I’m a practical person, the down to earth sort, sensible and realistic in my approach. This is a thing about me that is….well, a complete and utter falsehood. An egregious lie. Would it were so! I imagine there are such fantastic benefits to being that way, having things like order and security, trotting through life like a thoroughbred. Efficiency. Economy. I’d like that. But I may be, in fact, the least practical person I know.
I routinely put form over function, and I spend most of my thoughts on esoterica, aesthetics, and day dreams. Getting dressed each day is essentially an exercise in playing dress up. I still have a hard time fathoming why funds have to be allocated to things like dry cleaning and laptop repair. I stay up far too late. I’m obsessive and myopic, a lack of balance and moderation forever being my great white whale. I manage to live, mostly, as an adult. But I do so begrudgingly often truly lamenting that I cannot live as a Jedi or undead Warlock. Even my thought life is thoroughly impractical.
For instance, a stuffed Christmas tree was crowing carols at the drug store the other evening. It made my mind wobble. The absurdity of the universe producing it made my consciousness momentarily implode. This is unfortunately something that occurs multiple times on any given day but that tree caused a particularly loud roaring in my ears. I wasn’t angry, it didn’t piss me off or anything. It amazed me. It amazed me that this universe spawned such a thing. That all the matter, space-time, history, and chance or providence, which ever you believe in as they’re equally fantastical, produced this…thing. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile all of time with a singing, plush Christmas tree. But then I find a thread. The holidays. The solstice. This is old, this celebrating. It’s an old, old celebration and it’s only wonderful. Maybe I’ll buy that horrible thing to remind myself that miracles are real. Because it’s a miracle, albeit an absurd and useless one, that these things exist.
But there are benefits to being impractical, like the awe of seeing a glittering cascade of nonlinear differential equations in the whorls of cream in your morning coffee. Or getting to spend evenings in your own personal film noir by the fire, smelling of Le Petit Trianon in a black lace kimono. Or deciding that your bathtub is a perfectly legitimate office. Or truffled deviled eggs with crème fraiche and black sea salt. I plan to make them on Christmas with black truffle shavings from Tennessee grown truffles and Siberian sturgeon caviar, sustainably farmed right in my back yard at the University of Georgia. Maybe it’s a little fall of Rome tacky and certainly not the most down to earth incarnation of the egg, but we all know this solstice welcomes the coming of the age of Horus (we do all know that, right?), so it’s the time for that sort of thing. I jest about the Horus thing. Sort of. Well, not really. Anyway, no worries, it’s a very auspicious aeon.
It would be even more special with something less mundane than chicken eggs. Little quail eggs, yes? Fat duck eggs? Yeah. But in all fairness the bright yellow yolks of the chicken eggs I get at the market rival that of any dearer bird. At any rate, I firmly believe the pumpkin ought to be a carriage at least once a year, if it can. And these are the glittering carriage of deviled eggs, most especially with the aforementioned trappings. I can’t really thing of anything more special than a truffle & caviar topped crème fraîche deviled egg. There’s something especially satisfying about gilding such a humble thing, the egg.
Also, in the spirit of the holidays, I’ve put together a little holiday gift guide for the cook & food lover over at Makers Workshop. Check it out so you’ll know what to get me!
Truffled Deviled Eggs with Crème Fraîche
makes 24 deviled eggs
Topped with flecks of black salt or even shimmering black caviar and a sliver of black truffle, these are black tie eggs. Perfect with all the trappings for the holidays or, as in my case, with just the salt for an afternoon snack.
Ingredients
a dozen hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved
6 Tbsp crème fraîche
3 Tbsp homemade mayonnaise or high quality store bought
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp white truffle oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar (I use Pinot Grigio vinegar)
1/2 tsp black truffle salt
black salt (or other finishing salt)
OR sustainably farmed black caviar
black truffle shavings (optional)
Cooking Directions
In case you were about to google it, here’s how to boil an egg: cover eggs with cold water. Bring to a full boil, cover pot, remove from heat and let sit for 12 minutes. Pour off hot water. Fill pot with ice and cover with cold water. Let sit until cooled, about 5 minutes.
Peel eggs, slice in half, and carefully removing yolk to a medium bowl, reserving whites. Combine yolks with the next seven ingredients. Mix until throughly incorporated and creamy. Season to taste with salt if needed. Pipe or scoop mixture into egg whites. Top with either a sprinkling of black salt or other finishing salt or go all out with a shaving of black truffle and black caviar (sustainably farmed!!).