Oatmeal (porridge) for breakfast with brown sugar and soy milk is a favorite here! I forego the raisins--the kids won't eat them, but I like them in it also when I'm on my own.

One year a friend and I had partied heartily on New Year's Eve, and the next morning we left the comfort of a friend's house to drive about 90 miles north to where we were going to school. We stopped at Island Crossing at a little restaurant there famous for it's good oatmeal. The place was packed, so in order to eat soon and relieve our aching heads, we asked if we could sit at the back of the room at the then-unused bar.

We sat down, said oatmeal arrived in all of it's pomp and glory. I sprinkled sugar and poured milk, and then another customer moved back to our area, and as she sat beside me began a recognizable rummaging through her purse. I recognized the signs from years with my mother--and lo and behold, this woman pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I knew that the oatmeal was going to fix my head perfectly, but the cigarette smoke was going to make me feel sick for hours. So I simply said "would you mind not lighting that here while I'm eating?" You'd think I'd told her she had three heads--she ungraciously stuffed her cigarettes into her purse and stomped off. My friend laughed--this was back in the 1970s when asking people not to smoke around you was considered rude to the smoker (ha!). But I felt so much better for it. And on hindsight, I figure she was over near us (and doubly pissed off) because someone else had already kicked her out of their space.   :)

SRS