The béchamel here is exactly as I learned it from my mother many years ago, with a couple of adulterations which likely have her rolling in her grave. First the similarity: 2, 2, and 2, the easy-to-remember ingredients for the “white sauce,” as she called it. The departures: first you’re going to fry bacon in a saucepan and use its fat as your point of departure for the, uh, béchamel. And you’re going to use whole milk, not 2%, and certainly not (saints preserve us) non-fat. You’ll chop up the bacon and add it to the softened cream cheese (no, you won’t kill anyone if it sits at room temp for several hours) along with some snips of fresh chives to make the filling for the French toast. Best of all, you can prepare everything to this point a day in advance! Make the béchamel, cool it, and refrigerate it overnight. Stuff the slices of Texas Toast (I know, very un-French, but work with me, please), and refrigerate them overnight. In the morning, reheat the béchamel in a bain marie (a fancy name for a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water), dip the bread in beaten eggs, fry them up, and voilà, a heavenly, elegant holiday breakfast. By the way, this doubles and triples easily. <br />

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