023/365 Gourmet French Toast (Photo credit: Zoe MacLean)

A few years ago, I read M.F.K. Fisher‘s autobiographical books on cooking.  She wrote most of them based on her life in France with her two daughters. If you haven’t discovered this writer, try her.  You are in for a gastronomical treat.  

Although the heat did me in last week and I stopped turning on the stove when the temps reached 100+ for five straight days, two of which I had no electricity, I have resumed cooking.  This morning, I made David bacon and eggs and he was such a happy camper he did 3 hours of yard work. I will do this again soon, especially as I  discovered bacon (fried crisp) uses fewer Weight Watchers points than fried eggs.

I have been buying cook books like crazy and even bought Julia Child’s masterpiece on French cooking, although I am not about to become a new Julia.  My little grandson Jacob had one desire when he visited me last year…go to the Smithsonian and see Julia Child’s kitchen.  My sons are both fairly good cooks and it seems my grandsons are learning culinary skills too.

Recently, I also bought a couple of books about eggs.  The Good Egg: More than 200 Fresh Approaches from Breakfast to Dessert, by Marie Simmons and Eggs: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Frittatas, Omelets, Scrambles and More, by Jodi Liano.  My goal is to recapture the skill I once had for making various dishes, especially souffle.  Especially cheese souffle.  I bought a couple of new frying pans for making various egg dishes which finish up in the oven.

Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Truth be told, mostly, I have been coming up with ingenious ways to do “easy” dishes, although from time to time, I like try something difficult.  Two days ago, I made what the English call eggy-bread and we Americans call French toast.  I don’t do that very often as it adds many carbohydrates to my daily intake.  I used Challah a Jewish egg bread and virtually identical to what the folks in Hawaii call Portuguese sweet bread.

Although I have never been a gee whiz cook (opinion of husband #1), I have learned many things about cooking, over the years, and finally found a husband who appreciates my cooking. 

To insure access to fresh ingredients, I have grown various kinds of vegetables here and there, as I moved from pillar to post. I had a half-acre veggie garden at one time, and grew beans and tomatoes in the front yard until the neighbor’s trees shaded it out (photo left). 

I have always kept herbs and chiles in pots, but now that I have no room for vegetable growing, I find good food at the Farmer’s Market, which is where I will be tomorrow now that the heat has subsided.

My SIL, a real city boy, is having fun with his farm South of us in Virginia. He is raising many vegetables and free range chickens and this means eggs…lots of eggs for me.  I should be able to use some of the recipes in my new books.

Left…the cock of the walk.