Mr French Toast

So french toast is my favortie breakfast food to make at home. My favorite in a restaurant is silver dollar pancakes - but I can never get them right when I make them, so that I leave to the professionals. I learned to make french toast on my 8th grade camping trip to The Pinery in Canada. Over an open fire, no less. The boy in my class (we will call him Tony, since that is his name) who I had had a crush on since the first day we met in 6th grade showed me how. Sadly, he did not return my love, but he did teach me a skill I still to this day practice. Having parted ways in 9th grade, I often wondered about him. And then, about seven years ago, I learned that he lived just a few blocks away and his son was in the Julia child's class. Fate? Kismet? A cruel joke? All of the above really. He barely remembered me (if at all) and all of those wasted hours riding my bike passed his house seemed in vain (when we were in middle school, not as an adult). Anyway, a simple recipe, with a sweet little story. Good, thick bread, an egg, some milk and a dash of cinnamon. Oh, on a hot griddle - I no longer require the flame or burning embers of an open fire.

Before there was Mr. Belvedere, TV had it's quintessential butler in Mr French (played by Sebastian Cabot) on Family Affair. Nothing said comedy in 1966 like dead parents and a trio of unwanted orphans sent to live with their confirmed bachelor uncle, (Uncle Bill, played by Brian Keith) and his butler.Teenage Cissy, 6 year old twins Buffy and Jody, and Mrs Beasley rounded out the cast. And of course comedy ensued when the everyday ups and downs of raising kids ran smack into the swinging single lifestyle of New York City in the 1960s. Not unlike the fate of the Diffrent Strokes  cast (wealthy bachelor saddled with three kids and a housekeeper in the 1980s) the series actors met tragic and untimely deaths - Buffy died of a drug overdose, Uncle Bill committed suicide by gunshot, and Mr French died of cancer. Mrs Beasley is the lone survivor, bringing big bucks on Ebay (especially if she's in her original box).

The Recipe:

1 egg
1/2 cup milk (although, i will tell you, Tony didn't measure, he eye-balled the amounts, much like he did Anne Tintinelli, my arch rival for his affections. But I'm over it....)
dash of cinnamon
4 slices thick bread

Heat griddle. Beat egg, milk, cinnamon together in a wide, shallow bowl. Dip each slice of bread in the egg mixture, turning and pressing so it it is soaked. Cook on hot griddle, turning once, until golden brown. Serve with butter and warm syrup. Dust with powered sugar, if you have it.