snack related revelations.

ok. so breakfast. it is one important thing that is truly rewarding in this stasis i have embodied. a kind of waking hibernation without much change in skeleton or skin. but with all the time that heaves and rolls from me it seems mornings stretch out most. swell and then pause, wait for me bang and jingle about in this little kitchen of mine. usually my extensive breakfasts are reserved for weekends. or at least for charming company, an excuse to wrangle the mismatched collection of coffee mugs. but. between the jam making endeavors, the ritual of morning nettles, the covered deck with the knee-high sunbeams and the gas stove, it seems like festivities need be kindled at least as often as possible. and i have some time.

lately their has been abundance of fresh eggs. i am sucker for this archetype of the idyll. partly it is their shape and diversity. partly is the relative ease of access to this little luxury. partly it is lining them up in the tea towel lined egg basket i have and cherish and knowing i can snatch up a few when the urge takes me. but actually i have never sought out an egg for the sake of eating an egg. usually i eat them because i understand they are complete proteins, whose amino acids and fat soluble vitamins are vital for a lady whose meat intake is rather low. but i am admittedly squeamish about an egg yolk that chases after the toast and potatoes on my plate and prefer them scrambled, boiled soft or puffed up with some tangle of vegetables.

except that i have been reading fannie farmer and, in a gentler echo, some of mark bittman who have only exultant praise for a phenomenon known as shirred eggs. read, whole eggs baked as custard in little butter ramekins and further tempered with the addition of some heavy cream, chopped herbs, buttered bread crumbs or caps of puffed melted cheese. the instructions are very straightforward, break an egg into a buttered ramekin, place in a pan with hot water poured to within an inch of the ramekin's top and bake at 300 for about 25 minutes until mostly set. which is fine. however, for the yolkaphobe i am the idea of dipping into a lovely custard only to find a slurry of yolky offal i was somewhat deterred. one fact is that i adore custard, so steps had to be taken. i longed for a shirred egg (what else in our lives, after all, can be shirred?) and so i took it upon myself to pursue a savory breakfast egg that would follow in shirry footsteps.

 thus

which is a wholly successful cross between a shirred egg and a creme caramel- minus of course the caramel part. it is an egg, a yolk, a cup of boiled milk steeped in bay and thyme, whisked with a blizzard of grated gruyere and chopped broccoli and baked in a waterbath. it was creamy and satiny like a proper creme caramel, but eggy and savory, as (i presume) a shirred egg would be. and it went marvelously with the previously mentioned oatmeal sandwich bread (thanks Kim Boyce! did i ever mention Good to the Grain? if you are unlucky enough to behind the times and know not of this exceptional treatise on contemporary baking with whole grains (esPECially if you are a kind of person who cannot take gluten comfortably) get ye here or here and check it out, it will change your life!) and the previously previously mentioned strawberry rhubarb jam. in addition to the stodgy and practical but hugely nutritious whome-made-whole-milk yogurt, superfood blueberries and sandy sprinkling of hemp and chia seeds. (if you need any persuasion on the goodness of hemp seeds, by the way, certainly read this and her blog in general which is good for all your bones.)

but, if you are not persuaded to shir-custard yourself self an egg please please read below on what new dimension of pleasure breakfast has recently (as of today) provided me.

this brings us to the chapter on Heber Valley Milk! (and circumnavigates to that brown compost looking sludge in the jar.) this  milk business is exciting for those Utahns along the Wasatch Front who have been seduced by the creamy magic raw milk promises but who otherwise had no intention of driving 60 miles to pick up a gallon a week. who, additionally, had no intention of attracting the attention of the law by forming secret (illegal) milk-coops that allowed the circulation of raw milk at a less cumbersome speed. now we have access to a perfectly legitimate dream milk business! $2.50 a gallon plus a deposit of $2.50 for the beautiful glass bottles which is waived upon return should you remember to bring your bottle back. it is of course best to drink your raw milk cold, or at least under 110 degrees to keep all the live cultures and heat-sensitive vitamins in tact but sometimes you need dream milk coffee and that happened to today!

dream milk coffee stems from an allegiance to this blog, who seemingly got the recipe it from here, and it ultimately came from here.

it entails grinding coffee roughly, covering it with cold filtered water and leaving it overnight to steep, then straning it, and drinking it cold with a cap of cold milk. such promises made are "smooth." "powerful." "zero bitterness." and "all the rage."  some suggested additives have been almond extract, agave or maple syrup. i have a hunch it would be great with a devilish ribbon of sweetened condensed milk or a maybe a thimbleful of kahlua. however, i had just returned from a blissful exchange with the Heber milkmaids and had every intention of drinking my coffee humbly, with that. thanks to some tiresome time spent at the dreaded Whole Foods waiting for groceries to be beeped i happened to be drawn into the ever-tempting and usually-quite-a-let-down Tips section in Cook's Illustrated for which i am a sucker. therein i found a way to at home, with no terrifying zaps in the microwave or investment in a costly espresso machine, render perfect milk foam. keep this under your hat but: if you heat your milk just until steaming in a heavy bottomed pot, pour it into a mason jar leaving an inch or two of headspace, screw on the lid and give it a ferocious shake and one good plunk on the counter you too can pour billowy clouds of milk into your coffee should you so desire. but! dream coffee? powerful? check. smooth? check. zero bitterness? check. (despite using Mtaro, a staunch Kenyan bean whose bitterness is the hallmark of devotion to some.)  totally delicious. also check. no one had mentioned that one, so i'll add it to my roster.

dream coffee (adapted from the sources mentioned above)
1/2 cup coffee, coarsely ground
1 1/2 cups cold water
milk
ice
optionally- kahlua, sweetened condense milk, small dribble of orange blossom water

mix coffee grounds and water minimally preferably in a jar or a french press coffee pot. cover and let rest at unrefirgerated overnight or at least ten hours. strain through cheesecloth/coffee filter/french press screen to collect the coffee concentrate. this is elixir is a bit stronger than espresso, so you use only a little for every glass. pour  a few inches over ice, fill the remaining to the top with milk. stir gently. swoon.

**ps
should you want to sweeten your dream coffee, beware that granulated sugar will provide only sandy, crispy dregs without much sweetening effect. better to use the suggested agave or maple syrup or to make a simple syrup (which is where you'd add the orange flower water should you want to be fancy) by dissolving one part sugar into one part water over medium heat until no crystals remain.

and with that, we are off on a walk.

: : 

little altars everywhere. we are surely getting settled.