Breakfast is the most important meal. That is the way I was raised, and the way I continue to live. It has been ingrained in me that something awful might happen if I don't eat breakfast. So I do. Every single day of my life.

I vary my breakfast meal from the favorites: peanut butter on a thick slice of whole wheat and seeded bread to old-fashioned oatmeal studded with almonds, dried cranberries, maple syrup and shredded coconut. I make the oatmeal the evening before, and reheat it in the microwave. Takes less than a minute for a satisfying meal that keeps me going till mid-afternoon.

In the summer, it's usually cold cereal with soy milk, almost always topped with fruit. Someone said that's a midwestern thing, topping cereal with fruit, and i know people who cringe at the thought of fruit mixing with cereal, but it tastes like summer to me.

All these are great and easy ways to break the long fast of the previous day, but when I'm on the road, breakfast presents a problem. Unless I have to be up quite early, I often miss breakfast at a restaurant. Not because I'm lazing around, but because I like to go for a run in the morning, then shower and finally head out.  By then, the restaurants are on to lunch, and they tell me that they use different grills for breakfast, so it ends at 9, 10:30 or even as late as 11.

But I want breakfast all day long!  Though I seldom order eggs and bacon, I want the possiblity of doing so. I want my spicy, tasty  breakfast burrito when I want it. The meager offerings of coffee shops, like donuts, scones or sweet rolls, are not breakfast in my mind. They are dessert, and I need breakfast first.

That's why, when I'm traveling, I immediately ask how late breakfast is served. Any time you want is the happy meal answer for me!