Eric's Beijing Diary

Woke up this morning and discovered I didn't have any eggs. One of the waitresses at the Bridge Cafe taught me how to make French toast, so I like to make it on Sunday morning. It was too early to buy some and I wasn't in the mood for changing my plans, so I decided to see if I could make it without eggs. Take it from me, it doesn't work. Don't ask me why; that's just the way it is. Way too soggy. It didn't taste that bad, actually, but it was kinda hard to eat. The problem is that French toast without eggs is basically, well, milk toast. Saw smoke coming from it, but it was actually mostly steam. When you put it in the frying pan, it gets black before it gets dry. You wouldn't think one little egg would make that much difference, but it really does. And truth be told, my French toast isn't anything to write home about anyway (which is why I haven't so far). But with the egg, it's just a lot more forgiving. Put a little peanut butter on it and some honey and you're good to go.

I can make regular toast in the frying pan as long as there's no oil. Just lay a slice of bread in there, hold it down with the pancake turner until you smell a little smoke, then flip it over and do the same. It isn't perfect, but it's actually pretty close to the real thing. But with the milk... It's just no good. I didn't know that before, but I do now.