Wienerlicious

Mike has a very specific laugh when he watches ridiculous animal videos or looks at silly animal pictures.  I never hear the same laugh when we're talking or watching TV. It's kind of this low bubbling chuckle and it's one of my favorite sounds so I do my best to get every hilarious animal video and image to him STAT.  I even sit through episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos for clips of animal highlights whenever possible.

When we see a dachshund on the street, that laugh spills out almost naturally.  It's like he can't see a wiener dog and not laugh.  It doesn't have to be doing anything cute or funny. It just has to be... a wiener dog. 

When we have room for a second dog, it will probably be from a wiener dog rescue.  Apple happens to love dachshunds, so it should work out well (she'll find the one dachshund at the bark park or dog beach and it will be the only dog she's not intimidated by - our theory is that they're the only dogs that are shorter than she is.) 

It's awesome.

So... I bet I'll be able to hear Mike's chuckle when he reads this blog. 

Because of this:

I mean, I totally get it.  They're naturally hilarious.
(I own none of these photos... they were all just pulled up off Google Image search and, I  believe, chuckle inducing.)

Wiggle Jiggle, Yellow Middle

I love eggs.

The thought of someone telling me to "go suck an egg" would not be thought of as an insult but rather some kind of delicious reward.

"Why thank you, I will gladly go suck an egg. I'll take mine poached please. With a crusty baguette.  Thanks."

There are few things in the culinary world that make me happier than a perfectly cooked egg.
 - Discovering a delectable boiled ovoid with a slightly soft core in a steamy salty bowl of ramen? Bliss.
 - Pale, fluffy scrambled eggy goodness tossed with fresh cubes of feta and cool seasonal tomatoes served over freshly baked sourdough?  Drool.
 - Popping the yolk of that delicately fried egg so that it just barely oozes onto freshly steamed rice? Home.

My mom was making these for my birthday dinner.

Eaten with thinly sliced Colombian style beef, rice, avocado and tomato. 

So good.  Add a fried plátano and an arepa and you're golden. Trust.

Hard boiled, fried, scrambled, poached, baked... yum. Chicken, quail, ostrich... yum. I don't even have to dip into the plethora of baked goodies that would not exist without the glory of the egg.

Many nutritionists assert that the egg is nature's perfect food. I found thousands of cookbooks dedicated to the egg on Amazon... including this one, this one and this one.  I'm contemplating getting one of them since it seems I have no problem eating eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I eat eggs practically every day - which isn't as cheap as it used to be.  Ever since I converted to the world of  certified humanely handled, local, free range, organic, and antibiotic free eggs (as well as poultry, beef and bacon) eating animal products has become much more expensive and much more of a treat in the last 4 years or so.  A fair trade off for some of the most incredible tasting eggs I've ever prepared (also some of the hardest eggs to peel.  What is with that?  Peeling a fresh boiled egg is near impossible.)

I had three must-do's in our most recent trip to London.  1) Tower of London  2)Beatles shenanigans and 3) Scotch Eggs.  We found this incredible gastropub that focused on local organic foods and made the most amazing scotch eggs.(A neat thing about London was that free range hens and eggs were pretty much the standard wherever we looked - even McDonald's touted free range eggs and organic milk.) My photo does not even do it justice.

Throw away all your previous notions of  "scotch eggs" because these were fresh, fluffy and so incredible.

Mike isn't as much of an egg addict as I am.  He enjoys the occasional scrambled egg or the omelet stuffed with goodies or even a couple slices of a spinach quiche... but he wouldn't touch a hard boiled egg with a 10 foot pole.  A poached egg or a sunny side up egg would likely make him gag but maybe I need to get more creative. If you have any incredible egg recipes, please do tell!

And now I leave you with this from the Korean website www.iloveegg.com

In English (couldn't embed - but seriously - check it out)
http://www.iloveegg.co.kr/egg-song%28English%292.swf

My favorite part:

"Oodle doodle!
Popular and perfect and so complete in every way!
I love you eggs!
Come into my tummy, oh so very yummy."

Brilliant.

In Korean it's even cuter somehow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLoT0rqkMYI

And if you look up "I Love Eggs" on you tube - they have an animated series!  Seriously.  Win.

I love you egg.  Thank you for being eggy.