Couldn't be better...

I know I am fortunate enough to get to jet set all over and eat at fabulously delicious places, but one of the things that I have most enjoyed recently is something so simple, yet so satisfying to the eyes, the tongue and the tummy.

The last few weeks when I have gotten home late from work I have put together the following dinner time meal:

2 thick slices from a large tomato
2 sliced scallions
2 slices toasted bread
2 poached eggs
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO to all you Rachel Ray worshipers)
sea salt & fresh ground pepper
1 oz grated Romano cheese

I toast the bread, then pile on top, first the tomato, then scallions, salt and pepper, EVOO, then the eggs, then a touch more pepper and then the cheese. When you pierce through the yolk it runs all over everything - coating the tomatoes and soaking into the toast. The cheese adds a salty-savory touch, and the acid from the tomatoes cuts the fat in the egg. The SECRET to the dish? Everything is homemade (except for the cheese, which was a high quality import). The tomatoes and scallions we grew in our garden, the bread was homemade the night before (and none of that bread-maker shit, I needed that stuff out myself!). The eggs, thanks to a constant supply from Dot, come from a handful of chickens kept as pets on our friends' horse farm. You can always tell a farm fresh egg from a commercial egg. The yolk is the tell all. A farm fresh egg will have a rich, orange yolk, a product of high quality feed for the chickens, while commercial eggs have yellow yolks which depict a low nutrient, poor quality diet. The farm fresh eggs will also all be different sizes (because they do not have enough eggs to size-sort).

In the waning days of summer, I challenge you to grab up the remains of summer produce from local farmers and compare the taste of the items with their grocery store counterparts. You will notice a difference and undoubtedly it will keep you from wanting to purchase grocery store vegetables anymore. The better the flavor, the less food you need to eat to feel satisfied, because your taste buds are not 'bored'. Challenge yourself to take three bites of something and to really study them, the next three bites will never taste as good as the first three. People laugh at the French for their small portions, but their portions are roughly 3 bites and those are most powerful bites of something. When they are gone, it is time to move on to another dish. Try it for yourself, you might be surprised how little of something you actually need to eat!