When I was a little girl, one of the most special things I got to do with my hard-working father was go out with him for breakfast. We lived over 30 minutes from my grade school, so most mornings I was on the school bus bright and early. But once every now and then, my dad would get me out of bed before the sun was up to take me to a restaurant called the Melrose Inn. The Melrose Inn was in a rural part of Kentucky where the regulars would come to have their coffee poured the second they sat down and breakfast served just the way they liked it. From the first time I saw one of the patrons eating sunny side up eggs there I wanted to try it and it immediately became a dish I loved. The egg whites were firm with the yolks only partially cooked so I could take the toast they were served with to soak up the golden yolk that would ooze out. It was always an unbelievably delicious and special treat for me.
Now cut to many, MANY years later and I have my own little guy to share breakfast with. Kenya loves reading the “David” series of books by David Shannon, the most well known of them being “No, David”, which is actually what Kenya calls the main character. David is a mischievous little boy who does all sorts of naughty things and is always getting caught and being told some variation of, yes you guessed it, “No David!”. In one part of “David Gets in Trouble”, David is sitting defiantly at the kitchen table refusing to eat fried eggs. I had never made fried eggs for Kenya before and so he was transfixed by the two white circles with yellow centers on David’s plate. For weeks Kenya begged me to make for him what David was eating. I thought Kenya might be a little too young to enjoy what seemed to me like a slightly more mature dish — and I could only imagine that sooner or later, Kenya would refuse to eat them like David — but low and behold I was wrong. When I finally made sunny side up eggs for Kenya one morning, I recounted the story of his grandfather taking mommy out on special occasions for the same breakfast. Watching Kenya devour them, I experienced the same pleasure that I used to feel eating fried eggs with my dad. Now, whenever Kenya asks me for “No David” Eggs for breakfast, nothing makes me happier than to answer, “yes, Kenya”.
"No David" Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 Tsp vegetable, canola oil or butter
- 2 large eggs
- kosher salt and/or pepper
- 2 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread, toasted
I was/am a fairly picky eater but I grew up eating over-easy eggs. My dad would cut toast into “fingers” and we would dip them into the yolks. So that’s my favorite way to eat eggs!
I started my daughter on them as soon as she was old enough to eat yolk (I ate her whites until she was old enough for those too.) She LOVES her “dipping eggs” and asks for them all the time!
Kids love to dip, and it makes their food more fun and interactive. So that was a great way to introduce this kind of texture to them. If I had to eat an over-easy egg without toast, I couldn’t do it. Barf. But eating the slimy yolk on toast? YUM!
Hadn’t thought about the Melrose Inn in years! Great memory and great breakfasts! Love the weekly menu planner – going to use a lot of it this week. Thanks!
So cute! I love your story! My daughter loves the No David book too! I will have to get her that one. She only has one and adores it! My girls love eggs for breakfast too. Made the egg in the hole today. Thank you for sharing your tasty recipes, you are an inspiration!
We love runny egg yolks. One of my childrens’ favorite requests growing up was ‘egg squeeze’ sandwiches (sunny side up eggs between toasted bread)! When they bit into it the yolk would squeeze/burst and run. It was so fun for them and they wiped up the runny yolk with the parts of bread that didn’t have yolk in it. Try adding a couple drops of ketchup to the yolk..delicious!
My 3 year old will only eat fried eggs. No scrambled at all. & they have to be runny. It amazes me cause I really dislike fried eggs.
All four of my kids LOVE sunny side up eggs. My husband has been teaching my older two how to make them. My 11 year old has now “perfected” the sunny side up egg! He loves to sneak down early in the morning and make some for us!
Wonderful exalanption of facts available here.
Obviously the gluten free label is meant for the Eggs. If you are Gluten free and need someone to specify that you would use a gluten free bread for your toast instead of wheat then there are bigger issues here than a label on a recipe.
Whole ‘WHEAT’ bread is NOT gluten free.
Too funny about the Melrose Inn being in rural KY. I never thought that I lived *that* far out but I suppose to everyone else, it was. We were just a bit further in Oldham Co. than the Melrose (also home to Derby Pie – yum!). Nice to see. It caught my eye because I have a son David. Not that he likes fried eggs but my oldest does! 🙂
We’ve had to have these three days in a row now 🙂 If you cook two at a time in a small pan they look like eyes and we used a turkey sausage for the mouth! I think we get so used to cooking the same thing over and over we forget our kids grow up and can handle different textures more easily! I had forgotten what anything but scrambled tastes like!
I loved your story. I too have fond memories of my mother making sunny side up eggs with toast. It brought tears to my eyes to read your story. And a smile to my face to think about my three boys enjoying this recipe.
Of course! The taste will be slightly different, but still yummy! Any oil would do, since the purpose is to keep the egg from sticking to the pan. You could even poach them or soft-boil them with no oil at all, and still get a runny yolk!
can you fry (or scramble) eggs with olive oil??
