Monday, August 13, 2007

Castro, Rove, and Toads in a Hole

Today's news is dominated by some of the senior men in our world: Fidel Castro celebrates his 81st birthday (at least Castro's peers do; who knows what Castro knows anymore), Karl Rove announces he'll step down as "Bush's Brain," (not much more to say about that), and Merv Griffin dies (he the man who earned "70 or 80 million" on royalties for his Jeopardy jingle).

Does anyone make that breakfast that some call, "Toad in the Hole"? A piece of toast with the hole cut out and an egg cooked inside, like this below only not so fancy (from The Amateur Gourmet blog):



My Papa (grandpa) and my dad both call these breakfast specials, "One-eyed Elephants." I don't know who concocted the name but my Papa listed it on the menu at their restaurant Tibbie's, in Indianford, Wisconsin. The key to the dish is making sure (1) you spread butter on the bread and toast one side well first before flipping the bread over and cracking the egg into the hole, and (2) you cook the egg thoroughly on both sides or, as we used to tell Dad, the whites are too jiggly. It's a tidy little egg dish and fun to serve.

I saw my mom and dad up north again this weekend. This time Dad didn't make his One-eyeds but instead thin pancakes with real maple syrup and sausage.

My dad was sent off on TDYs often when I was growing up (month-long alerts in places like North Dakota or Alaska) and when he returned we'd all be giddy. He'd wake up early on Sunday mornings and shout out from the hallway, "What do you want for breakfast?" My brother would yell, "Scrambled eggs and toast!" I'd yell, "French toast with bacon!" and he'd shout back, "Pancakes it is!" Drove my mom nuts.


When we were teens he'd pull us in circles around Big Wolf Lake, many times bearing the brunt of our anger when we couldn't get up on one ski or when we tried to land barefoot on the shoreline after a long pull. He was always looking for ways to give us a good pull, make it worth our while.


Now we have just a little Lund with a 25 hp motor so we don't ski much anymore but he's always up for taking the grandkid out for a little pull.



All the Roves and Castros can make a muck of the world out there but aren't we lucky we have our hardworking and loving dads to keep it real?


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How nice this was to read! Ken

julie said...

Your family stories and photos are the best, my friend. Thanks.

Night Editor said...

Thanks, J. I just got a big rejection on a writing submission so your note is especially welcome. I'll get back to it again this fall, when my own foursome spreads out of the house a bit. Until then, "We know what we know, we love who we are."

juliloquy said...

We have a "daddycakes" tradition in our house, thanks to Chris. I don't even like pancakes that much, but I love that our Shmoo is learning how to make them.

Also, sweet photos.

Night Editor said...

Ahh, I love the daddycakes name. Especially after your tell-all Day-in-the-Life post. Daddycakes, my word.