Breakfast in Oklahoma
I live out on the prairie and some Saturday mornings, right after dawn, I like to drive up the highway to a big truck-stop-cafe for a special breakfast. A nice marbled sirloin, charcoal-grilled (yes, I eat the delicious black bits), served with 2 eggs over medium, Home Fries (golden and crispy with bits of onion), sliced fresh tomato and Texas Toast (1" thick, slathered with butter on both sides and browned on the smooth grill. And lots of black coffee.
I like to eat in a big wooden booth over in the corner by the jukebox (they still have some Patsy Cline, and one by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen), reading the newspaper, and working the crossword.
I know most everybody, we nod, say howdy, then they leave me be. They’re mostly farmers and ranchers drinking coffee at the counter, talking about the weather … wearing bib overalls, baseball hats with John Deere logos, and cowboy boots. There’s a sign out front: “Please scrape boots before entering.”
Once I heard a traveling man ask the cook to make a “Texas Size, like they have in Calif.” It turned out to be a toasted bun open on a plate, topped with scrambled eggs, chili con carne, shredded cheese and chopped onions, eaten with a knife and fork. It sounded so good that I tried it, liked it and added it to my Sunday brunch repertoire. All my friends love it, served with Bloody Mary’s. But nobody in TX ever heard of it. Have any of you?
Re leftover meatloaf - I like to fork crumble it in a skillet with some butter and scramble in some eggs, maybe shredded cheese on top, eaten with toast, maybe rolled up in a buttered burrito. I also scramble eggs in leftover pork fried rice …yummy.