A Royal English Breakfast!

We celebrated our Memorial Day by honoring our fallen servicemen and women at our local cemetery, then feeding our own 'troops' a traditional and filling English breakfast. This is a once-a-year, and very decadent, meal where one feels a sense of tradition and hospitality. It’s inception stems from England in the 1300’s and it continues as a cherished tradition for people in the United Kingdom as well as people from around the world.

These days, many families are multicultural and ours most certainly is! We have family in the UK so we know the indulgence of the English breakfast and it is a requested meal on occasion in our home. Perhaps it's the 'all and the kitchen sink' approach that is both desired and familiar.

Where, in the US, we know our traditional eggs, sausages (aka: bangers) and bacon - yet the English prefer back bacon (so the leaner cut that is harder to find). Apart from our traditions, the English's then depends upon upon baked beans, black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms and fried toast (if done correctly, right from the bacon drippings). The combination of all flavor components really is unique - umami, sweet, vinegar, acidic - as well as its textures. We simply can't think of another meal like this one.

This lovely meal is topped by English Breakfast tea - complete with condensed milk. (Daddy was attached to a British base whilst in the Army, so that was what was served each morning in the field.) Our Orange County version was sans the pudding and authentic English bangers but we felt pampered just the same as we took down the china. (Plus, it ain't easy finding all the ingredients in the OC.)

It is a meal that sparks relaxation, togetherness, a little royalty (for those anglophiles among us), and is always worth the effort!

As you may not want to pull this meal together on your own, Ye Olde Ship Restaurant, either in Fullerton or Santa Ana serves up a delicious rendition and it is served all day! And, in near-by Santa Monica, we have a small enclave of British expatriates - explaining several notable pubs that also include the full breakfast.

Pictured - lightly grill-fried tomatoes and mushrooms, English muffins fried in bacon drippings, thick-cut bacon, knockwurst, lightly poached eggs, baked beans and English Breakfast.

And, as always, much love to our UK aunts, uncles and cousins! <3

(Did you know that 'Stir It Up' was first introduced in the UK's The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973?)

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