Porridge Fit for a Queen - Try Waitrose

Can you explain to me why I've just spent the last 45 minutes searching online for purveyors of McCann's Irish Oatmeal in London? The steel cut kind.

I'm missing my favorite comfort foods in the worst kind of way today. Though having grown up as a Quaker Instant Oats girl...the variety packs, especially maple and brown sugar...I was surprised to find myself converted to steel-cut after a trip to San Fran to see my friend M. She made some for breakfast one day and OMG...I wondered how I had managed to exist for all those growing up years without their nutty goodness in my life. I also found out how to get around the impossibly long cooking time (15-25 minutes)...e.g., cook big batches, divide into microwaveable bowls and refrigerate for individual morning delights! Voila!

Unfortunatelly, early results at finding source in London turned up zilch. Sainsburys, nada. ASDA online, bupkis.

I should mention though, I had to give up on looking for oatmeal...it's called porridge in this neck of the woods. Mind you, I kinda associate the term porridge with the gruel of Oliver Twist's workhouse or the stuff Tim Robbins' character, Andy Dufresne, gets served his first day at Shawshank...yep, that's right, the PRISON.

But I digress, potato, poh-tah-toe. I knew what I was after and I would not be deterred.

So back to the chase.

After hitting the major search engines and then wading through a sea of blog posts, including the lively lulu loves bombay, I finally came to Sybil Kapoor's Guardian article How to make perfect porridge. So I'm off to Waitrose to try my luck.

Yum awaits!

The Early Hours

Yawn. Stretch.

Wow, it's bright out. Must be morning.

Yes, it's definitely morning.

Though now, in the midst of winter, in London no less, I realize I've forgotten just how *bright* bright can actually be. To whit, my friend C tormented me yesterday with yet another weather report from Florida..."81 and sunny in the MIA."

Darn it all!

But it is morning, Saturday morning to be precise and like the article I read last week, I'm not giving over my most creative time to the mundane...to email, or Twitter or FB. Nope, I'm going to give it over to...BLOGGING! lol

I guess we all have to pick our poison.

But I can't help it. I'm a digital junkie. This is the space in which I live. I've made my proverbial bed and so I've just got to lie in it.

But back to the story, the author made a good point. When you take the first couple of hours of the day to wade through a bunch of hygiene to-do's, you miss the opportunity to apply the fresh, creative you to your most outrageous, audacious and zesty love-to-do's.

So because I'm rubbish at bookmarking, I've lost track of the article but in searching came across a couple of interesting new people to read and follow, so not a bad outcome after all.

(Yes, I've searched and tweeted in the time it's taken to complete this post. I told you, I just can't help it.)

For example, in a big hello from snowy MN, Caroline, of Caroline Royce Design, tweeted: "Lately been in a creative rut. Cure: Looking at blogs all morning. #productivity."

Similarly, Alex Knapp who writes for Forbes recently blogged on research about night owls making the best of the morning.

And if that doesn't convince you, then what about a little wisdom from the coolest cat to ever put lips to mouthpiece? The Davis himself.

Mike Folsom, self-confessed quote junkie, provides the Miles Davis classic “My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.”

So the point is not to say you should quit emailing from bed, tweeting from the shower or leave FB til lunchtime.

The moral of the story is to give the best of yourself in the early hours to the passions that most move you.

And let the rest of the day take care of itself.