Sunday, February 21, 2010

Welcome home French toast

The husband returned yesterday from his trip to Los Angeles. After four days of being on our own, Frances and I welcomed him cheerily back to the den, plying him with cold beer and chocolate chip cookies when he arrived so that he knew how happy we were to see him. He seemed pleased with these offerings, and in turn pulled out a compilation of mystery stories, Los Angeles Noir, that he'd picked up for me at my favorite book store, Book Soup, in Hollywood. In no time at all we were settled in the living room and he filled me in on his trip, which had been very successful indeed.

This morning, we had our typical Sunday morning: Peets coffee and The New York Times. Sometimes on the weekend I bake something for breakfast, like popovers, scones, or muffins, or the occasional crumb cake; today I decided to make French toast. We had leftover sourdough bread from last night's dinner which I thought would work nicely.

The funny thing is, I've never made French toast. But I felt confident I could do it. I mean, fried bread, right? What's so hard about that?

While the griddle heated up, I poured some milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and was about to crack an egg in it when the husband intervened.

"Don't do that," he said.

"What?"

"You have way too much milk in there. Hand it to me," he said.

All of a sudden I'm married to Jacques Pepin?

But I was won over by his confidence. And truthfully, I had no idea whether or not he was right. So I watched as he poured out about three quarters of the milk. Wordlessly, he handed back the bowl.

I just stared at him.

"Now you can crack the eggs," he said approvingly.

I was able to take it from there. Good thing, too. The husband is responsible for handling all things car, computer, cable, stereo, and bicycle-related, stubborn jar lids, minor plumbing and electrical repairs, and anything that requires reaching a high shelf. I only have one skill to contribute to the family, which is cooking. Clearly, I need to step up my game before I'm rendered totally useless. Thinking about his French toast savvy, I wondered what else he knows that he hasn't revealed. Am I going to return home one day to find him making puff pastry from scratch?

The main thing to note, though, is that the French toast was delicious, smothered in maple syrup with fresh blueberries, with perfectly crisp bacon on the side. A good welcome home breakfast for sure.

25 comments:

  1. My daughter says Peets coffee is one of the best. (I don't drink coffee, but have to make it every morning!)
    Nice that your hubby knew how to make French Toast...he must have seen his mother make it. And it turned out perfectly. Altogether a lovely Sunday morning!

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  2. Now that is what I call awesome French toast!

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  3. How sweet. What a lovely breakfast to welcome him home - when can we see an installment of Mr. Hungry Dog flexing his cooking muscles?

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  4. Mmmm, french toast. Looks great, glad your husbands trip went well.

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  5. Hi all,

    Barbara: Peet's really is the best. If you don't drink coffee now, I suggest you start. As for the French toast, I don't think my mother is the one who showed me how to make it. Someone did, for sure, but not dear ol' mom (I honestly can't remember who it was).

    Shaz: Hmmmm, flexing the cooking muscles, not so much. But perhaps I'll bust out something and let THD snap some photos (not of me, of the food).

    Bob: Thanks for the well wishes. The trip was good.

    All: In this post THD makes me sounds a little more demanding than I actually am. However, all's well that end's well, and the French toast was really good.

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  6. I love good French toast. Our favorite breakfast spot makes a great plate of it. Now I'm craving it and may need to make the hubby stop on our way home from work to have some Tuesday morning :)

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  7. ah, a team effort--i love it. french toast and good mystery novels are two of life's most simple pleasures.
    i, too, will be curious to learn what else your hubby has up his sleeve. :)

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  8. OMG, I am totally drooling over that picture. I just love french toast.
    *kisses* HH

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  9. What Grace said ^^.

    I love that photo! And the French toast was a fabulous idea. I know you're glad he's home!

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  10. This reminds me of a funny story - an English friend of mine was working in a Swiss chalet for a while, and some guests asked her if she could meake French toast. She wasn't sure, thought it sounded fancy. But when they explained what it was, she perked up immediately. "Oh, eggy bread! I can make that!" The name eggy bread totally cracks me up.

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  11. danny: thanks, honey, for responding to the first four comments! But, I'm not inaccurate in how I portrayed you. :)

    tamilyn: I've been craving this French toast ever since I finished eating it! Seriously.

    grace: I love mysteries. Didn't really start reading them until my late twenties but now I just snap 'em up.

    HH: it was definitely drool-worthy.

    Kate: I'll definitely be making this again...like next weekend? If I can wait that long!

    Camille: That cracks me up too...because it sounds funny but also because that's what I call it in my head too--eggy bread. A ridiculous but fitting name.

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  12. LOL, what a funny post! Hey, you should win wife of the year for giving your husband a cold beer and chocolate chip cookies on his return home!

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  13. Hungry Dog, beautiful pic! looks so yummy. I was in SFO on Sunday morning, had I only known.....
    The hubby is really holding out on you. Wonder what else he knows?
    Think it might have been Mom's recipe?
    Pam

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  14. LOL the line about being married to Jaques Pepin made me giggle!

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  15. I could have used a couple of pieces of french toast on sunday morning...I let loose on saturday night!

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  16. Ben: I like you're thinking...I SHOULD be named wife of the year!

    Pam: Thanks! Next time you're here you'll need to come by chez Hungry Dog!

    Chef Aimee: Right?!

    egg to the apples: Sounds like a good time!

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  17. Nice! I like it when our Misters get all culinary-expert on us! Most of the time we're so used to cooking the meals, so when they help out or just cook the meal themselves, it's a nice change. Your post totally makes me crave French Toast right now!!

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  18. Cold beer and cookies. : ) You must have missed him!

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  19. I have let my hubz take over mostly in the kitchen. In addition to lightbulb-changing, trash barrel roll-outs, laundry, (too embarrassed to say more), he rules the house. Lucky me.
    Lucky you.

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  20. Our husbands often surprise us with hidden talents, don't they? Life would be too boring if that never happened. ;)

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  21. That is an adorable post! Funny story ... hmm, I do wonder what else is up your husband's sleeve. If you do struck gold with the puff pastry, he may need his own blog.. :)

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  22. denise: You are so right--it's a nice change to have a little help in the kitchen! Not that the husband doesn't help--he does dishes and all that. But a sous chef is welcome.

    oneordinaryday: Right?!

    cookiecrumb: Thanks for stopping by! And nice job on foisting all those responsibilities on the hubz.

    Food Gal: Totally. I love it.

    nightowlchef: Thanks! And yes, I have a feeling he may have some more trick lined up--he can be cagey about these things...

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  23. That sounds like a great breakfast. We drink Peet's every morning too (though we use our espresso machine). My husband can't cook worth anything, though, so that particular situation that you described would NEVER happen at our house. :)

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  24. "All of a sudden I'm married to Jacques Pepin?"

    LOL that cracked me up. I could almost picture it. The French toast does look lovely, though, so he's definitely on to something!

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  25. Tiny urban kitchen: isn't Peets great? I know there are plenty of great coffees out there, but I really love Peets the most.

    Cynthia: Thanks! yeah, I'm starting to think I have more to learn in the kitchen from the old husband...

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