I had three things on my agenda today, after getting up at 6:30am to disembark an overnight train from Shanghai:

1. Nap
2. Shower
3. Cook

There is an unexplainable euphoria of cooking again in one's own kitchen after a 3-week absence. Sure, I've gotten to cook while away, but it's not the same when it's someone else's domain. I don't know where to find certain spices and condiments, don't know if there are certain spices and condiments. At some places, like my parent's, there are 3 kinds of soy sauce and 5 types of vinegar, but no olive oil. Other kitchens are fully Western, with the exception of some chopsticks for take-out sushi. But as a culinary mongrel, I love to cook with Italian seasonings as much as fermented soy products. Lacking certain ingredients make me feel rather empty inside.

So as much as I like cooking anywhere I can, the anal-retentive cook in me loves grasping the handle of my own wok, or knowing exactly where the cumin is in my cabinet clutter.

The first thing I made today, after my 3-hour long nap, was baked eggs. I was itching to use the saffron I got in Shanghai (saffron is too expensive in Beijing, as is any non-Chinese food item.) So I just cooked up some onions and tomatoes with a little bit of cumin, saffron, and curry powder, cracked open some eggs, and baked everything. (Okay, there were a few more steps involved.) In any case, this was a very good, fragrant comfort dish after a long night of little sleep.

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Other egg recipes to try:

Chinese Tea Eggs
Seaweed Egg Drop Soup

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Baked Eggs with Saffron and Cumin

Serves 2

1 teaspoon cumin
Vegetable oil
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, cubed
1 pinch saffron (6 or 7 threads)
Salt
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Toast cumin in a dry, medium- to large-sized skillet. Add vegetable oil, and cook onions over medium heat until soft, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and sprinkle in saffron and several pinches of salt. Cook, stirring, until mushy, about 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Divide tomato mixture into 2 large ramekins. Top each ramekin with 2 eggs. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, until whites and yolk are set (alternatively, until the whites are set and the yolk is just slightly runny). Remove from oven, dust the top with a tiny bit of crushed saffron and salt. Cool for 5 minutes or so before serving.