Breakfasts of Champions, that is, Authors

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In our last post in this happy book launch week, we’re talking about our favorite breakfasts that do NOT feature maple syrup. At least not usually.

Edith: I have a weakness for potatoes. And I am particularly brought to my knees hash browns and fried eggsby perfect hash browns with perfect fried eggs. Plus salt. You cut open the egg yolk and let it flow into the crispy, crunchy hash browns.

This is a breakfast I only eat out, since I’ve never quite perfected the perfect hash brown. And it’s worth waiting for.

Liz: I’m a sucker for eggs over easy and fried potatoes too – usually red, usually in chunks. Lately I’ve been supplementing with raw smoothies made in my Vitamix, with a whole host of healthy ingredients including chia seeds, flax, almonds, berries, greens, even avocado and raisins. I love discovering new combinations, and I always feel so healthy after drinking one.

Jessie: For the past several months my favorite breakfast has been kidney beans and kale with a crumbling of feta and a few lashings of sriracha sauce. I heat a big pan, toss in clean, chopped kale and a can of rinsed, red kidney beans. When the kale is wilted and the beans are hot, I sprinkle on the cheese and let it melt a bit. I scoop some into a bowl, squirt on the hot sauce and enjoy. It keeps me going right through until lunch.

Julie: Jessie, your breakfast sounds fabulous! I have become a green smoothie gal in the mornings. Usually I mix kale, a banana, blueberries, flax seeds, maybe some raw oatmeal. My less healthy favorite breakfast is Eggs Benedict. I am boring–I tend to order it every time I am out. The S&S diner in Inman Square has helped me expand my horizons a bit–their Eggs Oscar are poached eggs on potato pancakes topped with crabmeat, asparagus, bearnaise sauce. And yes, they are that good.

Barb: In Clammed Up, my heroine Julia Snowden waxes poetic about the clam hash at her favorite hang-out, Gus’s. Here’s a bit of dialogue from the book.

Clam hash“Ayup. Hash?” Gus asked.

Among the cognoscenti, which is to say the locals, Gus’s clam hash was famous. Like any hash, it’s made with lots of onions and potatoes, but he uses clams instead of beef or corned beef. The fresh, diced clams give the hash a salty-sweet taste that cannot be beat. And if you ask for it, he will top the hash with one or two perfectly poached eggs.

“Yes, please.” I answered. “With one egg.”

“Because one egg is un oeuf.” Gus repeated the oldest joke in the world.

The recipe is over on Mystery Lover’s Kitchen.

IMG_3539IMG_3625_2Sherry: Last weekend when we visited Bedford, MA we went to breakfast at one of our all time favorite breakfast places — Helens in Concord, MA. Their breakfasts are massive, but I IMG_3540shared and I did have maple syrup on my pancakes.

 

Readers: What’s your favorite breakfast, healthy or non-healthy? Do you make it at home or go out on a Saturday morning? What about breakfasts that you’ve read about in books?

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

12 Thoughts

  2. I too love Helen’s in Concord. I always have the Mediterranean Omelet. I always try the corned beef hash omelet at any new place, but the best one is at Pauli’s in Tilton, NH and their potatoes extraordinaire are a potato lovers dream. Stelio’s in Billerica has a good greek omelet and have just started serving a corned beef hash one to go with their roast beef hash choice.
    I could go on so I will stop.
    Love hash browns…

    3. I usually have the Mediterranean omelet too! But I was in the mood for pancakes when we were there last weekend! Now I want to go to Pauli’s.

  3. What a fun topic! At home it’s pancakes with real butter and real maple syrup, though scrambled eggs wrapped in a flour tortilla, with cheese and salsa, is pretty delicious and has some protein. Vacation hotel breakfast buffets on vacation are a real and dangerous temptation. I’m not talking about the cereal and toast-it-yourself offered at basic chains, but the buffets with fabulous local cheeses, breads, pastries,fruit. In Mexico it might included what Id call cookies, and also flan! France and Ireland both have fabulous cheeses and France has cakes I can’t even name, but must sample. Norway might have some form of salmon at every breakfast ( and other meals too) and Israel and Greece add fresh fruit and vegetables.

    1. Triss, thanks for stopping by! Yes, we didn’t even get into international breakfasts. In Japan it would include some grilled fish. And don’t forget the beans and fried tomato of a British breakfast. In Brazil we had a big cup of cafe com leite (cafe au lait). Yum.

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