Dark Days Challenge week 9 - scrambled eggs and bacon

Some nights, the best you can do is scrambled eggs. It's one of those foods I'm just now learning to eat; as I child they were they were the bane of my existence. They were that one food I wouldn't eat, and I was once forced to sit at the table for hours with them, until I finally choked them down, ice cold. Fortunately my mom soon realized that I just didn't like egg yolks; I'd eat any number of egg whites, but the yolks were a no-go.

As an adult with a steady supply of pasture-raised eggs in my fridge, it seemed silly and wasteful not to eat the yolks. I still need something to distract me from the taste (either herbs or marmite, generally) but I can now make a meal of scrambled eggs or an omelet (provided I have toast on the side.)

This week's meal is scrambled eggs from Speckled Hen farm, bacon from Bluescreek, an apple from Gilogly Orchards, and 7-seed bread from Andelain Farms. The butter is from Hartzler's Dairy, and the seasoning in the scrambled eggs is non-local (but is "Sunny Paris" from Penzey's, and is really fantastic in eggs!)

Dark Days challenge - Baby's first omelet

I occasionally phone my mom with new additions to my baby book; they tend to be things like "baby's first car wreck" or "baby's first therapy."

Today it was baby's first omelet.

Okay, so that is technically not exactly true. I ate a few bites of a very runny mushroom omelet when I was in France during high school, but it was accomplished with much gagging and the making of faces (I was serious when I said I don't eat egg yolks!) Les omelettes aux champignons are a big thing in France.

I've even made omelets before, always for somebody else. I usually just fry egg whites for myself, because the thought of egg white omelets never really did it for me.

Today I had 15 minutes before I had to leave for an appointment, and no leftovers in the fridge. I was starving. I had no bread and only 2 eggs plus some cottage ham. I decided to sacrifice an egg and try an omelet, reasoning that it was the quickest thing to make. I found some garlic and herb cheese and scallions to join the ham, and made myself a 1-egg omelet with lots of "stuff."

It was really good! The garlic cheese and chives were strong enough to drown out the egg yolk taste. (I didn't add any milk to the egg, just a little salt. Mostly because I couldn't remember whether or not you're supposed to add milk.) It ended up fairly browned, as I was trying to make certain the egg cooked through. And I used way too much butter. Mmmm, butter. And all of the ingredients were local, except for the salt and pepper.

I think I could eat that again. Maybe I'll even try a frittata or quiche (frittatas don't have a crust, right?) They are actually a darn easy local meal, and I can even make a Greek omelet with locally made feta cheese (which is sadly nothing like real feta cheese, so maybe I'll chalk it up to "terroir" and get some of the real stuff.)