Simple Eats. PLUS, "Downed Power Lines" Rouse Foodie's Ire

This raw morning I woke up with a hankering for some breakfast spuds, plus a boiled egg with buttah. So I grabbed two smallish potatoes, a hunk of leftover onion, poured some olive oil in the pan, grated the spuds directly into it, added the chopped onion, tossed it about, let it brown at a highish heat, salted and peppered, put a lid on it and lowered the heat way down. ( Technically I made the Swiss potato dish rosti, more or less.)

While the potatoes finished cooking, I made coffee, toast, the egg, then removed the lid, added some dried red chile  and ate a splendid breakfast. Total prep time--15 minutes maybe? Max.

Is this fast enough America?  Did I really need to buy some packaged, prepared or frozen thing or other form of decidedly-not-as-good spuds?  (OK, you can slop some cereal and milk in a bowl and slurp it down more quickly, but I don't eat that stuff.)

Come on! The suppers I make ( fresh) rarely take more than 30 minutes, and I know this is true of my cook-ish friends as well.

The Not FOOD Rant ----As for "downed power lines," how many decades have I heard this phrase? Through my entire  lifetime of seasons. Winter ice storms, fierce fall hurricanes, etc., etc., always the delicate damn lines stuck up on wooden poles, since the end of the 19th century. ( I've read that.) 

The street I live on, in a neighborhood carved from the mesa in the 1970's, has all underground phone and power lines.  Believe it or not, many years back,  during an outage by which we were not affected, I once called both the then telephone company and the gas and electric company and asked them why some places still had not buried the lines.

"It's too expensive."  How many millions would the nation have saved had it dug underground all those lines, year by year, gradually? 

And by building efficient cars, establishing wind farms, creating affordable solar panels, requiring rain cachment, not fighting wars, yada, yada, and yada.

Oh hush, and go eat something.

Comments

[Foodie]

Wish I had some kartofelpuffer made right now as the snow flies here in NM. No wood stove but finally some lovely seasoned cedar for the occasional fire--as in last evening, during our tree trimming party with mulled wine, NM green chile corn and spud chowdah with grated extra extra sharp cheddar,green chile cheese bread, and a slice of beyond delicious flourless choc cake. A carb-laden delight.

[John]

We didn't have power here for about 8 or 9 hours because of the storm. The breakfast you describe above is also possible in about the same time on an old-fashioned wood-fired cook stove...that's essentially what I made Friday morning while the power was out! We got off easy here, though. David posted an update on Facebook this AM reporting that Casa Harville was at hour 81 (and counting!) without power! Those ice storms...disruptive, dangerous, sure...but oh so beautiful. We had a helluva colorful sunset here Friday night, then the full moon (massive and at its closet point to the Earth in 15 years) Saturday night...absolutely breathtaking out there with all the ice on the trees.

[Rose]

Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus- home-made.

[Foodie]

Great example--the trains! Love it.Poor Obama---not only must he save the nation and the world, but he must also be a good role model for students, according to the WaPo today. OY.

So--what's for supper?

[Rose]

Now now Foodie! All true, all TOO true, and too short a space to answer and agree.
Lemme see? Maybe the Eye-rak war was/is more important than than the ante-deluvian
( spelling? ) infrastructure of the USA. Maybe winter,ice and snow are a new surprise every year and nobody could forsee the possibility of downed powerlinesdue to heavy ice? Just like the UK, where wet leaves in autumn on the tracks cause an annual surprise to the rail companies. Maybe the big O and his experts will manage to bring in better times when they have fixed the messes leftbehind.
Did I forget something? I am taking my soap box and go to make a 30 min. supper.