Eggs Benedict in 6 minutes

I love Eggs Benedict. I can’t pinpoint the beginning of my love affair, because my love has always been there. As Eggs Benedict features prominently in most menus, I don't think I am the only one in love.

For over 20 years, I resigned myself to eating Eggs Benedict in restaurants because I thought the sauce was too darn hard - the classic recipe for hollandaise sauce involves a double burner, a candy thermometer, and a metal bowl (none of which we own). But last Sunday, my partner, trusting as always in the infallibility of The Joy of Cooking and spurred on by my stated desire of what I wanted for Valentine’s Day brunch, kept reading, and persevered, finding a recipe for hollandaise that doesn’t require anything special but a blender.

And we own a blender, and we have fresh eggs that need to be eaten, and the entire delicious, plate-licking meal took us 6 minutes to make, and it was the easiest at-home most decadent brunch ever.

Here is our two-person recipe for Eggs Benedict, modified with more lemon juice to ensure a big sparkle of citrus to offset the fat. Four poached eggs, turkey bacon from freezer, leftover 8 grain 3 seed bread from Zingerman's, Hollandaise sauce made in the blender: 2 egg yolks, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1/3 cup melted ghee (clarified butter), salt and pepper - voila! (Note: This timeline assumes two sets of hands, and we like our eggs runny.)

T-minus 6 minutes: Check coop for fresh eggs, return with 4 fresh new eggs to add to the 2 on the windowsill from yesterday, turn heat on for poaching egg water, melt ghee, slice off 4 chunks of turkey bacon and throw into toaster oven with slices of bread.

T-minus 5 minutes: Separate 2 egg yolks into blender, add 2 teaspoons lemon juice, grind in pepper and salt, press toast on toaster oven.

T-minus 4 minutes: Take a sip of coffee, watch the bread turn into toast.

T minus 3 minutes: Set the table, scratch the dog.

T-minus 2 minutes: Break 4 eggs into the poaching egg water

A brief step-out from our countdown. I learned to make poached eggs years ago. The trick was to create little tornadoes in the water with a spoon and then gently pour the egg into the middle of the tornado. The force of the tornado made sure the egg didn’t spread all over the place. If the egg was being difficult, you could add some vinegar to the water. I always liked making water tornadoes with my spoon - so that is what I did.

Or, that was what I did until we started keeping chickens. I don’t need to make a tornado in the water any more. A freshly laid egg has a white that is almost as firm as the yolk. I am able to simply pour it into the warm water. They are so contained unto themselves, they can be literally on top of each other and still be intact when you spoon them out.

Okay, back to the countdown.

T-minus 90 seconds: Turn blender on and start foaming the yolk and lemon juice. After 10 seconds slowly pour in the melted ghee.

T-minus 30 seconds: (This takes some maneuvering to happen all at once). Remove toast and bacon from toaster, place the four pieces onto two plates, stack turkey bacon on top, remove the poached eggs from the water and place on top of bacon, use a spatula to pour the Hollandaise onto the eggs, carry plates to table.

Breakfast! Cut into the perfectly runny eggs, the salty, tangy bacon, the warm dense bread, and spread over it all the incredibly perfect Hollandaise sauce. Smile as your tongue dances with happiness.

Here is the link to the annarbor.com article!

Unbromated flour: please label

There is a time and a place for proper labeling. For example, California airports have placards telling travelers: "This area contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects." There you are, flying home, and unless you decide to tell your boss you are going to be 3 days late because you felt like taking a scenic rail trip over the Rockies, you do not have much of a choice but to stand there, looking at the sign, and wondering whether the carcinogens are in the carpet, the seats, the ceiling, or the duct system. Should you hold your breath until your plane boards? To me that labeling is helpful in the long run, but not while you are standing there.

Food labeling is helpful immediately. The more information about what you are putting into your body the healthier choices you can make. No one is ever going to force feed you an ice cream sundae. You choose to ingest those calories and sugar with your eyes wide open and sometimes the decadent nature of the treat can add to the pleasure of eating.

Which brings me to labeling unbromated flour.

Flour? Really?

Really.

Flour or gluten is in nearly everything we eat (just ask someone with Celiac Sprue disease). As a mainstay of our Western diet, it invites a closer inspection. The buzz words on the street for flour are "unbleached and unbromated." Most people I have asked do not know what bromation is.

I learned about bromation when I worked for Zingermans Bakehouse, if you already know the facts, please excuse me for this brief recap.

You harvest wheat and you grind it into flour, good. For the first couple of hours that flour can form beautiful gluten, which are protein strands that occur when you add mechanical energy, kneading, to flour and water. After those initial hours the enzymes go wonky in the flour and will not properly form gluten. However, if you age the flour for a few weeks or so it settles down enough to form gluten and baking can commence.

As we all know, time is money. Some smart person (there is a dearth of information about this on the internet) realized that if you pump potassium bromide onto the flour it artificially ages it. Therefore the flour can be used for baking without waiting for it to age. Voila! Money saved!

Meanwhile the UK banned the use of bromide in food products nearly 20 years ago, and Canada did the same thing 15 years ago. In 1986, California passed Prop 65 (ironically, the same rule that mandates the rule of carcinogen signs in airports) and many brands (like Pepperidge Farm, Arnold, Pillsbury, and Entenmanns) switched to an unbromated flour because otherwise their packages would need a cancer warning sign when sold in California.

