I love living in Queensland but we don’t have daylight savings time. Can you imagine summer where it gets dark at 6:00? It sucks.
Apparently the farmers up north would have to be up working in the dark and it would be light until after 9pm so that’s why we don’t have daylight savings time. There’s a bit of a push in our area to get daylight savings but it will be a struggle. Maybe if they just had it in the southeast of Queensland I’d be happy.
Queensland is a big state. If Queensland were a country we’d be in the 25th largest country in the world. It’s over 2,000 kilometres from the state border to the top end.
To make myself feel better for being deprived of daylight savings time, I went out this morning and picked these beautiful cherry tomatoes to have with breakfast. John wanted poached eggs with smoked salmon and roasted tomatoes on wilted spinach. Now THAT’S a breakfast.
We also had a bowl of fresh mango, melon, strawberries and blueberries and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. I was so full that I decided I didn’t need to eat for a week. I kept to that until about 3pm when I wanted to eat the north end of a southbound cow.
I know this could have been plated in a much more attractive way but honestly, I was hungry.
These tomatoes were wonderful as breakfast but they’d be terrific as a side dish with most any meal. You don’t have to grow your own, store bought will be fine. I just like to brag that we grew ours in pots!
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- handful of fresh basil leaves
- 2 springs fresh thyme (optional)
- salt and pepper
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F
- Place tomatoes in a small baking dish.
- Drizzle with olive oil
- Tear basil leaves and toss in the thyme (Retrieve the thyme stems before serving)
- Stir to coat everything with olive oil
- Season with salt and pepper
- Place in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes have popped and are soft.
Here’s Rob getting ready to dig in to his fruit bowl. For a nearly 93 year old, he eats better than a lot of people I know!
My gosh, that photo with the poached egg oozing its yolk on the bread made my heart miss a beat!
no wonder your Father-in-law looks soooo happy!
That was MY plate and it was wonderful. 🙂
Roast tomatoes are such a great dish! And store bought work fine, as you said – roasting really concentrates the flavor, so otherwise so-so store bought ones become spectacular. Good looking dish! BTW, my father will be 93 in December. He and Rob must have been born within a couple months of each other.
We’ve got so many of these little tomatoes that I’ve been looking for extra ways to use them up while we have them. Rob will be 93 on January 1st so you’re not wrong!
OK. That does it!!! My decision has been made. Since there is no daylight savings time I won’t be moving to Queensland!
Love this breakfast menu. I often have salmon/lox for breakfast. And tomatoes with a poached egg on top is often a breakfast for me too. Nothing sweeter. Nothing.
Another great post, Maureen.
I’m not a fan of most tomato dishes and would probably just open a jar of salsa to serve over my poached eggs and toast but your little tomatoes are lovely. Amazing that you grew them in pots. My sole tomato growing attempt was a monumental failure so I’ll stick to buying them in a grocery store or the market. 🙂
This is my kind of breakfast. Really, I would take eggs and vegetables over pancakes any day.
Oh my, I shouldn’t admit that today we had blueberry pancakes. John’s dad loves pancakes or waffles.
No daylight savings?! I’d weep – literally. We switch the clocks back an hour soon and I’m dreading it… Your roasted tomatoes look so tasty, I’d easily eat the entire pan!
Great photos! Looks delicious
Thanks a lot, Susan!
For breakfast? Tasty idea!
I don’t have fresh basil (only dried one at this moment) but looking at your roasted tomatoes and runny eggs, I decided to copy your breakfast this weekend. Looks so delicious!
Maureen, what do you mean it could be plated in a more attractive way? I was very attracted to this breakfast! 😀
Oh Lorraine, I looked at that and thought, “Lorraine would have had it looking like it had come out of the best restaurant in the world.” I’ll get better 🙂
G’day and YUM Maureen, true!
Just woke up and your breakfast was my warm and welcoming smile to the day too!
As one of my nicknames is FANG, (lol); more than under HOW hungry one gets before photographing, I would not worry about your plating as was truly mouth-watering! LOVE roasted tomatoes!! Cheers! Joanne
Thanks, Joanne, you’re very kind. I looked at that plate of food and thought I should start over. 🙂
That looks gorgeous!
I would love a big plate right now with my morning coffee. Your tomatoes look amazing.
Sorry, Rob ate it all. 🙂
Roasted cherry tomatoes are one of my favourite things – I make a big batch often over summer – waiting for our cherry tomatoes to grow right now. I cut them in half and drizzle with a bit of maple syrup before roasting. Sooo good.
Maple syrup? Mel, I think I love you!
one of these days – soon – I’ll blog it! or pop it in my newsletter. it’s ridiculously good.
That’s a breakfast of champions Maureen. I can’t believe you are getting so many tomatoes from your deck that so impressive.
I just discovered Ikea here sells 2 packs of smoked salmon for $5 so I’m happy about that.
2 packs for $5? incredible! I love our outside the door tomatoes. The big ones are so good.. almost creamy. Just a bit of salt (and a bit of sugar for Rob) and it’s a perfect side dish.
