Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sierra Mist and Orange Juice -- Who Knew?

I was having a nice Sunday breakfast (nothing new, nothing big) and I wanted something cool to drink instead of hot tea or coffee. Orange juice is nice, but too acidic for me to have more than one glass.

Okay, so try something new. The worse that could happen is I waste 16-20 ounces of beverages and have a glass of cold water.

I took one of those hard-plastic souvenir cups from a national chain, which was covered with advertisements, which makes it a keepsake. I put about half a tray of ice in it and added a can of Sierra Mist.

Topped it off with orange juice. Well, "topped" is not right. It's a big cup. I poured in about 6 to 8 ounces, so I'm guessing the ratio of soda to juice is about 2:1.

Lemon-lime soda with orange juice? Not bad. I like it.

Why not ginger ale? We were out of it.

Substitutions: Next time, particularly if it isn't breakfast time, I'll substitute the OJ with Hawaiian Punch. That's is always plentiful around here.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Comfort Food: the Double-Decker Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheese

It doesn't take a genius to make comfort food. The genius comes in knowing when you need to make it. And knowing how to improve upon it.

One of the first things I learned how to cook was a scrambled egg (although it often came out somewhere between scrambled and a mini-omelet). Unfortunately, I didn't always have the patience (or, frankly, the ability) to properly scramble an egg. So I had a lot of fried eggs.

Fried eggs are just plopped into the flying pan after the butter has melted.
You don't have to flip a fried egg, and it isn't uncommon for certain eight-year-olds to break the yolk making attempts to flip fried eggs and then whining and crying about it.

My mother used to tilt the pan and spoon some of the grease onto the top of the egg to cook it. That was difficult for me because the pan was hot, even with the pot holder, so I just covered it with a pot lid, and it would cook just fine.

The moment of brilliance comes when you realize that if you're making toast, and you decide to make a sandwich out of it, it doesn't matter if the yolk breaks. In fact, you want it to break. That actually gave me the courage to practice flipping my eggs.

So how do you improve on the simplicity of one egg, one frying pan and two pieces of toast, which bring back childhood memories?

Well, yeah, a bagel or a roll or something. Sure.

But how about two eggs?

One egg isn't very filling, but two eggs is too much for most rolls or bagels. Not that I mind having stuff hanging over the sides, but I don't like burning my fingers while I'm eating breakfast.

And then the brilliance struck.
This was recent. I would never have had the patience for this as a kid.

A double-decker fried egg sandwich.
Make two eggs, but make them one at a time. The first egg won't have time to get cold, and you'll be putting a second hot egg right on top of it.

Can you improve that?
How about a slice of cheese in between. (I use the slices from the bricks at Costco.)

There wasn't any ham in the fridge this morning, but I did have a little package of mini Canadian bacon. I heated it up for a few minutes in the pan to top it off.

And a slice of tomato that was almost as wide as the bagel.

Sorry, no pictures. It was a little sloppy when put together.
And by the time I thought to take a picture, there was a big ol' bite taking out of it.

Comforting.