Brunch: Icebox Eggs

There wasn't much in the icebox -- okay, fridge (in fact, a British-sized unit with the freezer on the bottom, not one of those massive monsters things get lost in) -- so I improvised: Inspired by vague memories of some TV show in which a celeb cooked up a treat from his youth, eggs scrambled with scraps of day-old tortillas or flatbread or something of the sort.

Got out the Prime Cooking Implement (you may know it as a large, non-stick wok).

I found two strips of bacon, fried 'em.

Diced, I don't know, a quarter of an onion and a handful of baby carrots, sprinkled them with a little cumin and curry powder and let them be while the bacon finished.

Sliced and diced a couple for black olives, a big green olive and a strip of hot pepper, all from a batch of garlicky-pickled goodies.

Ditto a couple of radishes.

Once the bacon was done, I set it aside and dropped in the onion and carrot, plus about half the radishes and olives and sauteed it. The onion turns bright yellow from the curry.

While sauteing, I crunched up about a cup and a half (volume before crunching!) of corn chips -- 50/50 blue/yellow, just whatever we had.

With the onions-plus about done, I dumped in the corn chips and three eggs, turned up the the heat to HI (why, hello) and scrambled for all I was worth. (You use a disposable bamboo chopstick or skewer for this, it's the best way to scramble). Shredded in the bacon as the eggs firmed up, killed the heat when it looked done and added a generous sprinkle of dried chives and cilantro as it was still steaming.

The aroma is enticing -- warm corn, a hint of bacon-smokiness, the chili-scent of onion and cumin atop the delicate curry fragrance, underpinned by the homey scrambled egg.

Served topped with shredded cheese and the remaining radish and olive, salsa added to individual taste. Tam wished I'd made twice as much!