It was a whirlwind trip to Phoenix for the Hickman Ranch’s Third Annual Omelet Dinner. The event was held in the St. Vincent’s Dining Hall for people who work but can’t earn quite enough to keep their families well fed. Each year, employees from Hickman’s Egg Ranch – Arizona’s largest egg provider –team up with volunteers to make omelets, bacon, sausage and potatoes, and serve more than 500 people breakfast! This year was the largest yet! Since the meal is served around Christmas time the Dining Hall is decked with boughs of holly plus lots of other decorations. There are even prizes and gifts for all the children who show up. Even the Hickman giant chicken mascot was there! It was just wonderful!

The Hickman family rounded-up more than 30 volunteers. My job at the event was to orchestrate the preparation of hundreds of cheese omelets. The omelets were made by 16 farm workers, truck drivers and egg packers – almost none of whom had made an omelet before. I started with a quick omelet-making demonstration and then turned them loose with their frying pans.  I’ll admit the first omelets were a little shaky, but by the time they were on their fiftieth omelet, they were flipping them in the air and catching them in the pan behind their back! What a sight!

The “eating good” part of my Phoenix trip was thanks to my host, Sharman Hickman Silva. She took me to a place called Scrambles that only serves breakfast, all day long. What a creative bunch of breakfast makers they are!  I had a Brizza (a breakfast pizza) where the dough is made fresh, baked with a layer of egg on top and with the toppings of your choice! I topped my Brizza with chorizo sausage, peppers, onions and finished with a swirl of jalapeno cream cheese. The heat from all the peppers was searing, which is a good thing to me! The Brizza is Scramble’s signature dish with all kinds of toppings like Gouda cheese, bacon, country ham, garlic spinach with thyme and, of course, mushrooms. Mmmm. Sharman ordered Santa Fe Eggs Benedict, poached eggs on jalapeno corn bread with blackened ham and chipotle hollandaise sauce. Talk about searing heat! All of it was so delicious.

Check out the pictures of me “doing good and eating good” in Phoenix. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago, I spent five days in Denver flipping omelets with the Colorado Egg Producers and discussing the Good Egg Project, an initiative from America’s Egg Farmers. Between media appearances and cooking omelets for those in need, I was a very busy eggman!

On Saturday, November 21, I flipped omelets at the Food Bank of the Rockies where America’s egg farmers, along with Colorado’s Egg Producers, donated 100,000 eggs. It was the first of many egg donations nationwide as a result of people everywhere pledging to “Eat good. Do good every day.” In case you haven’t heard, America’s egg farmers have pledged to donate an egg every time a person takes the pledge – up to one million eggs – either online or wherever a Good Egg Project event occurs. Now, that’s incredible!

In addition to the donation, America’s Egg Farmers and Colorado’s Egg Producers  served a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese, bacon, sausage and breakfast potatoes to 625 adults and kids who were scheduled to pick up their food boxes for the Thanksgiving holiday. As families ate their breakfast, I demonstrated my omelet-making skills and taught anyone who wanted to learn. My students were mostly kids who lined up to try their hand at omelet making. Below is a picture of one of my “pupils” who gave my leg a big hug for spending time with her. When things got quiet I went to groups of people at tables and entertained them with my omelet flipping prowess. That’s always a crowd pleaser! You can see the excitement in their faces in the photo below – pretty funny, right?

The Colorado Egg Producers also arranged an event at the Weld Food Bank in Greeley, just outside of Denver. I worked with the producers to fix omelets for the good eggs who volunteer their time and efforts to that food bank. And, while we were at it, we fixed plenty of omelets for the families who came to eat at the food bank too!

While I was in Denver, I also hit the airwaves with the local FOX and CBS morning shows to teach them how to cook my famous 40-second omelets. During one of the shows, I was blindfolded for one of my omelets, which worked out fine until I turned the omelet out of the pan. I totally missed the plate with it. What a laugh that got!

Happily, I did have an afternoon off. I was able to drive into the Rockies and enjoy the beautiful mountain vistas and wonderful weather. The vastness of the mountains and the huge blue sky were a real treat since I can’t even see around the buildings surrounding my New York City apartment to simply enjoy a glimpse of any of the sky above us all. What a trip!