fried eggs and tomato

Featuring the most delicious-est sun dried tomato crackers in the whole world, that by all rights should be famous but for some inexplicable reason aren't, but which will soon sweep the world probably in my own lifetime. I betcha. I double-dog betcha.

Eggs seasoned with sage.



That's right. Sage. I opened a spice cabinet and reached for the cayenne and there sat the tin of sage right in the way, as if it had moved overnight on its own. (Or those dastardly CIA agents are playing with my mind again. And by CIA, I mean Culinary Institute of America, not Central Intelligence Agency.)

I was suddenly compelled by the power of sage.  Sage, wisest of all herbs and the most compelling.

The older brother of a ninth-grade High School friend snapped one morning, "What is that?" He was pointing to the faint traces of black pepper that I had dotted my fried eggs. I answered meekly, "Pepper."  He goes, "YOU CALL THAT PEPPER? YOU CAN'T EVEN TASTE THAT! GO ON THEN, PUT ON SOME REAL PEPPER SOZE YOU CAN TASTE IT."  Presented  with reasoning cogent as all that I was left to ponder his astute observation. I was indeed just going through the motions, the ritual of applying a few black specks to a background of white cooked albumen purely for aesthetic  reason and with no consideration or appreciation at all for actual taste. I was imitating the actions of  my  father, nothing else. You know, for a giant roving sphincter this guy made a very good point. I've been dumping pepper ever since.

So, extreme pepper and sage.

The bacon was fried in a pan larger than what I prefer for eggs. Therefore, bacon oil transferred to a smaller pan and augmented with olive oil.

There is a useful technique for pouring oil from a pan that doesn't drip over the sides and keeps the outside of the plan clear of errant grease drips. The trick is to tilt the pan to pour, then while holding the pouring pan over the receiving pan, keep right on rotating a full rotation as if really pouring then flipping the pan completely over 100% so that the last drips fall to the inside of the pan and not the outside as  it's usually prone to do, staining the pan with grease or burning and smoking on the outside once reheated. Tricky, eh?

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