Morning glory

I love porridge always, but here in the north of Scotland the thing takes on its own mystique. It makes such good sense, like melons in Spain in August, or pipas during a football match.

Here I´ve discovered pinhead oatmeal, the Rolls Royce of oats, but I´m happy with the garden variety porridge version, too.

The rice cooker is great for this. I know it´s not hard to do it in a normal pan, but I appreciate anything hands off, specially in the dark of a winter morning.

Just measure your oatmeal, then add two and a half times that in water, press cook, and let it be.

For the pinhead oatmeal it´s best if you stir it once or twice, which is not hard to juggle with making tea and feeding a toddler her Cola-Cao and a baby his milk. Both will later be glad of the porridge, even if the two year old refers to it as "rice pudding".

For a special burst of energy, a spoonful of chunky peanut butter stirred in does wonder. And as a special treat, maple syrup elevates it to giddy heights.