Breakfast Club

My sister Elisabeth was wearing a tee shirt imprinted with the phrase "Breakfast of Champions." It was a cute thing, appliquéd with cartoons of classic early morning fare given human qualities: a smiling glass of orange juice; a beaming platter of bacon, eggs and potatoes; a dancing pitcher of milk; happy toast; and a big beautiful bowl of Wheaties. Her fashion statement was a hit with our fellow restaurant guests as they tripped sleepily in for that most important meal of the day. Some stopped by our table and grinned, politely coveting this funky thrift shop find that looked so good on my college-student sibling.

Me, the tee shirt really bothered. If I had to look at its bright, cheerful artwork for much longer, in fact, I was going to get aggressive. Because in front of me that morning -- the same as the past 14 mornings -- was my traditional breakfast. Elisabeth and I were nearing the end of a two-week tour of southern Japan, and our breakfasts, today and every day, had been authentic, very rural Asian fare, resembling nothing like Elisabeth's perky chest-portrait.

Instead of ham 'n' eggs, I'd been eating salty slabs of grilled salmon, pickled eggplant, preserved plum and gummy boiled seaweed, pink-dyed pressed fish cakes, steaming hot miso soup, and rice which I rolled into bundles with dried nori and soy sauce. While Elisabeth's shirt winked at me with a cavorting cup of rich black coffee, I was sipping my umpteenth vessel of leaf-littered harsh green tea, and wetting my lips with calpis, a thin, tangy, yogurt flavored soft drink.

Admittedly, the first time we'd had such a breakfast, it had been great fun. Unidentifiable mountain vegetables steeped in vinegar were an intriguing way to start my day. Yet after realizing that this menu was to be repeated pretty closely at every lunch and dinner, too, the thrill had evaporated. After too long, I was full to the brim of salt, sour, sticky and unsubstantial (no matter how much tamago I crammed down -- that fluffy layering of sweetened egg omelet -- I was still starved too long before lunch rolled around).

Suddenly that morning, with that tee shirt mocking me, I wondered if I might actually be capable of pushing my own darling sister in front the Shinkansen, that 220 mph bullet train that connects Japan's rural areas with pulsating Tokyo and Osaka. Pretty much all it would take would be for someone to promise me a Pop Tart.

I didn't do it. Elisabeth is just fine. And now, as I gaze in dewy-eyed adoration at the breakfast in front of me, those morning meals of cold rice noodles sprinkled with katsuobushi (flakes of dried bonito tuna) and natto (pungent fermented soy beans) seem like a far-away, unsettling dream. Because I've arrived home, scampered directly from the airport, and am happily buried in breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen, a tiny hole-in-the-wall oasis to home cooking in Mesa. I'd come across the place late last year while visiting a Peruvian restaurant, had always meant to stop in, and am instantly thrilled I finally did.

With my belly full of fresh-from-scratch cinnamon rolls, crispy-edged corn beef hash with eggs over easy, and sips of jolting hot black coffee, it's difficult to believe that a mere 20 hours before, my body had almost twitched hoping for such good old-fashioned grease and caffeine. No matter that it's past the noon hour now in the good Old U.S. of A. -- Grandma's serves breakfast all day, and no one looks twice at me as I settle back in the country-kitchen-decor surroundings and ordered up a gluttonous platter of two pie-plate-size pancakes, a trio of deeply pork-rich sausage links, soft poached eggs, and rivers of sugary syrup and butter.

The only cross-wise look I get is from my dining companion, wondering if he's along because I want him there, or if I'm using him as an extra body at my table so I won't look so piggish ordering up extra quiche (made fresh daily, with lovely creations like spinach Lorraine, broccoli and chicken, or my favorite, green chile). It's true he gets only a few bites of the moist egg tart, capped with a chewy crust of golden cheese and brimming with chunks of bacon and chopped pepper. I'd had little fresh fruit during my Asian adventure (white peaches, even the variety sold at train station kiosks, were an incredible $10 a pound). So what a beautiful sight Grandma's "side" of fruit alongside the quiche is then, a virtual farmer's market of fresh banana, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries and kiwi.