When I was living in New York City, my typical breakfast would exist of a black coffee, no sugar, and a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese, that I would pick up daily from the Greek café 3 buildings east from where I worked and that I would consume while starting up my computer and checking my emails.

Fact is, I’m not much of a morning person – I’d rather stay in bed an extra 1/2 hour than have a proper breakfast.

You won’t be surprised that I was about 6 kilos heavier when I was living in NY! But my ‘morning person’ boyfriend, who was happy to get out of bed an hour earlier to go to the toilet & read the newspaper, shave, have a healthy bowl of cereal & read the newspaper, and go to the toilet again to read more newspaper (men!), was also much heavier back then…so ever since, I’ve been skeptical about cereal!

(This, of course, all happened in the age BC (Before Children), when cocktail hour would linger until long after midnight and the alarm clock calling for a long, long day at work would ring way too early).

Now that I am a responsible mother of 2, we tend to enjoy a more healthy, typical Dutch family breakfast, called ontbijt:

There are different sorts of sliced bread or buns in a basket (toasted or not). On the table, there will be butter, cold cuts (i.e. ham, chicken, sausage), one or two big pieces of Dutch cheese (yes, with cheese slicer!), and a variety of sweet toppings (jam, apple butter, chocolate sprinkles). Everybody makes their own ‘boterham’ (sandwich). Even my 12-month-old eats his boterham, with cream cheese or pâté and cut in pieces. My 2 ½-year-old loves chocolate sprinkles, but has to eat a boterham with a savoury topping first. We often have a soft boiled egg with it, and drink coffee and orange juice (the children drink milk).

(I must admit that I am still no morning person! My boyfriend-turned-husband still is, and he always takes care of breakfast in the morning so I can have some extra sleep…) ?

Does this sound extensive to you?

I know in Courtney’s house breakfast is a happening: there is oatmeal with fresh berries, or there are different sorts of cereals, and on weekends there are skinny pancakes. Always, of course, accompanied by a healthy mix of vitamins (they are American)!
Staying with Michela in Milan, I found out that Italians, despite their otherwise great food culture, have a sadly simple breakfast: just a couple of good ol’ tea biscuits with coffee, tea or milk!
I hope I can go and stay with Emilie soon because she told me that across the street from her in Paris, the most amazing croissants are sold! A fresh croissant with a café au lait in Paris, I’m dreaming away…

xxx Esther