Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 8, 2004

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 8, 2004

A Cloudy Day & Scrambled Eggs

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 8, 2004 – What you may well ask, does one have to do with the other? Well, if you give me a minute, I’m going to explain. After my trip to Stratford yesterday and a last minute decision to watch The Big Lebowski on television last night, I was exhausted this morning. It was a sunny, blue-sky morning and I took Augie for his walk at eight-thirty, then dove back into bed and snoozed until eleven o’clock.

My vacation is winding down – I have two days left until I turn my pager back to the “on” position and check my e-mail again. I watered the garden and wondered what to do with the day. Reading seemed like a good option, so I made myself a cup of tea and some toast and sat down with my latest murder thriller. A couple of hours passed in no time. The good guy who has been falsely accused of killing his fiancee is in jail, with no possibility of parole – and his lawyer who also just happened to also be sleeping with said, aforementioned fiancee, does not seem to have his client’s best interest at heart and the plot thickens!

It was mid afternoon by this point and I thought of taking a walk up past Withrow Park for the last afternoon of The Taste Of The Danforth, the annual celebration of all things Greek. I put down my book and looked outside. The blue sky of earlier in the day had vanished – replaced with dull, grey clouds and the promise of rain. I actually thought about turning on my gas fireplace, but everything about summer screamed out a resounding “no”.

I refrained. It started to rain, lightly at first and then with a serious tempo. The sky was dark grey. Thoughts of a walk to the Danforth vanished. It was almost five o’clock. I was hungry. I marched out to the kitchen and opened the fridge door. Broccoli, bread, cheese, 2 grapes, tomatoes, peppers of all colours, leftover pasta … nothing was appealing. I thought about ordering a pizza. No, not quite right. The rain showed no sign of abating – no going for a walk for Chinese.

I was feeling a little sluggish and ‘blah’. What could possibly perk me up, short of a big piece of double chocolate cake, which I didn’t happen to have. I opened the fridge again and was amazed that I’d missed it the first time around. I got out bread for toast and three eggs. In ten minutes I was sitting down to a plate of scrumptious scrambled eggs and toast. Perfect comfort food for a dull, damp day.

Better for me than a Big Mac, more economical than a restaurant dinner, easy to make, delicious to eat and a five minute clean up. Eggs can be poached, fried, devilled, boiled, turned into omelettes and quiches in short order – but there’s something about scrambled eggs that is soothing and satisfying. You can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. When you’ve finished the meal – you feel full – not stuffed.

Scrambled eggs are a snap to prepare, they look good on your plate and are just the thing on an idle day, when the thought of preparing Beef Wellington, Duck a L’Orange or grilled swordfish is simply too much. So, the next time a flat day needs to be brightened up a bit – turn on the stove, warm up the skillet and make up a batch of light, fluffy scrambled eggs.

If you have to share with a partner or friend, then by all means do so – but if you can, wait for a rainy day when you’re home alone and then savour those wonderful scrambled eggs all by yourself – you will never be disappointed!

P.S. – and today 2014 – no eggs on my plate – I know too much about the suffering and cruelty in the egg industry. How time changes things and people …