Top 5 Breakfasts on holiday

Spring is here, which means that summer is just around the corner, right? That got me thinking about my upcoming holiday plans (to Uzbekistan, of all places, but that's another story) and I started reminiscing about the glorious morning repasts I've encountered on my travels.

I'm a fan of the weekend breakfast - we've talked about this before - but there's something about being on holiday, with fewer cares and more time to spare, that makes that first meal of the day even more of a treat. Lingering over the local paper or reading a guide book to learn more about your destination; hanging out with your travelling companion discussing plans for the day ahead; making promises to yourself that you'll start eating healthily again the moment you arrive home - these morning moments are part of what makes travelling so special to me, and why I've come up with my Top 5 Holiday Breakfasts. Dig in!

1. American pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup
Bucks in Woodside, California is a legendary breakfast hangout of Silicon Valley's rich and famous technology entrepreneurs. The Monkey and I went there (twice) in a week-long holiday visiting our good friend Pete, and ate these beautiful fluffy pancakes stacked high and served with fresh strawberries, ladles of maple syrup and a bottomless mug of strong filter coffee.

2. Roti Chanai with super-sweet tea
The Monkey can often be found raiding the fridge in the early hours of a post-takeaway morning, mopping up curry sauce with leftover peshwari naan for breakfast. It's a less than endearing habit, but when in Malaysia, do as the Malaysians do ... Curry breakfasts may be hard to get your head round but once I tasted soft, flaky roti bread dipped in hot spicy curry sauce for the first time, I knew I was in love. Especially when it's washed down with mugs of tea made with super-sweet condensed milk, and all for the eqivalent of about 50p. What a treat.

3. Huevos Rancheros
Back to the Americas for another spicy start to the day. Many of my favourite things combine on one plate here: corn tortillas, fried eggs, tomato, refried beans, fried potatoes, maybe some avocado and of course, lashings of green Tabasco sauce for a bit of extra spicing. Not an everyday (or even an every-week) brekkie, for the arteries' sake but that's what holidays are for...

4. French baguette with Marmite
In theory this is so wrong - such a quintessentially British product spread on France's daily bread - but the proof is in the tasting. Trust me. The creaminess of French unsalted butter, the saltiness of love-it-or-hate-it Marmite, the crunch of the baguette - it's a match made in heaven. Or should I say paradis?

5. An Everything Bagel with butter, marmite and sliced tomato
Not strictly a holiday breakfast, this one, but it's an homage to the wonderful Wholly Bagels, Wellington, where I worked for six months in the cold and windy winter of 2005. Starting work at 6.45 every morning would have been a whole lot tougher without one of these beauties and my daily fix of three espressos to kickstart my customer-service smile.

Now, I wonder what they eat for brekkie in Uzbekistan...

Top 5 Breakfasts - home style

Ah, breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Funny to think that for years I rebelled against that notion, never wanting to eat in the morning, making do with a cup of tea and at best an oatcake on my way to work. No wonder I always felt sluggish in the mornings and starving by 11 o'clock! I can't remember the exact moment I fell in love with the breakfast concept, but it was definitely after I moved to London and started going out for breakfast more often. In our house of a weekend we would attempt to recreate the fantastic breakfast stacks from our beloved local Cafe Goya (now sadly no more), their onion-enhanced baked beans and English muffins being particular highlights. These days I'd be lying if I said I had time for much in the way of brekkie during the week (a piece of toast or some cereal does the trick) but the weekends would be so much duller if I didn't have one of these beauties to look forward to, complete with a pot of Earl Grey tea, maybe a Virgin Mary and the travel supplement of the paper. These then, very definitely in order, are my Top 5 home-style breakfasts:

1. Scrambled eggs & smoked salmon on Paul Rankin soda bread
Slightly sloppy eggs (never with milk added), strips of Scottish smoked salmon on buttered soda bread. Paul Rankin's is the absolute best. Serve with lots of green Tabasco sauce.

2. Fruit salad, yogurt, honey & Grape Nuts
A nod to our friend Rach for introducing us to this super-healthy start to the day. Only soft fruits in the salad - summer berries are best, but also kiwi, orange, maybe banana. Served with a dollop of plain yogurt, a squirt of honey and a sprinkle of Grape Nuts.

3. The full cooked veggie
Cauldron sausages, grilled tomato, scrambled or poached eggs, fried mushrooms, oniony baked beans, alongside toast and, of course, green Tabasco. The perfect Sunday brunch.

4. Porridge with jam
How bizarre to think that a good Scots girl like me should have her first encounter with porridge on Castaway Island in Fiji at the age of 27. Now I can't imagine living without the stuff, so versatile is it as a breakfast dish. I've cooked it at home, in campervans and over camp fires, all in the same half-water, half-milk method, with a pinch of salt and sugar, and served while still a bit sloppy with a big dollop of raspberry jam. Healthy, easy and yummy.

5. Birchermuesli
Slightly disingenuous, this one, as I've never actually made birchermuesli at home. But I plan to! In Switzerland it is eaten all the time, for lunch as well as breakfast, and it will forever remind me of the year I spent living in Lausanne. The muesli is soaked overnight in milk or apple juice, then grated apple and more milk are added, making it soft and smooth without cooking. Served with fresh fruit it becomes a wholesome breakfast treat.