The morning after the night before...

01 Feb '12

If you're anything like me, the next day after a reasonably decent sized drinking sesh involves three things:

1. Hours lying in bed awake after only 4 hours of shut-eye attempting to go back sleep.

2. Arm stretched out, awkwardly fumbling for that cup/bottle/jug of water you took to bed with you the night before (or just a few hours ago).

3. Trying to figure out exactly what food it is that your body is craving.

For me, item number 3 is by far the most pressing issue on the day after the night before.

I can spend hours lying in bed, debating in my head about what I'm want to eat (regardless of whether I got the Taxi driver to make quick detour via Maccas enroute to my home at 3am).

But the puzzling phenomenon is - nothing, and I mean nothing - seems to leave me satisfied.

I've tried the healthy route, with banana, peanut butter and honey on a thick slab of crunchy, grainy toast. Super tasty, but to no avail.

The alternative is to take the greasy path.

My housemates love a bit of yum cha, which again is delicious, but does mean someone has to drive somewhere. Which also means you have to get out of your pyjamas. And, unless things have changed since the last time I went 12 months ago, there is no drive thru at yum cha, which also means that once you get there, you have to sit down and eat. Plus, you have to get there by 11, or else all that will be left is a couple of soggy pork buns and a plate of cold, deep-fried chicken feet (which is completely unappetizing at the best of times).

A big old fry-up, with bacon, eggs, mushrooms and decent sized squirt of barbecue sauce is the breakfast choice of many. However, it can feel a little heavy in the gut, and I usually immediately regret it. Not so much because of the large amount of calories I've just ingested, but because I now spend the next couple of hours thinking about what else I can eat (on top of having already consumed such a large amount of calories).

And it doesn't matter whether or not I've achieved a feeling of fullness; it's about achieving a feeling of satisfaction. The search for food that satisfies after a big night seems to be a perennial pursuit.

In my early 20s, hangovers rarely seemed to affect me. I'd get up in the morning feeling pretty much fresh as a daisy, and head outside for a 10k run. And I'm not even joking.

I'd bound down Latrobe Terrace, wind in my hair, smile on my face, thinking about digging into a big bowl of lightly steamed leafy green veg when I got home. (Disclaimer. I do still love my green veg - I just don't yearn for it after a big night out).

I haven't re-tested this routine in the last few years, but in these last few years, the hangover seems to be hanging over at my place a lot more.

So, what I want to know is, what's your hangover food of choice? Do you have a never-fail go to meal that works a treat? Go on, help a girl out!