BE A GOOD EGG

Why is it that some of life’s (seemingly) most simple tasks defy reason, logic, instinct and sometimes even preparedness?  Now I could take that simple question in at least a dozen different directions but for today, I’ll just stick with my current frustration……….boiling a danged egg!  With all the attention eggs receive this time of year, maybe someone can help me.

How can the perfect boiled egg be so elusive?  You know what; forget perfect….I can be happy with presentable.  There are only four components to the boiled egg, eggs, water, pan and heat.  How in the world can I mess that up, not only occasionally, but with some regularity!  Before you ask, yes, I’m sure my mother taught me how to do this.  I’m equally as sure that on a scale of 1 to 10, my interest level peaked at a 1!

This past summer we had some dear friends visit us at the lake.  He’s from Holland and she from Chile so NE Oklahoma was an experience for them….but we’ll save that for another day, so back to the eggs.  Dennis enjoys cooking and can boil an egg better than anyone (man or woman) I’ve ever known.  Not only is it perfectly done, he presents it half shelled and in a beautiful little egg cup.  Now remember, we were at the lake and beautiful little egg cups (I’m sure there’s a technical name for them) being at a premium he served them from jiggers which were plentiful because after all, it’s the lake!!  The shell comes off nicely with a light tap and the inside yolk is done to perfection…no spot in the center that’s not quite done or any of the gray/green stuff outside the yolk letting you know it’s overdone.  I suppose I could just ask him how to do this but being a man and a Dutch man at that, there’s no doubt something would be lost in translation!  Love you Dennis, you know I do but I’m really jealous of your cooking skills.

I boiled eggs this morning to put in salads later.  When peeling the darn things, the shell comes off in chunks, and “today’s” effort produced the gray/green stuff on the outside of the yolk.  These are going in a salad so I can make it work but what if I’d like for them to be the lovely appealing “quartered” variety, decorating the top of a salad rather than chunked up in the middle of the salad?  And, Deviled Eggs…. my husband really loves deviled eggs; do you know how many eggs I boil to get enough to make nice looking deviled eggs?  If you know me, you know I’m only serving nice looking deviled eggs….eggs or Christmas trees; it’s all in the presentation!  Fortunately, he’s easy to get along with and in all the years I’ve known him, he’s never complained or made a disparaging comment about any meal I’ve served.  That could just be because he doesn’t want to cook, not sure.  But come on, it’s embarrassing.  I’m a grown Grammy, how can I not get this right? 

I know I could do a Google search for this info but my current list of “MUST DO’S”, “NEED TO’S” and “WANT TO’S” has me busy until Memorial Day so we can forget about the search thing.  I’m hoping that someone with more “eggucation”  (sorry, couldn’t help myself) than me will send me a quick “how to”!  I’ll be eternally grateful AND reward that certain someone with Glammy Grammy goods of some sort!  Thanks in advance, I know you won’t let me down. 

Hugs and Happy Boiling,  GG