A memorable breakfast..

Quick, off the top of your head, what’s your most memorable breakfast!

Be careful now.  I didn’t say best, or favorite. I said memorable.  They could be the same, but they might not be.

Near the top of my list is a breakfast that will not make any magazine lists or find its way into a blog, except that it has found its way into mine.

Some decades ago my Mother-in-law lived in a Servite House in the Fintry subdivision of Dundee Scotland.  It was a home offering a certain level of care to elderly residents.  My Mother-in-law had her own apartment as did the other residents. The residents could all come and go as they pleased, but assistance was available should they need it.  It was owned and operated by the Catholic Church.

From the top of the street on which the Servite House was located, it was but a short walk to a row of shops. On one of the corners past all the shops was a church.  There was a betting shop (bookie), a pub named The Dolphin, a VG grocery store, a post office, and if I recall correctly a chipper (fish & chip shop).  I don’t know if the VG brand has survived the decades or not, but it was a popular grocery store back in the day.

A Scottish breakfast

But back to the subject of breakfasts.  A Scottish breakfast is a grand thing.  A “cooked” or “fully cooked” Scottish breakfast can include fried eggs, a potato scone, fried mushrooms, fried tomatoes, bacon which is more like what we would call Canadian bacon, sausage, and of course black pudding, (it is Scotland after all).  Also included is a nice selection of sliced toast in its wee rack, a wonderful local butter and marmalade or jam, various fruit juices, coffee and/or tea. 

Just a little something to get your day started.

Are you hungry yet?

Dr. Johnson

Even Dr. Johnson the famous English philosopher and historian commented on the Scottish breakfast.  He noted in his Journey To The Western Isles of Scotland in 1773;

“If an epicure could remove by a wish, in quest of sensual gratifications, wherever he had supped he would breakfast in Scotland.”

Depending on your specific location, be you at home, in a hotel or café, the meal that starts your day could include any or all of the aforementioned delicacies. 

I’ve had many wonderful “cooked”  breakfasts over the years that included most or all of those items, but on my memorable list is a breakfast that maybe was not quite as fancy.

Travels to “The Old Country”

When Joyce and I would travel to “the Old Country” to visit her Mom, the Servite House would kindly make a small room available for us to stay in.  This room had a window with a view of the street I mentioned earlier.  You could see the shops at the top of the street, and you looked right at the VG, the grocery store.

Watching through that window in the mornings, I could see the area come alive.  Most importantly, I could see when the little red bakery van arrived at the VG.

I will pause here to make you aware of another lovely and particularly Scottish menu item, the morning roll.

A morning roll is about the size of a hamburger bun but nothing like it in texture or taste.  It is of a more doughy, bread-like consistency and you need to slice it.  The good ones always have a bit of flour on the top.

Typically you might enjoy a morning roll,  sliced with butter and cheese, or maybe a wonderful local jam or even better, marmalade, and aways with a cup of coffee or Scottish Breakfast tea.  Other options are to add a fried egg, or you could put bacon on it to make another famous Scottish delicacy known as the “bacon roll.”  Any of those could be your breakfast…if you didn’t opt for a “cooked” one.  

Morning rolls are best when fresh and from a local bakery.

Back in the day, morning rolls came to the stores, the Fintry VG in this case, from the bakery in large wooden trays. They would be arranged in rows five or six across, and maybe ten up the other way.  They would all still be attached to each other just as they had come off the pan from the oven.

The bakery van

I discovered as I watched through my window, that I could tell when the morning rolls would be freshest!  I could see the small bakery van arrive, and I could see the driver unload the wooden boxes filled with fresh, brown, flour topped morning rolls.

It doesn’t get much better than this!

When I saw the bakery van arrive,  I would make my way to the VG and pick up my fresh morning rolls.  I would enter the store, go up to the counter and say to the nice lady behind it, “I’d like 3 (or 4 or  6 or however many you wanted) morning rolls please.” (Everyone always said “please” and “thank you” in those days).

The nice lady would then break off from the rolls still in the wooden trays (remember I said the rolls were all still attached) however many I asked for, place them in a paper bag and with a quick flip of her wrist twist the bag shut.

I’d then walk back to Joyce’s Mom’s apartment, someone would put the kettle on and we’d have our morning rolls (fresh off the van) with butter and jam, Marmalade, cheese; your choice!

And that’s one of my memorable breakfasts.

Best Breakfast

Since you were thinking I meant “best” breakfast when we started this, that would be breakfast at The Crusoe Hotel in Lower Largo, but that’s a story for another time.

Notes:

Note: this memory is from decades ago.  You can still purchase morning rolls.  But there is no counter with a nice lady at Morrisons or Tesco to break off however many you want from the rolls in the wooden tray and put them in a paper bag for you.  They instead are wrapped in cellophane with no flour on top. 

Like so much in our society today, it’s just not the same.

Note 2: My editor who is also my Scottish wife said I can’t talk about a Scottish breakfast without mentioning oatmeal.  She likes hers lightly salted with a bit of fresh cream or milk.