A Cooked Breakfast

A few years ago I was eating breakfast at James Brown's Place with some friends when I noticed a man, middle aged, hung-over, unkempt (later learned he was a priest at a downtown Episcopal parish) who carried with him Death in Holy Orders by PD James. My friends were talking about the book so I decided to check it out when I returned home to WV. I put my name on the waiting list at the Princeton Public Library and about two months later was able to read it.

It was the first murder mystery I had ever read and it hooked me. Now I am somewhat controllably possessed with English murder mysteries. Currently I am reading Ian Rankin works. But James is still queen.

Anyway, one fun pick up from reading these works is the reference to British fare. James in The Lighthouse spent a full page on the breakfast of one gentleman. She described it as a cooked breakfast of sausage, eggs, bacon and toast friend in the leftover bacon grease. I have yet to do this but it is high on the list for this weekend.

Yesterday I placed the bacon steaks on the frying pan and tenderly cared for them till they were done. Verdict: too much like ham. Now dont get me wrong I love fried ham for breakfast but I had the expectation of bacon. I coupled this with two fried eggs (yes, I always use the left over bacon grease, and one slice of toast). The eggs were store bought and terrible. Once you have fresh eggs all the rest are crap. The shells are too thin, whites too runny and the yolks never have the proper carotene color. But till the Dominiques come and start producing they will have to do...

This morning Arts and Letters Daily directed me to this article on some major cooked breakfasts.