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Beyond the Lone Islands

http://dawntreader-island2.blogspot.com

Sunday 11 July 2010

Breakfast Contemplations

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My favourite summer breakfast! 

This perhaps should not really need any more comment. But one thing in this picture may not be what you presuppose it to be. The strawberries are strawberries, and the cornflakes are cornflakes; but the milk is soy milk, since I’m lactose intolerant.

So the “contemplation” is about how, since the early 90’s, when this began for me, it has become so much easier to find alternatives for ordinary dairy products – not in every little corner shop, but at least in  bigger grocery stores and supermarkets. Soy milk, oats milk, rice milk, ordinary milk that has been made lactose free...  And ice cream too! :) There is a whole range of choices now.

Hard cheese, luckily, I can usually eat without problems (most of the lactose disappears in the cheese ripening process).

Back in the mid 90’s there was very little (if anything) to choose from in any shops if you were looking for milk-free. During the first years I used to make my own ‘milk’ from sesame seeds with the help of the food processor and a sieve! It was not so tasty to drink “raw” (a little bitter) but it worked well enough for pancakes and some other things.

By the way, did you know (I didn’t until just a few moments ago) that ‘Open sesame’, the famous phrase from One Thousand and One Nights (also called Arabian Nights), “reflects the distinguishing feature of the sesame seed pod, which bursts open when it reaches maturity.

sesame pods 
Picture found on the internet of sesame pods.

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After a week of cooler (but still sunny) weather we are having another heat wave this weekend. Over 30°C (86°F) in the shadow again yesterday. It is also the more humid kind of heat this time…

One problem with this kind of day is that I try desperately to get all kinds of things done in the morning, because I know it will be too hot later. My study, for example, will feel like an oven in the afternoon. Not to mention the balcony. But the best time to go outside for a walk is also in the morning... Not to mention shopping, and… Well, you get the picture.

So far I’ve had my breakfast, washed my dishes, and removed the now very sad-looking pansies from a flowerbox on the balcony. In a few minutes I will have finished this blog post (the first half of which I started on days ago). I think I might attempt a walk next – to a garden centre to get something new for that flowerbox. If I go now… I should get there just as they open… (Hoping they are giving the correct opening time on their website and have not made any unannounced changes for July. You really never know, in July, in Sweden…)

5 comments:

Heather said...

I am totally with you in the wanting to get things accomplished early in the day! No matter the temperatures for me, I just run out of steam after 2:00 p.m. You've done well, already!

Love that photo of the seed pods you've found. They look like soft, cute little baby somethings :)

California Girl said...

I hear you. The east coast of the U.S. has been MISERABLE for a week. Today is better, probably 8 degrees cooler, but still in the 80s and there's humidity in northern New England which is uncharacteristic. Your strawberries look great. And I learned all about sesame seeds. Never knew they came out of little pods! I use them quite a bit in Mexican dishes. That is so neat!!

MadSnapper said...

love your bowl, breakfast is yummy looking, never seen sesame pods before. hope your walk is cool and you get home before the heat is really bad.

Graham Edwards said...

Amazing how much I've learned from that post. For some irrational reason I've never been even tempted to try soy milk even when I've stayed with friends who only use it. Mind you it's rarely a problem for me as the only thing I would use milk for for myself would be on cereal or in cooking. And I can always have toast for breakfast.

I had no idea what the pod of a sesame seed loked like either or that it was the reason for the saying.

Despite the forecast the weather here has been fairly warm today but certainly not hot. I'm wondering, though, whether we'll eventually get the heatwave that North America is having.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Who would have ever thought that a bowl of cereal with strawberries would make such a scrumptious and delightfully beautiful picture? I love it, it would be pretty to frame and hang in the kitchen. And I adore that picture of those cute sesame seeds in the little pod, I didn't know any of that! We used to drink soy milk all the time, so much better for your health, anyway! You don't have air conditioning? Well, how hot does it get there, anyway? I guess pretty hot! How do you sleep in the heat? Yes, pansies are a cool weather plant, so I bet they are shot now. Hope you show us what you got to replace them!

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