My Breakfast Through the Years Quiz

Answer: Pop Tarts

Pop Tarts come in many flavors as can be seen on their official website. They contain a fruit or sweet filling covered by either a sugar frosted top or a plain doughy top.

My two favorite flavors were unfrosted strawberry and Dutch apple which no longer exists.

Instead of toasting them, I usually ate them cold which significantly reduced the chances of burning my tongue on the hot fruit filling. I would eat the crust around the outside first without biting into the fruit so I could get maximum fruitiness when I got to that part.

Answer: Bagels

Bagels are round pieces of bread about the same size as a doughnut. They can have differing degrees of consistency, but ideally the breading on the inside is light surrounded by a thicker crust.

I grew up in the New York metropolitan area which is where I think the best bagels are made. I've been told it has something to do with the water, but bagels I've had anywhere else in the country don't have the same consistency.

We were lucky in our family that each of us preferred different kinds of bagels so we didn't have to worry about someone else grabbing ours. My favorite flavor was, and still is, poppy seed. Since there were a dozen bagels for four of us we would eat them throughout the day.

While there are many things that can be put on a bagel, cream cheese being the most popular, my favorite thing to do would be to put a slice of cheese on it and stick it in the toaster oven just long enough for the cheese to start to melt. (Although I'll also admit that I would never turn down a good but unfortunately expensive piece of lox for my bagel, but then the cheese would be cream cheese and I wouldn't melt it.)

Answer: Raisin Bran

Like its name implies, raisin bran is a combination of bran flakes and raisins. Although more sugary than most bran based cereals, the sugar is natural sugar from the raisins rather than processed sugars found in many other cereals.

Although I had Post Raisin Bran on occasion, I strongly preferred Kellogg's. I found it was much sweeter and it seemed to me to have more raisins.

I did have an unusual way of eating it, though. I would pour the cereal and then the milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes to let the milk soak into the bran. Then I would drink the milk without eating the cereal. Once the milk was gone, I would separate out the bran from the raisins and eat the bran first, saving the raisins for last since they were my favorite part.

Answer: Tang

Tang was advertised as the drink that the astronauts drank. It was a powdered form of juice so it didn't take up a lot of space or weight which made it easier for them to carry onboard the rocket. As I recall, it came in orange and grape flavors.

Answer: Waffles

A waffle is a dough based food cooked on a griddle between two metal plates. Because the batter is liquid when it is poured, it takes the shape of the inside of the plates.

Although you can frequently find generic Belgian waffles on the menu of many restaurants, there are apparently many different varieties of Belgian waffles. I'm not sure if this means that one particular variety is used in the majority of foreign (i.e. non Belgian) restaurants or if you generally have no idea what you're getting until it arrives.

My mom had a waffle iron that would make four 6x6 waffles at a time. Being the obsessive compulsive person I am, I would eat a row of six squares, turn the waffle 90 degrees, eat a row of five squares, turn it another 90 degrees and continue in this manner until there was just one square left.

Answer: Chinese

Mandarin is one of the Chinese languages and is the language of the capital, Beijing. Because of the number of people in China who speak it, it is the most widely spoken language in the world.

My friends and I thought that the Mandarin restaurant we used to frequent in Cambridge, MA had great Peking ravioli (aka potstickers aka fried dumplings). While I tried many dishes there was one lunch special I came back to time after time and ordered more often than not. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was although I do remember it was #17 on the menu and I had it with hot and sour soup.

Answer: Spaghetti

Spaghetti are long thin pasta, similar to linguine and vermicelli. They are usually served with some sort of sauce. Popular options included tomato sauce, clam sauce, and Alfredo sauce. They can also be served with meat or fish.

I love pasta but I also read somewhere that it is healthier to eat a big meal during the day rather than at night. Unfortunately most days I didn't have time to make a big meal during the day. Sundays were usually the exception. For several years I would wake up on Sunday morning, cook a box of spaghetti and a jar of tomato sauce, and eat a plate for breakfast. I would then snack on the rest throughout the day. I stopped doing this when I was 39 and met the woman who would later be my wife.

Answer: Granola Bars

Granola is ground up food that can come in many flavors. It can be loose or packed into bars. Nature Valley flavors include Peanut Butter, Roasted Almond, Pecan, Maple Brown Sugar, Apple Crisp, and Oats and Honey. They come in both crunchy and soft varieties, although I prefer the crunchy type.

Although my company has a cafeteria to get a hot breakfast, I find it more cost efficient to bring a package of granola bars with me.

There are two bars in a package. I get to work at 7 and eat lunch at 11:30, so I eat one bar around 8:30 and the other around 10 to split the time evenly.

Answer: French Toast

French toast is usually served with maple syrup. Other toppings can include small pieces of fruit such as blueberries or strawberries, sugar, and cinnamon.

In addition to making French toast, my wife will also make eggs in the hole where she cuts a hole in a piece of toast and puts a fried egg in it, or scrambled eggs with cheese, potatoes, and/or chopped vegetables.

Answer: Maxwell House

Maxwell House makes coffee while the other three make juices. Although orange juice is the specialty of the other three companies, they also make other juices such as grapefruit, lemonade, cranberry mango, apple and combinations drinks such as orange pineapple.

Orange juice is a popular source of vitamin C. An eight ounce glass of any of the above brands of orange juice contains more than 100% of the recommended daily minimum amount of vitamin C.