You know, I feel blessed.
I’m not particularly religious. Nor do I think you have to be to feel blessed. A feeling that someone, or something, is steering you in the right direction, giving you opportunities. We are led to a turning point, a fork, but we decide which prong to follow. If things do happen for a reason, it’s because we made a decision, and chose the path which led to a certain adventure.
I signed on to facebook yesterday, and the handy “suggestion” tool thought I should say hi to Nicholas Capobianco, an old high school friend. I stared at the screen for a while. Thinking about Nicholas.
Nicholas passed away last year, around his 30th birthday. He was a sick child. Diagnosed with Leukemia in second grade, learning way too early how cruel kids can be to those who are different. He recovered, but never again seemed like the happy, confident child who lived across the street from me. Throughout high school he was quiet, unassuming, never really fitting in with the various cliche cliques. I wish I noticed him more often. Wish I made more of an effort.
Last facebook told me, before he passed, Nicholas was living in our hometown, working in our old high school. I hope he felt blessed. I hope he found the way back to his happy, confident self of childhood.
I don’t fully appreciate everything in my path. My husband. When he walks in from work and calls my name, it is the happiest moment of every day. I get to spend my life with the man of my dreams, my favorite person. The straight, easy road in my life would not have led to him.
And Erin, my business partner and friend, who is smart, and loyal and who I trust wholeheartedly–as if she were family. We get to open a restaurant together, because thanks to her, we have our funding. If I chose the path that kept me in New York–the flat, paved road–none of this would be real.
I have my anxious, though so loving, little dog Ema. My closest friend, Claudia, who didn’t blink when I asked to borrow her car for a two-day journey up to wine country. My health, just enough wealth, and food on my table. Food like this smoked trout sandwich with house-cured bacon, wild arugula and a farm-fresh poached egg.
And my family, who still have not come out to visit. But I understand, kind of. And, I am especially thankful to still have my father in my life.
Take a second. Think about why you are blessed.
And make this sandwich. It’s seriously incredible.
Bacon, Egg and Trout Sandwich
1 baguette (mine was homemade, from Ashley’s recipe over at Not Without Salt. So easy, and so good!)
1 organic egg
Few pats of butter
Handful of spicy wild arugula
Smoked trout (smoked salmon would be great too)
Freshly ground black pepper
Good extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices high-quality bacon
Fry up the bacon in a cast iron skillet. Set aside.
Heat up your broiler, and slice the baguette in half. Put a few thin slices of butter on your bread and broil until golden.
Top one slice of your bread with bacon and pieces of smokey trout. Top the other slice with the arugula and a drizzle of olive oil.
Heat up a small sauce pan with about 2 inches of water, until boiling. Turn the heat all the way to the lowest setting. Crack the egg into a bowl, and slide it into the water (you can slide it into the ring of a jar top to help keep the whites together). Cover, and cook for exactly 2 and a half minutes. Gently scoop out the egg with a slotted spatula and place on top of the trout.
Close the sandwich and enjoy. Be sure to soak up the egg yolk the the bread.
Stumble my sandwich! 
Where I Shopped:
Smoked trout, wild arugula: Sunday Mountain View Farmers’ Market (Coastside Charlie’s)
Bacon: Ver Brugge Butcher, Oakland
Eggs: Tuesday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Kaki Farms
Print This Recipe
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Just beautiful Allison! I am very moved by this post. The straight and easy path does often lead to exciting and better blessings in our lives. You are an inspiration! Also can’t wait to try this delicious and savory looking sandwich…
(I meant the straight and easy path DOES NOT often lead to exciting and better blessings…
)
You are so right. I forget how blessed I am everyday. Just found out a classmate has ovarian cancer – at age 27. So scary and sad. Thank you for the reminder.
thanks for this… you are so right, and i think we often forget all the good things from day to day and all the subtle reminders help bring it back to reality. i had a classmate get killed during duty last year, and his picture still comes up on facebook too, with people still posting on his wall, leaving him messages and so on. in some ways, it’s a little creepy to see him on there, but in others it’s comforting, and like you, it reminds me of all things good in the world.
and this samich? oh…. yummers
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I am blessed. Thank you for reminding me to think about it. And…your sandwich looks fantastic!
This is a great post Allison…and timely, because tonight I got an email from my childhood best friend that her dad passed away last month. I feel very blessed about lots of things, but right now I most of all feel blessed that my parents are alive and well and live close by. And the sandwich? It looks amazing- I completely adore smoked fish…
I guess that’s why the most beautiful roses only bloom on a bush that’s been well-pruned…
Mmm. And those picks sure got my saliva glands going! I really need to start getting more creative with breakfast. I need more breakfast blessings…
Robynx
Thanks for writing this with your heart. I’m sure the sandwich is amazing. We catch some wonderful trout in Oregon and smoke a considerable amount of it. Let me know if you’re interested in the method.
This is such a lovely post, Allison. Both in looks and feeling. Kind of like you – such a beautiful woman with so much love to give. Happy weekend to you.
