Poached Eggs Part 3

I had not been this hungry since... I couln't remember the last time I was this hungry. Julia said to use fresh eggs. I bought these eggs two weeks ago, and I know they can sit in the store for a month before anyone buys them.

That berry cream-cheese pie in the refrigerator called directly to my empty stomach, trying to bypass my brain. Caught ya! A little voice inside said “No, keep at it until you poach an edible egg.” Hunger is quite a motivator. I showered and went shopping for fresh eggs. Until recently, I bought fresh eggs from a farm. The last time I talked to the owner, he said the hens weren't paying their rent, and he has since gone out of business. Too bad. I miss my farm eggs.

I checked the cold dates on eggs at three stores, and bought a carton of the freshest ones I could find. The “sell by” date was 29 days out. I planned to eat the next egg no matter what. Burned, barely warm, I didn't care.

A routine was beginning to emerge.: Heat the water, pierce the large end of the egg, crack it into a small bowl, wait for the water to almost boil, turn down the heat, slip the egg into the water, set the timer for 4 minutes, take some pictures while it's cooking.

Conspicuously missing from this routine was “Eat the egg”.



I waited for larger bubbles to form in the water this time, meaning the water was hotter than before, but still not boiling.



The fresher egg stayed almost in one mass. At least it didn't spread all over the pan.



I wanted to make sure it was done and would not slip right through the slotted spoon again, so I let it cook an extra minute.



Oh, so pretty!



A little too done, but rich, and satisfying anyway.



I tried with the hotter water again, and removed it in the recommended 4 minutes.

Payoff!



Mmmmm... the warm, liquid yolk, so rich and buttery-tasting slid down my throat to my stomach which finally quieted, busily digesting the fruits of my diligence.

Amazon sent me a notice that “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” has shipped. I am anxious to read Julia's advice and to become an egg-poaching expert. In the meantime, I'll keep practicing.

“Let food by thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food,”
-- Hippocrates
(Quotes from Useful Information) http://www.useful-information.info/index.html

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Poached Eggs Part 2

After I scrubbed the smoke stains off the pot with one of those mini, soapy SOS pads, I scoured the drip pan too, then put two inches of water in the saucepan and turned the burner on high. Deja Vu. I pierced the large end of an egg with a needle because I think I remember Julia doing that in the movie (Julie and Julia). I don't know why, I hope she tells me when I read the instructions in her cookbook (Mastering the Art of French Cooking.)

Tiny bubbles began forming on the bottom of the pan.



We aren't supposed to let the water boil, so I turned the temperature to Low, cracked the egg into a small Pyrex bowl, and eased the egg gently into the water. I knew I would get it right this time, Soon I would be swallowing a beautifully poached, perfectly cooked egg, the white firm, not runny, the warm yolk thick, but still liquid, sliding down my throat into my growling stomach.



I was so confident, I took pictures after every minute of the recommended 4-minute cooking time.






Hmmm. The egg is supposed to stay in one mass. That's why Julia said to simmer, not boil. Movement of boiling water will destroy the structure of the egg. I could see the egg turning white in the water. This would not be my perfect egg. It was coming apart. But I was hungry, so planned to eat it anyway, and then try again.



Two minutes to go.



One more minute.



Four minutes were up, but didn't look done.



“Have faith,” I told myself; “Julia knows better than you. Take it out now.”



I slipped the slotted spoon into the water and carefully removed the part of the egg that contained the yolk. The entire thing ran through the holes in the slotted spoon, leaving a tiny bit of liquid yolk on the spoon. I thought my heart fell into my stomach, which was the only good thing happening because I was hungry and this egg wasn't going to curb that hunger. It was so soft it slipped through the holes in the slotted spoon.!



To be continued.
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Poached Eggs Part 1

I have made a New Year's resolution to lose weight more times that I am willing to tell. I usually start the year with a plan, but I quickly get busy with real life and the payoff begins to seem not worth the effort of tracking everything I eat. So this year, I need to try something different. Besides exercising every day (I'll cover that later) I will be conscious of what I choose to eat. I will make choices, instead of eating the first thing that seems appealing.

