Egg meals

(Due to my own ineptitude, I am writing this at uni. Alas, there will be no mouth watering photos).

I think it's saying something that when writing her guide on cooking basics, Delia Smith's very first chapter was on how to cook eggs. Sure, you may snort and say *gor, how hard can it be to cook an egg?* but as I have met some people who say they can't boil or fry eggs, you realise the greatness of what eggs are. They can be the simplest of meals (for example, medium-boiled eggs with soldiers) or awesome wonders like crême brulée. One of my favourite meals as a child and as an adult is a fried egg on toast with cracked pepper and soy sauce. The egg is preferably fried with a lot of oil in a very hot pan so that the white is fried quickly with the edges all crisp while the yolk is still runny. The sweetness of the yolk is then counteracted by the salty soy and the spicy pepper.

As I got older and my income and foodiness became more adventuresome, I discovered Eggs Benedict (for those who don't know, its a poached egg on ham on an english muffin covered in hollandaise sauce). Done well, Benedict can be a brilliant start to the day. Done badly and you'll be retching. My former favourite place to have it (former because it no longer exists) was a little cafe on Swanston St. called Ruby/Orange. If I had a day where classes didn't start too early or during swot vac, I'd go make myself feel better by having Benedict and sit around feeling warm inside. Variations of Eggs Benedict are Eggs Florentine (substitute spinach for ham), Eggs Fairfax (smoked salmon for ham), or having hash browns instead of (or with) the muffin.

Sometimes you may look at an egg and think about how troublesome it is - the tricky shell, the fact it might be rotten, cholesterol, the sulphur...but you know, I think they're worth it!

(And no, the Egg Board is not paying me to promote them. They should!)