I had the best Taylor HAM, egg, and cheese sammich yesterday. We found a farm not too far away that pasture raises their chickens naturally (diet only supplemented with a gmo and steroid/antibiotic free protein feed), sowe bought a dozen eggs.
Firstly, the eggs were huge. Yuuuuge. Much bigger than store bought jumbos. And the shells were noticably harfer.
But the eggs... Mmmmmmmmm. I felt like the food critic in the movie Ratatoille where he gets transported back to his childhood by the taste of the dish. I mean, these were EGGS! My mom made eggs often for us when we were kids, probably due to budgetary concerns, so I know a good egg. We had them almost daily for one meal or another. One of my mother's "special" Norwegian breakfasts on a really cold day was a raw egg whipped into chocolate milk. And every trip to the beach included hard boiled, and every family party had a tray or three of devilled eggs. So, I kniw a good egg when I taste one.
I'd forgotten how good a REAL egg is.
I almost felt like I was doing it a disservice by putting an over easy egg on a toasted hard seasame roll with lightly fried Taylor Ham (NJ pork roll - And Casey is wrong, Philly trator). But it was just so damned good. The richness of the egg; the warm, luscious yolk running over the saltiness of the ham, the crunchy roll...
I was hoping to go back to the farm tomorrow as they were supposed to have more eggs, and whole chickens (apparently those who under-perform -eek!.. Just kidding), but they will be slaughtering a steer or two soon. Also completely pasture raised.
The prices are somewhat dear: $6/dozen eggs. $8/lb for a chicken with anxiety or performance issues (and you thought your job was tough), and $12/lb and up for beef.
Nonetheless, I doubt I can make it back there tomorrow, and their shop is only open on weekends. My son invited his friend and family to come out on the boat tomorrow. Should be interesting. The family is from Peru, and only the kids speak English. Y yo hablo un poco de Espanol.
Maybe the pet store is open for guinea pigs...
Sorry, back to breakfast.