Breakfast Failure

Minnie pretty much sums it all up this morning.

After cooking a dinner that was heavy on prep (white bean cassoulet) and then cooking and packaging a week's worth of dog food (!) my final act was to set up breakfast. I don't do this all the time, since everyone here is quite capable of making their own damn breakfast, but it's lovely when I do. I put a mix of barley, wheat berries, and cracked whole grain cereal into the rice cooker and set the timer for 6:00 a.m. I set everything out...

Pumpkin seeds, honey, agave nectar, Vietnamese cinnamon, cinnamon & white sugar, dried cherries, brown sugar, and slivered almonds. A perfect topping bar.

Picture it: Wake up early (blame the moon?) and feed the dog his freshly made and balanced meal, complete with a powdered vitamin/mineral supplement. Make a latte with skim milk and a bit of powdered cocoa (flavanoids, anyone?), turn on the laptop and go check on the ... uncooked grains. Open the lid. Peer inside. Check timer and discover that the time is now 19:05.

Apparently while I was away this summer I lost the ability to correctly program the timer on the super-smart fancypants rice cooker. It was 9:00 p.m when I set it, I asked it to be ready at 6:00 a.m., and I absolutely pushed the start button and hummed along to the little tune that plays. (Those crazy guys at Zojirushi and their tunes.)

Push start again, and make a small pot of steel cut oats for the next person awake, who is expecting a healthy bowl of grains this morning. 

Make another latte.