I love this post! What is it about KY girls and the fried egg? I have a memory like this with my grandmother who would all but have an egg with toast on a plate for me by the time I arrived in her kitchen when I would visit (even into my late teens) as a child my grandmother and mother would mash them with the back of a fork to perfection where you would actually dip the bread and get egg and yolk together (essentially baby food but my fave way to eat them even still) my mom even bought me an “egg masher” a little egg with feet to mash it with when I got married. I knew my husband was a keeper the first time he made me an egg in a basket. My kids love their fried eggs and ask for “mommy way” which is mashed.
Great post and sweet story. In our house, we like to use a cookie cutter to make a hole in a piece of bread, set the bread in the frying pan, and crack the egg into the hole.
I am so glad you posted this. We couldn’t get my son to eat eggs at all until he was almost 3 and he wanted a bite of mommy’s (over medium) egg. He loved it and has eaten them ever since. He is almost 6 and though he has expanded how he will eat eggs he still will turn his nose up at scrambled eggs. We just never attempted to serve them any other way when he was young. We get several odd looks at restaurants when he asks to have over-medium eggs instead of scrambled.
We eat a lot of eggs in our house and this is a favorite. We also make another version called eggs in a basket. Take a piece of whole wheat bread an use the rim of a cup as a cookie cutter to cut a hole out of the middle of the bread. Place the bread on the hot skillet and crack the egg in the center hole. Flip when ready. The cirle that was cut from the center can toasted and used for dipping.
We are totally in love with the David books… such a neat series with a wonderful story behind them!
We also love eggs… really any way we can get them! Sunny side up, egg in the hole (what we call them when put in toast), scrambled and hard boiled. I like the deviled, but the boys aren’t on board yet.
Thanks so much for sharing!
That’s how my German grandmother made me eggs when I was little! Soft-boiled and served in a little silver, footed cup, and we’d eat them with a
delicate spoon made from mother of pearl. Before serving she would place a very pretty cover over the eggs to keep them warm. Ah, simpler times 🙂
We called these eggs like this ” sunny side up” and I still eat them to this day.
My Husband however has a slightly different way to eat eggs where he’s from, it’s in the shell with a runny yolk and you place them into an egg ” cup” and have a special little egg ” cutter’ to chop off the top and then -Viola! you dip your egg into the heavenly runny warm yolk. My son loves it this way. 🙂
You have no idea how much that means to me, thank you!
Not only are you creative in the kitchen but you’re a great storyteller as well. This post really made me smile and reminded me of some special childhood moments. Thanks!
We call those Toad in a Hole or Egg in the Middle. My dad made them for us when I was a kid, and now both of my sons love them 😀
My Dad used to make your husband’s egg toast for us growing up, too! They were so delicious with a little bit of HP sauce. My Dad called them Eggs Begly & he swears he invented them…we just don’t argue with him. 😉
My girls named these “Dip Eggs”…the only variation in my way of cooking them is I add a little water to the skillet before I cover them…just enough to make some steam…makes for easier flipping and fewer broken yolks=)
My husband altered my “Dip Eggs” to include the toast in the skillet…he butters the bread, cuts a hole in the center then, places the bread in the skillet and fills the hole with the egg…our girls now ask for Daddy’s Egg Toast instead of my Dip Egg…He learned how to make these from a movie (I think he said MoonStruck).
Thanks for sharing your sweet stories about your childhood.
we called these “dippy eggs” as kids, dipping our toast in the yellow and eating the rest on a piece of toast. yummy!!!
And more recent studies suggest that once they’re ready for solids, delaying allergen foods has no benefit to reducing the risk of allergies, so you can consult your pediatrician and look for more information and decide for yourself whether you feel you even need to wait until 8-12 months.
How old is she? At 8-months they can start eating the yolks, which is when I introduced these to my daughter. I’d cut around the yolk and cut toast into sticks and dip and let her eat them (and dip into the yolk herself, to practice.) Then at 12 months she got to eat the whole thing!
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/eggsbabyfoodrecipes.html#.UGLDJ7JmS1w
I love this post. My grandmother used to make me these eggs as a little girl as well – we called them “dippn eggs.” Our little girl is too young for eggs, but I can’t wait until she is old enough for this experience.
The mornings with my dad at the Melrose in are some of my most treasured. The southern waitresses with their big hair do’s and little aprons at 6am were genius!
We love the “No David” books! And what a great entry about the Melrose Inn. We always make our eggs scrambled, but should try it this way.
Ghee is heavenly!!
Have you ever tried making eggs using Ghee instead of butter? It’s really good!
I love how literature can encourage children to try new foods or foods prepare in different ways.
We love those books – great story. That page always confused my David because he thought the breakfast looked so appealing!
At about 14 months old, my twins decided they no longer would eat scrambled eggs because daddy ate them over easy. They would refuse theirs and point to his, so now that is how they eat them! I too thought they were a little young, but now I don’t remember why!
This is an awesome post. I love your story about your childhood. I hope I can make the same memories for my boys.