Breakfasts of the Infirm

I am still fighting this stupid, no good, rotten old  rheumatoid arthritis, tooth and nail.  I have to take a number of meds in the morning with food, but they also make me feel sick and nauseated and like the last thing I want is food, lately.  This is not conducive to food blogging, I know.  Sorry.  I'd rather not blog at all than blog about being a sickly old whiner, but here I am, doing it anyway.

Latest meds make me not want my old breakfast standbys of eggs, croissants, toast with goat cheese and fruit.  I'm still doing yogurt with fruit and nuts or honey but it's wearing thin and I'm just about over it too.  Also, I am too tired to wait around on oatmeal or congee most days.  I need something fast and not very sweet or rich.  In other words, bland.  I need super easy (heating is ok but cooking is exhausting) and yeah, kind of bland.  No cereal, because milk has begun to taste a bit bitter.  Lots of things have started to taste bad.  Very annoying.

Need ideas.  Help?

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In Which Your Heroine Goes on a Grand Adventure

Tomorrow morning, I am leaving for a trip to Berlin, Germany and will also be spending a couple of days in Venice, Italy.  It is impossible for me to adequately express how excited I am to be going to Venice.  Ever since I learned we'd be able to go, my insides won't stop bouncing. Venice!  I am THRILLED.  Beyond thrilled.  There may not be any other place on the planet that I have more longed to see.  I plan to drink in the texture, the shade and light, the water reflections, the air and the smell and bridges and stones and churches and espressos and wine and art like it's the only thing keeping me alive, then store it up in my mind like a camel stores water.  I plan to swallow it alive.  Well, as much as can be done in 2 days.

Anyone have any recommendations for goodies I should be on the look out for to bring home?  Italian chocolates?  German jams?

I'll do my best to report back on our culinary adventures.  We'll see how well that goes (dubious).  Wish me luck!

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Eating My Way From New Orleans to Austin

My birthday is this month and as is customary, I plan to eat my way through it. Birthdays are for gluttony. To start, we are planning a road trip from New Orleans to Austin and back, via Lake Charles and Houston. Who has suggestions of really wonderful places we might eat in Austin or at any point along the way? We can take Hwy 90 or I-10 through Louisiana depending on where the better eats are. I'm interested in anything that's really good, whether it be a hole in the wall or something exquisite and fancy. What do you recommend?

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