Croissants and Cafe Au Lait

I usually check the day old, discounted, bakery items when I'm at Walmart. I can easily by-pass the sweet stuff, but not breads and rolls and definitely not croissants, which are rarely on the racks. This week there was one package of four left, which flew into my cart. I didn't even have to think about it. I love croissants, but rarely buy them because of the calories. I can resist when they are full price, but not when they are marked down.
The first one I ate that evening, sliced in half, spread with Brummel and Brown, topped with swiss cheese slices and warmed/melted in the microwave. Mmm.
The second I had with my coffee yesterday morning in place of my usual maple and brown sugar frosted mini wheats. Afterwards, I thought, "I should have put some cream and sugar in that second cup of coffee."

So, this morning I did just that. First cup black, second cup with Sweet 'N Low and some half and half - not exactly café au lait, but close, anyway for me.

What my coffee with milk and sugar DID take me back to was when I first started drinking coffee. It was with my mother and just like I learned to drink hot tea, with milk and sugar. Except I drank hot tea that way when I was a child and did not start leaving out the milk/cream until I was an adult.

I was still drinking tea as my hot beverage of choice until the kids and I moved back home after Dad died. Even those three months we lived with Mom, I still had hot tea with breakfast while she had her coffee.

It wasn't until five years later when I was almost forty years old.....it was after Mom got her hand hurt and I started doing the milking for her.....

It was either when Mom got her hand caught in the wringer while washing clothes or when she got one of her fingers ripped open by the boar's tusk that I would get up at 5:00 a.m., drive the four miles to her place in order to get the milking done in time to go back home and get ready to go to work.
I would come to the house with the milk and she would say, "Don't you want a cup of coffee?" I think she felt it was the least she could offer for me doing the chores. Finally, one morning, I said yes. I had to load it up with sugar and the rich cow's milk in order to drink it, but after a few days, it began to taste good to me. The funny thing was I had always loved the smell of coffee and the taste of coffee flavored candy, ice cream, etc., just not the real thing.
Just like with tea, I would first cut out the milk, but still need sugar, eventually preferring my coffee black. (Though I still use sweetener in my hot tea and drink iced tea black.)

Tomorrow morning I will eat the last croissant, possibly with another adulterated second cup of coffee. Oh! If I really want to be fancy, I could use the French press to make the coffee. 😉