Rise & Shine (Recipe: Granola Berry Parfait)

As some of you would have realised by now, breakfast is possibly my favourite meal of the day. I’ve had more “on today’s breakfast table” photos on my instagram, than any other meals in fact. A good breakfast gets me started on the right foot, and sets the mood for the rest of the day. I’m sure everyone understands by now that a good breakfast keeps you alert, energised and focused all the way till lunch, although I’m also pretty sure most of us have had our fair share of experiencing the midday slump a little too early, glancing ever so eagerly at our watches waiting for lunch hour, amidst stifling tummy growls, all thanks to skipping this most important meal of the day.

I must admit though, I haven’t always liked breakfast. As a child, I remember my mother would nag at me as I pushed my food around my breakfast plate, or attempt to hide the egg beneath whatever little crumb of toast I had left (I do love my toast!). As I grew older, the “I’m late for school” excuse would come much too often, yet in typical maternal premonition of sorts, she would already have had my breakfast in a sandwich bag. And I am ashamed to say, there were days when that sandwich bag would just remain in the depths of my backpack for days’ end.

Now that I’m a breakfast convert (if you may call it), and have my own little one, I would hate for karma to bite me in the sandwich bag in the future. And that is the reason I am honoured to be an ambassador for the inaugural Rise & Shine, the world’s largest children’s health and developmental expo.

surplus sunday: strawberry buttermilk ice-cream & lemon cake trifle

It is not often that we have leftover cakes here in the household, which might come as a surprise for one with perhaps just two sweet-toothed occupants out of a large family. I reckon it should be thanks to my obsessive penchant for individually-served desserts, and cutting almost every recipe in half, which concomitantly either eliminates any possibility of having leftovers, or simply makes a perfect warm-it-up-the-next-morning breakfast for two. And then there are those instances when I wished I had leftovers from a cake I obviously did not have enough of, but the thought of having more than a slice [or two] a day would have sent my guilt-trip senses a-tingling, so the idea of spreading the love in two days seemed the perfect [greedy] solution. And then there are very special instances when I would have baked a fairly good family favourite, and  secretly save a few slices just so I can whip something else to complement it perfectly, pushing it from a good familiarity to a great take on the old. Now this is one of those special instances.

surplus sunday: cinnamon chip brownie cornstarch ice-cream

I know what you’re thinking; how can anyone possibly have leftover brownies, right? Sheer sacrilege! Now before you start judging me with ‘So much for being a chocoholic, you can’t even finish a brownie?!’ thoughts, allow me to put your mind at ease by affirming that yes, these delectable cinnamon chip brownies were nothing short of well, delectable, and no, there were leftovers not because they were far from it. But when you find yourself with a carton of milk about to go bad in just a couple of days, the only thing you can think of is choosing to send it off with the sweetest ending, a most apt vicissitude to punctuate its unintended oversight, and conveniently pair it with an equally charming counterpart, from whom you’ve been extolling its rich deep flavour.

Now, for those of you who cannot possibly wrap your minds around the idea of a cornstarch ice-cream, fret not, for the ice-cream doesn’t have the slightest taste of cornstarch. With no eggs in the recipe, the cornstarch acts merely in its place as a thickener and binder of sorts, promising a rich and creamy homemade ice-cream.