Brunette Breakfast

My entire breakfast was brown this morning. As I sat down and looked at my plate, I realized there was not one single other color involved, except for the plate itself, which was this nondescript greyish beige color.

You see, I had pancakes. I made myself pancakes. And they were good pancakes. And for some reason, I didn't want to put maple syrup on them. I love maple syrup, but it was too sweet for my taste buds at the moment, so I was looking for something else. Brown sugar. That was sweet, but not too sweet. So I put some brown sugar on them. But they needed something else. Something savory. I don't know why. I wanted to put lemon juice on them, like my Canadian housemates said they used to do. It was this bizarre thing when they told me that's how they grew up eating pancakes in Saskatchewan. Brown sugar and lemon juice. They said it was the greatest thing. I guess the lemon juice melts the brown sugar and gives a pungent counterpoint to the sweetness. Go figure. I still like maple syrup. But I didn't have any lemons, nor any lemon juice. Still, I wanted that pungent counterpoint. Something was drawing me towards the salad dressing. What's that, you say? Salad dressing on pancakes? That's what I said. But I had to try it. I had this creamy sort of not exactly creamy but thick and saucy balsamic vinaigrette. I sniffed it. I put a little on a plate and tried a piece of pancake on it. Perfect. Why? I cannot say. It seemed utterly bizarre, and yet there it was. I could not deny it. Nor could I argue.

And so, as I drizzled balsamic vinaigrette over my pancakes with brown sugar, I imagined I was like one of those New York chefs, experimenting with various dishes. And I figured, if a guy in New York city can mix bits of fois gras with homemade rice krispies and charge a boatload for it, and if I can order savory crepes from the place down the street, it's not so strange, is it, that I put balsamic vinaigrette with brown sugar on my pancakes? Well, anyway, that's what I did.

And that's why my breakfast was brown. Because I had brown pancakes, brown sugar, brown balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, and my brown and delicious coffee.