Perhaps I have a problem

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chick, chick,chick, chick chicken - gotta have this mug for tea

My morning tea tastes all wrong unless I have it in a specific mug. Well – it could be one of 2: either of my prized Emma Bridgewater chicken mugs. If neither is available, there’s a particular white mug that will also do (just). I don’t know why this is the case – it’s something about the amount of tea the mug will hold, the feel and thickness of the china and how hot the tea stays as I drink it - but that first morning cup very definitely tastes wrong in anything else. 

I find it very hard to cope without that first mug of tea, but any more than one makes me feel a bit out of sorts, so it’s important to get it right. That one precious mug gets me through the mayhem until the children are safely deposited at the local seat of learning , then I can recover my equilibrium whilst walking the dog (ha ha ha did I really write that? My dog is a bonkers 3-legged springer- hardly calm-inducing, but that’s for another time) before returning home to a cup of coffee and work. 

Now, interestingly enough, my daily cup of coffee (proper coffee, made in a stove top thingy) tastes all wrong in the Emma B mugs. The optimum mug turns out to be a Cath Kidston one. I had 2 as a Christmas present. Won’t do for tea, but just perfect for coffee.

Do you know what I mean? I guess there's not much that I have to call my own at the moment- what with kids, work etc etc, and it's the little things that can make all the difference getting through the day sometimes.

Anyway, moving swiftly on to the point of all this, I was in need of comfort for my lunch today. The chickens have been laying and inspiration struck. ‘Egg in a Cup’. Egg in a cup was a childhood staple. Strangely Blue and Pink aren’t so keen – can’t imagine why not.

Basically, you soft boil an egg (or 2), and toast some bread. It has to be a soft boiled egg so that the toast gets all covered in the yolk. Our Sussex eggs need 5 minutes on the timer in a pan of boiling water to get them perfectly runny. Butter (not marge, and definitely not anything that calls itself a ‘spread’) the toast and cut it into squares, then put it in a mug (yes, I know it’s called egg in a cup but actually it’s egg in a mug. Just work with me here, OK?), scoop the egg out of its shell and mash it in to the toast in the mug. Add lots of salt and pepper. Mash around a bit more then eat with a teaspoon. Yes, a teaspoon. Not a fork or anything else. 

Bearing in mind the above, you’ll appreciate that it was important to me to get the mug right. It’s quite a long time since I’ve had egg in a cup, and my mug collection has grown. Choices, choices.

Happily, I got it first go. Cath Kidston. The one with the strawberries on it. Phew.