The Perfect Breakfast

[Tony Davis]

During the week; Avocado, tomato and paprika mashed and served on hot wholemeal toast.

At the week-end (don't know why just at the week-end, I've been retired since 2013 so week-day, week-end, no difference really); Either Tofu Scramble, tomato salsa and crushed tortilla chips - I got the recipe from a William Gibson book some years ago, although he used scrambled eggs.

 

 Or Scrambled tofu, baked portobella mushroom, tomato with oregano, baked beans, richmond vegan sausage and fried bread with bara lawr.

 

All three options washed down with a double espresso.

 

Heaven!

 

[Welchester]

5 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

 

And kedgeree alive and well in Chirchdown too - but for lunch or dinner please.

 

 

I know I was very small when I lived there, but it was spelt Churchdown (and it had four tracks and a station).

 

Sorry, Phil, no offence meant.

[Phil Bullock]

36 minutes ago, Bishop of Welchester said:

 

I know I was very small when I lived there, but it was spelt Churchdown (and it had four tracks and a station).

 

Sorry, Phil, no offence meant.

 

And none taken, my Lord Bishop! Thank you for pointing out the error of my typing ways.....

 

The infrastructure still looks like all of that could be re-instated.

 

Churchdown is a paradox for me ..... I grew up in Ombersley, Worcestershire and went from the primary school there to the Grammar School in Worcester - on my own, I knew no-one. My best friend in the first year was a boarder who lived in ..... Churchdown. I used to come down at the weekend - 1966 - and although he had a Hornby trainset and lived in Station Road he had no interest in the railway. I could hear the sounds of trains from his house and suggested we went for a look but no.....

[tomparryharry]

17 hours ago, spikey said:

OK ... seeing as how we're onto scrambled eggs, allow me to bring up (so to speak) NAAFI scrambled eggs - a mysterious pale yellow substance of variable density and consistency accompanied by a variable amount of liquid of uncertain origin, the whole always served at a  range of temperatures ranging from ambient to never more than warm.

 

I often used to wonder if anybody actually liked the stuff.  Then in later years I worked nights with a bloke who always stopped at the chippie for cod and chips on the way to work for 2200hrs, left it on the top of his locker until around 0530, and then scoffed it cold for breakfast so he could go straight home to bed.   So ever since I've assumed that maybe some folks did like NAAFI scrambled eggs ...

It might be physiological. IE, the 'body clock' is working backwards. Breakfast, dinner & tea, I used to 'knock down' some Penny bottles of either cider or lager when I came off a night shift, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Smith. 

 

One colleague asked me how to cope with a night shift, and being able to sleep during the day. "Easy, think of 7am as being 7pm, and get a small beer down, just to relax" Pleased to say it worked a treat. I don't condone drinking outside of social occasions, but the body needs rest.....

[iL Dottore]

21 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

...One of the things I still miss in the UK is that because of health regulations I'm guessing restaurants don't do raw eggs...

Ostensibly, the prohibition on serving restaurant customers raw or nearly raw egg (as in spaghetti alla carbonara) or serving medium rare hamburger, is to safeguard against the customer against food borne disease (salmonella in the case of raw egg).

However, if you know the provenance of the foodstuff and are satisfied that high standards of animal welfare and hygiene are met by the producer, then the risk of food borne illness is minimal (the eggs that I get are from free-range, roaming inside and out, happy chickens and I’ve never had any GI problems from my repeated self-indulgence in spaghetti alla carbonara).

One of the worst places for food borne illnesses are those “serve yourself” buffets, unless the place has a rapid turnover and the steam table trays get emptied quickly, then the food sits around at just about the right temperature for our friend “Mr Bacterium” to set up shop and multiply!

