If you’re ever in Baltimore, have breakfast at Miss Shirley’s.

It’s a Baltimore establishment. They have some ridiculous things on the menu, such as key lime cheesecake stuffed french toast. Yeah I said it. As a Loyola student, it’s the place to go when your parents come to visit and will pay for it.

One of my favorite things I’ve gotten there is the veggie egg tower, which is delicious and slightly lighter than some of the other items on the menu. The cheesecake stuffed french toast, by the way, is seasonal. In the fall it’s pumpkin cheesecake. OMG.

So I copied the veggie egg tower, and personally I think it would be a fantastic idea to make this for Mother’s Day brunch.

When I was little, I “made breakfast” for my mom for Mother’s Day once. This involved stacking the cereal boxes in the center of the table in a decorative pyramid, toasting a loaf of bread an hour before anyone woke up, and putting out napkins. Oh, and I also ripped open a tea bag and poured the tea into a mug with the hottest water that would come out of our kitchen sink. My mom always knew I’d be a culinary genius.

Last year, Kevin went with a heartfelt letter:

And the answer is yes, this has been saved in my phone for a full year. The second answer is no, Kevin is not my son.

Veggie Egg Tower

serves 4

2 tomatoes, sliced about 1/2 inch thick

1 avocado, sliced thin

1/2 red onion, sliced thin

about 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

8 oz fresh mozzarella

1 stick butter

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

4 eggs for poaching, plus 4 egg yolks for the hollandaise

pinch salt

pinch cayenne pepper

I used these instructions from Tyler Florence to make the hollandaise sauce and to poach the eggs. I recommend cracking each egg into a dish before putting it in the water- I cracked the first one directly in and ended up with stringy egg whites. But now I’m a poaching pro.

You should also use a stainless steel or glass bowl like he recommends for the hollandaise. The one I used didn’t heat up as fast so I was whisking away for a loooong time.

And the rest is layering! I did two layers of tomato-onion-basil-avocado-mozzarella and then the poached egg on top, drizzled with hollandaise. You might want to stick the mozzarella between the tomato and onion to alternate the creamier layers.

I also used pesto instead of fresh basil because the herbs they had at Shoppers were looking questionable at best, but I recommend using fresh if you can get your hands on it!

Look how pretty!

And then it becomes a delicious mess. Perhaps not right for breakfast in bed?