That sandwich is a beautiful accompaniment to the message in this post. It is important to count our blessings
Happiness all the way around! Got a little teary reading your post — it is so easy to go through the ins and outs of our days without stopping to pause and appreciate all the simple things we have to be grateful for–that little leg-licking Ema is certainly one of them!
There’s nothing that makes me happier when good things happen to good people…this is just the first step along a road filled with them
Congrats ten times over.
Beautiful post Allison! Brought a tear or two to my weepy eyes! Cannot wait to catch up and hear all about Little Mac.
By the way …. love the runny egg!!!
All it takes is one step of courage after another. It’s funny how life is…even when we don’t realize it, it takes us down the path we need to go. Go forth and embrace these blessings, fill yourself up and put some of it aside for a rainy day
..
This trout sandwich looks heavenly. Peter must make it for me!
Amen to that! I feel so blessed, and yes, you’re right, sometimes we all need to take a moment and look around. Made me a little emotional reading it. Also, that runny egg on top of trout with bacon makes me a little emotional! Gorgeous sandwich.
It’s beautiful, your sandwich…all sloppy and layered…such is life. How wonderful.
First of all that sandwich looks absolutely divine. Will it be on the restaurant menu? It should be!
Secondly, what a lovely post, I can so relate to what you have written, I feel very much blessed for many of the same reasons you do – and because I followed the right (but maybe not easy) part of the prong, and trusted with my heart and soul that the opportunities laid in front of me were the ones worth taking. Risks worth taking.
Best of luck in all that you do, Allison, I am so excited for your newest adventures!
What an absolutely lovely posting today!! Your comments on your husband were touching. I get butterflies when I hear the garage door open every evening because I know my hubby is home…And I know the split second our two toddlers lay eyes on him and start screaming “daddy, daddy” that life could not get any sweeter!!! Congrats on the restaurant and continued success to you. I truly LOVE your blog.
Beautiful post – and a beautiful sandwich! I am so happy wonderful things are happening for you – and that you’re taking the time to appreciate them. I need to do that more myself – it’s so easy to get swept up in the boring, tedious, and annoying parts of life, and not focus on how great, really great, we have it. Thanks for the reminder!
Bacon trout egg sandwich – I would kill for that right now! Sounds amazing. Mm.
This post stimulated me. Both visually and emotionally.
The food you post is always makes my mouth water but this was even more tasty looking. The crusty bread, dark greens and creamy eggs!
Your attitude towards life makes me appreciate how wonderful and blessed I am. I’m sorry about your friend:(
Love the photos on this one, especially with the egg oozing down the side which I bet makes a lovely sauce for the trout.
Hello; I have just noticed your picture in top 9 of the day; food on your pictures looks very tasty; trout and bacon ? why not !
What a lovely post. We do need to take time to count our blessings. When I make this sandwich, I’ll do that..although I’ve already begun. Thanks.
My Dear Allison
Your post brings tears to my eyes. So proud of you and your writing etc.
Just too faraway from us and I don’t get to see you. I guess I’am selfish and would love to have nearby. But I wish you all the luck and success in the world I know you will do well.
Your photo’s are great.
Love ya,
Aunt Jo
Beautiful post. We are blessed and I need to remember that each and every day. I am so excited for you and your adventure!! You deserve all the best. Love this mighty sandwich!
A little late to the party, but I just couldn’t leave your blog without commenting on this. Thank you for making me stop to reflect and think about the blessings in my life. A friend of mine lost her dad recently, she’s in a new country with a crazy mother-in-law to deal with and yet she’s not resentful about her lot, but accepts where she is. Hearing her situation and now, reading your post, is giving me some much-needed perspective. Plus a sandwich with runny egg yolk will probably make me feel even more blessed!
Congrats on all the strides you guys are making with Little Mac by the way!
There are days, I read blogs and drool over recipes and pictures – but not much more… and then there are DAYS like THIS ONE when I read something and am truly inspired… to live… a better life. A life that I will not lookback and regret. Thanks!
Thanks for the reminder — I’ve been sick this week and feeling awfully sorry for myself, when really I’m blessed.
And that sandwich looks like the BOMB. I have been all about the runny egg yolks lately.
Your photos are terrific and this sandwich looks amazing.
what a wonderful post. there is something so moving and profound about a sincere and honest assessment and appreciation of one’s life: our many gifts and blessings, acknowledgement both of our regrets as well as an affirmation of the brave, sometimes unconventional, choices we have made that have enriched our lives. your sentiments are just what the doctor ordered and the perfect thing for me to read and contemplate as i begin the day, embark on another week, and continue forward on my life’s journey…
note to self: kiss the wife and tell her she’s the best thing that ever happened to me (true); hug my darling 22 month-old son; call my loved ones (especially my aging 95 year-old grandmother); appreciate the brave choices i’ve made in my life, and reflect on my sincere regrets: to make amends where possible, and endeavor to not repeat those mistakes (both of omission and commission) in the future. be a better man. amen.
trout, bacon and blessings, indeed. thank you, allison.
I can’t wait for MW3 to come out for DS!!!!!!!
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