 

(An anecdotal illustrative story: once Mrs ID and I went on a last minute “all-inclusive“ holiday in  Tunisia where breakfast lunch and dinner were all served buffet style from steamtables. We had consistent low-grade GI problems for the duration of our stay. In contrast, when we were in Thailand and in Malaysia, we ate at hawker stalls and often we were the only Westerners eating there. At no time during our holidays in Thailand or Malaysia did eating “street food“ cause us any problems).

[Welchester]

12 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

 

And none taken, my Lord Bishop! Thank you for pointing out the error of my typing ways.....

 

The infrastructure still looks like all of that could be re-instated.

 

Churchdown is a paradox for me ..... I grew up in Ombersley, Worcestershire and went from the primary school there to the Grammar School in Worcester - on my own, I knew no-one. My best friend in the first year was a boarder who lived in ..... Churchdown. I used to come down at the weekend - 1966 - and although he had a Hornby trainset and lived in Station Road he had no interest in the railway. I could hear the sounds of trains from his house and suggested we went for a look but no.....

 

We lived in Melville Road. The railway was almost at the bottom of the garden, except that there was a footpath in between, which meant that you couldn't quite see over the edge of the cutting (or at least I couldn't, the height I was then), but you could certainly hear them.

[jonny777]

20 hours ago, spikey said:

 

 

I often used to wonder if anybody actually liked the stuff.  Then in later years I worked nights with a bloke who always stopped at the chippie for cod and chips on the way to work for 2200hrs, left it on the top of his locker until around 0530, and then scoffed it cold for breakfast so he could go straight home to bed.   So ever since I've assumed that maybe some folks did like NAAFI scrambled eggs ...

 

I remember a few NAAFI breakfasts after a nightshift (we were the dreaded civvies, but we were allowed in the Airmens' Mess). 

 

To me everything tasted the same. The eggs tasted like the sausage which tasted like the bacon. I assumed this was due to the state of the fat they were cooked in. Fortunately, my bedsit was only 100 yards from a renowned greasy spoon, so my military breakfasts were limited to the few times I had been given a lift to/from work by a colleague. The rest of my post night shift munchies took place in the cafe which charged 2p per item (I think 2 rashers counted as one item). Egg 2p, sausage 2p, fried bread 2p, etc. 

 

A very decent breakfast could be had for 14p (petrol was 30p a gallon back then), and sleep was guaranteed for about 7 hours which is not bad during the day for me. 

 

On the subject of eating on nights, I rarely did because like others on this thread I had dinner before I left for work, although I might take a Mars bar for those horrible hours between about 0200 and 0500. 

However, others would bring sandwiches which would be consumed by 2130, and then nip out incognito in their car and down to the chip shop and back after 2200. Where they put it all I do not know. 

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

I'm missing 'Spoons. 

 

Not for the breakfasts, just to have a few brekkie pints.

 

 

Mention was made of working nights. One of the worst things was you left work about six AM, often earlier, you are in a major city and absolutely nothing is open. Even the buses and trains are just starting to run.  It's like being told to go home and straight to bed at six in the evening. 

 

 

 

Jason

[Fenman]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

...

Mention was made of working nights. One of the worst things was you left work about six AM, often earlier, you are in a major city and absolutely nothing is open. Even the buses and trains are just starting to run.  It's like being told to go home and straight to bed at six in the evening. 

...

I used to live in Clerkenwell, next to Smithfield Market, whose grand pubs opened at 6 every morning to serve the meat porters ending their night shift. Those pubs served good breakfasts. 
 

I wonder why that exemption to opening hours was only available in that one tiny part of London?

 

Paul

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Fenman said:

I used to live in Clerkenwell, next to Smithfield Market, whose grand pubs opened at 6 every morning to serve the meat porters ending their night shift. Those pubs served good breakfasts. 
 

I wonder why that exemption to opening hours was only available in that one tiny part of London?

 

Paul

 

It isn’t. I worked at London Bridge in the early 90s on the Jubilee Line Extension, and regularly visited the pub after night shift (from recollection, the Southwark Tavern?)

