Some foods just sound pleasant or exciting, by name alone. Can you even eat dragonfruit or starfruit without a slight thrill, or pick up a honeydew without thinking of how sweet it could be? Crabapples make me smile thinking of grumpy little fruits hanging on the tree, and beautyberries evoke this lovely aura. There’s a bread from the country of Georgia called adjaruli kachapuri, whose name’s rhythmic lilt makes it impossible for me to not say it multiple times; melodically, chicken cacciatore also comes in strong.

Yet is there anything more cheerfully named than sunny side up eggs? They somehow even look chipper and optimistic, those bright tender yellow yolks beaming up at you from a happy puddle of benevolent white. Clearly, that’s where the name came from: a sun radiating amidst the clouds. Eggs fried only on one side were first documented as being called sunny side up in 1887, though of course they’ve been being eaten for an eggs-tremely long time.

(On what I find a far less appealing track, especially for breakfast, some cultures notice more how the yolks can look like eyes, rendering this type of fried egg an “ox eye” in Latvia, a “cow eye” in Indonesia, or a “fried eyeball” in Japan.)

We actually misuse the sunny side up term here in our house, as on the basic spectrum of fried eggs, we’re eating misrepresented over-easy eggs. We like them good and “dippy” still, but we do flip them in the pan for a second or two. Sometimes they even get up to over-medium — there are distractions available in the house — but hopefully never all the way to over-hard. “Over-hard” has the opposite effect on my psyche than sunny side up does, and even though there are only a few seconds between the cooking times of each, the effect on the yolk is drastic (at least for a food writer).

I’ve got sunny side up eggs on the mind for several reasons these days. For one, we are drowning in eggs over here; the hens are in full production mode, and apparently so are everyone else’s, as our regular customers are not quite as regular as we would choose right now. Brown eggs, cream eggs, blue eggs, speckled eggs, bantam eggs, we’ve got them, and every day we’ve got more of them.

Secondly, fried eggs are an easy protein to fix on some of these busier days we’ve had lately, and the kids are almost always in the mood for them. Benson has recently discovered the jaw-dropping thrill of getting a double-yolker — I guess that really could look like two eyes in the skillet — so that’s upped the game a little.

And last but definitely not least, there is another, less sunny side to sunny side up. It’s a colloquial description of prenatal babies in the occiput posterior position, or with their head down but facing out instead of in. That’s how sweet Green Bean has decided to hang out, proven by the little feet or hands I can see rolling across my belly, and that’s how Benson was. There is still plenty of time for Baby to turn around, and it’s not the end of the world by any means if it doesn’t, but Benson’s birth and subsequent NICU stay were traumatic enough that I admittedly feel fairly anxious about the situation.

I am trying a chiropractor and some other things to encourage rotation, and praying of course, both for Baby and my fear. In the meantime, we keep on keeping on, and getting plenty of good nutrition is necessary for both of us. I’ll try to keep a cheerful outlook like these happy sunny side up eggs we keep eating...even though they’re technically over-easy.

Come to think of it, on the baby side of things, over-easy sounds pretty cheerful, too.

Sunny Side Up Over-Easy Pasta Bowls

This simple meal is both cheery and way too easy — plus it works great for any meal of the day. Sometimes the simplicity of good pasta adorned in the basic jewels of salt and butter is just the ticket; while the addition of a fried egg might seem incongruous, however, I found the jammy yolk running into the folds of the noodles made the best version of a sauce in that moment. I enjoyed the edges of my bowl where I included a drizzle of pesto and some roasted cauliflower, but realized that was mostly for my reputation, because I just wanted more plain “egg noodles.”

Prep tips: we tried a box of sourdough pasta, which I would highly recommend for the extra depth of flavor. I think we all have our own ways to cook eggs, so I won’t go a method into here.

• freshly cooked whole-wheat rotini or fusilli pasta, something with ridges
• good butter
• a sunny side up or over-easy egg
• a shower of small-shredded or shaved white cheese of choice
• coarse salt and pepper
• optional: drizzle of pesto cream or alfredo; roasted vegetables

Make sure the noodles are generously seasoned with salt and butter — just add more if you’re not sure. Put your portion in a bowl, and top with remaining ingredients. Eat immediately.

Lettuce Eat Local is a weekly local foods column by Amanda Miller, who lives in rural Reno County on the family dairy farm with her husband and two small children. She seeks to help build connections through food with her community, the earth, and the God who created it all. Send feedback and recipe ideas to hyperpeanutbutter@gmail.com.