Post-travel comfort food

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Sep 22nd 2008 @ 1:01PM

After a day of travel, Scott and I got home to our apartment last night just before 1 am. The changing time zones and the hours spent locked in a fast-moving metal tube had us totally thrown off and we were both ravenous when we walked in the door. Getting to bed was high on my mind, but I knew that we both needed to eat something or sleep would be impossible.

Opening the fridge, I saw that I had done a good job of emptying it out prior to the trip. Thankfully though, I had had the good sense to leave behind half a done eggs and the tail end of a loaf of bread. Pulling out a cereal bowl and a small frying pan, I quickly beat the eggs and poured them out into the pan. I shoved the bread bag in Scott's direction and said, "Toast, please." I stood at the stove, barely conscious, stirring the eggs with a silicone spatula. As I moved the eggs around the pan, I realized that it had been a week since I cooked a thing, a rare occasion in my life.

Soon enough, the toast popped and the eggs were done. We sat at the table for a few moments, eating eggs in companionable silence. It was a meal that took no more than 15 minutes from conception to completion and yet it was still warm, filling and lovely welcome home.

Filed Under: Real Kitchens
Tags: comfort food, ComfortFood, featured, home cooking, HomeCooking, post travel, PostTravel, real kitchens, scrambled eggs, ScrambledEggs, toast

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-22-2008 @2:04PM sarahc said... All I ever want when I return from vacation is a sandwich. Turkey, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and some salt and vinegar chips. I love-love-love eating out in new places, eating rich foods I’d rarely eat in my home town – but by the time it’s all through… plain and simple food sates me deep down.

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9-22-2008 @2:34PM ann lemons said... It's either peanut butter or meat loaf coming back from overseas. Domestically, I don't crave....
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9-22-2008 @4:19PM Rt said... As the kids would say, OMG! The picture is scrumptious - the eggs are perfectly moist.

I love eggs any way they are prepared. I understand fatigue was an issue but here are some suggestions for even greater pleasure - try onion, bacon, bell pepper, and/or even small diced tomato. Since the amounts are very small it doesn't add but 5 minutes (max) to the process. Having some things pre-diced is handy as well. If you eat a lot of salads this can save a ton of time over three or four days.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. It is important break the routine once in a while. Now back to the 'real' life :)
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9-22-2008 @10:29PM Bear Silber said... Cottage cheese....weird I know. I like the quick protein intake.
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9-23-2008 @4:58PM EvanK said... For me, a native Los Angelena, it's a burrito. And not just any burrito, but a good truck burrito. Whenever I'm out of town it's usually somewhere that has absolutely no decent Mexican food to speak of. So driving home from the airport I'm on the alert for the tell tale scent of pork and chiles and the faint glow of lights in a dark parking lot. I wait until I pass one with a line, then I park, get in line and decide. Carne Asada? al Pastor, Chiles Verdes? YUM. Then I eat like everyone else, standing around in the parking lot then go home and take a long shower.
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9-24-2008 @7:55PM lookaroundguy said... It may be strange to some, but I regularly eat eggs and toast for meals throughout the day. It doesn't mean that I don't cook (I do quite a bit actually), but something about eggs on toast is extremely comforting and satisfying. A cup of coffee to go with it is always great as well.
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9-24-2008 @8:49PM KF said... Toast and eggs for me. I totally understand you, and this post. There is something gentle and quiet about an egg and piece of toast, both in the morning, and late at night when you need a quick bite of supper.

I just returned from a trip myself and I made an egg over easy on top of piece of buttered toast. Other times I may scramble it using the "soft slow scramble" method I read about in years past in the Times, that makes a silky egg much like what you've photographed.

When my mother visited recently, looking wan and tired from her flight, I asked what she wanted for dinner. "Nothing, I'm not hungry these days anymore, I find." "Will you eat an egg?" I pleaded. "Oh yes!" And with that, I set before her a little egg on toast. There is something just nurturing about it.

In fact, growing up, she did the same. She'd make a world-class sandwich out of buttered toast, topped with her special concoction: Buttery scrambled eggs with diced shards of Armour Dried Beef and sauteed onions. Beef-Egg-Onion on buttered toast was Sick People Food and I loved it.
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