Food: WIN!

Today being a rare off day (three-day weekend, yippee!), I made full-on Breakfast Hash: sausage, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, leeks and eggs, topped with fresh diced red chilies, carrots and radish, plus a little cheese.

A couple of items really made it pop: I added a generous amount of fennel seed to the taters/mushrooms as they were sizzling in the bacon fat. This added an almost-curry edge without the sweetness. The diced chilies went in as soon as the eggs were scrambled, the meat had been added back and the wok was off the fire. Yowza! They're not hot-hot, just a bit of an edge. With crisp-crunchy veggies and fresh leeks (cooked some in with the potatoes, it's good both ways) on top, it was quite a treat.

Wash that down with good hot coffee and you're ready to face the day.

I spent my breakfast watching a Soyuz dock with the International Space Station (didja know they just get the air pressure "close enough," under 100 millibars (!) difference, and pop the hatch by undogging it and giving it a good, hard yank? For true!), which is pretty kewl anytime and even better with good eats. The full crew, first six-person crew aboard ISS (other than short supply/crew swap missions) ever, assembled for congrats from the various Space Agencies* in the Russian-built messroom, which, bless 'em, is not white or some sappy cool neutral like most of the station but a moderately sunny yellow, laid out much like the similar section of Mir. And why not? I'm all for sticking what what we know worked.
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* Canada, the EU, Japan, Russia and the US all have spacemen aboard ISS. The international plumber rule applies bigtime: they're all in the same line of work and have a lot more in common with one another than with the politcos and bureaucrats on the ground. Well, plus it's kind of a long walk back home....