Lunch/Dinner for Breakfast and Everything Else

My day got away from me on Tuesday a little bit. I knew I didn’t have class that night so I pretty much got out of bed in the morning thinking of how to occupy myself before going back to bed that night. As I completely zoned out in front of the TV at nine o’clock in the morning, I skipped my usual breakfast of high fiber cereal and low fat milk. At about eleven o’clock I came to the realization that my stomach was growling. I went to the fridge but it felt too late for cereal and too early for lunch. I needed something…and two slices of leftover cold pizza caught my eye. Cold pizza any time is how I usually run my life, but the rare occasion where it fits in my breakfast schedule makes me wonder what else you could eat besides the typical breakfast fare. I realized that cold pizza is just the beginning.

Now, make no mistake here: breakfast has a lot going for it already. Yeah, we’re talking fresh brewed coffee, sizzling bacon, and hot, fluffy pancakes (unless you are adverse to breakfast carbs). Nothing wrong with waking up groggy and heating up the dirty frying pan, flipping down the toaster, or getting that coffee machine dripping. But there’s also something sinful about eating things that have no business being in your mouth before noon. It makes you feel like a rebel, like you have gone off the beaten path, or in my case, like you are still a college freshman. As I ate my cold pizza and drank sweet tea I came up with these other breakfast substitutes:

- Cake: What’s up, last night’s birthday? We were all stuffed when the flaming sugar slab got wheeled up so most people didn’t eat much. Thank goodness someone put it back in the fridge because now it’s time to kickstart the day with a couple icing flowers. Goes great with morning ice cream.
- Coke: There was a time in my life where I started every day with a Mountain Dew and nothing else. It’s deliciously sinful pouring a tall glass of the brown (yellowish/clear) fizzy at 8:00am. Don’t even try to justify it, either. We understand, friend. We’ve all been there.
- Mix and Match: This is where you stare into your fridge for five minutes and realize you don’t have any good breakfast stuff kicking around. Now it’s time to grab a couple pickles, spoonful of peanut butter, and some slices of bologna before putting the backpack on and running out the door. Works best after late parties where the second round of appetizers is ignored due to booze consumption.
- Regular breakfast food with a key ingredient missing: If you grew up in the hood then you know there were days where milk was not around, so your ‘rents told you to put water on your Cheerios. Sure, maybe it’s disgusting, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. If you’ve ever smeared strawberry jam on your pancakes or eaten a plate of eggs with a handful of Ritz crackers, then you know what we’re talking about.
- Breakfast Grillin’: Flip on the gas and get grilling. You can try whipping up bacon or eggs out there if you want to keep the classics, but frankly, if you’re ever gonna do sausages or wieners, now’s the time. Great for camping or cottages.
- Leftover takeout: Open up your fridge and get ready for that surprise Styrofoam wake up call. Nothing like some snow peas and cross-cut carrots soaking in an ice-cold bath of soy sauce to get the day started with a salty jolt. There is a warning on this one, don’t take your roommates leftovers cause they’ll end up eating whatever you thought you were going to have for lunch.

Now, morning is generally time for slow movements and soft tastes. Most of us baby our tongues with oatmeal muffins, scrambled eggs, or some butter on toast. But that’s why it’s fun eating ridiculous things for breakfast once in a while. You’re drawing outside the lines, ripping up the rules, and adding adventure to your morning. Bring on the day! I will eat this two day old spicy steak and peppers! I will garnish my fried eggs with crushed barbeque flavored potato chips! I will eat the cupcakes leftover from my niece’s birthday party! Seize the day, readers, seize the day!

The Babaganoush Sports Beat

Texas Rangers
We’ve hit the skids. We’re on the schneide. When will it end? I’m not going to tell you! Why? Because you should be watching the games at home or heading out to the ballpark, that’s why. The Rangers are on the cusp of being a true playoff contention team, but they need fan support. So dig out those Rangers shirts you have hidden away in the back of your closet or on your rag pile and throw up The Claw. IT’S TIME!

Dallas Cowboys
As much as I would like to say about the embarrassment that was our preseason, I’d rather not. We’ve had some keys players with injuries over the length of preseason, so it is hard to judge, but let’s just be content that preseason doesn’t count, it’s hardly important, and it’s over. The regular season starts Sunday for the Cowboys, so get your hands out of your pockets and start cheering for the home team. How embarrassing would it be to be considered a Super Bowl contender at the beginning of the year and not make it? Not as embarrassing as having to host the Super Bowl at your new home stadium and not make it? Think about it.

