Entering the Era of the Soft-Boiled Egg

Once upon a time, there was a couple who really liked to eat eggs.  In particular, ones with runny yolks.  One day, they realized that they had never soft boiled an egg, which seemed unbelievable at first, given their love for runny-yolked eggs.  Once they had tried the first one, they continued to have soft-boiled eggs added to many of their meals.  They took blurry pictures of these meals, and posted them to a blog months later, after they had pretty much forgotten what the meals were.

This is one such meal:

It appears to be a spinach salad with chick peas, tomatoes, and probably onions.  And a nice, glistening, soft egg on top.  Next to the egg, there appears to be a pale rectangle of some sort.  Feta?  Chicken?

And next to the salad, there is what is likely an Uzbek hot dog without the hot dog: chewy white bread warmed in the microwave, slathered in mayonnaise and spicy ketchup, and filled with Korean carrot salad (left over from the Russian party)  (<-- I made a link!).

Mmm, that "hot dog" was good.  The salad was also, though if I recall correctly, this egg was more medium-boiled.  It took a few tries to get the timing right.

Russian Dinner 2013

Every winter, I throw a Russian dinner party.  When Russians have dinner parties, they have LOTS of little salad plates all over the table with a large variety of "salads" (mostly mayonnaise based).  These are the 2013 Russian party salads (and other foods):

Cabbage salad with dill.  The only healthy salad.

On the left is what I call Korean Potato Salad, with a caramelized onion and garlic vinaigrette.  On the right is a crab and rice salad with corn.

Piroshki, stuffed with pork and onions, are the star of the show whether I want them to be or not.

The salad on the left is Frantsuskiy ("French") Salad.  The sections on the outside are julienned carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, beets, shoestring french fries, and seasoned beef.  In the middle is a dollop (sounds better than "glob") of mayonnaise.  After it makes an appearance on the table, it gets mixed all together into a tasty purple salad with surprising bites of fry and warm beef.  It's a Fath family favorite.
The salad on the right is a Korean carrot salad.
 Obviously there would be at least two Korean salads at a Russian party. :o)

This is one of the weirder Russian salads.  It's called Mimosa Salad, named after the delicate yellow and white flower rather than the brunch beverage.  There is a layer of mashed tuna (it should be sardines) encased in a mount of potato/boiled egg white/onion mixture, and garnished with grated egg yolk.  This party was soon after that meteor hit Russia somewhere, so I used an extra egg yolk to look like a meteor (see the blurry little "craters?") and dill fronds to look like little trees bent over from the meteor.  Weirdos.

Another Fath favorite!  We call these "El Dorado Tomatoes," named after the restaurant where we had them.  Imagine this goodness: a thick slice of tomato, topped with a layer of garlicky mayo, topped with a layer of white cheese, topped with a single pea as a garnish.  Does it get any better than that?

The most classic Russian salad: Olivye.  Potatoes, eggs, carrots, pickles, dill, and, of course, mayonnaise. 

Layered honey cake (medovnik) for dessert!  Long ago I started a post on the making of this cake, but never finished it.  It will come eventually.

Look at those lovely layers!

In past years, I made an entree as well, but eventually learned that everyone really just wants to eat lots of salads and piroshki.  For the 2014 party, however, I am planning to unlearn that lesson and make borscht as well.  Is that how you spell borscht?