There are very few flour labels that say unbromated, or "aged naturally." In my small sample size of reading ingredients in products made with flour (crackers, cereal, bread, pasta, etc), I could find no mention of unbromated flour. Unbleached flour was mentioned, enriched flour was mentioned, but there was nothing about unbromated.

Finally, I learned from a woman at the supermarket (curious as to why I was taking pictures of flour bags) that bromide is used to increase the density of vegetable oil, which then ends up in citrus flavored soft drinks (look for BVO in drinks like Mountain Dew).

I am not going to get into the science of whether or not bromide is a carcinogen. I want to know what I am putting into my body so I can choose with my eyes wide open. I would like bromated flour to be labeled.

Here is the article on annarbor.com.

Eggnog to celebrate our backyard eggs!

One of my first memories of the holidays was navigating my grandparent’s home with my eyes fixed on a cup of egg nog clutched in my hands to bring to my parents. When I realized our girls would start laying around the holiday, making eggnog seemed a fine tribute to their efforts, especially after hearing a story about Salmonella being unable to survive in homemade spiked eggnog. Our girls started laying on December 26th, supported with lights, our best wishes, and laying mash (which has nutrients for strong shells).

We augmented our collection with eggs from Dragonwood Farm and plunged into making the recipe of family lore. Handed down on index cards to email, from my grandmother to my father to me.

• Dozen eggs, separated

• Cup and a half of sugar

• Beat yolks and sugar and put in huge bowl

• Add a pint of amber rum and two cups of cheap brandy

• Let sit

• Add quart of milk

• Beat quart of whipping cream

• Beat egg whites

• Add in and let sit

• Add nutmeg

  Serves 20-24

This remarkably simple recipe resulted in a great amount of nog. After folding in the egg whites and the whipped cream, the color was a soft inviting light yellow (thanks to the bright orange of the yolks, rum, and brandy). The texture felt to me like the almost melted bits at the end of a milk shake. The taste was wonderful, light, not overly alcoholic, a nice balance between kick and cream. I added cinnamon along with nutmeg and the aroma of the rum, brandy, and spices brought me back immediately to those holiday parties 20 years ago.

I like the idea of the term egg nog being a contraction of Egg ‘N Grog from the English term for Rum.

I also like the idea of expanding my repertory of egg recipes as the girls hit their stride. I feel I need to be worthy of their beautiful eggs.

Here is the article on annarbor.com.

The book is ready!

After many many months of writing, editing, drafts, harassing friends to edit, copyediting, talking, etc etc. I pressed publish and it is done! Just in time to wrap up 2009. Well done me.

Please write me a review on the Amazon page, apparently that is what counts the most in the world of online sales. Otherwise you can purchase a copy of the book on CreateSpace (where more of a percentage of the proceeds goes to the Polly Hill Arboretum).

Inaugural Introduction on AnnArbor.com

During my interview in 2005 for a job at Zingerman's Deli I told my future managers I loved eating because it is the only carnal thing you can do in public. That sophomoric, and true, sentiment aside, I am happy to talk about food as a new lead food blogger at AnnArbor.com for several reasons. Every country I visit I can't resist trying new foods. Cactus tacos with eyeball soup in Mexico? Sure. Oodles of noodles with mystery meat while crouched on a street in Vietnam? I got really good with chopsticks. Lukewarm sweet cardamom tea on an Indian train? Bring it on. Unrolling a perfect croissant while looking at Notre Dame? I will bring the napkins.

Beyond the pleasure of eating, food is company, food nourishes the soul, food engenders laughter, debate, and love. It is a universal connection one can share with any person.

Moreover, food has become very political. The locavore movement gains traction as Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Prince Charles continue to push the national and international conversations forward. Educated consumers want to make choices that are tasty, healthy, and sustainable. Like a perfect mille feuille, there are thousands of layers to what at first appears very simple: the access to healthy food for all people.

I am writing for all of those "whys". Food tastes good. Dinner in company feeds my soul. Food justice sparks my passion and my intellect. I have to eat to live. I can't think of anything I would rather spend my time on.

So that explains the why; here is the "who."

I moved to Ann Arbor in the summer of 2005 - my husband works for the University. We live near enough to the stadium that on game days we don't have to turn on the radio to hear if we are winning. I am an East Coast transplant - born in Washington DC.

I shocked some city friends with our decision to get backyard chickens this summer. They should start laying this winter (I hope). Here are some pictures of our chickens and the building of the coop this summer.

I run the Westside Farmers Market during the summer season. Here is a video of us at the HomeGrown Festival (which was a blast).

I love to eat food with chopsticks. Sometimes I can read a magazine at the same time, but not always. I can laugh no matter what my utensils are.

Check out the article on annarbor.com.

There are no ordinary days

This past weekend my husband and I drove to Chicago so he could run in the marathon. I was able to catch a glimpse of a very inspiring man, Richard Whitehead, who runs on two prosthetic legs. Richard's example is perfect in many ways. I did not think that I was going to be watching a man with two prosthetic legs running the marathon as I waited for my husband on that chilly morning. Dan Millman, in his great book Way of the Peaceful Warrior, says there is no such thing as a an ordinary day. I have been trying to hold that possibility and focus on it as a goal. So far, I am AMAZED what happens to my day when I look at it as a series of miracles that are waiting to happen.

I am going to keep track of my miracles and write them down. What is miracle is happening for you today?