The Star at Woodstock

Super shot!
Just looking at those prices. I would have thought that a full English breakfast and a Sunday Roast would coast more these days, at least compared to my most recent experience of about 13 years ago, but I presume fierce competition is the driver here!

Yes, the full English breakfast does seem quite cheap.
Perhaps it's just a full bowl of cornflakes.

It coasts more by the seaside.

Newly-hatched chicks tend to go cheep.

The online menu lists the Full English Breakfast at £8, rather than the fiver advertised here, and consists of Butcher’s pork sausage, back bacon, field mushroom, tomato, free range
fried egg, baked beans, and a choice of wholemeal or white toast.

The All Day Full English is £13.50 and consists of Butcher’s pork sausage, two rashers of bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, tomato, free range fried egg, hash brown, baked beans, and chips, with an extra £2.50 for a pot of tea.

So not so cheap after all.

At least they're not charging for the range fried egg, which is generous of them.

When staying in hotels, I have a full English breakfast (because I'm paying for it willy-nilly) with no tomatoes (which make everything wet), baked beans (which smear everything, egg included, with tomato sauce), black pudding (which I don't like) or fried bread (greasy and unhealthy).

But I prefer buffet breakfasts where I can heat my plate thoroughly on a toaster before serving myself.

Super breakfast at Furzeleigh Mill, Devon.

Not for me, thanks, because I don't like:

* Apricots (or any other fruit in cereals)
* Unskimmed milk
* Yogurt
* Anaemic white toast
* My tea poured out and getting cold long before I'm ready for it, i.e. when I've finished eating
* The lack of drinking water
* Warm food (even scrambled egg) served on a cold plate

The apricots were not compulsory, but my choice from the buffet, as was the yoghurt.
I'm sure water and brown toast were available too (and even burnt toast if requested),
whilst tea could be poured at one's leisure.

A very welcoming-looking and attractively done-out place.

I don't travel much these days but it would still be worth my printing a sign to place on the table or hang round my neck, saying (in response to being asked, as soon as I sit down, whether I'd like coffee or tea): "I'll have that afterwards, please, but could I for now have a glass of tap water". Alternatively I could train a parrot to say it, and perch it on my shoulder. It would save my saying it every single time.

And another sign (or parrot) for when I'm ordering dinner, saying: "No gravy/with the sauce on the side, please". (That's because I don't like my main course wet and soggy). And a third to use when apple pie is served with ice cream, asking for the two to be served in separate dishes. That's because I don't like my apple pie cold and soggy and nor do I like ice cream warm and melted.

I would have thought all of that common sense and done by default, but no.

You might think you're normal, but not everyone lives by the same rigid rules.
Roy likes lashings of gravy on his dinner, and custard with his apple pie.

True, not everyone does. People do the often silly and illogical things they happen to have been brought up to do, and which others around them do, without a moment's thought as to why. Examples are drinking coffee and tea (which contain caffeine, a proven appetite suppressant) before rather than after food. I myself find food more enjoyable when my appetite is stimulated, not suppressed.

If Roy likes lashings of gravy and his vegetables sodden, that's OK by me, as long as doesn't mind having to use a spoon to eat his entree and tuck his napkin into his shirt collar.

I too like custard with my apple pie and spotted dick, but both custard and pie or pudding are (or should be) hot. My objection is to hot and cold things served together so that both end up tepid and mushy.

Should I infer that you also disapprove of dunking?

You certainly should, but what other people do in private is their own affair.

Should public dunking be a criminal offence?

Of course it shouldn't. It's no more a crime (in a legal sense) than are speaking or drinking with one's mouth full or wiping one's plate with bread, or using fingers when a knife and fork are to hand. Or for that matter tucking one's table napkin in one's shirt collar or blowing one's nose with it. These are simply things which are just not done.

Not done? You mean like wearing a suit without a tie?

More so.

Well. I've followed your gustatory thread, so to speak, and I have to say I'm not as fussy as I thought I was. I would happily eat any thing photographed and mentioned above! The only problem is that as a diabetic, I HAVE to be picky. But I can truthfully say that while I shouldn't eat a lot of what you're talkng about, it doesn't stop me from hankering after all of it!

Bad luck. I guess you've had to go easy on the Spanish wine?

Like most people today, I don't have a cooked breakfast at home. As well, because (as we both know) fried egg, bacon et al isn't very good for one, even non-diabetics. I like English breakfasts as much as anyone (as long as they're not served on cold plates) but when on holiday in the UK, I can have them for a maximum of 3 days in a row before my stomach begins to rebel.

What I can recommend as a palatable yet 100% healthy way of filling one's stomach is Weetabix (or a supermarket own-brand equivalent for half the price) eaten dry, just "buttered" with a low-fat spread.

Eggs are one of the best foods you can get, especially for diabetics, and even non-diabetics!
If it's the frying you don't like, you can always ask for scrambled, as I did above.

People must get very nervous about inviting you round for a meal.
Or do you send your list of culinary rules in advance?

Well, my rule is not to deny myself completely from the true pleasures in life; I'm no Puritan ... but (and everything in moderation), wine is a major hobby of mine! Before covid I helped a Spanish student of mine who owned a very good wine shop to host wine tastings for American tourists in Madrid. Great fun! I had done wine tasting tutorials at my parents wine shop throughout the 80s so I know a bit about the subject - and it continues to fascinate me even if I can't be a regular imbiber!).

I don't think I've heard of that way with Weetabix! Not something I can experiment with in Madrid unfortunately! I agree with what you say about cooked breakfasts - approx one a week is about all I could manage, much as I loved them! Now it's coffee and wholemeal toast with marmite (available here at a preice!) for me!

I think most people have the odd friend or family member with unusual dietary requirements or allergies or plain dislikes. We all have to learn to adapt to these - within reason! But it pays to be alert to peoples' allergies (I became allergic to strawberries and radishes about 15 years ago and I loved both! I've been in anaphylactic shock twice (one time for each!). Not fun.
I agree with you about eggs. A super-food for diabetics and the old saw about too much cholestorol has been disproved finally! I average about three eggs a day, And I'm not even going to work!

They are not rules. They are things which people who might invite me for a meal do not themselves do and do not expect me to.

With Howard, I think it is more foible than allergy. He has very strict ideas about how things should be done (including photography). I developed a strange 'allergy' a few years ago: I get hiccups if I eat anything with sugar. I'm okay with just a small amount, such as a Rich Tea biscuit (great for dunking), but cannot eat cakes or custard.

1. It isn't foible. There's logic underlying my preferences, and a long-established consensus about what is or isn't "done".
2. If you happen to like your biscuits damp and soft, then (ideally in private) go ahead and dunk them. But why not just open each new packet, spread the biscuits on a plate and leave them exposed to air for a few days? They'll become damp and soft without your having to dunk them.

There is no greater culinary delight than sucking one's tea through the medium of a ginger nut. Rich Tea is good, but generally too large for the average mug, requiring it to be partially dunked before full immersion, which does run the risk of an accident, where half the biscuit ends up floating in the cup. But McVities nuts are the perfect size for dunking, and can be popped in the mouth whole before going soggy. Roy can finish a packet in one sitting.