bit of Monday

Esme came back from her sleepover/party really really tired... asleep most of the way home, staggered to bed after a drink and went to sleep some more.  The birthday girl's mom said she hardly ate anything there - which isn't that unusual, and she hadn't slept much that night (none of the girls had).  But, she was much more tired than usual.  I asked her if she wanted a special drink at the store and she barely lifted her head out of the cart.  She perked up after a nap but hardly ate any of a favorite supper and then didn't complain when I said we should go to bed early.  Then Saturday she started running a temperature, which we were watching out for, considering the normally bouncy child was sleeping and her eyes looked 'funny'...Moms see that sort of thing.  Mark isn't sure what I mean when I say that, but it usually pans out that if her eyes have that sheen and squinch to them she's about to get sick  Her temp rose to 103 overnight.  She also complains her legs and head hurt.  The temp kept coming back after a dose of tylenol.  So, this morning we are off to the doctor. 

An Eggy Toast or...?

I'm not sure what others call this.  I grew up calling it an Eggy Toast, which is different than French Toast (as it has no milk) and is more of  a timing trick than it really is a recipe.  Mark says it can't be that unique, people have obviously done this before - but what did they call it?  I'm sure the name changes from region to region..like that lovely hamburger and milk gravy with peas on toast thing we were served without ever knowing the *ahem* colorful name for it.  It probably was a complete accident of being a kid and having the toast part ready but having to wait for the eggs to be delivered to your plate. But once you've gotten used to eating something a certain way it does have a comfort factor to serve it up for yourself once in a while.

The first part is, of course, to fry an egg or two.  Fry them sunny side up in a little butter and get it almost to the point where the whites have cooked but the yolks are still runny inside.

The timing trick comes if you are doing this alone.  You're watching the eggs... and unless you put the toast in the oven rack directly beneath you in the stove, you might burn it.  Several blackened pieces of toast can attest to this!  Once the toast has gotten dry but not burnt, pull it out and put it on a plate.  Chop up some cold butter from the fridge and put it in the center of the warm toast, as much as you would like.

Do a careful flip with a pancake flipper and place the eggs sunny-side DOWN on top of the cold butter and toast.  Let the runny egg yolk run through the toast and melt the butter.  Salt and pepper as desired.  Chop it up slowly and savor the buttery egg and bread.

It's not great to look at, but it tastes wonderful.

This is a great meal for 'I just got home from work and it's really late and I'm hungry', or for puttering around on a weekend morning etc.  It is not a lot of food (unless you want it to be, in that case, just increase all quantities) and it pairs besides a lot of things.  There are a maximum of three dishes to wash - although that egg pan might be something to soak.

 Do you have another name for this dish?  Leave it in the comments.

//Esme is going for a sleepover tonight and a birthday party tomorrow. It will be a busy weekend!

bits

I've had my application accepted for doing stock photography on the side.  We'll see which images I send get approved.  Still doing the other receipt programs and entering in information on that other site and racking up small amounts to be redeemed later.   And I've finally gotten Esme's birthday presents ordered.  She has a birthday sleepover and party to go to this weekend.

I've been cooking brown rice every few days and putting it in my meals for work.  Now the pants that were too uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time are just fine.  It's not a big change, but it's a good one. 

I'm in the fifth book of Outlander still, Amanda has been born.  Esme and I are on the second book of the Araminta Spookie set.

At the Fair

At the fair with Grandma, G and her mom.

 

At the Hollow Rock

Esme had never been to the Hollow Rock our nearby city of Hollow Rock, TN is named for.  In fact, Mark lived near the city when he was young and said he had never actually been to the rock, either.  I went to see it not long after I moved here.  But this was much more fun today, because Esme was quite thrilled by the place.  (Even though it is covered in graffiti and has lots of very old trash in the water below).  She simply saw it with the wonder of some chance occurrence of Nature that people had found before her, and was still there for her to see today.

She said climbing up the rock made her feel like a monkey at the zoo...

 

If you are small enough, you can fit inside the hollow in the rock and crawl through to the other side.

This is the old but only slightly rickety metal bridge that crosses the tiny creek.
She insisted on dropping a handful of leaves into the water to see them float away downstream.

After this we drove on down past the Bruceton Yard train yard, seeing the trains from the road as we went around and through Bruceton, TN - and on to the local gas station where we used to buy chicken on a regular basis back when Esme was very young.  She used to have to pet their stone chickens every time she went there!  I reminded her of that today and it took her a moment to remember it.

She said today was a very fun Sunday!

pumpkin flavored everything.. not quite

I have tomorrow off and it is already planned with pumpkin and other activities...

I really do like canned pumpkin, which the news pointed out yesterday is really a type of winter squash canned up and labelled 'pumpkin.'  I've known that for years.  I used to buy 'winter squash' in cans in the vegetable aisle in Minnesota.  It was one of my staples.  I could not find it here in the South at all.  Then I stumbled upon canned pumpkin in the pastry shell section.  And I knew it for what it was.  And it was good.

So I have several cans of this in my cupboard at all times.  Mark even has presented me with several cans for Christmas and anniversaries and birthdays.. along with various other canned vegetables.  It's a thing in our household and it does work out well.

I put pumpkin and rice and cottage cheese together in a container for work today, and pumpkin and avocado and rice yesterday.  There is still a pint jar's worth left from the one can that I opened.  I also saw that it is a decent thing to feed to dogs who are having digestive issues - like our Columbus.  So, tomorrow I'm going to make another big pot of rice and then look toward saving him out some of the pumpkin and chicken broth that I will be using for the pumpkin and black bean soup recipe I found.  There are lots of recipes in this vein.  Some require coconut milk, others heavy cream.  But I was looking for something that was much more simple...preferably with chicken broth in it instead of vegetable broth (we keep chicken broth as a staple in the cupboard)  .This Recipe by The Pearl Team Room in Johnson City, TX fit the bill.  I think I'll make up some tomorrow if we have time.

On the weight loss front I'm finding that the 'feel full' part of the pumpkin is working.   Yesterday I did not eat the pudding I brought with until 8 o clock at night (lunch at 5).  And today I didn't eat the other half of my lunch itself until several hours after lunch.  I stared at the vending machine and remembered those two tablespoons full of pumpkin and cottage cheese left in my container.  And it was good.