BLOG-Breakfast, Real and Imagined
- Published: September 15, 2012
Some mornings I wake already tasting breakfast. This was one of those days. Before me, I sense a hearty breakfast of potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and toast. Marmalade and hot sauce. First I’ll start the hard boiled eggs. I’ll pop duck and turkey eggs…enough for this morning and a couple of snacks later this week…into a pot of cool water. I’ll fire the stove and watch the water, so I can turn off the gas once the water boils and cover the pot…leaving the eggs to cook in a hot but not too hot bath.
While I wait, it occurs to me to make coffee but I’ll start the potatoes first. I have a couple of potato bags…including an especially beautiful one from Village Artisans, 100 Corry Street. In each bag, I can microwave a few potatoes heating them to a creamy consistency within 3-5 minutes depending on their size. After setting the drip coffee machine to work, I’ll start a stir fry of onion, okra, and collard greeds adding basil and parsley near the end of the heating. The parsley smells strongly of celery so I must hunt for carrots to add in.
Time to hop up and make this dream a reality.
Ah, well, no turkey eggs. I was looking forward to seeing their speckly shells, but no matter. Soon, I have seven duck eggs submerged in water and cooking on the stove. The coffee maker is calling my name; but, having anticipated this, I successfully resist. The potatoes are washed, wrapped in a paper towel and then the potato bag, and are set whirling away in the microwave for 5 minutes. Funny, the potatoes were white in my dreams, these ones appear purple.
Now, I grind Brother Bear coffee beans and start the drip machine. My daughter wakes at this point. She loves potatoes so approves the morning’s menu and, after a chat, heads off to find her toys…actually, from the sounds of it, her brother’s toys. I’ve turn back to the stove and, finding the eggs have come to a boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot for 8 minutes.
Next, the stir fry really needs to get started. I chop a couple of onions and add three cloves of garlic for good measure. These carmel quickly in hot butter, and the okra soon follows. I successfully find baby carrots which is good because the parsley is indeed very strong, essentially celery. With the vegetables mixed in the skillet, I return to the eggs and remove them from their warm bath into ice water. The ice water stops the cooking process cold, and within a minute I can handle them to shell and slice them for our breakfast plates.
I recruit my sleepy husband to make the toast. I briefly wonder what breakfast he was dreaming up, but he happily warms to mine. Browned slices of whole wheat bread from the Emporium pile high, and my man finds marmalade and hot sauce.
We are ready. The kids join us at the table and we pray. Today, we are especially grateful to the folks of Smaller Footprint Farm who grow our marvelous vegetables. Life is good when reality exceeds dreams. Before us now, the food smells heavenly, the colors pop, and the simple meal even surprises. Purple potatoes, who would have thought?
In this way, we realize the blessings of a hearty breakfast and a good start to a busy weekend, one filled with dance, music, and festivals. The Cyclops Fest is on the lawn at the Bryan Center Saturday from 10am to 7pm. And Saturday and Sunday, Young’s Dairy hosts A Wool Gathering. Both festivals feature the handmade creations of local and regional artisans. Go and realize dreamy visions of your own.
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