Breakfast at Toller’s – by Edythe Anstey Hanen

Breakfast at Toller’s is an informal affair with formal parameters: you must have been invited, or have a standing invitation and breakfast begins promptly at 9 a.m. Toller begins his painting day at 5 a.m. and arrives in the kitchen for breakfast at exactly 9 a.m. The table is set for the exact number of people who have been invited and the seating arrangement is decided by Toller when he arrives.

Breakfast is fresh-brewed coffee, waffles or hotcakes and maple-flavoured syrup (real maple syrup is hard to come by in Mexico), toast and mermelada, sometimes eggs scrambled with peppers, bacon, and always fresh fruit (mango, pineapple, banana, strawberries and papaya). Today, there is chocolate and vanilla coffee cake as well.

Antonia and Graciela have worked for Toller for years. Sweet and always gracious, they move through the glass sculptures and the masses of roses, serving each person individually, silently appearing at your shoulder to refill coffee cups.