most important meal of the day

September 16, 2010

When I got here my family asked what I usually ate for breakfast. I have never been a breakfast eater (it made me sick) but when you are up for 2 hours before eating then you get kind of hungry. I told them eggs and fruit and stuff like that. I made sure not to mention anything else that would put them out or be a hassle. Breakfast quickly became my favorite meal of the day. The options were smaller and I didn’t feel like I needed to try everything, and the options were very um, well American. Such delicacies as elbow macaroni with carrots or apples, alphabet or number chicken nuggets, hot dogs (slightly different than in America), omelets, grilled cheez-wiz sandwiches, and fruit, fruit, fruit.
Well this week out of nowhere we had cereal. Now this is one of my favorite foods at home (any time) but I made sure not to mention that. Milk is expensive and is for the most part imported from elsewhere (ours is currently from Australia and pasteurized beyond belief). Same with most dairy products (the local cheese is plastic and scares me). Well we’ve been having this really good almond cereal. Today I noticed I was eating it with my fork in true Filipino fashion (No knives here. Just a spoon in the dominant hand to scoop and a fork in your other hand to help manipulate the food. i.e. a wall for the rice, stab the meat and pull at with knife, etc). It was so exciting. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until I got midway through the bowl.