Heart in a Basket
For a supposedly creative person, i am remarkably uncreative when it comes to cooking. I think it must be (and i say this with the greatest respect) all that muddled up English, Welsh, Irish and other muckymuck blood in me.
It’s one thing for Sarah to suffer with my cooking (trust me, she does), but Jack deserves better, so I’ve been trying to be a little more creative. Most of these efforts lead to catastrophically disastrous results that we all simply agree never to talk about again, but sometimes i pull off something decent. This morning i decided to try making Toad in a Hole for jack. Now, i had never heard of this egg and toast thing before our trip to Australia (Sarah had), but i had one at a really nice little bistro in Cairn and put in the back of my head as something fun and easy to make for my future experiments. I’ve made it a few times with some success, but today i decided to try some sort of variant with scrambled eggs. (I now see that Toad in a Hole is actually something else, and what i made was actually called Egg in the Basket. Learn something everyday 
While looking for a round cookie cutter or a glass i found a heart shaped cookie cutter, instantly had an idea, and acted on it. It didn’t come out too bad, actually not a bad idea for Valentines Day which is coming up, but it is kind of a silly dish to make for a little boy, as Jack plainly felt.
Now to get to work on Friday’s comic. There are a few things i have to get set up to do it properly so i better get on it.
Posted by fredrin on February 11th, 2009 :: Filed under Uncategorized
Tags :: Australia, breakfast, cooking, jack_obadiah
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 11th, 2009
Just wait, you’ll find you can use those cookie cutters for PBJ sandwiches too.
And that you can take two flour tortillas, cut a jack-o-lantern face out of one, fill with cheese and grill.
My boys and I have had some fun in the kitchen.
February 11th, 2009
In the south we call them “wink-eyes” They’re awesome. I think I’m going to make one :3
February 11th, 2009
Ack, Cairns. That place is getting some nice rain, iirc… Hope it wasn’t too hot when you went. ._.
February 12th, 2009
They are also known as Gas House Eggs. I have one or two for breakfast or lunch occasionally.
February 12th, 2009
If you’re interested in improving your cooking skills, I’d recommend Cook’s Illustrated magazine. They tend to cook 30+ variants of a recipe to get it perfect, then tell you how and why the method works. You can get a taste of it on the America’s Test Kitchen show on PBS (same people).
February 12th, 2009
@Kanzar
actually it was REALLY cold and wet when we went. We were shivering most of the time, and there were 20 foot seas out there so we ended up not going out to see the reef (which is still a real bummer, but sarah was pregnant and the thought of seasickness with such a long trip just was not such a viable good idea ^^;;) Still, we found things to do, and it was an interesting stop.
February 13th, 2009
’tis ok mister. kudos on joor comic, althogh i only read it in volumes 1 and 3 D;. im so depraved of all de awesome stuff on da net…
February 21st, 2009
cairns is a great place, its just too bad they’re stuck with all the rain. Me? I live a few towns down, and we’re flooded as well. and the only thing on the news is the victoria bushfires. i’ve never seen the reef but i know heaps of people who have and i’d definitely reccomend going again when sarah’s fine with it ^_^
February 27th, 2009
You have just described what I felt like this morning-
March 29th, 2009
Oh lord…
I have no idea why, but egg in a hole has been one of my comfort foods as long as I can remember. It actually really surprised me when I found out that it was a british-type deal considering that I’ve lived either in t3h mitten or nagoya my entire life and my family is completely culturally defunct.
Cooking’s like sketching, you do it more often, spend more time on it and make enough bizarre and miraculous mistakes and eventually it looks passable. Or, in the worst case scenario, you can score some points by making mac ‘n’ cheese with instant ramen.
April 13th, 2009
I once had Toad in the Hole and it was nasty. The only reason I didn’t throw up was because I was too lazy to go the toilet… (I wish I had)
May 22nd, 2009
It’s perfectly okay to call it whatever you want. I always called it Toad in the Hole. Just because the Brits have a perfectly good dish called the same thing is irrelevant.
May 23rd, 2009
@Anna Mott
I don’t know what part of the south you’re from but in Texas we certainly do not call the them wink-eyes. Maybe this is just you and your household, but then again, Chris D is right.
May 23rd, 2009
@fredrin
Ooh! Did you find sea urchins? they are really cool.
June 24th, 2009
If you’d like to get creative, but not have to go buy tons of special things, get a copy of Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything. I love to cook and try new things, but this cookbook does tons with simple ingredients. Who would have thunk that my 3 and 5 year old would like chickpea burgers?? (ingredients: chickpeas, egg, bread crumbs, parsley). Kudos to you for getting your kiddo interested in different things!!
For fun, make him an octodog. My kids love ‘em!! (good gracy, don’t buy a special cutter! See here: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/02/22/how-to-make-an-octodog-octopus-hot-dog/)