Two Weeks of Toast

It was a simple weekend morning that belied the busyness of the weekdays. Husband-person is settled in an armchair with paper. I'm wrapped in a cozy, with coffee on the left, purring cat in lap and balancing May's Bon Appetit (devoted to Italy). And then it happened. I was hypnotized.

Eggs on toast. How basic is that? True it has smoked salmon, mashed avocado with lime, fresh chives and did I mention that you stir in a dollop of creme fraiche? In a trance, I picked up my car keys and left telling husband-person, "Don't eat anything. I will return."

And I did. With sourdough bread and an avocado to finish the ingredient list. Is it a recipe? Not really - it's just what the Italians savor - fresh ingredients. Separately they delight. Together they bewitch.

Ingredients - for 2

sourdough bread, sliced, toasted in the oven

4 eggs (or 2 eggs and 6 egg whites) whisked with a healthy dollop of creme fraiche (or butter or sour cream)

lime

1/2 avocado - mashed with lime juice - to taste

2 slices of smoked salmon (or lox)

fresh chives - about 6

Prep

Snip your chives, toast your bread, soft-scramble your eggs - add in 1/2 your chives towards the end of the scrambling process and scatter the rest on the dish when done. Smear mashed avocado on toast. Top with scrambled eggs, put a slice of smoked salmon on top, scatter remaining chives and find bliss.

Janet McCracken, Deputy Food Editor of Bon Appetit also suggests roasted red peppers with goat cheese or Prosciutto with caramelized onions. With eggs on toast. I second the suggestions.

During the last two weeks, I found myself directing a touring production of two casts of Hansel and Gretel as well as a lovely food-centric play Food For Thought, editing Under a Midsummer Moon (the play I deleted is a phoenix) and researching my new play Searching for Uncle Otto. It's tricky - moving from the Gingerbread House to July 1969's Central Park in New York City with side trips to 1930's Russia. It is no wonder I turn to toast for sustenance. I am toast. Sometimes sweetly-spiced, often nutty, alternately brittle and pliable.

As I walked through life as a piece of toast, I felt myself smitten by Smitten Kitchen's Leek toasts with blue cheese. Who tweaked it from Molly Wizenberg's leek confit. It must be Murphy's Law that when you are "toast," you are attracted to toast.

My version uses goat cheese. And it's simply your favorite bread - lightly toasted. Smeared with goat cheese and topped with caramelized or sauteed leeks. Find the recipe here. Toast can be mesmerizing.

The first performance of Hansel and Gretel was at a center for families with challenges. The play's interactive and the audience (whew) laughed where we hoped they would and participated with respect and gusto. When the father in the play announced, "We will never be hungry again!" they clapped. A poignant moment for the cast and crew.

I may be toast. But I have the means to eat. I watch the tulips close at dusk.

And the ducks sleep in our grasses.

And give gratitude for my two weeks of toast. I am off to Chicago for some R&R - which may be an anomaly or just what the doctor ordered. The computer remains at home. Have a grand week. As I toast my 25th anniversary, you can toast some bread.