French style omelet

Done! 

Ceci, mon amis, is my take on a French-style omelet. Except only one egg so it is thinner than usual. But it a jumbo egg so not so pathetic as one automatically thinks, and besides in France one egg is un oeuf. It is custard and creamy inside and the outside is soft

This browned around the edges but that is all, where the egg is thinnest, basically a film, the pan tilted for the egg to form a thin edge with the bulk of the fluffed curd in the center. That provides a plump shape, then tapped loose, and tested for looseness from the pan, rolled to one side into an oval shape and out of the pan onto a plate. 

Different from an American-style that is filled with things. 

Orange popsicles

One photo will do, here's twelve. Children make these.

Sticks VS plastic handles.

Plastic handles 

pros

* conveniently fit centered

* re-useable

* dishwasher safe

* drip tray on each stick

* PBA free

* cheap

* sturdy

cons

* inauthentic

* look like a pacifier 

* become brittle when frozen and break

* single-use, cannot use handle for crafts

* handles crack cut little tot's lips

* sometimes handles snap when trying to remove from molds

* difficult to release

* too small

* solvent smells bad

* popsicles break inside while removing

* break when frozen

Wooden sticks

pros

* 100% authentic popsicle stick

* kids love these

* disposable

* multiple uses

* can be used for crafts afterwards

* encourages imagination

* can be fashioned into weapons

* can be sharpened

* can be glued to make forts, ships, etc.

* can write lessons on them and use them as flash cards

* can be used for fires

* can be used for tongue depressors

* tend to really hang on when de-molding

* can be used to play games

* can launch peas and spit wads

* can stir small quantities of paint

* used to make masks

* wooden airplanes

* replacement propellers

* grave markers

* can shoot rubber bands

* can be targets for rubber bands

* bird houses

* can be made into a trivet

* can be fashioned into a ninja spring-trap held together by pressure alone and explodes when tossed near somebody

* encourages creativity

* biodegradable 

* ecofriendly

* green, actually green, renewable resource

* garden plant identifiers 

* rafts that float

* rafts with a sail

* substitute army men

* can draw faces on them

* can carve them into totems or other useful items

* level a wobbly table

* fill in a screw hole for window dressing and such that is too large

* used to brush teeth in a fix

* used as a tongue scrapper

* used for clamp cushions

* holds a window open

cons

* invites mischief

* can poke eye out 

Wooden sticks win.

Popcorn, best in the galaxy

The seeds are brought up to temperature slowly and evenly in oil and butter, just enough to coat the seeds. 

The pot is not covered tightly, moisture must escape to allow the popcorn to become crunchy so a screen top is used instead of the pots own heavy lid.

Additional butter is melted in the hot emptied pot after the popped corn is dumped into a bowl. The seasonings have just that long, only a few seconds to heat in the hot oil before drizzled over the cooked popcorn. Sprinkled with grated hard cheese while the popped kernels are still hot. 

Salt smashed to powder, Madras curry, cayenne, garlic, butter, Parmigiano Reggiano ready to go after the kernels are fully popped. The cheese is reserved for the moment.

Grated hard cheese sprinkled over the bowl of popcorn after the seasoned butter is drizzled providing small oil patches for the grated cheese to stick.

Mexican meatloaf, red chile sauce, salad, hazelnut dressing

Red chile sauce here.

Test patty for Mexican meatloaf

It feels exactly like I invented this tonight but whenever I check it is already invented. This has fresh jalapeño and tinned chipotle in adobe and powdered cayenne and black pepper, so a lot of all that. The spices are Mexican type, cumin, coriander seed, oregano and fresh cilantro. Onion and garlic. Eggs. Worcestershire. Mostly pork and secondarily beef. Dry breadcrumbs to hold in as much fat as possible without going too far with adjustment. 

The glistening sauce is sweet red vermouth doused to clear off the pan. It reduces rapidly to syrup.

The meatloaf is baking right now and I'm starving right now as usual and this batch is large and should probably be tested so there you go. 

Cornmeal pancake, ham, fried egg, breakfast

With maple syrup, the real stuff that comes out of trees. It is the most amazing thing and the native person on the North American continent who discovered it a long time ago was demented. Had to be. Because who would think of tapping a tree? 

Maple sugaring enterprises begin to operate near the beginning of the spring thaw and halted when the tree begins budding as off flavors are introduced into the tree's sap. 

A hole is drilled directly into the tree trunk past the bark and a draining tap inserted with a small bucket to catch the sap as it drips from the tree. Essentially, the tree is bled of its life force just as the tree is preparing to grow new seasonal foliage.

Depending on its sugar concentration it can take 30 to 50 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup and that accounts for its cost.

Thinly sliced chicken breast, cornbread, spinach, creamy cheese sauce

A box of Jiffy cornbread mix will contain 50% corn flour/50% all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. The instructions will say to add an egg, milk and oil. The result will be Northern-style cake-like cornbread.

Southern style is more dense, less sweet, and usually cooked in a preheated cast-iron pan to impart a crunchy crust. Southern cooks swear by cast-iron cooked cornbread. 

This is Northern style, extemporaneous, cooked the Southern way. 

I passed the chance to put jalapeño and cheese into the cornbread. This cornbread is plain and sweet.