Breakfast – a psychic anchor.

 

Hunter S. Thompson once wrote breakfast was the most important meal of the day and I can’t disagree with him.

Now, whether I could handle Thompson’s prodigious fare, without a nap that might take up the rest of the day, is another thing.

For the record, here is what the Great Gonzo had to say about the first meal of the day.

“Breakfast is the only meal of the day that I tend to view with the same kind of traditionalized reverence that most people associate with Lunch and Dinner. I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast. In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home — and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed — breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert… Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music… All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked.” Hunter S. Thompson

Coffee is the first thing on my mind in the morning. I’ve found a brew, or rather, a bean, that I’m happy with after years of searching and sampling. It’s the Monsoon Malabar, a name that describes the process of its harvesting on the Malabar, Indian Ocean coast of Kerala, India. The harvested seeds are laid out, in open warehouses and exposed to the monsoon winds for up to three or four months each year. The beans swell, lose their acidity and arrive at a near neutral pH balance. It is coffee like no other, if you like your coffee, strong and pungent.

So I grind my coffee beans, heat the pot with some hot water, before adding the freshly ground beans and more water. Then I let it sit, and wait.

Now I usually like to cook something for breakfast, but this morning, well, I opted for some fresh fruit, raspberries and peach, meusli and assorted nuts on a bed of fresh, natural yoghurt, from a farm in north Dublin. It was gorgeous and that, complete, I can get on with my day, having given it, as Hunter S Thompson advised, a psychic anchor.