Sunday Bonus Recipe: Hubby's Scrambled Eggs with Kimchi

The plague lingers.  

Hubby has served the following for breakfast on the last two mornings, and I can't tell you how much I've appreciated it.  It's yummy, it opens congested airways, and I didn't have to make it.  

Hubby's Scrambled Eggs with Kimchi

Serves 2

3 eggs
kimchi
hot sauce
dried thyme
salt
pepper
milk
water

• Scoop out kimchi and allow liquid to drain
• Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk
• Add a few splashes of hot sauce, a pinch of dried thyme, a splash of milk and a splash of water to the eggs and whisk some more
• Cook eggs in a skillet
• Add kimchi when eggs are almost cooked
• Salt and pepper to taste

Again this is more of a suggestion than a recipe. Adjust it as you like to make it your own.

And here's a bonus, bonus recipe.

Hot Teddy

hot water

lemon slices

orange slices

ginger slices

honey

cayenne 

This one is even less of a recipe than the one above.  It's a suggestion of a suggestion of a recipe.  I call it "Hot Teddy" because it's like a hot toddy without the booze.  I'm guessing that makes it more kid-friendly.  Like a teddy bear.

It started as hot water with a lemon slice and a pinch of cayenne.  This is what I mean by a pinch:

That's a standard teaspoon.  The bit on the tip is as much as I need.  You may want more, or less.

The next time I made it I added a slice of orange to the lemon and cayenne.  The time after that I added honey.  After that, a couple slices of peeled ginger.  I find that after I sip a cup of this my chest feels less awful, at least for a little while.  

Grinning Gadget

I have a weakness for kitchen gadgets.  Some are useful, others are not.  Some I've purchased, others were gifts.  Most make me happy whenever I use them.  This little guy makes me laugh right out loud.

He's a gift from my parents' trip to Seagrove N.C.   Funny-looking pottery is a long-standing tradition there.  The grotesque faces were originally designed to frighten children away from jugs containing items that shouldn't be consumed by children.  Like poison.  Or whiskey.  


This little fellow wasn't designed to alert us to the dangers of poison or moonshine, though he is a useful guy to have around.  Most days he just hangs out in my kitchen making me smile.  He only demonstrates his true talent on baking day.   

My little pottery pal is an egg separator.  You crack the whole egg into the top of his head, then you tip him and the egg white oozes from his mouth.  I laugh every time.  Useful and amusing.  What more can you ask from a kitchen gadget?
 

(Note: The hand in the photo belongs to Hubby.  Also a useful and amusing guy to have around. Thanks honey!)

Chickens and Eggs

I am not a farm girl. I have never been a farm girl. My mother was a farm girl, but prefers not to discuss it. As a result I am fairly clueless about farm animals. I know eggs come from chickens, and vice versa, but that’s about the sum of my poultry knowledge. It’s quite embarrassing really. I find myself spending far too much time in the supermarket’s dairy aisle trying to decide what the description on the egg carton really means. Should I go with free-range, or free-run, or organic? Does the producer's interpretation of these terms match my interpretation? Am I really buying eggs that are best for me, the environment and the chicken? How on earth do I know? I’ll tell you how I know. I’ve recently stopped buying eggs at the supermarket and have started buying them directly from the farm. In fact, I've had the good fortune of meeting the chickens that provide my eggs, as I know their 10-year-old owner.

This young farm girl has been quite patient in answering my questions about her chickens, and even allowed me to take a few photos for the blog. My list of questions and her answers are below.

What do you feed your chickens? 16% layer pellets. I feed them two 40kg bags a week plus all our house scraps (but no meat)

How many chickens do you have? 43 chickens

What are you saving your money for? What have you used the money for so far? I don't know what I am saving for. I am just saving. I only use the money for chicken feed.

How many eggs do you get each week? I get 26 to 30 eggs each day.

Don't you sell some of your eggs to a restaurant? Where do the rest go? 10 to 12 dozen go to the restaurant. The rest go to customers.

Other than feeding them, what else do you have to do to look after chickens? Change their water, clean the coop, give them fresh nest hay, put them in each night and cover the food so no animals get the food and close their door so they’re safe.

Can you imagine getting this kind of service or knowledge at the grocery store? I emailed the questions to her and had an answer the same day. She even took the trouble to answer my follow-up question in a timely manner. (Apparently a layer pellet is “is kinda like grain but it is a little thicker and for chickens.”) I was impressed, but this girl really cares about her chickens, and that’s what will keep me coming back. Remember those ads that promoted milk from contented cows? Well, I know these eggs are coming from happy, well cared for chickens, and being able to support this local, responsible farmer makes me happy too.