Dick, I think I'd stick with the frugal life; ain't much fun having a heart event - even less two - so stay off the animal fats and try for a single glass of Cabernet Sauvignon per day. Or so I am instructed. Coffee is supposed to be on a limit of a single cup per day, but I cheat (myself) and have around three of them.
Living in Scotland, at a time when health problems were for other people, a big breakfast was the thing that followed a Sunday morning's swim at the local pool. It consisted of eggs, bacon, perhaps a small sausage, soda-scones, black pudding, some mushrooms for good measure and possibly some beans if it was a cold day. The idea of syrup on food other than a sweet sounds very - well - unusual for Scottish tastes, which, oddly enough, only surfaced on Sundays. The rest of the week we were as Mediterranean as you could get when by the Atlantic.
French breakfasts. I suppose it depends if you mean chez nous or hotel. I can't imagine anything more Spartan than sitting on a hard seat at a marble-topped table having coffee, a slice of dry cake and some bread rolls. But French dinners, on the other hand, in the same logis, were Heaven now. Hard to believe you were in the same establishments. I think there is a practical reason for this: produce a good breakfast and who is going to go to work? At the very least you would have to er - thank the wife (if chez nous)!
Rob C
Hi, Rob... I did not know that you were on the right side of the pond.
I have given up coffee, but look forward to an occasional latte
I have always been tea-total, and have given up bread, cakes, oats etc as I am allergic to gluten.
I wonder what proportion of the members here have heard of black pudding - or browse!