Good morning Rob, good morning Maureen and John…. wow, your tomatoes are outstanding! I am still covering mine with frost blankets overnight. Lovely recipe, Maureen, so fresh and delicious. Hope you are still resting!
It isn’t below freezing here in the mornings, Liz! 🙂 I’m fine-ish. Are YOU resting??
We don’t have daylight savings here either (in WA) but we seem to be roughly divided between people who would like it and people who don’t. I’m, I will confess, in the latter category because I get up early and don’t tend to do anything productive after 6pm anyway! It does make the time difference with Vic / NSW annoying though.
Anyhow – time aside, this breakfast looks lovely regardless of lighting!
I guess because I’ve always lived with daylight savings time and I enjoy walking the dog in the evening. Obviously I’ll live with whatever the time is. 🙂
I’ve just bought a pot full of tumbling cherry tomatoes, and I’m so excited about being able to start harvesting them. It almost came to nothing though, because I bought them too early (the rule in Canberra is that you don’t plant tomatoes until after Melbourne cup) and they got a bit chilly the other night. I bring them inside at night now. Not too much longer and I’ll probably start singing at them 🙂 Enjoy finding your cooking mojo again, I think gloriously poached eggs, tomatoes and salmon is a fabulous start!
Thankfully I haven’t had to bring anything in but my tomatoes don’t like the big salty wind we’ve had lately.
Brag away Maureen. When you can grow that many cherry tomatoes at a time you definitely have rights. These look scrumptious! Love the last photo. What a cutie.
He is cute for a man his age. He brought back all his old slides from the early 60s and I’ve been scanning them into his computer. I’ll post some soon. My husband was the cutest little kid ever and he went everywhere with teddy. 🙂
Now that certainly is a breakfast of champions! I hope that John and Rob sorted things out with your MIL.
That’s interesting as there is talk on these parts to do away with daylight savings time!
I’m surviving without daylight savings but I do miss it. We’re not all sorted with the MIL but hopefully soon. She can’t last much longer on her own, poor thing.
Now that’s what I call a way to start the day. Love the photo of your FIL… he’s looking great at 93!!
The tomato recipe loos good, Maureen, as does the rest of the breakfast. Rob looks like he’s doing fine at his age, too!
We have daylight saving over here in Chile, just as back in NSW. Now I’m not making fun of Queensland at all, but I do remember a comment from when I was very young, where someone said that they didn’t want daylight saving in Queensland because it would fade the curtains!
We are cracking up over fading the curtains. When I first moved to Australia we lived in Victoria and John told me that people up in Queensland and the Northern Territory were affected by too much sun. 🙂 …and then comments about Sir Joh I think.
Maureen, I was thankful you posted your method of roasting cherry tomatoes and envious that you plucked yours out of your garden, lol. What a beautiful breakfast! Might even make it for dinner tonight (minus the smoked salmon, fresh out… drat.)
Can I come to breakfast at your house? What a magnificent plate! Those tomatoes would be grand at any meal…and perfect for those non-summer days in the northern hemisphere where supermarket tomatoes are so pale. Your FIL looks great…I’d love his bowl of fruit, too 🙂
Those look so rich and tasty. And I do love poached eggs!
It’s amazing how much sympathy I don’t have for the state where 18C in winter is “cold”. 😉
Gorgeous breakfast!
Yes, well, I do understand. I moved to Australia from Florida and where I am now is about the same as it was in Orlando. It does get down to 6ish overnight sometimes. and honestly, there are days I have to wear shoes.
Nice to see a photo of Rob. He looks very happy. You can brag about growing your own tomatoes – it is inspiring me to do the same. You cook a mean breakfast, Maureen and that oozing poached egg looks amazing. What a great start to the day. And you are so funny – I always enjoy reading your posts – very entertaining xx
You are so kind and written from the writer I think should be on her 5th book by now. 🙂
I wish you luck with the push for daylight savings, but I don’t fancy your chances up there. I do fancy your tomatoes, however. I love these cherry tomatoes and oven roasting just brings out all of their sweetness.
Yeah, it won’t get through. bummer.
Yolk Porn does me in EVERY TIME! 😉
ROFL !!!
You had my attention, Maureen, when you mentioned roasted tomatoes in your title. I love absolutely love them. I use them in a number of dishes but they’re wonderful straight out of the oven, as you did here. John’s looking very good for going on 93. My Zia will be 91 next month and she’s, also, doing well. I kid her that she’s more active than I am. How do they do it? 🙂
I don’t know. John’s not quite 60. Rob will be 93 on January 1st. Rob and Zia have lived through some rough times and they’re tough people. They don’t “think old”.
This sounds delightful. I love to join in.
Don’t these look delightful! We have wonderful daylight savings, but don’t be too jealous when you’re able to pick tomatoes so early while mine got frost burn with minus 2 degrees here in Canberra this week! I guess you can’t have it all- but it sure would be nice 🙂
Most envious of your cherry tomato stash, Maureen. I’ve just planted three seedlings … figure i need to plant many more to have a suitable quantity for summer. Rob looks like one happy customer 😉
We have three cherry tomato plants and we’re getting a bowlful every day. More than I can eat standing in front of the bush. 🙂
Can the farmers not get up a bit later – and still work the same amount of hours? I’m sure the lie-in would do them good and you’d get to enjoy the long evenings.
