Breakfast dilemna

I’ve never been a breakfast eater.

Sure, when I was little, I had the obligatory Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes or Raisin Bran. On the rare occasion I could eat Toaster Strudel, but I would ultimately ruin that privilege by consuming several strudels in one sitting, thus solidifying my gluttony. And on one or two occasions my mom would allow Danny and I to eat Cookie Crisp, a cereal she deemed way to sugary for regular consumption (a theory I’m guessing was solely based on the name since I doubt Cookie Crisp had any more sugar than Cocoa Puffs). 

But as a teenager, I never ate breakfast. In college, I very rarely swiped the breakfast meal on my plan (smartly leaving me open for a CHOMP run at night or collecting a case of orange juice at the end of the month). Once I started working at a newspaper, where I typically started at 9 a.m., a breakfast bar sufficed.

But now that I wake up at 5:10 a.m. and am awake more than two hours by the time I get to work, I am a hungry hippo by 7:30 a.m. There lies my dilemma every day.

There is no way I can exist on coffee and a breakfast bar between 5 a.m. and noon. So I try to find a balance between eating something that’s filling enough to last me until noon and healthy enough that I haven’t ruined my calories two hours into the day.

I seem to go through phases. One week I was really into Greek yogurt, leading me to determine that if I were a gazillionaire, I would hire someone just to stir my yogurt. I find it detestable pre-stir.

Sometimes I get into an English muffin kick, with either peanut butter or regular guy butter. I was on an omelet run for about a year, thanks to the culinary skills of Alberto, the grill cook in the ADA Café. It got to the point where I would walk in, say “Two whites, one yolk,” and Alberto would get scrambling my spinach, tomato, mushrooms and, sigh, cheese omelet.

Sometimes I’ll treat myself and get off my bus early to stop at Corner Bakery for their Anaheim Panini breakfast sandwich, which has eggs, bacon, avocadoes and green onions all scrambled together on a sandwich. Or I’ll stay on the bus for another stop and go to Jamba Juice and have a smoothie for breakfast. I’d love to have the ability to make my own smoothie at work but I don’t know that keeping a blender at my desk is an option.

My other problem is I get very specific cravings for food. Yesterday, I wanted a cranberry orange muffin. I went to the coffee place at Water Tower Mall in search of one and lovingly discovered a raspberry scone instead. Then I was obsessed with having yogurt raisins.

So the cycle continues. I had said yogurt raisins and a granola bar for breakfast today. What’ll be my kick next week? Who knows!