Breakfast In America

It isn't easy to always try and use a song title for this piece of writing I call my own. I swiped the title of a song I truly dislike, simply because it's all that I could think of that fits the Rock and Roll category. It is the end of September 2011, and the possible inductees to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame have been announced. The majority are bands or performers I do not like or consider to be worthy of induction. It brings up a unique question...How exactly does one label a piece of music Rock And Roll? Is all music geared towards young people Rock? I certainly don't think so. Many of the new nominees I consider to be jazz-fusion, disco or hip-hop artists, voiding them from induction. I don't get to make the rules so my thoughts don't count. Do the people get a say in this decision? But I'm getting away from my theme here. I used a piece by the band, 'Supertramp' because I don't know of any other rock tunes with 'Breakfast' in the title.

It is often said that, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day". I have no problem agreeing with that thought. I find it peculiar that many adults get up and go about their days without eating a good breakfast at home. They rely on the morning break at their workplaces to go for sustenance. This generally ends up being some sort of egg sandwich, or pastry such as muffins or danish. Not exactly the kind of meal to get you fired up in the morning. They are heavy in carbohydrates, which is a primary reason for the probelm with citizens of the United States being grossly overweight. I LOVE muffins! But it has become increasingly standard for them to be sliced from top to bottom and then buttered, instead of side to side. This creates a problem trying to eat them without scattering the sections that fall off all around your seat, the sidewalk, dashboard, or wherever you choose to eat them. Like cupcakes, muffins come in paper cups to help them hold together during the baking process. Once they are removed, the cup often has portions of the pastry stuck to it. By cutting it, it is now more difficult to eat without depositing the bulk of the crumbs in your lap. I don't know why this has become standard, It doesn't take any more effort to slice the cap off the muffin before buttering it, and this also leaves more bites that have the butter included, rather than trying to eat a muffin that's buttered side to side. But people are stupid, and I'm sure this trend won't go away, so make a mess of yourself, see what I care.

I really want to talk about my favorite breakfast and possibly food of any category...pancakes!
Not long ago the restaurant chain, DENNY'S opened a branch on Long Island. Prior to this, I always went to IHOP for my dosage of carbo-loaded goodies. IHOP does a deal every January where they have an All You Can Eat pancake special. I once told a co-worker that I thought I could eat twenty pancakes. It was during this time of year that I decided to put my money where my mouth is, and see how many I could make disappear. For the longest time, I never got further than seventeen flapjacks. At IHOP they have a couple of options, you can get a serving of eggs, hash browns and sausage, bacon or ham along with three pancakes and then they'll bring you as many refills as you like in groups of three. Or you can just go for a straight pancake flush, where they bring you a stack of five hotcakes and then go to the three per refill servings. I opt for this venue whenever I try to set a standard. My current personal record is twenty three, which I'm desperately trying to break. The downside is that since pancakes are almost 100% carbohydrates, my blood sugar levels are always sky high, making it necessary for me to take HUGE doses of insulin to keep my diabetes semi-in-control. If I were to camp-out at the local IHOP I think that there is no question that I could surpass my record of gluttony, but who has time to do that? I certainly don't. So, getting back to Denny's, they have the All You Can Eat pancake breakfast all year round, plus, they're open twenty four hours a day, so I could roll in at three in the A.M. and begin to stuff myself. The downside is Denny's pancakes are much larger than IHOPs', and less fluffy. They'll start you out with three cakes and then bring the following servings in pairs, so it takes longer to get to the taking-off point. On the plus side, Denny's serves their cakes with butter that's soft and easy to spread. Being relegated to no-sugar added syrup is not a choice that I favor. The sweetener used is a diuretic and causes extreme flatulence as well, making me a walking gas-bag of a one man symphony of toots and razzes. I make my cakes moist by slathering them with butter. IHOP keeps their butter cold so it doesn't get any food-borne bacteria or germs and it often tears the cakes up when you try to spread it. Dennys' cakes are harder to cut, often making it a mess to saw through the tough edges and strew the fragments all over the table in the process. So far I've only managed to stuff down thirteen Dennys' hotcakes, a record I desperately want to break, but thirteen seems to be my lucky number...I cannot get past it.

These A.Y.C.E specials are kept to the basic pancakes, so my real fave..blueberry panackes are not eligible as equipment in this sports challenge. IHOP has all sorts of dessert-like combos that have probably next to no nutritional value, yet sure would make it easier to sit around and gorge myself, but more difficult to keep that in a healthy blood-sugar range. Denny's only seems to have just one type of pancake, so that eliminates any tempatation to pork-up on something even more off-the-charts, as far as my eating habits go. So, where do you stand on this issue? Do you think you could eat more than twenty three IHOP cakes, or more than thirteen Dennys' cakes? I'll take on all comers! What abolut muffins, do you prefer them sliced top to bottom or side to side? These are the issues I'd like to see the politcal candidates tackle in the upcoming election year. The hell with the economy!