Same words…. Different melody

We really do get stuck in our ways. It seems that most western societies are comfortable with consistency. Some might even say we’re unimaginative… I’m torn as for the most part; I love what I have loved for too many years to mention, then every now and again I love something completely different…

What am I talking about?

Jam is actually what I’m talking about, but jam could be a metaphor for any number of common rituals in the food world or any other area of our life.

This was brought to my attention the last few morning as we where having breakfast in our Balinese paradise, we ordered fruit platters, juices, scrambled and poached eggs and croissants as well as coffee/tea… I know this isn’t at all Balinese and we are fine with that as it was a conversation we had and both decided prawns and chicken don’t belong in our breakfast repertoire.

First to arrive was the coffee and the old joke about “this coffee tastes like mud” followed by the answer “funny it was ground this morning” came to mind, but I’ve come to expect that of hotel coffee world wide…

Then my juice arrived and it was juice plain and simple, Lauren had opted for a fruit platter instead and it was brilliant, they hadn’t reinvented the wheel but it was plated in a manner unlike us western folk plate it, it was cut with care and detail and its minimalistic approach really worked…

Next to join the party at the table where our croissants, you may or may not know this but I effing love these buttery crescents of French brilliance, and I’m in the most part happy when they are escorted by their friends Mr. Butter and Mrs. Jam (I’m also not apposed to them being stuffed with bacon, ham, cheese, avocado, spinach etc.) so 9/10 times you can bet that you will receive strawberry or raspberry jam with your pastries/toast at any breakfast anywhere in the English speaking world… but not today I was treated to a magnificent papaya jam and an equally triumphant pineapple jam, it was so good but was so far removed from the norm that I felt mischievous eating it. Well done Katut, you are a preserve wizard…

This brings us to the egg component of the breakfast, which was as usual, a choice between poached, scrambled or fried… I as you should know by now choose poached and Lauren went for her fave – scrambled, both egg styles were executed brilliantly but what made us laugh was the fact that we thought we were just receiving eggs on toast, yet when they arrived they were garnished (yes garnished) with bacon, ham, sausage and tomato… YES a pig three ways two days in a row… wow that sounds nasty, a swine ménage a trois of sorts… no just three kinds of pig on my plate, what a lovely surprise to finish a very interesting take on an average western style breakfast, they call it American, but as far as I can tell there wasn’t enough food to feed an American and way to much fresh produce.