Happiness = an egg on top

Nothing is more thrilling than an egg on top. It sounds odd, but putting an egg on top of an otherwise basic dish really turns it into something special. The penultimate 'egg on top' dish is the Korean bibimbop. I distinctly remember the first time I encountered this particular dish. I was in college, and a woman I worked with picked it up for lunch. At the time I had little exposure to ethnic food outside of greasy Chinese, having grown up in the rural Midwest where ethnic food meant Italian. Imagine my mother's shock when I came home requesting hummus, which I was first exposed to at my dorm cafeteria. When I saw Kristin eating the bibimbop, not only did I think it looked odd, but it did not smell remotely appealing. Then, somehow, the third or fourth time she ate it I suddenly acquired a craving. As takeout goes, this is as good as it gets. I like to eat it in or out, vegetarian or not, and I love the kimchi and other sides that come with it. I love it so much that I rarely stray from this menu item, which is atypical. However it's done, it has to have the egg on top. I eat an egg on top of greens, lentils, pasta and rice dishes. I like eggs in any format, but when it's on top, it has to be sunny-side up. Happiness on a plate.

overnight waffles

Unlike my husband, I am not much for sweets in the morning. Weekdays fruit on plain yogurt with a sprinkle of granola is about as sweet as it gets, and I definitely do not like sugary cereals. For weekend breakfast, I usually go for an omelet or an egg sandwich. I do like waffles on occasion, so recently I managed to think far enough in advance to make the overnight waffles from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I had noticed this particular recipe, and countless other overnight recipes when rifling through cookbooks on Sunday morning, but of course it was always too late to make them. A few weekends ago, I finally made the recipe, and they were both super easy to mix up, and crazy delicious; they were hands down the best waffles I have ever made. Another appealing aspect of this recipe is that the waffles are not overly rich/heavy, unlike many other breakfast foods. I am going to try using different flour types in the near future, maybe part buckwheat.

overnight waffles

1/2t. instant yeast
2C. all-purpose flour
1T. sugar
1/2t. salt
2C. milk
2T. butter, melted and cooled
1/2t. vanilla extract (optional)
2 eggs

The night prior to cooking, combine dry ingredients, then stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Cover and let sit out at room temperature overnight. Preheat waffle iron, and brush lightly with butter or oil. Separate eggs, and stir yolks into batter. Beat whites until they hold soft peaks, then fold into batter. Spread ~1/2C. into waffle iron and bake until done, around 2-5min. per waffle, depending on your iron. I like to serve mine topped with yogurt, berries, granola and drizzled lightly with honey or maple syrup; an alternative is apple sauce mixed with yogurt.

**I like to make a big batch, then freeze the remainder; they crisp up beautifully in the toaster oven.

mint: my new favorite herb

I have always liked mint tea, and in ice cream, hot chocolate and mojitos. Beyond that I had only rarely cooked or baked with it. This all changed last summer when I bought a bunch to sprinkle over a bowl of roasted chiogga beets. I love beets, but it this was a revelation, along the lines of my strawberry-basil epiphany. The mint provided a distinctive, refreshing flavor that when mixed with the beets didn't quite taste like mint, but was more amorphous. I think I had shied away from mint previously because I thought it would overwhelm anything mixed with it. What followed was roasted cherry tomatoes with mint, strawberry-rhubarb compote with mint, and a near requirement for mint with roasted beets. I've since been buying a bunch every month at the store, and am really hoping the seeds I planted pull through. I am thinking of making a fresh mint ice cream this summer. Oh, and a rhubarb ice cream.