Not Breakfast

I always wake up ready for breakfast. I love cereal, eggs over medium, scones, mimosas, toast with jam, mochas, fruit, home fries, omelets, you name it. Well, okay, not bacon or sausage obviously. Something about meat kind of grosses me out - especially the texture. That's why I don't like substitute meat products either. The more they taste and feel like meat the less I'm into them. There's always a debate when we get up in the morning about where we're going to get food. I'm all about brunch places, but there is usually nothing Damian can eat there since he isn't able to eat gluten, lactose, or eggs. So yesterday I decided I would hold off on my inevitable insistence that we try the brunch place across the street from where we're staying. Instead we headed to Oasis, a middle eastern place right near the Bedford subway station, and I scanned the section titled "Vegetarian" in the menu above the counter. For having a whole section of veggie items, my options consisted mostly of sides like dolmas and yogurt with cucumbers, so I opted for the spanakopita. That was the closest thing I could find to something I might want as the first thing in my stomach for the day. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, if it's the first thing I'm going to eat, I want it to be breakfasty. Damian's pile of meat, pickled cabbbage, and baba ganoush looked really great. I think that's why people go there - it's not the spanakopita. Of course the spanakopita was already doomed in my book since it wasn't a crispy belgian waffle with fresh strawberries and home-made whipped cream.


Later on we went out for Malaysian food at Nyonya. Damian enticed me with promises of mangos. I loved the pickles, which were heavy with sauce but still fresh feeling (in a way that only pickled veggies can feel fresh). The shrimp with okra was doused in shrimp sauce, which I found funny. Shrimp with shrimp sauce. The roti was nice and the lychee drink was satisfying especially because they didn't skimp on lychees. The highlight, though, was the whole mango fish which was well worth the time it took to pull the bits of fish off the bone. I think there was not a speck of white meat or crunchy skin left by the time I let the waiter take it away. A nice ending for a day that did not begin with breakfast.

Malaysian pickles: