Eggs
Solomon and I almost perfected omelettes right before I left, so I think I got semi-addicted to eggs in the morning (I know, it’s a strange thing to say you are addicted to). Hence, the last two posts have been about eggs. This may be because I have not quite figured out breakfast in Liberia. In some ways this is good because it forces me to break the traditional all-American breakfast mold. I guess this isn’t too hard, because I don’t really like traditional American breakfasts - too heavy and greasy. The egg-veggie pairing really appeals to me. Salad for breakfast!
The thing about eggs is that they are so simple and yet so good. The best cooking advice I have for cooking eggs in a pan is to cook them slowly. Surprisingly, I think I read this in my ex-boyfriend’s copy of GQ. The article was prefaced by something along the lines of, “How to avoiding looking like a dumbass when you cook a woman breakfast in the morning,” or in other words how to actually inject some gentlemanly behavior into a one-night stand. This is not exactly an approach to cooking that I would really like to support, but I do have to commend GQ for spreading some good cooking advice. Apparently, the thing about cooking eggs slowly is that it causes the proteins to denature slowly, helping to preserve their tasty flavor and keep a softer composition.
Back to Liberia - for breakfast this morning, I had Ceylon tea (spelled “Seylon” on the box because it’s some knock-off concoction from the Middle East) with Nido powdered milk (which I used to hate, but have since come to appreciate after 9 months of subsisting on it in Mali last year), along with leftover lentil soup and fried plantains. I am not too worried about whether or not I’ll get enough to eat in Monrovia! I think there is less street food for sale here in the morning than there was in Mali, when it was egg sandwiches, cafe au lait aka cafe au sucre, moni (millet porridge), and furu-furu (fried millet doughnut globs) galore. Not to mention the occasional plate of beans with sauce, aka straight up palm oil. Oh, and plantains too.
More about that lentil soup in a bit.