 

Pub breakfasts are one of life’s great delights, IMHO. 

 

I’d also offer a mention for the cafe in the pavilion on Parker’s Piece, in Cambridge. It was a regular stop for breakfast for the bin men, offering crusty rolls filled with sausage or bacon and just about the last place I recall offering tea from an urn.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

I never found night shifts, as night shifts, to be a problem. The thing I always hated, and still do, was the constant rotation. I much preferred the offshore oil arrangement, in which you stay on the same shift for the whole trip (between two and six weeks, depending) and either work that regularly, or come back on the opposite shift. Offshore oil workers aren’t seamen as such, and don’t stand watches, a system I always regarded as a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation. 

 

Working on land rigs in the early 80s I did a three week rotation involving seven days, seven nights and seven off, which wasn’t too bad. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

I’ve never been a great fan of Aberdeen, but smoked haddock and porridge for breakfast ..... mmmm.....

[rockershovel]

A vote also for two three-minute eggs, toast and marmite! Or its American version, eggs benedict with coffee and orange juice. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by rockershovel

[TheQ]

18 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

I remember a few NAAFI breakfasts after a nightshift (we were the dreaded civvies, but we were allowed in the Airmens' Mess). 

 

 

I'll just point out the airmans mess is not the NAAFI , although the standard building often  had the NAAFI in one side and the mess in the other. 

The airmans mess , was staffed by airmen, SNCOs and of course an OIC. 

The NAAFI,  next door,  staffed by civilians often wives of airmen, was a bar / cafeteria,  and some essential supplies.  The other NAAFI Was The Supermarket normally in or around the married Quarters. 

In many places the NAAFI did supply the commercial food to the airmans messes. 

 

Each base had variations, 

Coltishall was as above,  

Benbecula in the Hebrides and Mount Pleasant in the Falklands had a separate small shop for the airmen/ squaddies,  not in / by the bar. as there was more need, there being practically no alternative .

Boulmer the NAAFI and mess were in separate Seco huts. 

 

In the UK the NAAFI supermarkets now no longer exist having been sold off,  the junior ranks messes have been privatized, often meaning a reduction in the poor food standards. RAF Boulmer hit the headlines when someone put photos online of the complaints book and the meals they were complaining of... 

 

[TheQ]

39 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I never found night shifts, as night shifts, to be a problem. The thing I always hated, and still do, was the constant rotation. I much preferred the offshore oil arrangement, in which you stay on the same shift for the whole trip (between two and six weeks, depending) and either work that regularly, or come back on the opposite shift. Offshore oil workers aren’t seamen as such, and don’t stand watches, a system I always regarded as a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation. 

 

Working on land rigs in the early 80s I did a three week rotation involving seven days, seven nights and seven off, which wasn’t too bad. 

I spent around 19 years doing variations of 4  12 hour shifts on, 4 days off.  Mostly 2 days 2 nights four off.  It really threw you as to what day of the week it was,  ( just like isolation)

Breakfast became the only constant,  as the other meals were often taken or missed at work or home. 

[spikey]

I was perfectly happy on permanent nights for the best part of two years, including the hot summer of '76.  Worst system I ever worked was in the mid-1960's.  Taking 6-2-, 2-10 and 10-6 as M, A and N respectively and day off as O, we worked a three-week cycle of MMMAANNOO, MMAAANNOO and MMAANNNOOO.  Got used to it, but never got immune to it.

[Fenman]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

 

It isn’t. I worked at London Bridge in the early 90s on the Jubilee Line Extension, and regularly visited the pub after night shift (from recollection, the Southwark Tavern?)

...

 

Ooh, good to know. Does it still open in the morning (most of the Smithfield ones now don’t)?
 

Paul

[Ozexpatriate]

16 minutes ago, spikey said:

Taking 6-2-, 2-10 and 10-6 as M, A and N respectively and day off as O, we worked a three-week cycle of MMMAANNOO, MMAAANNOO and MMAANNNOOO.

