HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE! NEW YEAR = NEW FOOD!

HAPPY 2012!!
I hope everyone ended 2011 on a rockin' good note!  It's been a LONG time since I've posted and no sense in going through all the blah-blah-blah as to why.

Most importantly, here I am!  It's a New Year!  New Food Ahead!  New Stories Ahead!  New Food Stories Ahead!

So I woke up this morning and was unusually hungry.  I really don't know why because we had fallen asleep to the Food Network and when I woke up two chefs were trying to come up with a recipe / figure out how to cook a cow tongue the size of a small Winnebago reminiscent of Cousin Eddie's RV in "Christmas Vacation."   ME:  :30 Fuzzy Stare At The TV ...."Really?"   http://www.hookedonhallmark.com/2009-Cousin-Eddies-RV--MAGIC-_p_30639.html

Regardless, I was hungry.  As I think most of us do, I walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and stood there for a good :45 taking in all the options and letting all the cold air out.  ((I can't tell you HOW many times as a child I heard ...."Lisa-Margaret, close that door - you're letting all the cold air out."))  Clearly, that really resonated and "stuck" with me.   I shut the door, stared at the pantry shelves, opened the refrigerator again, stood there for a good :45 again taking in the options (like something had magically appeared since I last closed the door) and let all the cold air out again.

Nothing.  I got nothing.  I had nothing.  I was still hungry ....and a tad annoyed.

I started my coffee and stood in the kitchen staring out the huge kitchen windows into the sky .....and I saw our town's toddler-sized turkey buzzards circling in the sky.  A lightbulb went off - a kitchen lightbulb if you will.  Actually, an egg lightbulb.  I felt like MacGyver!  No, not really.  I mean, come ON.  We all know "MacGyver" would have created a human cannon machine to project himself into the sky where he would have then grabbed a toddler-sized turkey buzzard with his bare hands and used a pair of "Spiderman" web-like  cuff links he invented ((which could clearly double as cuff links to a swanky dinner soiree)) to swing in the sky - historic home to historic home - until he landed back at the B&B and cooked the toddler-sized turkey buzzard over a pile of sticks he ignited with, I'm sure, a swiss army knife and roll of duct tape.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver

The town's toddler-sized turkey buzzards circling in the sky made me thing of ....EGGS!   It's not like they were circling the sky and dropping eggs.  It was more like  - what came first?  The bird or the egg?  It all came together in my head within minutes (I must admit, it was a little overwhelming with no java in my system) and I lunged for the skillet.  No, not really.  I just put the skillet on the stove.  Childhood memories came to me of my Mom cooking "birds on bread" for me if I had been what she called "a good behavior" the previous day.  Needless to say, this breakfast wasn't prepared often for me.  No, not often at all.  Actually, hardly ever.  http://web4.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F1_G1b.html

"Birds on Bread" was what I called two pieces of bread with circles cut out of them and an egg cooked in the middle.   My Mom was hosting a bridge party one weekend and, as I always did, I sat in the kitchen watching this beautiful, energetic "Betty Crocker had NOTHIN' on her" woman flutter around and create amazing dishes for her parties - - -  and this day she was making "birds on bread" but fancy-style with swiss cheese and chives and spinach and a Bechamel sauce.  My mom told me this was a "Birds Nest Casserole" to which I replied ...."No, it's not.  It's birds on bread."  Always the defiant one, I think my Mom had basically decided early on which battles to attempt to win and which to just admit defeat.  She smiled - with her perfectly coiffed hair and pink lipstick and an apron we would all die to have because it was just so pink and perfect - and said, "Yes, Lisa-Margaret those certainly are birds on bread. You're so smart to think outside the box and call it that."  To which I replied, "I know."  What can I say?  I wasn't a good child.   http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-60s-Feminine-Sexy-Pink-Chiffon-Sheer-Apron-Flower-applique-/110786088148

I grabbed a skillet and 2 slices of Light Wonder Wheat bread.  I cut two circles out.  I cracked two eggs. I sprinkled sea salt & fresh ground pepper over this amazing creation in the skillet and waited.  Three minutes later, all was well in the world.  I slid those beauties out of the skillet and on to a plate, grabbed a fork and had a serious sit down with "birds on bread", smiling as I remembered that afternoon my Mom was fluttering around the kitchen with her perfectly coiffed hair, pink lipstick, and an apron we would all die to have  now because it was just so pink and perfect.

It's been a great morning.  You see, I had breakfast with my Mom

Xo .  A Girl Cook
"Always Push The Parsley!"