Saturday brunch at home with BB — back to the kitchen counter after a week of restaurant brunches. The weekend home brunch had earned its slot through circuit breaker and we returned to it gladly.

Today’s plate:

Hot rice base
Fried egg (sunny-side)
Stir-fried vegetables
A pan-seared protein
Chilli sauce on the side

The contrast between the week’s restaurant brunches and Saturday’s home brunch was the lesson. We’d spent three days at sit-down spots paying $50+ per brunch, and the Saturday home plate cost us $4 in groceries and took 15 minutes to make. The home brunch was just as satisfying, arguably more so because it was eaten at the kitchen table in pyjamas without the safe-distancing-and-mask-up restaurant theatre.

Hot rice base was the standard fluffy jasmine.

Fried egg was the M-style sunny-side. Crispy white edges, runny golden yolk.

Stir-fried vegetables today were cabbage shreds with carrot strips, smashed garlic, splash of soy.

Pan-seared protein was a small portion of sausage rounds — sliced Bratwurst, browned both sides.

Chilli sauce on the side as always.

The Saturday brunch is the small reset meal. After a week of work and weekday cooking, you sit at the kitchen table in your pyjamas, drink coffee slow, and don’t have anywhere to rush to. The home format wins on the comfort-and-cost math, every time.

We’d tried the post-lockdown return to restaurant brunches and the verdict was: occasional yes, weekly no. The home weekend brunch was the keeper habit from the lockdown era. Saturday morning at the kitchen counter felt better than any sit-down spot we’d been to that week.

Some habits earn their permanence.

Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Reliable Saturday brunch — keeping the routine.

Original IG post