Unless there are days with two shifts, that appears to be a four week, 28 day cycle with only five days off instead of eight. Looks miserable.

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 hours ago, Fenman said:

I used to live in Clerkenwell, next to Smithfield Market, whose grand pubs opened at 6 every morning to serve the meat porters ending their night shift. Those pubs served good breakfasts. 
 

I wonder why that exemption to opening hours was only available in that one tiny part of London?

 

Paul

 

I don't think that it was only Smithfield. I think that other areas with wholesale markets also had morning opening times.

[Fenman]

8 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I don't think that it was only Smithfield. I think that other areas with wholesale markets also had morning opening times.

Countrywide, or just in London?

 

I remember the first time I went to Edinburgh, how odd it seemed to see pubs open first thing in the morning.

 

Paul

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, Fenman said:

Ooh, good to know. Does it still open in the morning (most of the Smithfield ones now don’t)?
 

Paul

 

Dont know, haven’t been there in years I’m afraid

[Joseph_Pestell]

32 minutes ago, Fenman said:

Countrywide, or just in London?

 

I remember the first time I went to Edinburgh, how odd it seemed to see pubs open first thing in the morning.

 

Paul

 

Yes, I think that there were exemptions for pubs near markets across the country.

 

In Sturminster Newton, then the largest cattle market in the country, there was a pub that only opened on market day (Monday). I don't know how early it opened but almost certainly before the 10.30/11.00 that was standard across most of the country.

[jonny777]

4 hours ago, spikey said:

I was perfectly happy on permanent nights for the best part of two years, including the hot summer of '76.  Worst system I ever worked was in the mid-1960's.  Taking 6-2-, 2-10 and 10-6 as M, A and N respectively and day off as O, we worked a three-week cycle of MMMAANNOO, MMAAANNOO and MMAANNNOOO.  Got used to it, but never got immune to it.

 

Those kinds of shifts are eventual killers I reckon. Although you do technically get 24 hours off between the M and the A and A - N shifts, it never feels like it. 

 

At one point we were forced (would be illegal now I believe) to work a 6-2 M shift, but due to meal breaks those on a N left an hour early at 1. They then did a N shift 10-8 on the same day, but due to meal breaks they came in at 11. 

 

It was called a M/N and was completely knackering, although it did result in clocking up 18 hours worked out of 26. 

 

For many (including me) it was a case of having a bit of lunch and going straight back to bed, sleep as much of the afternoon as possible, have dinner and then go back to work. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by jonny777

[Kingzance]

On leaving the sea, I worked in a brewery where we did a shift pattern of AAMMNNOOO where the AM switch had an eight hour gap as did the MN switch. The benefit of course was finishing at 6am Friday and not going back in until 2pm Monday. This eight day pattern wasn't that good if people had a distance to travel to get to work though.

Kedgeree - Lovely.

Offal - Excellent at breakfast time (and indeed at any time in my book).

Eggs - Always good if fresh and not rubbery / reconstituted. Eggs Benedict is luxury.

Sausage - I don't like chipolatas, prefering something meatier.

Bacon - Back or streaky, it must be air cured for best flavour, none of this injected salt cure.

Fried Bread - one side only.

Mushrooms - Of course.

Fried yesterday's spuds - If available.

Curry - After a night shift or the 4-8 watch.

[JohnDMJ]

 

10 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Yes, I think that there were exemptions for pubs near markets across the country.

 

In Sturminster Newton, then the largest cattle market in the country, there was a pub that only opened on market day (Monday). I don't know how early it opened but almost certainly before the 10.30/11.00 that was standard across most of the country.

 

Petersfield, Hampshire, being a market town, had one anomaly in the shape of The Square Brewery which could open at 10:00 whereas the (very close) Market Tavern, George Inn, Black Sheep, The Bell Inn and The Drum had to wait until 11:00!