Public transport and spinach and feta egg casserole

I ride public transportation, even in Texas.

Yes, that’s right, Texas.

I became a fan of public transport while I went to college in Boston.  The city was at your fingertips!  There was nowhere I couldn’t get to in a reasonable amount of time for just a buck (now more, alas).  Then I moved back to Texas.  Woe, woe, woe.  As much as I love our great state, public transportation is just not our forte, and its cost is rather high in comparison to what I am used to.

That said, the Dallas area has been making a concerted effort, however, to improve the maneuverability of its city, and I am grateful.  I actually can now ride every day to work using the dart, which means I save, at a minimum, 100 bucks a month.  All the more coffee and chocolate to drink and eat!  Plus I get to update my blog (hi guys!), read or work on my lesson plans on the road, all of which are much better options than dealing with Dallas drivers.

It also gives me good stories.

A while back, for example, I hopped off my train and onto my bus with my usual crew.  There’s a guy I think of as iPad man because he always gets on and reads his iPad for 3 or so stops before getting to his destination.  I never talk to him because he obviously wants to read whatever he’s reading.  However, a guy we’d never seen before hopped on after iPad man and immediately accosted him to chit chat.  The conversation went like this:

“I gotta do 130 hours of customer service,” said new dude (GREAT way to introduce yourself).

“Herm.” iPad dude

“I got traffic violations. Those guys don’t play.” New dude

“herm” iPad dude (not unsympathetically).

“Yeah, I gotta work at the Salvation army.  I gotta work in the back sorting stuff and preparing food palets.  They have a cooler with soda water for us and all.  I just hate it. The work’s so BORING! I mean, I get my own radio to listen to, and that’s nice, but there’s not much work.  I work with these Mexicans, man, and they keep saying “esse, slow DOWN! You’ll run outta work!” but I just keep working.  They lazy.” New dude shining strong.

“So you’re doing this how long?” iPad man engages.

“They let me pick my own hours, so I’m just going to go when I can.  I want to get my car out of hock soon though.  See, they did this to my sister.  She got stopped in Ft Worth and they took her car because it wasn’t registered.  Then they MADE her get her license renewed because it was expired and MADE her get the car inspected and registered and MADE her get insurance.  Man, I ain’t going through that rigamarole.” New dude looks for sympathy.

“Good luck.” iPad man got off the train, no reading done. 

New dude=my negative image of entitled America.  

However, a few stops later, this kid who goes to a nearby middle school hopped on the train and started talking to one of the women who works at a hospital close to my school.  He and she have been chatting lately, and she seems to have taken him under her wing.  Their conversation restored my faith in America.  It went like this:

“So, I got suspended.” Guess which one.

“Really.  What did you do.” Nurse. I love how some people make those statements and not questions.

“I got in a fight and sassed a teacher.” Munchkin

“Hon, you are close to the end of the school year. Don’t get rowdy now.” Nurse.

“But I KNOW everything! The teacher don’t like me because I know too much.” Munchkin.

“Now I know that’s a lie.  You need to get your education and go to college.  That’s the only way to make your way in this world.” Nurse. I really love her about now.

“But she grabbed my neck and smacked my head into the desk.”

“No she didn’t. If she did, you deserved it. Don’t get smart with her.”

Love.

Anyway, the rest of my day was pretty awesome as well, but by the time I got home I was wiped.  I was faced with the need to cook dinner and prep lunches for the rest of the week.  I ate some leftover saffron rice and leftover thai food for dinner and made our classic, go-to spinach, cheese and egg casserole. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 T olive oil
1 bag frozen, chopped spinach
12 eggs
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/4 c sriracha (because I add it to everything; it tastes fine without)
2" square of feta, shaved or chunked into however much feta you like to taste at once

How to:
1) Sautee onion until translucent.  While that's going on, melt spinach in microwave.  I tend to pour spinach from the bag into a big pyrex bowl, melt it, and then whisk the rest of the ingredients in from there to avoid mess.
2) Preheat oven to 350.
3) Whisk in eggs, cottage cheese (added for creaminess) and sriracha.
4) :Layer onions in 13X9 baking dish.  Pour egg mixture on top. Stud with feta chunks. (The sweet of the onion and salty of the feta go really well together!)
5) Bake at 350 for 25ish minutes.