Brekky Time Musings

Away from the subject of computers for a moment and back to day to day life.  I've written before about coffee and how I prefer my cheap boiler coffee machines to the expensive ones.  The little Krups 871 Espresso Bravo, even though it is old, makes espresso that tastes thick and sweet, even before milk is added and the espresso from that boiler type machine can always be drunk black with no sugar.



I have not discarded the big, solid Breville 800ES though.  It weighs a lot and is a nuisance sometimes to clean around it, but it has its uses for a bachelor lifestyle.  I also discovered another little tool that combined with the Breville is a handy addition to the kitchen bench.

When I first got the Breville 800ES I decided to grind coffee beans in an effort to have a nicer coffee in the morning.  So I bought a cheap blade type coffee grinder.  Actually, it is more like a coffee bean masher, so when a Sunbeam Cafe Series EM0480 came up cheap I grabbed it.

Now, I sometimes eat rolled oats for breakfast, mainly to keep my stomach healthy and regular :)  I am also a little impatient, and often do other things while the oats are being turned into porridge.  This results in burned pots as often as not.  So I tried buying 'One Minute Oats'.  A great idea, but horribly expensive.

I was looking at the coffee masher (blade grinder) one day and had a lightbulb moment.  A coffee measure of wheat germ into the grinder, and two measures of coarse rolled oats.  Put the lid on, press the button and a few moments later it was all reduced to a powder.  Tip it into a bowl and place it under the water outlet on the old Breville and add hot water.  Stir, sit and I had a serving of instant oats and wheat germ ready to eat.  What is more, it tasted better than the packaged one minute oats.

The One Minute oats cost around $5.00 for 420 Grams.  My whole grain rolled oats cost about $1.50 for 1kg.  To make them interesting from time to time I toss a scoop of sultanas or some other dried diced fruit into the grinder before I hit the button.  Usually sultanas because they are cheap and plentiful.  A scoop of desiccated coconut alto makes an interesting taste.

The other thing the Breville 800ES is handy for is pretty obvious.  It makes the most amazing hot chocolate or fluffy cocoa and I make a rather nice chai latte with it.  But something not so obvious, albeit messy to clean up, is scrambled egg.

Break an egg into a suitable stainless mug or even the frothing jug, add some pepper and salt if you like it, then add a little milk or water.  Prick the egg  yolk, then foam the mix just as you would foam milk.  You'll know when it is done!  :)

An example of two eggs scrambled in a frothing jug using the frothing attachment on the rather old Breville 800ES.