SMU Mustangs Football
Kyle Padron was 21 for 38 and threw for 218 yards, along with 2 touchdowns in a loss against Texas Tech on Sunday, 35-27. The win gave Tommy Tuberville his first as Red Raiders coach. Texas Tech ran its winning streak against SMU to 14 games, dating back to 1989. Tech QB Potts was 34 for 53 with no interceptions and connected with Lyle Leong for three scores and Detron Lewis for the other. Eric Stephens rushed for 3-yard TD to put Texas Tech up 35-14 midway through the third quarter. Texas Tech's defense had the task of trying to stop Padron, who threw for a school-record 460 yards and two touchdowns running coach June Jones' run-n-shoot in a 45-10 win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. SMU’s Darryl Fields returned a kickoff 92 yards to set up a 24-yard field to pull SMU within 35-17. Early in the fourth, Matt Szymanski booted a 61-yard field goal, his longest ever.

SMU scored its first touchdown on its final drive of the first half as Padron led a 13-play drive, including his scrambling for 18 yards for a first down on fourth-and-3 from Tech's 34. Zach Line scored from 2 yards and the Mustangs were down by only one score. SMU pulled within 35-27 midway through the fourth quarter after taking over on downs on the Tech 32. On fourth-and-six from the 13, Padron threw into the end zone and it looked like safety Cody Davis had broken it up. But the ball stayed up in the air and Cole Beasley caught it for a score.

The Mustangs had a chance late and were driving when they failed to convert a fourth-and-21 from the 50 on their final drive. Texas Tech intercepted SMU quarterback Kyle Padron three times in the game. The Mustangs rallied behind their special teams. The Mustangs also blocked two field goals. All in all, it was a fun game to watch, if not completely frustrating. SMU had many chances to break open this game and turn the tides, but failed. It was just plain sloppy, especially the first half. Once Padron seemed to calm down and get in a rhythm things started to look up for the Mustangs, but you can’t bet the farm on him just yet. If I had to pick an upside of this loss it would have to be the SMU defense. There were times in this game where SMU’s defense looked completely gassed, but came through with a big stop. Against the less offensively suave teams in our conference, I have no doubt that this defense will be a huge game changer.

When is Baptsm Appropriate

As our family has been growing over the past year or so with the cousins starting to have babies, there has been a point of contention among our ranks…when is it necessary to have the baby baptized? My father comes from the generation of Catholics who were told that a baby must be baptized as soon as possible (as in a day or two after the baby leaves the hospital). But, due to how spread out our family is and the fact that godparents often have to come from obscure corners of the US, the new babies in the family have gone a month or more before baptism. This confounds my father greatly and he has asked me repeatedly if this is alright or not. Why me? I guess because over the years my brother and mother have nurtured this idea that I am some sort of expert on canon law. This is hardly the case. Although today, sitting in church I was reminded of my goddaughter’s baptism and decided to look into it.

Catholics believe in infant baptism. I have written about this before on a couple of occasions but I’ll try to sum it up. Catholics believe that because of Original Sin, all men have lost the original holiness and justice given to Adam and Eve [CCC, no. 405]. Just as He gives the gift of life, so God gives Baptism as the gift to bring us eternal life. Not only is this given as a gift, but God requires us to accept His gift in order to be saved. As Jesus Himself says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). Children, even babies, were not excluded from the Old Covenant. Likewise, the family of God in the New Covenant is for all people, including babies. As Jesus Himself said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Lk. 18:16). This is the basis for our belief and the reason why we baptize our babies rather than waiting as most non-Catholic Christians do. I fully understand and appreciate the non-Catholic stance on baptism and have witnessed my own friends receive their baptisms as teenagers and young adults. I’m not here to say one way is right or wrong, for it is not my place to judge. I am only telling you what I, as a Catholic, believe.

Back to the question at hand, when is it necessary to baptize a newborn baby? For the answers I went to the one place that would have it, a website of Catholic Canon Law. Catholic Canon Law #867 states that, if an infant is in danger of death, it is to be baptized without any delay. Under ordinary circumstances, states Canon #867, parents are to see to the Baptisms of their infants within the first few weeks: "As soon as possible after birth, even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child and to be themselves prepared for it." So according to the Church, my father is relatively correct in his knowledge of Catholic Tradition. The Church still believes that baptism is essential as soon as possible after birth.

I wanted to know if there is any flexibility in this, because Canon Law is like the Constitution…it was written a long time ago, hardly ever gets revised, and takes ridiculous amounts of effort to change it. I found information for new parents on how to prepare for Baptism. The first consideration in determining the time is the welfare of the child. If the child is at risk of death from complications at birth, it is important to have baptism administered immediately. Also to be taken into account is the health of the mother so that if possible she may be present for the Baptism. For Catholics, baptism is one of the first holy and spiritual moments they have with their child and it is important to be there and be healthy. There may also be necessary some time to prepare the parents for the sacrament and to plan the ceremony. A specialist in canon law has noted that the phrase "within the first weeks after birth" may be interpreted broadly to allow for special family considerations, for example, to await the return of a family member who lives out of town. So, there you go.