Wilted Greens with Fried Egg White and Avocado

I learned about "Wilted Greens" when Aunt Renie came and visited one afternoon. Grandma heated up some oil, probably Crisco, actually, or maybe it was bacon grease. She poured it on some cold, wet lettuce, maybe one of the few times I actually saw her eat any kind of lettuce other than Iceberg. I was baffled. This was a meal? The oil popped and spattered as it was poured onto the lettuce leaves and you wouldn't believe how impressed my aunt Elterine, "Renie" for short, was. It took me about 20 years to understand the delicious juxtaposition of warm, slightly oily food and crisp, cold lettuce.

Most mornings my grandma cooked. And most mornings she cooked eggs. I don't even think she liked them, much. I certainly didn't. I was always wishing we were like normal families who ate cereal for breakfast every day. My step-grandpa, though, apparently wanted eggs, and had very specific egg preferences. He didn't like the "Lace," the crunchy edges of a fried egg that happens if you get your fire really hot and want to hurry up and be done cooking and try to do something else and get distracted from your egg-cooking entirely, and finally rush in to rescue the poor embryo from complete incineration. My step-grandpa didn't like the Lace, but I actually kind of do. He liked the yellows really runny and with grape jelly. Actually, I don't think he actually meant for the two to go together, he probably just had some grape jelly on his plate from his toast, but I was the plate picker-upper, and there was always a little grape jelly left on his plate and some egg yolk. I remember wanting the grape jelly and so I'd get it with my finger, inevitably getting egg yolk mixed in. To this day, I love that combination. But I'm trying to be healthy, so I just give the egg yolks to the cats. Plus, I like to get my fat source from the blessed Avocado.

Avocados. She absolutely loved them. She would curl up with an Avocado half and a spoon like it was a pint of Ben & Jerry's. I remember her having them in the afternoon sometimes. She tried to get me to like them, but I just don't think you get the Avocado-appreciating taste bud that early. Some of my mama friends would disagree, and of course, I'm pushing it on my kids, too, but I remember I thought it was disgusting. Now, next to butter, it is probably my very favorite fat. That's a weird thing to say. I have a favorite fat! Oh, and I think she liked hers completely plain, but I've noticed they taste so much more like themselves with a little salt on them. My Mexican friend Tere said she liked them with sugar. Haven't tried it. My American sister-friend Sara has a fondness for them that rivals my grandma's.

Wilted Greens with Fried Egg White and Avocado

Cut up fresh Spinach leaves, with Pam-fried (3)egg whites laid directly on top and a slice of avocado on the side. A little pepper, a lotta salt. I enjoyed it with a Vogue and a Diet Rite. Grandma would've had hers with black, unsweetened coffee and a flyswatter nearby.