Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Beets and Rhymes




Well, I went and did it. I missed my blog two days in a row. I have cooked a few things the last couple of days, but really nothing noteworthy. However, I will tell about it anyway, so here we go with the banalities. Yesterday morning I fried bacon to accompany scrambled eggs. As far as I can tell, three ways exist to cook bacon. Number one: overcook the bacon until it is brittle. Yuck. Number two: undercook the bacon so that the fat is still floppy. Not for me, either. Number three: find the place right between those two so that the bacon is not brittle or floppy, but rather it retains a small amount of flexibility. I usually find this place when I observe grease bubbling on the top sides of the pieces of bacon. When I see it, I remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain. Perfect.

I seasoned my eggs with Salt and Pepper, stirred them together in a bowl, and poured them into the pan with a little bit of bacon grease. I moved the eggs around in the pan with a spatula until most of the egg liquid cooked. Then I extinguished the flame. I say most of the liquid because the eggs will finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan while still keeping moist and delicious.

The wife bought a new toaster a week or so ago, so I broke it in by toasting a few slices of white bread. A little Brummel and Brown (hilarious since I am eating bacon and eggs cooked in bacon fat) on the toast and the breakfast sandwiches were ready. They were actually pretty good, now that I think about it. I cannot tell you the last time I ate bacon.

Let's see. I also cooked beets a few days ago, which no one liked but me. I am still new to cooking beets, so I have only boiled them. Perhaps next time I will roast them in the oven. After the beets cooled, I peeled them and sliced them before throwing them into a jar with olive oil and apple-cider vinegar, a little bit of water, Salt, and Pepper. I like them this way, as I am a big fan of vinegar, but as I said, I was the only one to appreciate them. Vinegar is strong, and if you do not like it, you will not like these beets. A texture issue also exists, as beets, I think, are peculiar to the tooth. But no problem. More for me. These beets put canned to shame, though I will still eat a can of beets if I do not have fresh. Freshly cooked beets have strange affects on my systems, but I will not get into much detail about it. Suffice it to say beet coloring is powerful, and the first time I ever ate fresh beets (not that long ago, actually,) I thought I had developed a serious health problem after observing beet-tinted micturations.

That is it. Oh, I received my Penzey's order on Monday, and I had a hootenanny opening the box. My free sample this time was simple chile powder, which I will enjoy. The peppercorns are great. I would post a picture of the loot, but Janet has commandeered the blogging camera. So here's a low-quality picture of beets in a bowl with Salt and Pepper until we can do it right.

5 comments:

kimberly said...

YUMMMM!!! I LOVE beets! I usually roast them and they are like candy, I swear... delicious.

Your eggy sandwich sounded great... I am actually working on an egg post! :)

J.S. Booterbaugh said...

Yes! I bought more beets today at the Farmer's Market.

J.S. Booterbaugh said...

Do you roast them in their skins?

Jessica (Roark) Jacison said...

we roast em here too. wash them good. trim off the beet greems (you can cook them like swiss chard), spray with a little pam, wrap in al foil, roast in the oven. after about 45 min (?) take em out, don gloves, and squeeze like you would roasted garlic. the skins will pop right off. yum. sooo good sliced up on a salad. love me some beets.

J.S. Booterbaugh said...

Excellent advice, Jessica. I will try that next time.