Thursday, December 17, 2009

M.F.K. Fisher: Eggs in Hell

E is for Eggs in Hell.

Yes, I skipped D (Date Delight). I'm working on scaling down the recipe since my husband told me he does not like dates.

Anyway: Eggs in Hell.

I am terrible at cooking eggs. Growing up, my mother only ever scrambled eggs and I don't recall my father ever doing anything with eggs, besides eating the scrambled eggs. In college, a guy I didn't date--it's important to distinguish because he thought we were dating and broke up with me, for the record, we went to the movies once and I hated the movie--rudely made fun of me for not knowing how to make an omelette. I've since learned how--carefully and loaded with good things like avocado.

Even given my inexperience with eggs, I actually thought eggs in hell would be easy. In How to Cook a Wolf, Fisher describes it as an egg broken and cooked into a mixture of onions, garlic, herbs, and tomato sauce ("Italian kind is best, but even catsup will do if you cut down on spices"), then served on a slice of thin French bread, maybe dusted with Parmesan.

Fisher had daughters, so she might understand that I was not into cooking eggs in hell tonight while sleep training my 6 month old. Even though my husband graciously took over the bedtime duty, hearing the cries ... distracted me and the eggs were overcooked. Boiled. They were probably supposed to be runny. Oh, and I served them over thin sandwich bread since that's what we had in the house.

Sigh. He's asleep now and I was tempted to pour Irish Cream over chocolate ice cream for dessert but settled for a peanut butter Popsicle and a banana Popsicle instead, to eat down the food in the freezer by the end of the year.

Next up: Date Delight for one, and Basic Foo Yeung (maybe after Christmas).

How to Feed My Cats



Step 1: is to detach the feeder from the ground. The photo above shows the timer thing and it's zip fastner thing covered in Duct tape. This needs to be undone.
Step 2: find the screwdriver hidden under the sink, next to the food. Lift the top flap, push down on the bottom flap. You might have to pull a bit on the little square (under my thumb in the picture above) while pushing on the little flap.

This usually takes me a couple of tries and usually involves some small curses before it releases.

Step 3: Fill the food compartments with a scoop and a half of food. Then set the timer with the arrow pointing to the correct time in the red "today" area. Each notch is an hour so I try to set it close to the actual time, but sometimes it's off an hour.


Step 4: Reattach everything, be sure to line up the curved part of the cover over the "Battery" arrow, or it won't fit. Slide the zip thing back together, pull tight. Press the tape back onto the feeder.


Step 5: Turn the feeder so the curved timer part is facing the corner under the cabinets. I feel the bottom of the feeder for the Velcro a and match the left edges. In other words, I put my fingers from my left hand on the left edge of the Velcro on the floor and fingers on my right hand on the left edge of the Velcro piece on the feeder and try to match them. Like hanging a picture on a wall.

Then make sure it is truly stuck to the ground.



It should look like this (only the open compartment should be on the other side and have a 0 in it).

Since you will be handling food, they will want to eat. I just throw food on the ground. There are some treats under the sink, but I've learned they don't know the difference between cat treats and cat food.