Blenders etc.

My dad had a job which often involved getting up at the crack of gloom, and over the years, he developed a breakfast routine which involved putting a few bananas, some ice cream, yogurt, wheat germ, protein powder, raw eggs, and milk into a blender and making a sort of breakfast smoothie. I thought it was revolting at the time, and I couldn't see how anyone choked down a blender full of the stuff.

Enter medical school.

Now I have the job involving getting up at various ungodly hours of morning (please, it's a phrase, no theological commentary) and I've found I'm skipping breakfast a lot. Buckwheat kasha takes some time to make, and it's not all that nourishing. Boiled or poached eggs, my other favorite? Forget it. When I get up, it's all I can do to stagger into the shower, and then pour from my automatic-timer-start-coffee-maker before I head out the door, usually about five minutes later than I feel I ought to be. Open flames and hot water? That's begging for trouble.

So, in the interests of getting a breakfast which has some calories and protein, I've bought a blender. It's a thing of beauty actually, shining there on my counter. And I've already tried it out. The texture is somewhat different, probably because, due to my medical training, I can't bring myself to add raw eggs to the mix. But it's not bad. Not bad at all...

I've noticed my culinary bent has been blunted by medical school. I don't do nearly as much cooking my own stuff anymore, and what I do is fast or minimally demanding: stir fry, with frozen vegetables (gasp!). Anything in my crock pot (possibly the greatest invention ever). I dream of breadmakers. Sometimes I fall even farther, and there's a Red Baron pizza and some waffles in my freezer right now. I can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it.

Which is probably why I've discovered a taste for sardines. Fish are good for you, and on a whim about a year ago, I tried sardines for the first time. I can't believe what I've been missing. Granted, my friends won't sit next to me at lunch, and it's probably a good thing I don't eat in any of the exam rooms, but wow, it doesn't get much better than some boneless, skinless sardines with some soy sauce and crackers. Maybe I need to get out more. But I can't, my blender is calling...