Fried Egg over Grilled Asparagus with a Herb Yogurt Sauce

I was having a conversation the other day with a friend of mine about how crazy our lives have become. We’re both mothers of two, and trying to juggle what seems to be a never-ending list of chores, doing it all with the relentless pressure to be perfect: a perfect mom, a perfect wife, a perfect friend, just perfect. What an illusive dream! I think I was that person a few years ago, but kids sort of change everything. There comes a time when you have to strip down your life from all the excessive commitments, the not-so-important routines and go back to basics.

Life is just more pleasurable when we don’t hold ourselves to such high standards. It really takes work to train yourself through that process, release the chains of perfection. I toy with that to this day, as a blogger, when I feel like I have not kept up with posts, or I’m not updating fast enough. (Deep breath) Then I remind myself that this blog began as a fun idea to document my adventures rediscovering my native cuisine, then a smile and sigh of relief follow.

This egg sort of reminds me of how important it is to be comfortable in your own skin, with your own thoughts and your own work. It just is! It’s perfect in its imperfection. You would never see an egg like this in your carton of eggs from your local grocer. These eggs are discarded because we don’t want anything that is less than perfect. How did this egg come to be so weird, you ask? I did too, to my local farmer where I get these eggs from. She explained that the hen just sat on it a little too long which made the skin or shell wrinkle. Let me tell you, it was just as tasty as all the other perfect looking eggs I’ve had.

I made it fried in a little olive oil, topped it with salted yogurt and herbs and a side of faux-grilled asparagus. It is one of the many ways eggs are served back home and it is a refreshing breakfast.

I love asparagus, especially grilled. But it’s hard to grill in 30′ weather, so I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled sea salt on them and placed them under the broiler, in my toaster oven for a few minutes, maybe 4 minutes and they were great. I finished my breakfast with a bite of Crema Gianduja alle Nocciole, the perfect sweet end to an awesome breakfast.

Fried Egg

1 fresh egg, weird looking or not
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Faux-Grilled Asparagus

5 asparagus spears
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt, tangy
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
1 tbsp scallions, chopped (to finish)
1 tbsp baby oregano leaves, fresh ( to finish)
1 tbsp baby mint leaves, fresh ( to finish)