This morning I resisted the leftover holiday desserts (there is a berry-cream cheese pie in the fridge and the best brownies in the world that my daughter made yesterday) and asked myself: “what is my favorite healthy breakfast?” as I remembered the homemade biscuits and sausage gravy I made for the family yesterday morning. Mmmmm.

Fruit, yogurt, and granola is high on my list, but if I eat a high carbohydrate breakfast, I'll be hungry way before lunch time. Yeah, I know I could use plain yogurt, but have you tasted unsweetened yogurt? Besides, the fruit and granola are stuffed with carbs, too. I decided on an egg, or maybe two; that would be about 160calories, no carbs, lots of protein... but not fried in that bacon grease I saved (what was I thinking?)

Poached, maybe.

Last week I watched Julie and Julia with both my daughters (loved it) and remembered Merrill Streep, as Julia Child, learning to poach an egg. I don't have Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so I ordered it just now, but I'll be mighty hungry if I wait until it gets here before poaching my eggs. I found some instructions online, and gave it a try. Actually, three tries, so far.

Poaching an Egg, first try:

I put about 2 inches of filtered water in a saucepan on the stove and turned the burner on High, planning to turn it down to Low just before it boiled, because Julia said to “simmer” it. A little flame flickered out from under the pan. Something in the drip pan had caught fire. I thought it was just a small bit of food, or a crumb, and the fire would quickly burn itself out, as always. No worries.

The flame grew larger. Must have been a bigger chunk of food than I thought. When the flames began flicking up past the top of the pot, I remembered that yesterday I spilled some grease on the burner after I made the sausage gravy. I meant to pull out that drip pan and wash it after breakfast, but I obviously forgot to do that. My brain went into emergency mode, thoughts flashed through my mind at the speed of electricity.

Sprinkle with baking soda! First, turn off the burner! Don't catch your sleeve on fire reaching for the knob on the back of the stove! It's smoking! The smoke detector will wake everyone up! Fire trucks! Sirens! (I remembered my Mom telling me as a teenager to use baking soda to put out cooking fires, so I have always kept my baking soda in a cupboard near the stove, but not above it, in case the fire is to high to be able to get it without getting burned.) Grabbed the soda. Smothered the fire, Moved the pot. Noticed the handle wasn't hot. That was lucky! Sprinkled more soda. The fire went out.

I opened the windows, turned on the exhaust fan over the stove as well as the one in the bathroom. Dumb smoke detectors never made a tweet. No one woke up. What a mess!



To be continued.
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The First Day of a New Year

A day for new beginnings,
    to “resolve” to:
Create something
    each day.
Exercise, at least a little,
    each day.
Write something
    each day.
Keep a notepad and camera with me
    at all times.



The little things add up.
I snapped this photo with my phone's camera through the window of the builiding where I work.

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In Like a Lion

I need to dig in the dirt in the springtime. It’s March already and I’m yearning to begin work in the garden. Last month, I finally took out last summer’s tomato cages and disposed of what was left of the dead stems and stalks, covered half the garden with black plastic to keep the spring weeds down until May when I can plant warm-weather vegetables, and weeded the other half in preparation for planting early crops.

Yesterday, we had teaser sun-breaks between rain showers, downpours, hail, and gusty wind spells. So instead of planting peas and chard, as I had planned, I started seeds indoors: tomatoes, cucumbers, Walla-Walla Sweet onions, marigolds, and a few other things. Then I put together my new 4-foot by 6-foot plastic greenhouse (in the garage). I hope to put it in the corner of the garden next week-end.

Last night it snowed! Just a little, but enough to keep me from planting peas and chard today as I had planned. So I pulled out the new camera I got for Christmas and took some shots out the back door; it was too cold and wet to go slopping around out there in my slippers. I didn’t get any spectacular shots, but experience has taught me that when there’s nothing obvious to photograph, look for the “micro” stuff. Here are the results:





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Free Snowflake Image

This digital snowflake image makes a great Christmas card or winter holiday card. This image is free for download, just right click it and choose Save Image.

Keep a stock of Greeting Card Paper on hand for printing your own cards.

Or go to my gallery at Imagekind to order professionally printed cards.

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I welcome your thoughts and ideas regarding this blog. To leave a note, please click the "Comments" link below. Or send me a personal email: leafsouplife@gmail.com