He is a friend first, but also my neighbor in
Fairfield, as well as my final touch master of our most beautiful events
produced…(with his genius floral creations…)
We know each other for 16 years or so! It took
him few years to size up this (then...) new kid on the block… yet I was able to
earn his trust, and creative respect… Thus the rest is history…
Our process before, during and after the events
is one that is be-fitting to be a reality show in Bravo!
A face to face in his Fairfield farm house or
my cottage, few manic phone calls on the run to the market, but mostly a banter
that is cheek and tongue the rest of the time…(one that most can not follow a
single word of… including his partner dear Chris.)
Our shared laughter is our tool to survive the
pressure cooker that we daily sit in, called the “Special Events Industry”.
So enough about us!..
The Gift was a dozen organic home-grown
eggs…from his chicken coop in the back of the house…
(His gardens, and multiple mini barns… are a
magical oasis, sanctuary & a kind of a charming ZOO!)
And today, as I opened the egg carton box; I had 2 eggs… they
were exactly like the ones I remember from my childhood…
Small, soft, tender, orange in the center…with
a fragrance that was full on nostalgia.
I remember egg shopping with mom in the back
streets of Sisli- Markets (Istanbul)… There was a basement store we used to
step down to…where there used to be hundreds of dozens of eggs…a nasty smell of
chicken poop…flying feathers …and a deafening sound:
“buck,buck,,,,, buck,,, buckAHHHH”
Little that I knew that was a gourmet experience
to become uber-chic 42 years later…
Talk about farm to table…
As a young child I love “à la coque yumurta”, soft boiled eggs…seasoned with salt, and had
best time dipping my crusty bread with each morsel.
Also I loved to call on my mother or my
baby-sitter (who was awake!!!), to run and see that I had not touched my
breakfast at all.
You see what I loved to do was to turn the empty
hallowed up egg shell upside down in the coquotier (special egg dish)…clean out
my plate… and pretend I was not hungry!
My poor older baby-sitter “Habibe Teyze” always
humored me by over reacting in the most dramatic ways possible…morning after
morning!
Once I would confess…we would laugh & laugh
& laugh!
She will say “You tricked me again my baby”…
Here I am 40 plus years later…
Blending it all: the streets of Istanbul, a
kitchen of a posh 70’s apartment, my humble peasant “Habibe Teyze”, Peter with his
Coque & Oeufs, and my seldom playful childhood…
Hope you try this at home:
{Soft Boiled Eggs}
{Soft Boiled Eggs}
Directions:
1
Bring the water to a rapid boil.
2
add salt and keep it at a rapid boil.
3
Prick the bottom (wider end) of the egg with an
egg pricker
4
Immerse in the boiling water and boil for exactly
5 minutes.
5
Dash in cold water, crack & enjoy.
PS: Good news for those of you that are scared
of your stove tops…
Le Pain Quotidien serves Organic Soft Boiled Eggs with crusty breads for
breakfast…exactly how I love it…
