Blog 4: Searching for the perfect Breakfast
The secret to success
Have you ever gotten the feeling that you’re not getting everything from life? That maybe if you had done this, or not done that, you would be successful, happy, content. The root of this negative emotions stem from a negative morning experience everyday. To be more exact, a bad breakfast. The start of your day will dictate how you will behave the rest of your day.
I am of course being hyperbolic in my presentation. The “perfect” breakfast will not make you a CEO and allow you to complete a triathlon, no matter how good it is, unless its we’re taking amphetamines for breakfast.
In all seriousness. To have a breakfast that just works, that you don’t have to think about and most importantly is not slop -e.g. cereal whith milk- is a think every functional adult needs to have figured out. I have subconsciously asked myself this question trying iteration over iteration of different breakfast, finding the proper portion sizes for me and I have never quite come close to that. I came across a video about choice; It was about Herbert Simon, in the video they mentioned that his breakfast was a bowl of porridge, half a grapefruit and a cup of black coffee, he would have that every day. And just like that, I realized that was exactly what I was looking for. Now I needed to make sure it worked. Find the proper proportions and routine to make it.
What are we looking for in the “perfect” breakfast?
You wake up at 7:00 am to go to work. You just had a less than average sleep. You go take a shower, now hunger starts to set in. What are you having for breakfast? This is the answer I am in the search for.
This breakfast must check the following criteria:
- Healthy
- Affordable
- Quick
- Mess free
- Have good flavor
- Can be made year long
- Ingredients store well
- Vegan (Because I said so.)
The Blue print
- A bowl of porridge, half a grapefruit, and a cup of black coffee.
This brings up the following questions. What kind of porridge, how much? How are we to cut the grapefruit, should we keep it cold, how do we store the other half? How are we to brew the coffee, how much is a cup?
On top of that we need to figure out how to make a coffee, a porridge, and cut the grapefruit, all this in a way to minimize the number of dishes, mess, and time spent.
Current iteration
Coffee
I have already done the research for the perfect coffee for the morning. I used to be a barista for many years, and obsessed over coffee for days until I dicovered the perfect approach. I will make a post later where I will explain why and most importantly how to make this coffee. If you disagree with my coffee take then you’re simply wrong, and it’s okay to stand on your wrongness, but I stand tall on top of the facts.
This coffee is a pour over using the Kalita brewer, using a 19.5g dose for a 300ml yield. I will post the recipe for it later and then link to it here. Here’s a picture of it. Note that for today I did a V60 instead of my usual Kalita, I won’t do that again. I will also give my reasons why this is the best way to make a morning coffee.
Porridge
There is a wonderful diversity of porridges, I think this is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of my testing. However I already have some experience searching for the perfect porridge. I am starting the trials with with rolled oats because of their cheap price, good amount of fiber, and good texture. Drawbacks so far is that it takes a good 6 to 8 minutes to cook. I use the time to grind the coffee, cut the grapefruit and clean my table, this might be a nice feature.
Current Recipe Ingredients:
- 60g Rolled oats
- 180ml Room temperature water
- Trail Mix (Or whatever nuts are available)
- 25ml or a spoon full of maple syrup
- 2g Fine salt
- 30ml of soymilk (Or vegetable milk)
- Ground cinnamon
Instructions 1.- Heat a small pot, add the rolled oats, stir for a couple of seconds. 2.- Add all the water, add a sprinkle of cinnamon. 3.- Cover with a lid. Let it cook for 6 to 8 minutes, it is done when the water has been absorbed. See for wholes in the bed of porridge, when they have stop bubbling strongly it means is rear done. 4.- Take off the heat, add the soymilk. Stir and use the milk to dissolve whatever got stuck to the bottom. 5.- Cover and let it steam. Set aside and start brewing the coffee. 6.- Pour on the bowl (Same bowl used to measure the oats and water) 7.- Use the spoon that will be used for eating the porridge to measure the maple syrup. 8.- Top with some trail mix.
This worked well.
The Grapefruit
So far the best way to cut the grapefruit is as pictured. The grapefruit has a flaw, the pulp of the fruit can get stuck on your teeth. I think this is a feature since it will remind you to brush your teeth and also flush. I use the same cutting board to serve the fruit. The grapefruit is a great choice because it has a large quantity of juice and fiber, while not being too sweet, it’s bitter complex flavor complements very well with the soft sweet flavor of the porridge. It’s cold juice will hydrate you.
The final result
This worked well, It gave me the energy needed to keep going and it did not crash me afterwards -like what happens after eating pancakes for breakfast. I am not sure if I have figure it out yet, maybe different porridges could improve it.
My only problem is the coffee part. I love my coffee and drinking coffee on its own with no food is something I value. However there is something of a simple pleasure that comes with eating breakfast with a nice cup of coffee. The coffee that goes well with a breakfast is not the same coffee that goes perfectly on its own. Should I brew too coffees? That goes against the spirit of the perfect breakfast. Making a bigger batch won’t solve it because I want to drink a finer coffee on it’s own. A difficult compromise.