No matter what time you're ready for that first meal, consider some of these breakfast spots: In Boston Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe 429 Columbus Avenue, 617-536-7669 Claremont Cafe 535 Columbus Avenue, 617-247-9001 Sorella's 388 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617-524-2016 In Chicago Ann Sather 929 W. Bellmont, 312-348-2378 The Breakfast Club 1381 W. Hubbard, 312-666-2372 Wishbone 1800 W. Grand Avenue, 312-829-3597 1001 West Washington Street, 312-850-2663 In New York City EJ's Luncheonette 447 Amsterdam Avenue, 212-873-3444 1271 Third Avenue, 212-472-0600 432 Sixth Avenue, 212-473-5555 Elephant & Castle 68 Greenwich Avenue, 212-243-1400 Sarabeth's 423 Amsterdam Avenue, 212-496-6280 1295 Madison Avenue, 212-410-7335 945 Madison Avenue, in the Whitney Museum, 212-570-3670 In San Francisco Bette's Ocean View Diner 1807 Fourth Street, Berkeley, 510-644-3230 Campton Place Hotel 340 Stockton Street, 415-955-5555 Dottie's True Blue Cafe 522 Jones Street, 415-885-2767 In Seattle The Breakfast Club 12306 Lake City Way Northeast, 206-361-2582 Hi-Spot Cafe 1410 34th Avenue East, 206-325-7905 The Surrogate Hostess 746 19th Avenue East, 206-324-1944

The last thing you remember is declaring, sometime after the sixth beer, "Come to think of it, I've never actually tried Jagermeister -- what's it like?" Now the sun is shining much too brightly through the blinds, you're face down on top of the covers, and the message light on your answering machine is flashing so much you swear you can hear it. Worst of all, your melon is throbbing and your stomach is making noises that suggest you're about to recreate a scene from Alien. You, my friend, are hung over.

You probably did your share of wining and dining from Thanksgiving to New Year's, perhaps endured a walk of shame through the halls of your office the day after the big Christmas party, and now you've sworn that starting from right now you are never ever going to treat your body like a toxic waste dump again. Yeah right. You won't mean to, but one night, you'll find yourself bored out of your gourd at a corporate event or a family gathering, and before long the open bar will be turning on you like an abused Doberman. The best you can do is to be forearmed enough to try to get away with minimal damage -- the hangover that doesn't last longer than the merriment that preceded it.

There are more theories on hangover prevention and cure than there are vicious Schnapps-based beverages in the bartender's handbook. Depending on where you look, you can find good advice, dubious theories, or recipes that seem designed to bring on a hurling session in record time.

Your first line of defense is, of course, prevention. Conventional wisdom says that the best way to not wake up hung over is to perhaps not get blotto the night before. But let's assume you have no plans for exceeding your limit, there just happens to be a crazy guy in the corner flashing twenties and shouting, "I'm buying!" Make sure you're not enjoying his generosity on an empty stomach. Bread, crackers, anything that's not too harsh and can keep the kamikazes from getting lonely will help you face the dawn if not perky, at least not praying for death.

On her snappy home page, Aussie-gal Elena suggests that hangovers, much like the evil pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, get us while we sleep. Her advice? Fight the feeling, and stay awake a while after you stumble home. Her theory has added logic -- longer awake time is more time to drink lots and lots of water, an absolute must to keep the blue meanies of dehydration at bay. If you can remember through the fog, some aspirin and vitamins before conking out can also aid in staving off the worst. Speculation on what vitamins to take varies -- some insist you need your B's and plenty of them, others say to go for mineral replacement. Since you don't want to wind up outside the General Nutrition Center at 3 am bleating "Let me in, you nutrient hoarders!" your best bet is probably one or two of whatever supplement you've got in the house.

The real test of a hangover though, isn't in what you do the night before. It's in how you feel the next morning (or afternoon, as the case may be). Here's where the folk recipes come out in abundance, and the cures often sound more frightful than the disease.

"The guy I used to work for swore by redeyes," says Adrienne, a bartender at Boston's hip Delux Cafe. "It's a drink that's half tomato juice and half beer." Adrienne doesn't go for that herself. "My cure is tuna sub, Diet Coke, and French fries," she says authoritatively. An undergrad working on her degree in natural medicine, she also recommends more wholesome remedies, "Echinacea and as much water as possible," though she adds, "A lot of people who come in here drink their hangovers off."

For those who can't face the hair of the dog solution, web denizen Vlad offers his own homemade remedy. Warning: Not for those with a powerful Kool-Aid aversion. Roc Jaw's hangover page includes a lengthy list of suggestions culled from visitors and offering the suffering a range of options from the sensible ("honey on whole wheat toast.") to the party hearty ("stay drunk") to the flat-out frightening ("12 oz. V8, 1 jalapeno, 1 garlic clove, 3 cubes ice"). Wellspring offers the Chinese cure of some tangerine juice or a bunch of fresh strawberries.

Whatever the remedy, whether it's a multivitamin or a BLT, console yourself with the knowledge that a hangover is not forever, that the aches and nausea do die down. The teasing from your coworkers over your karaoke version of "Play that Funky Music White Boy," however, may take longer to subside. The only cure for that is time.