Obama Day

January 20, 2009 marked a glorious day in American history. We said goodbye to George W. (and watched him get zipped away from DC and back to Texas on a helicopter), and welcomed Barack Obama as our new president with a big, fat, wet kiss hello. To celebrate this momentous changing of the guard, I hosted an Inauguration Breakfast Party at my house and invited friends over for a meal in front of the television.

Shari, Eleanor, and Colin stayed over the night before, and we didn't get to bed until close to two in the morning, which made it difficult to get up for a 7AM inaugural start. But, we managed to roll out of bed (Colin stayed under the covers and watched from the living room floor for a bit) and make our way into the kitchen.

I decided against making Obama-lets, as that would be too time consuming to make individual omelets, and made a large frittata (Freedom-tata?) with mushroom, onion, spinach, and cheddar instead. I also made Homie-fries ("homie" because Barack's black) and banana-walnut bread.

I did a lot of prep work the previous night, and Shari helped. The filling for the frittata was cooked the night before. I just sautéed the onions, mushrooms, and spinach together. I also par-boiled the potatoes so that, in the morning, I would just have to dice them up and put them in the hot oven with some olive oil and onion to finish cooking and get crisp and brown. I also baked the bread the night before. (I mistakenly ate one of the bananas needed for the bread a day earlier and then had to substitute an extra quarter cup of yogurt for the lost moisture; the bread turned out great still.)

Because most of the work had been done already, I thought I wouldn’t have much to do Tuesday morning and that timing would work out so that food would be on the table and ready to eat by the start of Barack’s Inaugural Address. But, I was wrong. The potatoes took a little longer than I thought to reach the crispy browness that I wanted. And, the frittata totally threw me. I was so happy to have Eleanor help and even more happy to have her take it over (thank goodness for chef friends). I didn’t know how much stirring on the stovetop the eggs needed. I didn’t know how long in the oven it should bake for. I didn’t know how to flip it out of the skillet. But, Eleanor was a pro! She handled it with such grace and didn’t even show the slightest bit of annoyance that she was working in the kitchen as Barack Obama became our president.

Finally, everything was done. We carried the frittata and potatoes to the living room, where friends had been watching the morning’s broadcast, drinking coffee (brewed from beans that Carlo brought for Blue Bottle) and orange juice while munching on the banana (really, yogurt bread) and carrot muffins that Cambria made. I dished out the eggs and potatoes for everyone. We sat on the floor and on the couch and on any space we could find and shared breakfast as we watched Barack speak about the nation’s future. And, I feel so cheesy to say it, but I was moved and proud and glad to be sharing it with friends.