The breakfast ritual

Many people I know skip breakfast. Or just get a cup of coffee and maybe a doughnut. But for me, breakfast is a meal I look forward to. I understand when others just rush out to work without a meal because it is a hassle to prepare or they would rather sleep in than get up sooner just to eat.

Looking back, I probably got the habit from my younger years of watching my Dad brew coffee and having a local breakfast like paksiw and this is how I learned about different fishes and how to gingerly remove their bones – there was bisugo, talimusak, banak, hasahasa and sometimes the very tiny dulong wrapped in banana leaves. There was fried rice to go with the fish and eggs, which were scrambled with tomatoes and onions. This was served with freshly-brewed coffee and some fruit, which was usually papaya.

Fifty years later, I find myself still eating breakfast everyday – but instead of just fish I have been trying different breads, butter, cheeses and jams. I now reserve lunch or dinner for my rice meal, thinking that three times a day of rice may not be too good for me. I take breakfast seriously and everything adjusts so I can have this beautiful morning habit.

First is coffee. We are quite fortunate to get different coffee batches from around the country – from Benguet (my hands down favorite) to Bukidnon (I do get some nano lots of what they call Sweet coffee) and occasionally Mount Apo and its environs. Mount Apo straddles many provinces and you could get Cotabato or Davao – depending on which foothills they are harvested from. Then, these small lots are roasted a few weeks before they end up at my coffee corner at home.

Next are breads. I do keep fresh stocks of sourdough from an artisan baker I met during the pandemic. I also am a fan of bagels and occasionally a baguette or hard rolls, to better taste butter with. I like neutral tasting breads as opposed to pan de sal, which tastes sweet to me.

Though I have tried coconut butter once or twice, there is nothing like real butter to indulge in at breakfast. I admit to being partial to French butter and recently Hokkaido butter, whenever they are available, or when my stash from travels keep for a few months in the refrigerator. I promise you, butter from happy cows is an indulgence one can afford as you use so little of it anyway. I don’t cook, so I don’t use much of this dairy treat, except for bread.

Olive oil is also a good habit to have – in small quantities – as friends gift me with small bottles from their trips and one is able to compare Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) from Spain vs Italy and even from France. I drizzle it sparingly over kesong puti spread on sourdough and this alone makes a good breakfast choice.

With bread, specifically bagel, I like a good smoked salmon or a gravlax which a friend’s husband chef makes and sells via Viber ever since the start of the pandemic. It comes with a dill sauce but now that we grow dill, I can actually make my own dill sauce at home.

Smother the salmon with this dill sauce. That is about the only fish I now eat with bread.

When I get an invite to have breakfast outside the house, that is when I indulge in local sausages or longganisa – they can be garlicky like Lucban (Quezon) or Vigan (ILocos Sur), and recently I tried Batac (Ilocos Norte) longganisa as well. Longganisa is such a Filipino favorite, everyone claims to have the best from their region. I was also lucky to get Pinunog, an Ifugao specialty, from an Ifugao native herself, Gina Lumauig of Slow Food Manila. Since it is Filipino food month, we may as well try various local specialties like longganisa. I think it is one local delicacy that every region has taken seriously to develop as a “pasalubong,” or gifts from those who have traveled far to sample these specialties.

I recall with fondness our breakfasts in Batanes which was either dried flying fish or dibang or a local longganisa. In Palawan, it would be local lamayo (marinated dried fish). In Cebu, the local fish would be danggit. And if you are able to visit Lipa market, you will find a plethora of fish from biya to galunggong and dilis. I guess Filipinos were meant to have breakfast, when everyone still had the luxury of time. This is why we consume so much eggs and fish at breakfast. But is it not funny that there are not many restaurants serving all-day breakfast?

Lastly, we cannot forget eggs at breakfast. There are many ways to cook eggs and it’s usually a personal choice of over easy, over hard or crunchy white but wet center – it is like ordering a steak. How do you like your eggs? We grew up with scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes, maybe because our mom had to extend the eggs to feed eight children. We fell for it. Today we still eat it this way but maybe with a meat dish like beef tapa or pork tocino, and even canned sardines. Sardines is yet another breakfast food we can do many recipes with. They can be sautéed in garlic, or simply served straight from the can drizzled with calamansi and soy sauce, if tomato sauce-based. Oil-based sardines can be eaten as is over hot rice and paired with fried eggs.

Hungry yet? Try making breakfast a habit and you may notice your energy levels being more constant, your general health getting better as you crave less sugar and you will balance your meals throughout the day better. Give it a try and have breakfast on weekends, then slowly introduce them even on regular days. Breakfast is a habit I will not break.