Some people love their eggs cooked over easy, I am not one of those people. I like my eggs fried crusty brown with a ribboned edge that crunches delicately while being enjoyed between two unhealthy slices of white bread. That is the delicious breakfast that I enjoy along with a cup of decaf coffee almost every morning of my life. The ‘girls’ out back in the chicken palace keep me supplied daily in fresh yard eggs and I, in turn, make the most of each delectable bite.
This started for me early in life, with my Great Grandma Hudspeth cooking me the lovely delicacy each time I spent the night at her house, which was as frequently as possible. I would awaken in her feather bed to the sound and aroma of bacon popping and eggs frying in the nearby tiny kitchen. She cultivated a love for hard fried eggs not only in me, but in my cousins, aunts and the rest of the Bailey-Hudspeth tribe. She was also cultivating a lifelong love in my heart for her memory.
My four grandsons eat their eggs scrambled. I have lost count at the excessive number of eggs that I have cracked open, salted, mixed with shredded cheese and chased around in a dab of olive oil for those four little rascals at their special requests. It’s their favorite after-school snack when my house is the first place they land after the end of a long school day or during weekend visits. The youngest even sits on the counter helping me crack the eggs, spoons them around the skillet until done while asking me twenty questions or so about stuff only a kindergartener can think of. He then enjoys the eggs with a fine glass of green tea. We’re making memories one egg at a time!
Another family favorite, particularly at Sunday dinner, is rice and gravy made in a cast iron skillet and enjoyed at leisure. Isaac, my picky eating grandson, enjoys his rice without gravy while the other three slather the gravy on like its muscadine jelly on toast. We call it ‘Cajun Ice Cream’, a term attributed to the Patriarch of the family, who’s always present for Sunday meal, and who believes the world could be sustained on nothing more than rice, gravy and cornbread. He even has a little cornbread and gravy for ‘dessert’. What’s cornbread without a couple of good eggs in the mix?
Then there’s the family treat of fried de-seeded jalapeno peppers, dipped in eggs, dredged through salted cornmeal and cooked golden brown in hot grease! The family fights over this homemade concoction that I created – as a result of the hundreds of jalapenos grown year round in the raised backyard garden bed. Afterall, you can only make so much green pepper jelly. You’d think it was caviar served in a fancy restaurant as they line up to wait their turn for their serving.
I’m the old gal that does the majority of the cooking in my household. I hold the spoon that stirs the cornbread mix. I guide the knife that slices the veggies that go into the soup pot. I heat the grease that makes the jalapenos pop and fries the pork chops just right. I fry and scramble most of the eggs.
I like my eggs fried crusty with a ribboned edge that crunches delicately when I take a good bite. I love to have my family gathered around my table or kitchen bar sharing life together.
When I’m done and gone, my hope is that my family will recall laughs and times we spent in harmony, and my grandsons will reflect back on the best eggs they ever ate, stirring them in an old dilapidated skillet then sitting at the bar at Mamaw’s house making memories one egg at a time.
How do you like your eggs? Over easy? Hard fried? Scrambled? Morning? Snack time? With or without family? I find eggs are best when there’s someone there to share them!
