be with family in your kitchen, or in a cafe with friends.
Weekend Breakfast
One of my favorites. Slow, unhurried. Or at least it should be. Time to enjoy the food, the company, the view. Make it a treat.
Even preparing it has its own ritual elements. Take stuff out from the cupboards or the fridge. Prepare the tray or set the table. Cut some fruit, brew some coffee. Many little things that together give form to something delightful.
Someone-Was-Thoughtful Breakfast
…and left something ready for you to grab before you leave in a rushed morning.
This person can be someone else, or it can be yesterday!you, who took the time to do something nice to help your morning start with more ease.
Breakfast Outdoors
Another favorite. It can be camping breakfast, if you’re a go-camping type of person.
I’m not, but I enjoy having breakfast under the trees in the park, or by the river. When we’re traveling, we often do this instead of having the hotel breakfast. 😄
We either pack it before leaving the house, or stop by a bakery or sandwich shop on our way to wherever we’re going.
Post-Holiday Breakfast
For me, breakfast the day after a big holiday is part of the celebrations. One of the best parts, in fact. Waking up late, tired but still bubbling with happy energy from the late night.
New memories to talk or think about. Photos to go through, perhaps delightful messages to respond.
All the leftovers, to enjoy all over again, one last time. Or: sometimes, it’s amazing because you’re finally eating something light and easy, like some toast and tea, after the excess of the festivities.
Breakfast After a Night Out
One of my favorite things to do after a night of dancing is to stop somewhere and have a burger and some fries.
As breakfast.
I have many fond memories of sitting by a food cart with friends, watching the sun slowly come up, as we chatted and laughed about all the silly things we did the night before.7
Second breakfast
It’s a traditional meal in several countries, and of course, one of the best-known Hobbit meals.
Breakfast as Tradition
The prime examples of breakfast as ritual - things like Xmas breakfast, breakfast before dawn during Ramadan and Mother’s day brunch.
But there are also personal breakfast traditions: birthday breakfast, Sunday brunch with the family, or any breakfast you usually have to mark a special occasion.
Like my Move-to-Genève Anniversary breakfast.
This Week’s Quest - The Joy Of Breakfast
Here are your tasks, ideas and stuff to think about.
1 - Uncover your breakfast joys
As usual, we’re going to draw the map of your joy, as it intersects with this week’s topic.
Think about memorable breakfasts from your past. Elaborate occasions, experiences while traveling or camping, family breakfast, a simple cup of coffee at home; what are the ones that still live in your memory as joyful, happy events?
You can also make a list of your favorite types of breakfast. Take a look at my list above for inspiration, or create your own by cataloguing your happy memories.
2 - Define your favorite breakfast characteristics
If you go through you favorite past breakfasts, what do they have in common?
What’s the source of joy in them? The people, the occasion, the raucous laughter, the intimacy, the solitude?
Take note of:
How did you feel
Food
Place
People
Occasion
3 - Describe your ideal breakfast
What’s it like? How does it make you feel? Where and when would it take place? What would be the menu? Are there other people there, is it a big celebration gathering, or a peaceful, quiet time for yourself?
If you feel like it, you can create a mood board or doodle or write in great detail.
4 - Look for the everyday joy
Think about your daily breakfast. How can you make it a more joyful experience, more often? Some things to consider:
Designate a special piece of dishware for your enjoyment. Something that makes you happy, either because of personal memories, the shape or feel of it, the words printed or its color.
What do you like to listen to in the morning? Upbeat songs to get you going, nature sounds to feel at ease, cozy songs to start the day gently? Maybe a podcast to wake up your mind with something interesting?
Think about what you drink and eat every morning (or whenever you have breakfast). Is there room for improvement, can you change it a bit so it’s more delightful and nourishing?
5 - Try it!
Once you have your map, see if can you plan for a breakfast specially designed for joy. Add it to your schedule, so you can look forward to it, and make any necessary preparations.
And then come back and tell me all about it! 😊
This Week’s Clues
📚Reads
➡️ This Is What Breakfast Looks Like Around the World
Eggs, soups, pastries, and more—here’s what’s on the menu in the morning in 26 countries.
Excellent list. It left me longing for Smørrebrød, the Danish open-sandwiches we ate in Copenhagen, and the chlebíčky we used to take to one of our favorite little parks in Prague.
It’s accurate for all the countries I know, and it gave me new ideas to add to my stuff-I-want-to-try list. You could use it as inspiration to cook some things at home, or make travel plans, or have breakfast in different typical restaurants now and then.
It’s also interesting to see how each country’s culture shape their breakfast culture; if it’s hurried or slow-paced, something light and quick before you get going or a nourishing meal to sustain you for many hours.
➡️ If I’m Cutting Fresh Fruit for Dessert, I Probably Love You
I’d like to think that cutting fruit was how my dad expressed his love to us. We didn’t have big heart-to-hearts. We didn’t attend father-daughter dances. But watching that guy painstakingly break down a pomegranate for our post-dinner enjoyment was all I needed to see.
Like I’ve been saying, you’re the one who can find meaning in the small things. Cutting up fruit for breakfast can be just another chore, or it can be a way to express love - for yourself or for others.
🎥 Watch
This was a delight start to finish. A mix of so many things I love - history, literature, Jane Austen, culture and customs and cooking, told by someone who evidently finds great joy in what he does.
And now I really want historically accurate Bath buns. Maybe I’ll try baking some for a special breakfast. 😉
🎙️Listen
➡️ Novo Amor
Novo Amor’s songs are the definition of what a moment of peace feels like, to me. My favorites: State Lines, Anchor, Emigrate.
➡️ Breakfast Bossa Nova Jazz Mix
I enjoy this genre a lot, when I need a something chill and melodic in the background while I work, or when I want to start the day slowly.
🌳 Quote
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. ― J. B. Priestley
That’s It For Today!
Happy breakfast, and until next time. —Nospheratt
I’m better at it, and still learning, but back then my French was, let’s say, a trifle too basic. I could barely understand the labels at the supermarket. 😬
Summer 2022 was really gruesomely hot, as you may recall
Pain au chocolat is a French pastry. It’s made of the same dough as the croissant, and it has little pieces of chocolate sprinkled through. It’s very popular here, perhaps even more than croissants - to the point where I have my own Pain au Chocolat inflation index, similar to the Big Mac index. I can accurately gauge how bad inflation is, by the ups and downs of the price of a pain au chocolat box at the supermarket. 😂
Bis is a Brazilian crispy wafer covered with milk chocolate. Like any other candy, it’s not as great as it was when I was a child. But we still enjoy it now and then, because nostalgia.
It wasn’t covid. I got tested. I think it was sheer exhaution. And I don’t do well in the heat, not even in the best of times.
I’ve started reading this book and it has such a joyful feel, a celebration of being alive in every page.
When I was in my 20s, I was able to go dancing three nights in a row and not feel like garbage in the morning (tho I tended to sleep a lot on Sunday, to reset before the week started, I guess 😅). From time to time, I’d go dancing on Sunday too, and rolled up to work on Monday after only a shower and no sleep at all.
I’m not in 20s anymore, and I feel really tired after a night of dancing. Specially if I had one too many drinks.
Still love it, however.