A Most Satisfying Burger

In the hopes of embracing more vegetables into my diet, I've been trying to cook something new once a week. I've tried out the whole recipe based cooking approach - the socially accepted way of cooking - but have often been sucked into a more "exploratory" approach to cooking:

Get a mind's eye picture of what I want, by

• Researching a couple of recipes for some dish and extracting an idea of a basic method;
• Recalling something I liked at a restaurant, and mentally reverse engineering it;
• "feeling like" eggs, or something sweet, or a burger (see below);

Take inventory...change plan

• "Man, I really need to get rid of those ________. I should use them too."
  
• "Mmm I want those leftovers too, somehow."
• "Oh no, I don't actually have (key ingredient)... ah well, I'll try it anyway!"

Get cookin' (Go go go!; salt, salt salt!; stir, stir, stir!; don't burn!)

Smell...think...review plan

• "OMG, I am so* gourmet!" Finish cooking, savor the dinner slowly, and contemplate future fame and fortune as a chef.
• "burnt / gross / dried out!" Feed the garbage disposal and curse into my cereal bowl.
  
• (Most common) Impulsively take the dish in a completely different direction, often with surprising success; this is followed by one of the options above.

So, I was feeling like a burger today when I saw this guy top a fried egg with chili for breakfast on TV. I remembered the "Gus Burger" from med school - a burger famous for being topped with an over-easy egg**- and decided that what I really wanted was a burger with a fried egg on it.

I fired up the stove (small skillet, med/med-high) and started emptying the fridge, collecting an egg, the last tomato of the season (sliced thick), a burger from last night, (should have gotten some cheese), pickles, ketchup, and mustard.

I fried*** the egg (over hard) first, then the tomato slices,**** adding salt and a dash of tabasco, and nuked the burger. I toasted the bun, assembled the burger, said "OMG I am so gourmet," and savored my success while I watched college football.

It has been a good Saturday.




*This italicized emphasis brought to you care of an in-depth discussion I had with an unnamed loved one regarding what my writing style is and what it is *not*.
** fun fact: also famous for being consumed at 2am by drunken undergraduates; this of course did not include me. I took the high road...to Pita Pit.
***I used butter, so I think I actually sauteed it. This smelled so good my knees got weak...
****Move 'em often, cuz tomatoes tend to stick to the pan and generally fall apart when I cook them this way