Breakfast. The best meal of the day.

It occurred to me that if I was going to make a post about waffles and pancakes, I would be remiss in not mentioning french toast. Breakfast

itself, when it is given the proper attention, is by far the most interesting meal of the day - full of all the four major food groups and also the requisite sweets, all without dessert. On a workday I will inevitably have some cereal or toast, but on a non work day I strive to fulfill the basic human need for syrup.

That's not waffle at all: Waffles are by far the funnest of the breakfast breads. And it should be clear here that I mean real waffles, not toaster cardboard. Waffles are the most uniform, and the little holes in them are a great place to store syrup. They can be eaten by hand, and if you can't finish them, you can out them in the fridge so you can toast them later.

There is also a good variety of waffles - gingerbread waffles, for example; or you can add blueberries; you can top with icing sugar; or you could fry an egg and out it on top.

One the production side, waffles are the easiest to make, if you have a waffle iron. The little green or red light will come on when they are ready, and they are always done perfectly. The batter itself is usually light and easy to mix. Mainly because of the iron, you can pour some batter and go sit down and enjoy the meal while the next one is cooking; you don't need to worry about them burning. Also because of the iron, waffles are the easiest to clean up after.

French me and be toast: French toast is the quickest to make. You only need the eggs and bread (milk is also a good addition), and maybe some cinnamon for the extra zing. Prep time is less than five minutes; you only need one pan and a spatula. If you want, you can whip some cream to go on top, but icing sugar is just as good.

And the toppings, the variety of toppings! Fresh fruit goes best on french toast. You can throw on an egg, but since the bread is dipped in egg, it is kind of redundant. The syrup will soak into the toast, adding a wonderful bit of sweetness, but jam goes just as well. Lemon jam in particular is a lovely touch. An added advantage of french toast is that if you don't finish it, you can out it aside and make sandwiches out of it later. A ham and cheese sandwich made with french toast is particularly good.

Time for some hanky-pancakes: Pancakes have the most variety of all. There are thick pancakes, thin pancakes, crepes, every possible flavour, adding any type of fruit. They are good with any type of syrup. They are also the most creative in what you can do with them - like mi

ckey mouse shapes! You can even buy preset pancake shapes, which just adds to their fun appeal.

Pancakes do take slightly longer to make, but that is part of the process. You can make the batter overnight, or you can premix the dry ingredients and just add the liquids when you actually make them. Pancakes have the potential to be the most healthy, as whole wheat or multigrain pancakes still taste good; while whole wheat waffles or multigrain french toast is just kind of non-tasty.

What I think: I think my pancake bias is showing. It is pretty darned difficult to pick one over the other, though, because they are also so darned good. And they all have different times when they are appropriate - I particularly recommend pumpkin pancakes at thanksgiving, french toast on bastille day or Jean Baptiste day, and gingerbread waffles at Easter.

How I relate: I like to eat all of them. Breakfast is tasty. Plus, I suppose, waffles remind me of my grandma; crepes of my mom, and french toast of my wife. No matter what, the only syrup you should ever use is maple, or perhaps saskatoon or some other berry syrup; but never fake aunt jemima stuff. That would ruin it.

Okay, now I want some pancakes. Maybe tomorrow morning. Or waffles. I haven't made waffles in a while. Or french toast - I have some Italian bread. Hmm.......