why american breakfast?

Avocado is great!

Bell Pepper = Capsicum

That's right, I forgot about capsicum. I guess the US is the only country that uses the name Bell pepper, unless Canada also does.

More Mexican food: I bought a bag of yucca blossoms from a guy who was selling them from the back of his car. Following his suggestion, I sauted them in olive oil and garlic, with tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicum and jalapenos. Very tasty, indeed. The flavor of the yucca blossoms reminded me of some very familiar vegetable that I couldn't place. I just did a google search and found someone's opinion that they taste like a cross between asparagus and artichoke hearts. It's been a few years since I ate them, but the artichoke heart, at least, sounds reasonable.

LOL the last ten or so postings the word 'bell pepper' came up and I didn't have a clue what the hell you were talking about. :)

Yucca in bloom:
http://www.biology.ucr.edu/personal/MACphotos/plants/yuccas.html

Ooooh...a pretty picture of a yucca in bloom:
http://www.naturescapes.net/portfolios/displayimage.php?id=105&pos=-168

Oh, I forgot a favorite breakfast food of mine we have in Philadelphia, scrapple. It's the scraps of the pig mixed with cornmeal. It comes in blocks and you cut it into slabs and fry it. It goes well with ketchup or syrup.

We just say peppers...red, green, yellow or orange. Do they come in any other colour?

The US eggplant is an aubergine here in UK....I don't think anybody eats them for breakfast....they fit better in a ratatouille....but there again you could have that for breakfast I reckon....bit weird though.

I was wondering whether scrapple would come up. "Ketchup or syrup," eh? That's interesting...how about ketchup AND syrup?

DAMIAN, what form do the oats take in Scottish porridge? I like oats in any form, from true meal, through rolled or "steel cut," to the whole grain (which takes forever to cook).

For awhile I was eating "McCann's Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal," which is steel-cut oats, but probably slightly pre-cooked, or whatever it is they do to grains to make them quick-cooking. There's a recipe on the box for oatmeal pancakes that sounds great. They're made with oats, white flour, whole wheat flour, eggs, milk, yogurt and walnuts.

DAMIAN, peppers also come in deep purple:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/21853/

I suppose you call zucchini courgettes?

Deborah,

Your story about ordering pizza in Lancaster reminded me of the time I ordered chicken parmigiana at a diner in Pottsville, Pa., in the coal mining region. Big mistake! It was american cheese and tomato paste on breaded chicken. Italian food is still considered "foreign food" by older people there. It's too spicy for them to handle!

"Ketchup or syrup," eh? That's interesting...how about ketchup AND syrup?

Well, sometimes the syrup from my pancakes or french toast spills over onto my scrapple, but I always have ketchup with mine, and I don't mind a little syrup in my ketchup.

Now that we are on the topic of ketchup, what is the difference between ketchup and tomato sauce?

Egg plant is fantastic in slices which is crumbed and then fried. Goes wonderfully well with cevapcici or even schnitzel. I've never had eggplant for breakfast, strictly lunch or evening. Alternatively they are really good in a green Thai curry.

Wait a minute...have I stumbled onto chowhound.com by mistake?

Frances, crumbed and fried is how my mother fixed eggplant, and we'd eat it with ketchup:

"Ketchup, used primarily as a condiment, is a sweet-tart sauce whose main ingredient is tomatoes, flavored with onions, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and spices."

So it's really just a certain type of tomato saiuce, I suppose.

My favorite nearby Thai restaurant makes a dish with prawns and eggplant in a coconut curry sauce that I haven't figured out. It's not the standard red curry, but it's sort of like it, only sweeter. It's my favorite dish on the menu. Oh, dear, I'd better go to bed before I start getting too hungry.

Frances, I just reread your post and saw "cevapcici." I had cevapcici in the restaurant at the campground I stayed in, in Zagreb. They were delicious (obviously, that was when I was very young and still liked the taste of meat!).

andre, what is it about PA?