Delicious breakfast, Maureen. The smoked salmon adds a touch of luxury and sure beats the full Irish!
apparently if you have animals you have to work to their schedule and they don’t like working in the dark in the morning. They could split the state as far as I’m concerned. 🙂
That looks so delicious, I just wanted to dive straight in. I’m off to make poached eggs and check for tomatoes. GG
A wonderful breakfast! Rob is a healthy and cheery looking 93 year old.
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh I love day light savings, I hate it when it stops though, I wish they would just make the whole east coast the same time zone…I feel for those in Coolangatta. Do they go by QLD or NSW time during day light savings? Love that you can grow so many gorgeous tomato’s in pots Maureen, see you really do have a green thumb 🙂
Plate it, smate it…I think it looks DIVINE, she says after a piece of toast for brekkie. 🙁
John’s dad likes a big breakfast so that’s what we do. Lunch is leftovers or dips and then we have a big dinner. He’s a bit of work. 🙂
Yep -one of may favourite accompaniments to breakfast is roasted tomatoes. I add a little chilli flakes sometimes, too 🙂
Rob has trouble with spicy but what a great idea!
Oh that egg yolk looks too good!
I LOVE the picture of Rob!! What a wonderful, charming and utterly lovable face. 🙂 Your breakfast is my kind of heaven and I love this tomato dish! 🙂 I loved learning more about Queensland too. 😉
We have smoked salmon for dinner in a salad tonight. I must add a runny poached egg to lift it to another level. Great idea!
I think Rob is probably doing so well because he eats so healthily. What a great breakfast.
I LOVE daylight savings, I would move states purely based on it 😛 haha
Here it’s always getting dark at 6 pm, no matter summer or winter and I know what you mean. It would be nice to have some more time to click pictures of food outside in the evening. =)
Wow now that’s a breakfast for a king! The picture with the fresh tomatoes is so inspiring. I feel like running into the kitchen and cooking right away.
I dig the roasted tomatoes!!
You are such a wonderful writer Maureen! And that is one of the most beautiful breakfasts I’ve ever seen. I love a hardy morning meal – but I’m ready for another in the afternoon too! Hope you are doing well.
LOl The check’s in the mail, Tricia, thanks. 🙂
I’ve been thinking after seeing this post, Maureen, that I haven’t had a wholesome savory breakfast in awhile now. In Israel you would see this every morning, especially in hotels and weekends at home with a spread of many salads and cheeses. Now this post of yours made me feel sentimental.
Here is the Caribbean it starts to get dark by 6:00 so I am very used to it. Lovely way to incorporate tomatoes into breakfast. I just love cherry tomatoes!
It gets dark at 6pm all year round, Wizzy? I didn’t think so but I’m happy to be wrong. 🙂
A grand breakfast, indeed! Perfect egg with delicious tomato–I’m in–and would probably swear off eating for awhile too, but like you would be ravenous by 3:00 pm. Our favorite way to describe such a state is proclaiming we could eat the backside of a dead rhinoceros. LOL
I make roasted tomatoes at least twice a week – we love them that much. I’ve never made them though to put on eggs with spinach as in this recipe. It looks fantastic. This would even be great for dinner. I can’t wait to make it. Great recipe.
Thanks, Vicki, you’ve made my day!
I have a container of cherry tomatoes in the fridge and they are going into the oven as soon as I post this.
Dear Maureen, The breakfast looks delicious and healthy and why not brag, I would but my tomatoes struggled to and struggled to grow and never turned red. (that is why I am incorporating green tomatoes in almost everything!)
Blessings dear. Catherine xo
LOL at the green tomatoes in your dishes. Mine are turning red and its not yet summer. Might be too hot here to grow well in the summer but I’ll give it a try. 🙂
What’s interesting is that we have daily savings time and I hate it! I hate the transition in the fall and again in the spring. It really messes with me physically and mentally. But no matter what time of the year it is, I would love to wake up to this breakfast! I never think of salmon for breakfast, and why not? It sounds fabulous with the poached egg and tomatoes. Great pictures Maureen and it’s very hard to believe that your FIL is 93!
John’s dad is a cutie. We’ve been scanning in slides from the60s. He was really cute!
What a fabulous breakfast! Love the picture of Rob! I had no idea about the daylight saving, you learn something new every day! We went to Australia once and I have a vague memory that got dark really early on Magnetic Island!
Yep, no daylight savings up here. I really miss it.
Those poached eggs and tomatoes look like a perfect Sunday morning breakfast to me! I still haven’t been able to master poaching an egg…I have an egg cooker that does it! 😉
Poaching does take practice but put a hint of vinegar in the water, bring to a very slow boil and put the egg in a dish. Swirl the water very slowly and dip the bowl into the center and release the egg. All the arms and legs will come right back to the egg, I promise. 🙂
I like your more casual photos!! Looks yummy! I love roasted cherry tomatoes – those with a little garlic make a great simple sauce for pasta too!