Enlightenment, of the Avian Sort.
Welcome to South Carolina, where my hotel room key has an advertisement for chicken and waffles on the back! After a bit of hibernation, my freelance work has taken me to the South to shoot a series of commercials for a prominent fried chicken chain. After my first five hours in this state, it became very clear that poultry would be the running theme of my week.
The adventure has so far taken me through five states: I left Boston, MA at six in the morning on a bus that drove through Connecticut and into New York City, where I stopped for a chicken sandwich before boarding a plane to North Carolina, hopped in the rental car and drove to South Carolina, stopping for some delicious barbecue on the way. I should add that the rental car is hilarious; it's essentially a tank- the kind of car where you don't notice when you hit a woodland critter and marinate the engine and radiator with it. But anyway, I'm sure I could go on endlessly about SUVs, or waking up in a totally different part of the country less than twelve hours after waking up, but instead, as mentioned before, I'm going to discuss chicken.
If you paid attention to the details of that last paragraph, you would have noticed that I ate a delicious chicken sandwich in New York, and had an even more delicious barbecue chicken in North Carolina. Now take a minute to imagine the life of a chicken in this country, up until the point at which it gets killed and eaten. They probably don't have a whole lot to look forward to on a day-to-day basis, but in the case of the two chickens I ate today, one was posthumously given the ability to be so much more delicious and satisfying.
Now, when the spirits of these two chickens meet as their Earth bodies get dissolved in stomach acid, the New York deli sandwich chicken is probably a little disappointed that it'd been rendered boneless, processed, and transformed into cutlets that were pre-cooked and simply re-heated on a grill before being slapped onto some bread with a little lettuce. Up until she met the southern barbecue chicken, maybe it had come to terms with this, and assumed that this was simply the fate that chickens are faced with. The barbecue chicken, however, was taken delicate care of, even after being decapitated and sent off to a restaurant. This one had the kind of taste where you know it's just been on that grill all day long, with some master grill artist making sure that the meal is nothing short of perfect.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, nothing can really ever discover its true place in the universe. Chickens are just chickens, food is just food, and this thought you're reading is just a thought. If ever a chicken becomes concerned with its own fate, by all means, it should feel free to do so.
It should be noted, however, that if one wants to go ahead and get wrapped up in some sort of existential crisis, it might as well be running around like a chicken with its head dissociated from itself.
A Revision
It should be noted that the Wooflet can also be made with salami, if you happen to be of the opinion that mixing eggs and hot dogs is the work of commoners and, well, broke college students.
Of course, this also calls for a revision of its name, considering the removal of the hot dog element renders the inclusion of "woof" questionable. Thus, it will be called a Salamlet.
Have a nice breakfast!
A Rainy Weekend Breakfast
So I've slept. Pretty much through Thursday and Friday. History wanted to see a cut of the pilot on Wednesday, so after Saturday's all-nighter, I went ahead and did more late nights editing through the beginning of the week. This, however, has nothing to do with this morning's post.
Today's post is about breakfast.
I am all about cooking, especially when it comes to breakfast, so today, loyal reader(s), you can read this blog and even cook along! Today, I'll be making something that can really only be seen as a college student's kind of breakfast, which is clearly shown by its use of... whatever happens to be in the fridge after stumbling out of bed on Sunday morning.
Anyway, I now present: The Wooflet, which is a somewhat clever (ish) combination of "woof" and "omelet". I promise it tastes delicious, so now that I've made that promise, don't be alarmed when I reveal the inclusion of a hot dog in an omelet recipe.
Alright! Right off the bat, make sure you have the following: half of an onion, two or three eggs, some milk, a hot dog, butter, crushed red pepper.
Now go ahead and dice up that onion half. Now that I've gotten a handle on uploading photos, I can add that it should look something like this:
Next, cut a hot dog in half, then dice it up sideways, which should leave you with a bunch of half-circle hot dog bits. It might look a little like this:
Now throw some butter into a small, moderately heated frying pan! Just enough to cover the bottom and some of the sides.
Add in the onions first, and let them cook up just a little before adding the hot dog. Then, go ahead and throw it all together.
Next, it's time to add in the eggs. In a separate container, beat two or three eggs, depending on how hungry you are. On this particular morning, I happened to be strikingly hungry, so I opted for a third. Throw in a dash of milk and mix it all together, then pour.
Once you've reached this stage, make sure you are redistributing the contents of the omelet every so often, so as not to overcook any one section of egg. It might even be wise to turn the heat down just a bit. Remember: eggs tend to keep cooking for a little while once the heat is off, and even once they're out of the pan. I think.
Another rule of cooking is to keep the following three words in mind: Crushed Red Pepper.
Add it.
Now once you feel physically and mentally prepared, which you should be, because omelets are enthralling, it's time to flip the omelet. Use whatever method you prefer, whether it be by spatula or simple physics. Unfortunately, I did not get a good picture of this, because one can only multitask so much.
Once the Wooflet is flipped, it only needs to cook a little longer, so fry it up to your heart's content, turn off the burner, and throw your delicious new breakfast indulgence on your favorite plate.
Other optional challenges would be to explain to your half-asleep roommates why you are taking pictures of yourself making breakfast, or for a more delicious option, turn this omelet into a sandwich.
Now go enjoy a delicious Wooflet! I'm going to bed.