It's probably not uncommon to have leftovers for breakfast.
Especially not in a situation such as mine, where there is no office or school lunch box to pack.
However, I have always been someone who considers the envelopment of one's taste-buds in warming, egg-and/or-carb-based substances to be essential in properly starting one's day. Frankly, leftovers just don't do it for me.
Leftovers usually means trying to get rid of some of the produce staring at me weakly from the back of the fridge, and determining which of the three bites of chilled meat and sauce best fit the most wilted candidate.
Which is, of course, fine. As we, like many people, are on a budget and being willing to eat the unmentionables of the fridge for the only meal my boyfriend and I don't share ensures that less of that budget is wasted by simply not having enough meal times.
Afterall, with him only eating once a day and me clocking in a twice with perhaps a shared snack in-between, it's very easy for our bulk produce to slowly wither away.
A typical week of breakfasts for me looks like this:
Monday: 1/2 cup of last night's soup broth with added bean sprouts, spinach, and tofu.
Tuesday: Exactly 3 wide, flat, somewhat overcooked lanzhou noodles with a few slivers of mushroom and tripe, tossed in the microwave and hit generously with fish sauce, lime, and white pepper.
Wednesday: 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt and 1/2 of a big Ambrosia apple.
Thursday: Miso soup feat. the rest of that tofu, a big handfull of now slightly slimy beansprouts that Boyfriend won't eat, probably some kimchi and no seaweed because we don't really keep it on hand.
Friday: Cold brussels sprouts and the rest of that apple on a bed of spinach with greek yogurt "creme fraiche" for "dressing".
Saturday: Friday night's dinner plus bean sprouts.
Sunday: Instant porridge with the remaining greens and herbs from this week, and probably yet more spinach and bean sprouts because no matter how much I eat there are always more.
As you can see...
it ends up being a lot of liquid and vegetable. Pretty much the opposite of fluffy scrambled eggs or buttery pancakes or even my beloved oatmeal.
But admittedly, as I have reached a plateau in my weight-loss goals, eating foods that feel "healthier" in the morning tend to make me feel a little better about myself and my day than indulging in foods I particularly like.
On top of that, I've found another great reason to feel not so bad about savory breakfast:
The simple, beautiful, and nutritious Japanese breakfast.
When I first visited Japan and my mother, sister and I stayed in a chic business hotel in Ginza, both of my family members turned up their noses at the prospect of start their day with fish and soup.
But for me, it was another reminder that I had finally made it to Japan and I was experiencing what a real, actual Japanese person would eat and I wasn't just being a sad weeb who wanted to take bento boxes for school lunch.
You better believe that I had fish and soup every dang morning of that trip, and I could not have been happier.
So now, thinking back to that experience, it's a little easier to get excited for leftover breakfast. It has become easier to reflect on that experience in the hotel and recognizing that hey, this isn't my first choice for starting my day, but it represents centuries of culture and history that built up this place and this lifestyle that I love, so I might as well embrace it.
Besides, I figure come April I will be having quite a lot of fish and soup for breakfast, so there's no harm in acclimating now.