The Egg and I

Earlier this month I headed three hours north for an Etsy story and my friend Anne agreed to accompany me. Anne and her husband live on a farm close to town and there's always much to anticipate as I drive down the road to their house. There's a guaranteed welcome by Penny the dog and the sensory delights of checking to see what's blooming along the path to her front door. (This time—roses. See below.)

Anne and her husband have an incredible amount of energy, and along with the flowers and pets, there's usually something new to admire. Each year they plant an enormous vegetable garden and her friends (me included) wait for the inevitable email saying they have way too much asparagus or rhubarb and we're welcome to stop out any time and get some.

This summer, they've added six chickens to their farm. Years ago they had chickens they butchered, but it's been a long time and these six are likely to be egg-layers only...Anne says she just can't imagine eating them this time around.

Before we left on our road trip, she took me out to the lovely little outbuilding they'd cleaned up for a coop, and we gathered eggs. The chickens pecked at my painted toenails while I shot photos, then escaped out the coop door. We rounded them up without too much trouble and then marveled at the eggs they'd laid—they've been producing an egg apiece daily, and Anne (a former caterer and fantastic cook*) has been making all manner of egg dishes.

When I dropped her off that evening she bequeathed to me a dozen brown eggs and all week I ate omelettes and scrambled eggs with toast. I'd forgotten how simple and good eggs can be, and these were so fresh and the yolks so firm and golden.

Summer really is my favorite time in Iowa for so many reasons—the Farmers' Market and friends like Anne are definitely at the top of the list.

 *An example of Anne's cooking: The lunch she fixed for our road trip—wraps stuffed with a chicken she'd smoked, along with asparagus and lettuce from her garden, and for dessert, vanilla Greek yogurt topped with sliced strawberries, also from her garden. My MO had been to grab grapes, granola bars, and bottled water. Thank goodness for friends like Anne!