the mellow tigger's musings

I decided to give up eggs because of the cost. I've enjoyed my breakfast sandwich every morning for months, but 2 eggs per day is costing me as much as my electric bill. So I've bought my last eggs. Eggs are for rich people, apparently, like so much else in daily life.

So today I made my last breakfast sandwich, and I wanted to share the recipe that I've enjoyed so much. The order of ingredients on the bread is also important. It's very quick, about 5 minutes to prepare. I'm linking to some tools I use, because they qualify as essential cookware in my kitchen, unlike most items.

1. Put 2 slices of gluten-free bread in the Sanyo toaster oven for 5 minutes.
2. Crack 2 eggs into a Chef Buddy microwave egg cooker. Cook at 444 seconds at power level 3. Power level 4 or higher will result in eggsplosions, so don't do that.
3. When the toast is done, add a slice of cheese. Placing it here will keep it away from the egg, which would heat up the cheese and slide away while you eat it. Egg launching is bad. Keep the cheese away from the egg.
4. Grab a handful of sauerkraut, squeeze out the liquid over the sink, then layer the cabbage atop the cheese.
5. Generously squirt tabasco style hot sauce onto the sauerkraut, where it can drip into the cabbage and hold its position there when you start eating. If you put it between the egg and bread, that sauce will just drip out immediately when you bite, making a mess.
6. By now the eggs are done cooking. Remove from microwave. Use a knife to stab each yolk and the white between them. You don't want pockets of steam burning your face or mouth when you bite into the sandwich. It hurts. Dump the egg upside down from the cooker onto the sauerkraut.
7. If the egg is still too hot, then wait a minute before topping with the other slice of toast.

Super easy, almost no mess, very quick, and very tasty.

I don't "cook", not the way people usually mean that word. I make my own single-dish meals, but that's as fancy as it gets.  For most of my life, I never bought meat for use at home, because I never trusted myself to store and cook meat safely. That calculation has changed slightly with the air fryer, though. I can buy packages of 2 chicken breasts at the grocery store, then use it that day and the next. Easy and safe.

  ( Read the easy, healthy, gluten-free recipe... )

Later in the afternoon, I joined the local Boys & Brews club at La Doña Cerveceria, my 3rd favorite brewery in Minneapolis from pre-pandemic days.  I went early, wore my Flo Mask elastomeric (with mask area shaved clean for good fit) when I went indoors to order, and I kept my Woody Knows nasal filter when I removed the mask to drink outdoors.  If you look closely at the large version of this picture, you can see the plastic band across the bottom of my nose where I can easily pull the filters back out again.

It was only 8C/46F outside, but the other dozen guys wimped out after 45 minutes outside then went indoors.  I'm still not doing indoor stuff, so I sat outside and read the local gay magazine on my own.  That magazine had this feature story which included a male couple who met a few years ago at one of these Boys & Brews events.  How's that for a fun coincidence?

Anyway, I took the photo of myself alone outside, just as proof that I do sometimes attend social events, even during pandemic.  As I learned dating for 1.5 years a guy with AIDS back in the 1990s (and I never seroconverted), I know that it is possible to safely enter high risk situations that you choose to be part of.  Staying negative is equal parts luck and effort, but you just can't skimp on the effort part.

Stay safe out there.  And, just for grins, wash your hands and face when you get back home.

This works well for making very healthy "french fries". I'm not even using ketchup, because these days that's mostly corn syrup anyway.

The trick is to nuke them first to get them soft but not mushy.

1. Cut the green spots or dark spots from one large "baking" russet potato.  If you have smaller potatoes, then use two.  Leave as much of the skin as you can, because that's where you find a high concentration of minerals.
2. Put it whole in a glass bowl with some water in the bottom for a useful steam effect to keep the skin from going crispy yet.
3. Stick it in the microwave oven on half intensity (I use setting 5 of 10) for 10 minutes. Specifically, I use 999 seconds, because that duration is easier to key on the keypad. Increase the intensity on your next try, if your microwave is leaving crunchy parts in the potato when you slice into it.  You want it to become soft but not fully cooked, so it still holds its shape.
4. Cut the potato in half lengthwise through the thickest section, so you get two wide flat pieces.
5. Cut each of those halves into ribbons about half a centimeter wide or more.  If it's crunchy, cut it thin, so it can cook more thoroughly.  If it's soft, cut it thick for juicier goodness later.
6. Separate the pieces into a bowl, so the whole surface area of potato is exposed for spices.
7. Add spices to the bowl and toss to coat everything. I used the Louisiana brand of cajun seasoning and pepper. It ends up too salty for me, so maybe next time I'll try rosemary and black pepper.
8. Put in the air fryer. Hit the magic "fries" button, and let it do its thing.

It comes out crispy on the outside, but it's soft on the inside.  Very tasty 1-person meal, ready in about 25 minutes with little effort.