Eggs

Happy New Year!  And I am beyond excited to begin it. After an insane holiday season, I am ready to kick my year into top gear and really kick ass this year. I was lucky enough to have my immediate family in town, and we had a great Christmas day. I had worked the night prior, so they were kind enough to let me sleep in a bit- we opened gifts at 2, then proceeded to go make Christmas dinner. That consisted of a massive 8 pound ham and 2 trays of lasagna- very italian gorge-fest merged with my sister-in-law's ham tradition. We ate ALL afternoon. And we drank. All afternoon. We had a blast! My friend Robin even made an appearance with her amazing homemade pickles, an excellent wine, and toffee. Everything tasted fantastic,  and getting to connect with the family again made my day.
I did get an incredibly meaningful gift a few days afterward- my own copy of "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee. I had been borrowing my friend Darrell's copy for a few weeks, and the book fascinates me. It's essentially a big textbook about the science of food, and I loved it. Well, he was kind enough to get me one, and I couldn't be happier. It's incredibly informative,  and really helps me connect what I want to do with food with the actual reactions that will commence during cooking. It's brilliant. And it has taught me more about eggs than I ever thought. And that's just one small portion.
When I was in my culinary classes in high school, the second lesson after the Sanitation class was egg cookery. That class in particular sticks out for me for many reasons- for one, I remember being surprised that we were going to spend 4 hours just talking about eggs. And I was a little grossed out- we were focusing on fried and scrambled eggs, and I was not a fan at the time. Still not overly fond of them, to be honest, but I'll actually eat them nowadays. We went over basic breakfast preparations, and how to crack the egg one-handed, and how to flip the egg in the sauté pan sans a spatula. When I tried my first flip, my yolk and white somehow separated, flipped simultaneously, and then broke in the pan. It was surprising to watch, and I promptly forgot about it. Fast forward 8 years later, and I have found myself eating and cooking eggs more often than ever, especially completely different preparations than I have ever tried.
With my new book, eggs have become far less mysterious, and far more important to me. They are so incredibly versatile, and now that I know what the hell I'm doing with them, they are actually pretty tasty. I've found I make a freaking awesome Sunnyside-up.
It's a cool juxtaposition that eggs, the symbol of rebirth in some cultures, has also found itself at the biggest culinary steps in my life. And nowadays, I'm very interested to see what else I can do with them. So here's to 2014, y'all! Let's see where it takes us!