A New Space with a Familiar Face

We haven’t spoken in nearly a year. We agreed for him to join me at 8am. I am an hour ahead, which is pushing it; but if I time things right, I can actually pull this off. One thing I’m glad about is tidying up last night. The scene of a clean kitchen is an instant motivator to cook a delicious meal.  

I pulled the seasoned cast iron skillet from the oven, and placed it on the stove. I grabbed my yellow potatoes from the storage bin and went to work at dicing them into one-inch sized pieces. I grabbed my mixing bowl from the lower cabinet, rinsed it off, and deposited the dices I’d just cut directly to it. I ran enough water to cover them so they wouldn’t discolor in the process, and got back to dicing. Once I’d gone through about 4 medium sized potatoes, I added more water to the bowl, along with a heaping tablespoon of Celtic salt. I placed the bowl of potatoes in the fridge, wiped down my cutting board and started cutting up an assortment of fruit: Cantaloupe, pineapple, honeydew, and strawberries. I scraped them into a serving bowl and finished them off with a drizzle of honey before placing them in the fridge as well. I grabbed a goblet from the cabinet and placed it in the freezer.

I washed my cutting board, then gave a rough chop to half a red onion, the green tops of two scallions, and three multicolored bell peppers. I turned on one the jet that the skillet was sitting on top of, set it to medium high, and added enough avocado oil to saute my onions and peppers, (which turned out to be about 3 spins of the entire circumference of the skillet.) 

Once I saw the heat rising from the skillet, I added my onions and peppers and sauteed them until they were translucent. I grabbed a smaller bowl from the same cabinet and using a slotted spoon, transferred them from the skillet to the bowl. I turned off the heat from the skillet. 

I grabbed my potatoes from the fridge and drained the salt water from them. I added more water to rinse off the excess starch and drained them again. I repeated this three times before grabbing a cookie sheet from the drawer beneath the stove and lined it with paper towels. I placed the diced potatoes on the paper towel-lined cookie sheet, then grabbed a few more paper towels to pat them dry. I then placed the pan in the fridge to cool further. While inside, I grabbed the package of thick cut, pepper-rind, applewood smoked bacon. I placed the entire pound on an aluminum lined sheet pan. I had the oven set to preheat to 375. While I waited for the oven to fully heat, I removed the potatoes from the fridge and reheated the skillet to high heat. I added a few more spins of avocado oil, and added the potatoes. A loud sizzle erupted, which confirmed that the skillet was at the right temperature! I grabbed my stainless steel spatula from the drawer, and positioned the potatoes in the skillet to where they were level to ensure the heat was evenly distributed.

Just then, my stove beeped, letting me know it was fully heated. I added my bacon and set my timer for 15 minutes.

While the potatoes sizzled in the uncovered skillet, I tidied up. I washed all dishes I’d used so far, while still keeping my eyes on the potatoes. I was starting to smell the bacon, which put an instant smile on my face. It was the smell of progress. 

I peeked at the potatoes by turning a few over with the spatula. They were just starting to brown, but the insides were still firm. They needed more time. The story of everyone’s life, right? 

While the potatoes continued cooking, I grabbed a cereal bowl from the cabinet, looked in the fridge, and grabbed a few farm eggs. I cracked them both and added them to the cereal bowl. I am not the best cracker of eggs, so I had to wipe away egg white drippings from the counter to prevent any cross contamination. 

I inspected my lower cabinet with all my pots and pans and grabbed a 6 inch stainless steel skillet for the eggs. I placed the bowl of eggs to the side.

Meanwhile, my potatoes were finally brown, so I flipped them. They were golden and crispy, just as I needed them to be. I lightly seasoned them with a salt-based Cajun seasoning, plenty of coarse black pepper, a salt-free roasted garlic bell pepper seasoning I never cook without, and onion powder. I left the skillet uncovered, allowing the potatoes to finish crisping and cooking. I don’t season my potatoes until the last phase of the cooking process. It seems the salt alters the cooking time and the overall crispiness of the potato.

Just then, the timer for the stove went off, and my bacon was browning, (and slightly drowning,) in its own fat. I took the pan out of the oven and drained the bacon fat into the 6 inch stainless steel pan. The bacon needed to go a few minutes longer to crisp, so I placed it back in the oven and turned it off. I set the timer for 5 minutes so I wouldn’t forget. 

Back to the potatoes. They’d crisped and were now well seasoned. I added a few sprinkles of sweet paprika on top for color and flavor, then added the bowl containing the onions and peppers into the skillet with the potatoes. I kept the fire high, and leveled all of the ingredients in the skillet once again so they could further caramelize.  

Just then, I remembered that I needed some garnish, so I took a sprig of a few scallions, and some Italian parsley and diced them up. I placed them in a sample bowl off to the side. I grabbed some pepper jack cheese out of fridge and cut about 4 ounces of it into chunks and added it to the potatoes. I turned off the heat and placed a lid over the top so the cheese could melt.

I looked at the clock on the stove, which read 7:48. Shortly afterward, the timer went off again. Ah, the bacon. It was crisp, yet still had a slight bend to it when I transferred it onto a flat serving dish. I garnished the outer edge of the serving dish with half of the parsley/scallion garnish. I added the rest of it to the cheesy skillet potatoes. 

I turned the jet to medium to heat up the stainless steel pan containing the bacon fat. I added a tablespoon of butter for good measure. I picked up the pan and allowed the butter to melt into the bacon fat, and so it would combine with the bacon fat and cover the entire surface of the pan. There was some popping going on due to the contents and the heat, so I stopped playing around as if I was a trained chef and placed the pan back on the stove and grabbed the bowl containing the eggs. I added one egg at a time. I seasoned them with the Cajun seasoning from before, more coarse black pepper, and small dashes of garlic and onion powder. I picked up the pan again to move the eggs around, then spooned the fat from the pan over them to help them continue cooking. Finally, and to achieve the “over-hard” finished result, I took my spatula and flipped them to let them cook on the other side. I immediately broke the yolks, then turned off heat to allow them to finish them off without worry of them overcooking.

I grabbed the fruit out of the fridge and placed it on the table. The honey had thickened, so I gave the fruit a quick stir to combine everything. As the fruit came up to temperature, the honey did what I'd intended, and that was add a soft glaze and a unique sweetness that wasn't overpowering. I placed the bacon on the table not too far from it. 

Just then, he was knocking at the front door. I took off my apron and answered the door. 

Once in the kitchen, I pulled the chilled goblet from the freezer and added my own mix of orange, mango, and cranberry juice to it. I decorated his plate with a heaping serving of potatoes, and the fried egg. Once he sat at the table, I added the fruit and the bacon to his plate. 

“Picture perfect!” He said, while beaming. He held out his hand, both in gratitude for prayer, and as a request for me to join him. "Where’s your plate?” He asked. 

“Don’t you remember? I don’t eat breakfast. My cup of green tea will suit me just fine.” I smiled back at him, raised my butterfly painted cup in his direction to toast with his goblet. In between modest sips of my tea, and nostalgic conversation, I gleefully watched him clean his plate.