Today is Town Meeting day here in Vermont. This means that all around the state, businesses and schools are shut down to ensure the inhabitants of the towns are able to vote on the important issues pertaining to school board related politics and other politicky... things. (Okay, okay... I don't really know what people vote on during Town Meeting day.) Most people will head to the polls and submit their magical ballot, then return home to enjoy this freak day off at the beginning of their work week. I just enjoyed it from the beginning of my day, which started around 10am after Danny and I woke from our respective comas and decided, as always, on what to eat.
After a shower, Danny got himself in the kitchen and whipped up the home-grown version of our fair city's most famous 2am college kid snack, the
Kountry Kart Deli Rise and Shiner , a staple snack for anyone who has ever braved the walk back "up the hill" to UVM campus after a night downtown. This delicious treat starts with a large (12in) or small (bulkie roll) with your choice of bacon, ham, pork roll or sausage. If you want to get really creative, the fine folks at KKD will let you mix and match other types of protein, but why mess with perfection? After you've chosen the size and the meat, they slap it all together with a big, greasy, golden hash brown, some american cheese and a fried - not scrambled - egg. I cannot even begin to tell you how many large Rise and Shiners with bacon accompanied me back "up the hill" at 2:30am, yolk and grease dripping down my chin onto whatever outfit I'd carefully chosen to biddy it up in that night (read: flannel shirt and snow boots... I am a Northern girl, after all!)
To create this at-home masterpiece, we started with fresh 12" Koffee Kup Bakery Grinder rolls, Cabot butter and Cabot Cheddar cheese, frozen sausage patties (small... like half-dollar sized) a potato (for hash browns) and four eggs. Danny melted some butter in a hot skillet and fried up the sausage nice and juicy.
Then, he grated a raw potato and formed it into patties, cooked it up and let it starch-i-fy into homemade bundles of buttery, greasy, crunchy goodness. He let these drain while he crisped up the rolls, then fried the eggs over-medium, so they were just runny but didn't make the sandwich a hot, soggy mess.
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| He just loves it when I take pictures of him. |
While all this went on, I ground up some espresso beans and used my Melitta to drip some jet-fuel coffee. Danny assembled the greasy, crunchy, sausag-y deliciousness into our version of Rise and Shiners, which I have termed Good Mornings so we avoid any kind of unintentional copyright infringement.
The rest of our town meeting day has consisted of taking a trip to our local Plato's Closet and exchanging some clothes, then using the seventeen dollars they gave me for my clothes combined with my Four-Square check in to purchase a pair of twenty dollar boots for ONE DOLLAR. ONE. DOLLAR. If that's not a day-maker, I dont know what is.
Tonight, we're making tomato-free pizza for our friend while we acquaint ourselves with her apartment, seeing as we've decided to live together come June and she just happens to be moving out of her incredibly adorable and inexpensive one bedroom place at the same time. Divine sign? I think maybe.
For all those out there who might actually stumble upon this and maybe read it (maybe... please?) what is your favorite copy-cat dish to make? Let us know! We'd love to hear it!
Peace, Blessings and Butter:
Brooke and Danny
