Two Eggs Over

I started this morning by waking up at 5:15 a.m. for no reason, and clambered out of that holy sanctuary of sleep, with the fan making me feel as though I had spent the entire night cruising a fast highway, with the top down, with one little bit of cloth between me and total discomfort and waking up to a dark, dark sky.

A quick cup of coffee poured on top of two fingers of cream seemed the appropriate way to begin.

Two dogs of "high" breed, one black/white and the other red were at my feet wanting a flat piece of chicken from the plastic bag, and then wiggling their little butts in perfect rhythms of thanks.

The last of the summer garden was lying on the counter. Feeling as though it were there in total commitment to its tender, I felt that, perhaps, this might be the last fresh garden meal for '23.

A skillet, four jalepenos of various colors of wrinkled green to fresh and colorful red, were cut up briskly into the now medium heated pan with just a touch of olive oil. That one little tomato that never grew past the heat outside, but became a red one instead of green, was laid down and sliced so tenderly, and added to the resolves of steaming peppers. A cursory dab of salt and pepper were added and they lay there, giving up their goodness for this last bastion of growth and fullness. One small green onion, with limpness overcoming its lengthy tail, a third of which was given to the trash, took its place among the white seeds and the curling skins of the peppers.

(Bacon was placed in the microwave to hurry it along)

Two farm fresh home grown brown eggs, jumbo brown, with tiny dark brown specks apparent on the perfectly thin shell, were cracked, opened, and allowed to start cooking with their yolks broken. An orange jar of habaneros (my OSU style) crushed, puréed and canned in a small Mason jar were opened, and spooned carefully on the egg and pepper mixture below in the hot pan.

Settled in, I made quick work of this dish, eating each bite with the full savor of a starving man. I then washed the plates, cup, skillet, etc.... and enjoyed my breakfast companions, until next year, when we will all be back.

Ralph E Peck

Photo by Ralph Peck

Claremore, Oklahoma