Breakfast of this "Champion"

First off, although this post isn't going to be a "bare all" post per se, it is going to be a post that is brutally honest. You have now been fairly warned...

My doctor says that I have "classic OCD depression". That was probably a contributing factor to me developing an eating disorder at about the age of 10 years old that was anorexic/bulimic in nature as it involved starvation/extreme dieting (for more of the story click here).

Even at the age of 41 years old, I still find myself shunning food throughout the daylight hours just because I'm completely interested in something else that seems more "fun". And trust me... this behavior hasn't made me skinny AT ALL. In fact, quite the opposite, because my metabolism has slowed down so dramatically from decades of being in "starvation mode". It is a sad fact (confirmed by my doc) that I probably will never see my ideal weight. Despite great strides on my part over the past 2 years to eat nutritiously and to eat the proper amount of food throughout the day, I have lost only a fraction of the amount of weight that I would need to lose to be my "ideal" weight. It's a reality that I'm still coming to grips with.

Even though my intelligent mind knows all of this, I struggle with my OCD as soon as I wake up in the morning. All the possibilities for the day race through my head at lightning speed. And none of those possibilities includes eating breakfast or lunch. If I'm not careful, I could go until about 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and then come to the realization that the reason why I feel nauseated is because I haven't eaten anything all day. Interestingly, the only time I'm interested in eating food is after 5 o'clock in the evening (still haven't figured out that one).

Anyway... for me, breakfast has to be as quick as possible or it won't get consumed. Fortunately, there is something wonderful called "Carnation Instant Breakfast". I can mix it and drink it in less than 5 minutes and still get the nutrients I need for the beginning of my day. It would be much better if I would sit down and have a healthy whole-grain "something" with an organic "something" on the side and maybe a cup of nutritious "something" as a chaser but I know myself better than that. I know that if I self impose that sort of requirement I'll just end of "forgetting" to eat in lieu of going off and doing something else more "fun"--gardening, art, design, writing, computer geek stuff, vacuuming... anything but eating.

Now if only someone made "instant lunch" then I'd be set. ;)

Breakfast For Dinner

The other evening, Hubby turned to me and said, "I feel like having breakfast for dinner. How would that be for a blog title?"

I thought it was a grand idea. At that point, we just needed to decide where it was that we were going to go to get breakfast for dinner at almost 9 o'clock at night. It had to be somewhere that we wanted to write about so it couldn't be a chain place that would be a snooze for our readers.

After going through some potential options, a light bulb went on in Hubby's head (I could see it in his eyes). "Let's go to Giant Chef [formerly Chef Burger] in Pleasant Hill! I used to go there years ago, and they have great breakfasts served all day and night!"

So it was off to Giant Chef we went.

Hubby ordered the Ham Breakfast ($6.95) that includes, ham, of course, 3 eggs any way you like them, hash browns and toast. It was delivered hot and made to order. This ham steak was probably the most tender ham he had ever had. The browns were crispy outside and fluffy inside, almost like shredded baked potato rather than the usual oily mass that other places tend to serve...how did they do it? The eggs were fresh and cooked to order - he likes them over medium with a dash or two of Tobasco Brand sauce. He ordered rye toast. They only had light rye, which was okay but he prefers dark rye. It was great toast nonetheless. He said that whenever we feel like breakfast for dinner we know exactly where we'll go.

I ordered the Ham Breakfast as well only I had my eggs scrambled and I had wheat toast. I also ordered a side of pancakes--the Short Stack. My goodness were those great pancakes! They smelled like the handmade waffle cones and had a taste that was kind of like vanilla except with another nuance I couldn't quite identify. The two pancakes in a Short Stack are huge! They measured about 7-8" in diameter. I only had half a piece of my toast so I would have room for the pancakes and even then I wasn't able to eat them all.

The service at Giant Chef is very personable with a down-home-small-town feeling. The establishment has been around since the 1940's, so it is a landmark in the community. We observed a number of California Highway Patrol officers and other local law enforcement coming in or going out. If it's popular with the cops than it's gotta be a pretty good place, right?

At the end of our meal, we unknowingly tried to pay with a credit card. Oops! Giant Chef only excepts cash! Remember, they ONLY ACCEPT CASH! We were both short on cash, so I sat in the booth while Hubby ran across the street to an ATM. It was either that or do some dishwashing in back.