By the time I write this next week, it will be spring. True, it may not feel like spring for some, but it will be spring by the calendar and that will be good enough for me. Next week, spring, and in three months, summer. Near me, I’m seeing crocuses and daffodils spring up,and my favorite magnolia tree put forth soft pink petals. I’m taking the sweater off my tiny nine pound dog when she goes into the sunshine, and I even cracked a window this afternoon. Wild! I hear those of you in the south, or in more temperate climates, it doesn’t shift much for you. (Or, you know, climate change.) So don’t worry, these picks will greet you perfectly in time no matter what season it’s feeling like today.
Eat: I was really, really craving an Egg McMuffin this week, and I had no desire to leave my home and head to the drive-through. Mind you, it had been years – years! – since I’d enjoyed a bonafide McDonald’s egg sandwich. I live in the land of glorious bagels, but something about an English muffin was specifically wrapped up in that craving. So I made a quick stop to Aldi, which is much closer to my house. Since I had eggs, I got English muffins and American cheese (also, cannot recall the last time I’ve had that!)
Please enjoy the process, as I’ve described here for you:
- I put the English muffin in the toaster oven as my pan pre-heated.
- When it came time to make sure the egg I already had was tidy for my little sammie, I grabbed my metal cookie/biscuit cutter. I greased both the pan and the cookie cutter, put the cookie cutter on the pan, and cracked the egg into the space inside. Now this part is the key, which my grandmom taught me when I started to get *fancy* and order my eggs at the diner overeasy: I broke the yolk once inside and then proceeded to put a bit of water onto the hot pan and covered it with a lid. (This is also great for shaped pancakes!)
- After the yolk was a bit cooked over, I removed the lid, put an oven mitt on, and shimmied the cookie cutter off the egg before flipping it over with a spatula to briefly cook on the other side.
- With the English muffin toasted and ready to go, I added the slice of American on to one side, put the egg on the bottom slice, then pressed gently to brown up the sandwich.
- Served up plain – or with ketchup, of course. (Even if it’s not McDonald’s Fancy Ketchup from a packet, it’s still delicious.)
If you’re looking to make this vegan, I’d be willing to bet some Just Egg would work well and some Daiya or non-dairy cheese. Carnivores you can add some sausage for your very own Sausage McMuffin, minus driving around to the front window for the hand-off.
See: I was recently introduced to the instagram account @PublicDomainRev, the official account for the Public Domain Review website. This is truly a grab bag of images from across the entire public domain, so you’re kind of guaranteed to get a super wild collection of images and articles. As they describe it, “The Public Domain Review is dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas – focusing on works now fallen into the public domain, the vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restrictions.” You’re just as likely to get a photo of illustrations from a book of Finnish Folk tales as you are a catalog of Japanese toys. From the oddly disconcerting to the straight-up delightful, you’re never quite sure what you’ll find.
Do: I have been listening to a podcast called Mortified, which is based on a series of events that are hosted live, in which participants sign up to share their childhood journals. Their motto? Share the shame. What I love about Mortified is that there are so many ways you can participate. If you’re feeling safely ready to go to live events, there are shows in Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, and Colorado coming up, just to name a few. You can listen to a long backlog of their podcast. There’s also a six-episode miniseries for rent on Amazon. You can also do the ultimate challenge: locate and read some of your own diaries. Then, you know, either share the same or burn them. The choice is yours.
May you have a protein-packed, curated, only slightly cringey weekend,
Christina
