Sunday, February 9, 2014

One snow bank looks like the next.

Which is why I didn’t take any pictures today. 

However,  there was one thing that I thought I might like to share,  and that was the awesome eggs I made this morning for breakfast.  Now don’t get me wrong,  this isn’t necessarily the exception either.  Not that I’d want to boast or anything,  but breakfast is one of my specialties.  

No really.   Ask the kids.  Ask T.C.  Ask any of the folks who came to visit when we lived in Europe. 

Even though I called it,  “Bob’s Bed and get your own Breakfast”,  I’d always relent and make breakfast for our guests. 

Or better yet,  just take my word for it.

But that’s beside the point.

 

I give you, the perfect eggs.  The toast is only there to take up room on the plate.

 

DSC_06001

 

I probably should have used a coloured plate,  but then that would have meant having some sort of plan.  Or something.

But this egg theme makes me think of a little story,  and it involves eating in restaurants and hoping to get a decent breakfast.  It doesn’t always happen.  But you may already know this.

Typically,  in most European hotels at least,  they have some sort of buffet type spread put out,  and you go and help yourself.  Once in a while though,  you find yourself in a place where they might have certain items out,  but then they’ll ask if you’d like to perhaps have a couple eggs?  Of course, there follows that brief moment of excitement,  when you think that maybe,  just maybe there’s been some sort of “communication breakthrough” or something,  and that you might actually get a couple fried eggs. 

And, AND have them prepared “over easy”. 

Let me just dispel any grandiose expectations you might have right here and now.  It aint’ gonna happen.

I tried it a couple times in Austria,  and just figured I wasn’t explaining it well enough. 

I mean, I have a fairly decent grasp on the German language and all,  but explaining “over easy”  is a bit of a challenge,  I’ll admit.   So fine,  it never did really happen,  and I ate my eggs “sunny side up”,  with the bottoms over cooked and all crusty like.  Gah!

‘Cause let’s face it,  at a certain point in time,  you’re just too damned hungry to start sending stuff back to the kitchen. 

Well,  I might only be speaking for myself here,  but I think you can relate.

So, at one point in time, we find ourselves in Birmingham (and no,  not the one in Alabama either),  and the young waiter asks me if I’d like a couple eggs from the kitchen?  Seeing as I had just seen a van pull up from one of the local chicken establishments to deliver eggs I figured,  “Hell yes!”.  Because at least the eggs will be fresh.

Besides,  I thought that,  beens we wuz all speakin’ English,  getting a couple eggs “over easy”  should be a slam dunk,  right?  There was of course, the in-depth explanation,  followed by a knowing nod.   I still remember that moment of, well I’d almost call it excitement, waiting for those “over easy” eggs. 

I was sure it was going to happen this time.

I think you already know how this turns out though.

This was in England, after all.  Have you ever seen what they eat for breakfast?  *shudder*.  You think they have a clue how to fry an egg?  Let alone the highly developed skill involved when trying to do “over easy”? 

Nope,  same damned crusty on the bottom runny on top eggs. 

I ate them. 

By that point I was too hungry to quibble.  I’m sure they thought they had made some huge steps on the culinary end of things, but I didn’t have the heart (or stomach) to say otherwise. 

But their eggs sucked just as badly as any that I had had over “on the continent”.  

That’s the term they use for the rest of Europe,  by the way.

 

 

May your eggs always be (slightly) runny.  And not crusty on the bottom.

Hope you had a good weekend.

 

Thanks for stopping by. 

11 comments:

  1. I cannot handle a runny egg (except for the yolk). I want my whites crisp. I am really not an egg eater but my hubby is. So he gets to do breakfast. He knows how to scramble my egg just perfectly and then I split it with the girls. Works for me.

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  2. Those eggs look just about perfect, The perfect number too, three! In my 68 years, I have sent three meals back to the kitchen, all three of them overcooked eggs. I will put up with mashed potatoes from a box or broccoli that has bee steaming for eight hours but dammit, I want my yolks runny and the whites just barely cooked.

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  3. Totally agree with your title--and our snow banks are getting bigger!

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  4. I have not seen a snow bank for a while, but don't mind a picture of them. 10 years of cooking 75 dozen eggs a week gave me lots of practice.
    I personally like them basted.

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  5. Definitely perfect eggs. Funny you should bring this up as we have been having a lot of problems cooking our over easy eggs this winter. Is it the propane, the new fry pan or the free range very very fresh eggs. They are starting to crust on the bottom while the tops are runny...big yuck!! Can I hire you to come make breakfast for us for the next two months?

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  6. New Jersey is famous for our stinky oil refineries, the Jersey Shore, and our diners. You can get two eggs over easy done perfectly every time. A couple of years ago in an effort to save the populous from salmonella, the State passed a law against serving even slightly runny eggs. It was repealed before it went in effect...you can increase our taxes, but do not mess with our eggs.

    Great post!

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  7. Interesting! Arriving on this greatest of all continents, "over easy" was new to us, but we adjusted. Still....I like my eggs mostly "sunny side up" with a crusty bottom. Bacon should be embedded in that crust. Now THAT'S my best egg. Continental.particulars, I call that.

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  8. I've had quite a few English Breakfasts in London. Who's idea was it to include baked beans...without the hotdogs?

    I get it when you talk about snow banks looking the same. We find when we're out hiking the woods doing a job for the COE that one pine tree looks just like the pine tree we passed a hour ago...thank goodness for search parties!

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  9. That wasn't eggsactly the story I expected but I got the yolk. Tell George NO to pictures of snow.

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Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.