“Q” is for Quiche… And The Realization That Times Have Changed

The other day, as I curled up on the couch with some hot green tea after a late class, my sister asked me a strange question. “Hey, is it okay if someone borrows an egg?”

I removed the thermos full of tea from my lips and replied with a, “What? Just one egg?”

“Yeah, one of my friends who lives in the building just texted me and she’s coming over to borrow an egg, if that’s okay.”

“That’s totally fine. She can take an egg.”

Several minutes passed and there was a knock at the door. My sister answered it, inviting her two friends in and gave them the cooking ingredient that they asked for.

“Thank you!” The girls said as they moved toward the door.

“You guys just want the egg? You don’t want a cup of water or something?” My sister watched the girls shake their heads with a smile. “I just feel like I should be offering you guys something else.”

“Oh, no thank you. We just needed the egg.” The two girls left and my sister closed the door and came back to the spot on the couch next to me where she was sitting before.

“It’s so strange though,” I said.

“What is?”

I glanced over at my sister on the couch. “No one really does that anymore. They rather just go the store in the middle of baking or cooking than to bother their neighbors. Heck, a lot of people now a days don’t even know their neighbors.”

“I think, maybe, in the past people lived farther away from the store or couldn’t go as often. They knew their neighbors and it wasn’t as big of a deal as it is today to borrow a cup of flour or something.” My sister picked up the scissors that she was using to create activities for the Pre-School kids she helped out with. “I know I would even borrow something from a neighbor I knew rather than go to the store.”

It was funny to see how customs have changed over a fairly short amount of time, and to slowly witness how the act of being neighborly became extinct. It was troublesome to realize why it was so. Although we are becoming more open and accepting as a society with new technologies designed to connect people from all over the world, we have also experienced the fear and alienation of society in our everyday lives.

The other day I thought about all of this as I removed my carton of eggs about to expire from the refrigerator. *Smooth transition deleted* And from all this thought came the unrelated “Crustless Spinach Quiche” recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.

What You Will Need:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
I added (5 ounces) broccoli and (1 cup) diced tomato as well
5 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded Muenster cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Lightly grease a 9-inch pie pan. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated. In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan. Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

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