rogue breakfast

My other and I got up early to vote. We were expecting the long lines that CBS radio news was talking about this morning. Turns out, there was a line, longer than any I have faced at my polling site, but there were only 5 people in front of me. Not too bad, but optimistic.

After voting, we had plenty of time to head over to the local diner to grab some breakfast. I wanted something hearty and rich. Eggs Benedict! Perfect idea. Or is it? It is probably the most unpatriotic thing to eat after submitting my vote in the most historic election ever. After all, the dish has the same name as the biggest traitor in all of American history; Benedict Arnold. But it has Canadian bacon on it, and I love Canadian bacon. That's because after he left the Contential Army, fought against the Americans, and later escaped to Canada. And the English muffin, chewy and craggy, but Arnold lived the rest of his life in England. Drats. But the Hollandaise sauce, it's soooo tangy and buttery, but what's the significance of that?

Well... thank goodness for Wikipedia, because I would never have a barrage of questionable facts at my fingertips if it weren't for this site. Turns out, Eggs Benedict is not named after Benedict Arnold, but it was named after either Lemuel Benedict (a retired Wall Street broker who had the chef at the Waldorf Astoria first make it for him in the '40's) or Commodore E.C. Benedict (a banker and yachtsman who died in 1920, and who somehow passed his recipe to a friend who in turn passed it down two generations, and ultimately published in the New York Times Magazine). Very likely, the recipe is much older and is most defiantly French. But oh-so-good.

It settles my heart to know that my breakfast was neither unpatriotic or American. However, the conversation in the next booth over from the one I sat at featured the key words: marijuana, titties, a clock, and the repeated sound "bong" which may either refer to the clock or the pot. Very American. Now, where's my apple pie!