"And the clock on the wall has been stuck at 3 for days"

Song lyric from 3AM by Matchbox Twenty, off their 1996 album Yourself Or Someone Like You.


I'm not up all night watching the clock, but I had to keep track of the minutes this morning while making breakfast.

I ended up making myself some "three minute" eggs with toast. I had seen a "cheaters way" to make sunny side up eggs a few months ago, while watching a cooking show on a local station.

In this episode, the host explained how you get everything you need lined up on your counter, and keep an eye on the time. I'm going to paraphrase some of this as I've found a little more "cheats" to it.

First thing's first: turn on your stovetop to high and have your pan on the heat for three minutes.
Second: whatever you choose to "fry" the egg, whether it is butter, margarine or anything else, put it in the pan and wait until it boils down and looks like it's going to stop cooking. This takes about three minutes.
Third: crack your egg(s) into the pan.
Fourth (and seemingly last step): I have to stop and say this depends on what you've got around. The cooking show said use a (soup) pan lid, but I've recently acquired a set of silicone covers. It's got several uses (microwave or stove) and today I've used it on my eggs (the blue, 8 inch cover). Take the lid and put it over your pan. Let it cook for three minutes. The steam from the (butter, margarine, etc) cooks the egg and the steam through out the cooking circles around and the lid keeps everything nice and allows it to be the perfect runny egg. Cook it for more than 3 minutes and the center becomes cooked like a hard boiled egg. Be careful when you take the lid off because it'll be hot and the steam can burn you if you're not paying attention / take the lid off the wrong way.

The last step is why it is important to watch the time. As you have the lid on the pan, it's hard to keep an eye on how the egg is cooking, but anything less than 3 minutes is not cooked and anything more than 3 minutes doesn't give you the consistency you want for that runny middle. I mistakenly left it on the stove for 4 minutes so that center is getting to the hard boiled stage. But it was still good to eat.

Pictures or it didn't happen:

On a separately similar note:


It's been one of those days where I've tried my hand on something else to make. I had picked up a generic can of coconut milk (the can I bought doesn't seem listed on Amazon), put it in a shaker with a Starbucks VIA Instant Refreshers Very Berry Hibiscus, some ice and voila, grande java chain drink for half the price of gas (and frustration of ordering in line).

I'll have to buy everything again because I'd definitely make the Refresher with coconut milk another time. It's filling and it's smooth, a real different take on the normal version of water and powder. Plus, I've got a few powder packets laying around that need to be made before they expire (did you know they expire? I didn't until I opened one that had found moisture or something and became hard. It had to be thrown out).

At any rate, have a safe and Merry Christmas Eve to those celebrating tonight. To the others, be well and don't get too drunk in your festivus ways.

Cheers;