breakfast for dinner and Madame Récamier

Family Traditions are something I take very seriously (hence the capital T). In fact, I can get un peu scary about it, just ask my poor family, and their unsuccessful attempts to modify or suggest new traditions. Not happening! One year - my heart rate still rises when I think about it - we went OUT for Christmas Eve dinner! It was terrible! Not because eating out on Christmas Eve is a bad thing, it's just that it is NOT our tradition.

But this isn't about Christmas...yet...this is about breakfast for dinner. Sunday nights growing up were church nights, so to placate her children (I like to think) my mom made breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon with lots of syrup and OJ to top it off. There's just something about the way each family cooks breakfast and how it has a different taste to it. Have you ever noticed that? I think I could pick out my mom and dad's fried eggs in a lineup, blindfolded.

I can hear my parents finally exhale after all these years, because I don't really have a monopoly on holiday traditions anymore. It has only taken me one year and six months to come to terms with it! I have a new last name, new family members, and a husband who doesn't freak out as easily as I do. So we have our own traditions to create - we can make completely new ones or borrow from family and improvise.

All this to say, we borrowed a family tradition from both sides - breakfast for dinner. Last night it was waffles with peanut butter (sunflower butter for me), eggs, butter-fried potatoes, orange juice, and a big juicy pomegranate. Now a Kimmelshue family tradition.

Mom, if you're reading this, don't get any ideas!

Just thought I'd add this on to brighten your day. Jacque-Louis David, 1800.

Madame Récamier, Courtesy of Le Louvre (www.louvre.fr) Magnifique! Mystérieuse!