beagles and breakfast

Since I posted a picture of Huck, I thought I should post one of Pebbles today. I took this in the early spring. She had just woken up and was coming down the stairs and put her head through the railing as she likes to do. Only this time, she was lower on the stairs, so she got to give the love of her life (who happens to be the love of my life) a gentle head butt. Much more like a cat than a twerpy but lovable spazoid beagle. Pebbles really prefers my husband. I cannot really blame her. I was not feeling well last night and was quite grumpy about not wanting to go to Baltimore in the first place and grumpy about not wanting to eat at various unfamiliar restaurants in Baltimore last night. I really just wanted to come back to the eastern shore of Maryland (the nicer shore of Maryland for certain) and eat somewhere familiar and comforting. Like at home! Anyway, I swear that man is a saint for putting up with me. Love you sweetie!

Ok, so here is my favorite breakfast. I know it is not glamorous or anything but it is my favorite. Well, this week anyway. Egg in toast or hole in one or whatever you want to call it. I call it "egg toast" which is like the most boring name in the world, right? I use a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut the center out of a piece of bread out, cook it in a tablespoon of butter and crack an egg into the hole, turn it over and yummy! Looks like I had a small bowl of grits with it... I love grits. Most people I know do not like grits but I hold that they have not had properly prepared grits and therefore do not know that in fact they like grits. I take it as a personal challenge to make people enjoy grits. I think the name is unfortunate... grits just does not sounds lovely. It sounds... well, gritty.

Alton Brown did a show about grits and polenta and hominy. I know, I must have some sort of fascination with Alton Brown because I talk about him a lot. I should say that even after 3 years of culinary school and 8 years as a professional chef, I still learn something every time I watch his show! He has a new show coming on called "Feasting on Waves" and I am excited about that since I really enjoyed "Feasting on Asphalt" I thought both Feasting on Asphalt documentaries (1 and 2!) were fabulous. Not just food but the story of food and the people who make it. I loved the old man who just kept repeating "chicken shake" when Alton tried to get him to tell him how he seasoned his fried chicken. All good southern cooks have their own chicken shake recipe, I think.

Enough of my blathering for today.